OMAD Question (One Meal A Day) - am I doing it all right?

[OldDoug]

a water only fast for 2-3 days drops my weight about 5 pounds. I then refeed and put back 3-4.

That sounds right on. We lose about a half pound or ~225 grams of fat per day while fasting. Very large people might lose a little more.

My body on keto to satiety seems to reset to the new weight and stay there, so I slowly ratchet my way down with a fast every 6-12 weeks. I assume when my body gets to its natural setpoint, the refeed will bring the weight back to where I started, at which point I’ll have to accept the bulges I’d rather not have.

Having a setpoint - where the body seems to ‘want’ to be - is mysterious; we don’t know how it works, really, but I do think it applies. I picture hormonal influence (of course) and many feedback loops where the body is seeking…something. Some genetically-controlled balance of unknowns combined with aiming at survival - we’re evolutionarily constructed to save energy and store it when possible; humans are really good at doing that, i.e. putting on fat.

[Shortstuff]

@lfod14 may be a good person to contribute here as he has been through this and come out the other side.

[ourtown]

I am also on OMAD at the moment.

Consider and contrast OMAD with 3 36 hr fasts per week. OMAD = eat at 6 pm every day. 7 meals.

36 hour fasts: Sunday 6 pm, Monday nothing. Tuesday 6 am, 6 pm, Wednesday nothing. Thursday 6 am, 6 pm, Friday nothing, Saturday 6 am 6 pm. 7 meals. You are just moving three evening meals up to breakfast the next day. You get a longer timeframe in a fasted state which is mucho beneficial.

[lfod14]

I don’t really do it deliberately, my body feels right now that it doesn’t need that much … that’s how I feel for some reason. Is it normal?

It may or may not be, but without tracking your intake you won’t know. When I got into fasting before it caused all it’s damage I felt fine eating near noting, had energy and everything, but my metabolic rate was rapidly dropping which is why I wasn’t hungry. If I was tracking back then I would have (hopefully) realized I was starving myself and maybe that would have clued me in earlier.

It wasn’t until I noticed I could lose ANYTHING without crazy levels of restriction and I got my metabolic rate tested and that’s what woke me up. If you’re eating a good amount for your body you’ll probably be fine, but don’t trust your hunger and satiety queues if you’re forcefully not eating most of the day.

As an example when that happened I was around probably 250lbs still, couldn’t lose anymore, probably around mid 30’s BF%, my metabolic rate tested at 1700! Right now I’m floating around 220lbs, my last DEXA had be at 13%BF and I’m eating around 2500-3000 cals/day. Once our metabolism craps out on us, good luck! Not fun to fix, so best course of action is to not let it happen.