Hi ,

I'm eating one meal a day and it's low carb...I'm fasting on Fridays (Drinking only water) and on Saturdays I have a High Carb Day (I eat anything I want)

Brenda

Hi Brenda!

Welcome!! Have you tried eating one meal a day before? To me, (not a doctor) it does not sound healthy. But then again, I am way over weight, so what do I know about healthy eating. hahahaha... Please post how it works out for you and if you are able to keep your energy levels up.

Deb

Hi, Brenda,

I do OMAD with LC too. =) It's the only sustainable plan I've found that works well for me in maintenance. All my days are OMAD, and that one meal is structured (starts with a soup, has a small (1/2 cup) starchy serving, mostly veggies and protein, then 1/2 oz nuts and 2 squares dark chili choc). Other IF schedules with fast days didn't work well for me (didn't like the fast days and overcompensated next day). I don't have any cheat days, but if we go out to eat or I attend a celebration, I eat what I want. But you should do whatever works for you and welcome aboard!

Deb,

You might be interested to Google about intermittent fasting to see the newer research on eating schedules. There is at least some reason to believe that eating less often can be healthier. The old advice to eat several small meals a day to rev up the metabolism and about breakfast being the most important meal were major handicaps for me in finding a sustainable way of eating. I find walking is a great exercise and I've had no problems with energy levels and OMAD with walking. I general walk around 10K steps these days. I might run into problems if I were a runner or lifter but I have no desire to do that.

Hi Deb,

I have been eating one meal a day since December 19th and am losing more than when I was eating 3 meals a day...I lose anywhere between 1-3 LBs a week depending on where I am in my cycle...I have more energy eating this way.

Hi Deborah,

You say you are in maintenance and you still do OMAD every day? You must still be losing by doing this right? Because I'm losing by doing what you are doing plus I have a HC day once a week so once I get to maintenance I'm going to have 2 HC days instead so I don't continue to lose.

For me, OMAD alone isn't enough to lose weight. Without my structured eating, I tend to gain weight with simple OMAD. But I do aim for a small calorie deficit on normal days even in maintenance since I do eat out and things like the holidays and vacation happen, so I need to balance it out.

That said, I have fabulous meals pretty much every day and I am fully satisfied. When I used to break it up into 3 or more meals a day, I was always hungry and the food was less tasty (either stingy on fat to get the calories down or it just didn't make sense to fuss a lot over each 350 calorie meal). One of the reasons that I am so happy with this approach is that when I do eat out, it's rare that I enjoy the food more than eating at home, so there's no sense of letdown returning to my usual fare.

I have a very long history of weight management difficulties. When I was in elementary school, I was the heaviest kid. It has taken me about 40 years of trial and error to find something that works for me. But I used that experience to customize my structured plan using aspects of volumetrics, macros, and LC as well as some nutritional priorities that pull it all together.

When you reach maintenance, you can figure out how you can balance your eating in a way that you enjoy differently. If another HC day is what you want, then go for it!

I understand, I have a long history of gaining and losing but never keeping it off and this time I'm not going to gain it back...I'm so looking forward to maintenance, only 27 more LBS or 29 if I want to be at 128

Interesting stuff here ... will stay tuned as I progress on my journey and see how this might work for me.