OMAD every other day going to stall?

(Heather Meyer) #1

So i love OMAD but i heard its not good for losses… So here is my question…

What if my schedule went like this

Mon- OMAD but not necessarily eat all calories required.

Tuesday -Feast up to calorie allotment based on macros

Repeat same schedule for the rest of the week…

Would my body end up stalling if Im feasting up to my macros every other day while undereating on OMAD days?
I really like how i feel when i OMAD and i find it very difficult to extend fast…so just wondering if this would keep the body guessing enpugh that it doesnt think its starving because im not doing OMAD every day??

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

If I understand Dr. Fung’s explanation correctly, the difference between eating fewer calories and fasting is as follows—for his overweight, diabetic patients, anyway: when daily caloric intake is restricted, regulatory mechanisms in the body cause energy expenditure to decrease in order to adapt to the restricted intake (the same adaptation occurs in the opposite direction when intake increases, of course). In the absence of food, however, the body doesn’t shut down its energy expenditure, it simply switches sources and burns stored fat instead.

In other words, the lowering of food intake signals a time of famine, which the body has to wait out; whereas the absence of food means “go hunting,” so the body switches gears to give the body energy to go get more food.

#3

If you can eat your complete day’s energy requirements in one meal it’s not too much of an issue. The trouble is that most people find they can’t and their appetite decreases. It sounds to me like you would consistently be eating at or below what you need and the usually consequence of this is that your metabolism starts to down regulate to compensate - so not good for losing weight. Feasting is not really eating up to your energy intake - that is normal eating! You can fast for 24 hours right? How about pushing for 36 3 days a week and eating standard intake on 3 and a feast on one day so a pattern something like…

Sunday = feast day where you have a really good feast day of 2 meals to fuel up for the week ahead.
Monday/Wednesday/Friday = fasting days
Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday = refuelling/standard days where you eat a light meal to break your fast and then a typical evening meal. This eating window can be fairly tight if you like which could mean your fasts get slightly longer too.

A pattern like this would keep switching things up but drop your overall intake over the week as a whole which I sense is what you are after for weight loss?

(Heather Meyer) #4

So you fast for 36 hrs? Sorry…im a little confused

So Sunday you would eat lunch and dinner? What kind of feast macros are we looking at?

Then Starting Sunday night say at 7pm I would fast all the way till 7pm on Monday night? Then eat dinner and then breakfast and lunch and dinner on tuesday and at tuesday night at 7pm fast until wednesday night at 7pm ?

Sunday night to Monday night 7pm -24 hours
Monday night to Tuesday night 7pm eat
Tuesday night to wednesday night -24 hours
Wednesday night to thursday night eat
Thursday night to Friday night 7pm fast 24 hr
Friday night to Saturday night -eat
Saturday night sunday night feast?
sunday night - fast 24 to monday night 7pm

Is that what your saying?

#5

i’ve just seen another post of yours which indicates that you have only just started keto, is that right? I wouldn’t be contemplating fasting at this stage but rather getting in the swing of things with keto and getting fat adapted.

As to your question regarding fasting (for later) - no! What you are listing is OMAD and you have already stated that you aren’t eating enough on most days and only just enough on feast days. You MUST eat well on days when you are not fasting. It is crucial that you get the nutrients you need when you do eat to compensate for when you don’t. You really can’t alternate not eating much with eating even less without consequences like hair loss, fatigue, etc.

I adopt the pattern I mentioned when I get my act together and it works as follows…

I tend to eat two meals a day but often 3 or at least 2 plus a light meal/snack.

Monday - fast from Sunday evening meal through to Tuesday breakfast
Tuesday - breakfast around midday (so fast for me will be 36-40 hours) and dinner so two meals that are NOT light on calories. As I said before eating days should NOT be below what your energy intake should be for a day.
Wednesday - repeat Monday
Thursday - repeat Tuesday
Friday - repeat Monday/Wednesday
Saturday - repeat Tuesday/Thursday
Sunday - feast. Feast means that you really EAT. You are feeling up for the next week and this is a day to go over what an average daily energy intake would be. I’m not talking about gorging yourself until you feel sick but just really indulge and enjoy the feast day. Make your last meal nice and fatty and you will find it easier going into the first fast.

This is just one pattern though and I am am not saying it is what you should do. Everyone’s ideal fast is different and you need to find what works for you. Check out other posts on the forum about fasting and the links to websites like IDM that will be listed. The important thing is to EAT when you eat. It feels to me like you are trying to do too much too soon in an all out attempt to lose weight. It’s not a race and it is all about optimising your health. You won’t do that if you consistently under eat.

(Running from stupidity) #6

Now THIS is a selling point for keto!

:slight_smile:

#7

Hahaha, great typo! I meant fueling of course for anyone who wonders :smiley:

I think I prefer feeling though!

(MelissaH) #8

This is such a well thought out post @Daisy! I might just give this a try

#9

It works really well for me when I can get my fasting act together :slight_smile: Let me know how you get on.

(Heather Meyer) #10

Any other fasting options that are less than 36 but more beneficial than OMAD?

(Running from stupidity) #11

35?

:slight_smile:

Megan Ramos was saying (IIRC) that for autophagy, etc., 24-36 was optimal, so for me that would just be an extra sleep. Then eat up big that day.

(Heather Meyer) #12

so what would 3x 24s look like? and how is that different than OMAD?