What Happens If You Eat One Meal a Day?

Written by Fasting Planet in Fasting

omad

Last Updated on April 12, 2024 by Fasting Planet

Most people eat three meals every day, although 2011 data from the NPD Group notes that 31 million Americans pass on breakfast. What if, instead of lunch and dinner, you only had one? It’s known as the one meal a day or OMAD diet. What happens if you switch to this diet?

When OMAD fasting, here’s what to expect:

  • Weight loss
  • Lasting appetite changes
  • Safeguarding from diseases
  • Enhanced metabolism
  • Less risk of chronic disease
  • Better control of diabetes symptoms
  • Fewer instances of hyperinsulinemia
  • Little if any midday tiredness
  • Reduced signs of aging
  • Kickstarted autophagy

If this is your first time hearing of the OMAD diet, then you’ve come to the right place. In this in-depth guide, we’ll walk you through everything to do with OMAD. You’ll learn what it is, what the benefits are, and even some meal plans and recipes. Keep reading!

What Is OMAD?

First, let’s begin by talking more about what OMAD even is. As we said in the intro, it’s an abbreviation for one meal a day, as that’s how often you eat. For that reason, OMAD is considered a form of intermittent fasting.

We’ve written many a time about the 16:8 method, which is a ratio of when you fast to when you eat. In that case, it’s 16 hours of fasting to eight hours of eating. The OMAD diet has even tighter restrictions, with a 23:1 fasting ratio. That gives you 23 hours to fast and only a single hour to get all your caloric needs for the day. Sometimes the diet is a little more relaxed, with up to four hours for eating.

You get to choose when that meal comes, such as first thing in the morning so you can use the calories to get you through your routine. You may also choose to eat later in the day, with the hours of 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. popular times among intermittent fasters.

Waiting later into the day to eat can be tough, but it does give you a chance to sit down and have a more traditional dinner with your family or friends. This bit of normalcy can make the fasting hours easier to bear.

Besides having the freedom in choosing when to eat, you also get to pick what you eat. Some fasters go whole hog and eat an entire pizza or a ginormous cheeseburger. Others eat more nutritiously. You may be somewhere in between.

Obviously, what you put into your system can affect your body’s ability to burn fat and enter autophagy. However, the crux of the OMAD diet is that by limiting your eating window to just that one hour (or several more), the natural reduction in calories should lead to some weight loss even if you are eating heavier meals.

You don’t have to sit around and starve for the remaining 23 hours, by the way. You can and should drink water to prevent dehydration. Unsweetened tea and coffee are also permissible and may provide some energy to get you through your longer days.

Eating One Meal a Day Benefits

Now that you understand more about the OMAD diet, you may wonder, why do people even try it? It sounds quite difficult, and you imagine you’d be ravenous by the time you get to eat your daily meal.

Like many forms of intermittent fasting, OMAD is not overly easy, but the health rewards it delivers are significant. Let’s get into a deeper discussion of the benefits listed in the intro so you might feel inclined to try the OMAD diet yourself.

Weight Loss

The biggest and most obvious benefit of the OMAD diet and likely the reason most people try it is to lose weight.

The recommended number of calories a person should eat in a day is 2,000, give or take. To lose weight, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn, so well under 2,000 calories. Dieting is one way to achieve your goal, and fasting is another.

Whereas on your regular diet you have three meals and snacks in between, on OMAD, there’s only one meal. If you eat unhealthily and consume something like 1,000 calories of food in that meal, you’re still creating a calorie deficit of about 1,000 calories, so you should lose weight.

Of course, it’s best if you eat nutritious, low-carb, balanced meals, as we said. This does mean practicing self-control, but the results will speak for themselves.

Positive Appetite Changes

If you practice OMAD often enough, you may find that with time, your appetite transforms. Where once you were starving for the 23 hours you don’t eat, now you can get through them with very little difficulty.

When mealtime arrives, you may eat fewer calories but still feel satisfied. This makes it easier to lose weight and keep it off. Just make sure you’re not practicing OMAD daily or near-daily. If you go too long depriving yourself of calories, your body can make internal alterations, slowing your metabolism so it can hold onto those paltry few calories longer.

Intermittent fasting like OMAD is on-off by nature, so you do end up taking those breaks between fasts to keep your metabolism chugging along healthily.

Lower Risk of Chronic Diseases

Several studies can attest that intermittent fasting may play a role in lessening our risk of getting chronic diseases. These include a 2017 report in Ageing Research Reviews and 2015 data published in Cell Metabolism.

These studies have mostly included animals as test subjects instead of people. The Ageing Research Reviews study in particular used laboratory animals, dividing them into two groups. One ate thrice each day while the other ate far less often.

The researchers found that the mice that intermittent fasted were able to “counteract disease processes and improve functional outcome in experimental models of a wide range of age-related disorders.” These include stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancers, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes.

It’s believed the same perks can apply to people as well.

Diabetes Control

If you’re a diabetic, then you know the importance of managing your blood sugar. By choosing what you put into your system and when, you can control blood sugar spikes while preventing dips that could lead to symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Even if you don’t yet have diabetes, OMAD fasting can be a good idea for your health. An article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America found that rodents reacted positively to intermittent fasting. They had higher insulin function and more manageable blood sugar when fasting. Not only does this ward off diabetes, but it could play a role in avoiding obesity as well.

The study also notes other benefits of dietary restriction, among them “increased life span” and greater “stress resistance.”

Lessened Risk of Hyperinsulinemia

Hyperinsulinemia is a condition that, while not diabetes itself, has direct ties to type 2 diabetes. If you have this condition, then your blood sugar is elevated, typically due to issues with insulin resistance. This triggers the pancreas into increasing its insulin production so your body’s reaction to insulin may change.

What tends to happen is even the excess amounts of insulin made by the pancreas can no longer retain blood sugar levels. Thus, you’re likely to develop type 2 diabetes at this point.

We already know that the OMAD diet may prevent the onset of diabetes and even manage blood sugar better for those already diagnosed with the condition. It makes sense then that you can avoid developing hyperinsulinemia as well, which once more could prevent you from getting type 2 diabetes.

No More Midday Slump

Do you often feel tired in the middle of the afternoon, say, around 2:30 or 3’o clock? It’s not because your body is calling out to you for more sugar in the form of a candy bar or other sweet snack.

Instead, it could have to do with what you ate for lunch.

It’s not the food itself that makes you tired, but rather, what your body does with it afterward. All that food has to be digested. As the meal you consumed passes through to the digestive system, the enterogastrone hormones kick into gear.

These hormones dilate your digestive system’s blood vessels so more blood can pass through. While this happens, the rest of your body receives less blood flow (unless to crucial areas). This is what makes you feel tired.

The more carb-heavy your lunch, the more fatigued you’ll feel. Their higher glycemic index means carbs are converted to glucose that goes straight to the bloodstream. Your insulin goes up as a result, sending tryptophan to the blood-brain barrier. You know tryptophan from Thanksgiving turkey, but this amino acid is released whenever we eat big meals, turkey or no turkey.

Okay, so what does all that have to do with OMAD? Simple! When you don’t eat lunch, your body doesn’t have to get busy digesting all that food. While it may take a few days of OMAD fasting for you to feel energetic with fewer calories, once you do, the afternoon slump may be a thing of the past.

This lets you enjoy a more productive day whether you’re at work or even at home.

Autophagy

You should be no stranger to autophagy if you’ve read this blog. As a refresher, autophagy is a process where your body cleans up its own cells. The healthy cells eat the old and/or damaged ones so your body has cleaner, better cells overall.

Autophagy is a process that happens all the time, but a ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting are two tried and true ways to enhance this cell recycling and cleanup. When your body is in an enhanced state of autophagy, you can expect the following health upsides:

One Meal a Day Meal Plan

You’re interested in trying the OMAD diet for yourself, but admittedly, you’re not quite sure where to start. Fortunately, we have a meal plan to share with you in this section. It’s intended for beginners like yourself looking to transition into OMAD.

We’ll have plenty of recipes in the next section to make your OMAD diet more enjoyable and sustainable, so make sure you check those out. In the meantime, here is the meal plan.

Beginner’s OMAD Meal Plan

The OMAD diet is not a seven days a week type of lifestyle. Remember, we said before that if you restrict your calories too often, your body will begin to accommodate for the change by slowing down your metabolism. This will make it harder to lose weight, so you want to make sure your metabolism remains supercharged.

This every-other-day OMAD diet will get you ready for consuming fewer calories by cutting what you eat on non-OMAD days.

Monday: You’ll begin the workweek not with an OMAD day, but a 16:8 one. For the eight hours you’re allowed to eat, space out what you consume so it amounts to roughly 1,800 calories. Yes, at this point, you’re hardly cutting calories, but you will as the week goes on.

Tuesday: Today is your first OMAD day of the week. When you do eat, you want to limit your consumption to no more than 1,200 calories. Make sure you’re eating nutritiously, too. Keep your fats consumption to 104 grams, your carbs to only 10 grams, and your protein to 105 grams (30 percent of your recommended daily allowance).

Wednesday: Go back to your 1,800 calories a day or thereabouts.

Thursday: Here’s your second OMAD day. Stick to the same diet as before, but change up what you eat so you don’t get bored. You’re doing great!

Friday: Consider adding a second meal in the eight-hour span under the 16:8 method. Don’t exceed 1,800 calories, though.

Saturday: You can leave this day open, skipping both the 16:8 and OMAD diets. Even though it’s a weekend, try not to go crazy with what you eat. This isn’t a cheat day, so stay low-carb.

Sunday: End your weekend with an OMAD day. You did it!

One Meal a Day Recipes

If you’re about to start the OMAD diet following the schedule above but you want to refrain from eating an entire pizza or an XXL cheeseburger, what should you ingest instead? As we said before, it needs to be low in carbs, nutritious, and filling. Here are a few recipes we recommend you start with.

Energy Balls

This first recipe comes from Monica Swanson. Her energy balls are paleo, vegan, and clean, so they’re the perfect little snack to reach for on the OMAD diet. You can start your eating hour with these energy balls or enjoy them as a dessert as your hour wraps up; it’s your choice!

Here are the ingredients you need for the recipe:

  • Cinnamon (1/2 teaspoon)
  • Vanilla extract (1/2 teaspoon)
  • Organic mini dark chocolate chips (1/2 cup)
  • Honey or agave nectar (1/2 cup)
  • Crushed nuts (1 cup)
  • Flax or chia seeds (up to 2 tablespoons)
  • Shredded coconut (1 cup)
  • Peanut butter (1 cup)
  • Chopped dates (1 cup)
  • Organic oats (2 cups)

Step 1: Take your chocolate chips, nuts, shredded coconut, dates, and oats and put them in all medium-sized bowl. Stir a bit and then combine the ingredients using a food processor.

Step 2: Put a saucepan on your stovetop and set the heat to low. Then add your cinnamon, vanilla extract, agave nectar, and peanut butter, stirring as they begin to incorporate.

Step 3: Mix the ingredients from the saucepan into the ones in the blender.

Step 4: Take small portions of the mixture, roll them until they’re a ball, and then refrigerate them so they can firm up.

Chicken (or Pork) with Mushrooms and Spinach

We tracked down this recipe from Loon K. Do, a YouTuber and OMAD practitioner. It’s a really simple dish. Here’s what you need:

  • Pork tenderloin (2 to 3 pieces)
  • Plain chicken breast (2 to 3 breasts)
  • Spinach (1 to 2 cups)
  • Mushrooms (1 to 2 cups)

Step 1: In a medium-sized pan, add your pork and/or chicken, cooking them with a bit of your preferred cooking oil. Make sure you flip midway through cooking so both sides are evenly done.

Step 2: Midway through, put your spinach and mushrooms on in another pan. Cook these up, then combine them with the meat. This protein-rich meal is filling and nutritious.

Low-Sugar Oatmeal with Peanut Butter and Protein

Here’s a great OMAD recipe for when you’re craving breakfast food. It comes from Taste of Home. If you don’t want to make your own oatmeal from scratch, you can always use the store-bought stuff, which is what Loon K. Do did in his YouTube video above. He then stirred peanut butter and protein powder in.

If you have more time, you’ll need the following ingredients for your own homemade oatmeal recipe:

  • Apple (optional)
  • Ground cinnamon (1 teaspoon)
  • Ground flaxseed (2 teaspoons)
  • Honey (2 tablespoons)
  • Peanut butter (2 tablespoons)
  • Old-fashioned oats (1 cup)
  • Salt (1/8 teaspoon)
  • Water (1 ¾ cups)

Step 1: Grab a saucepan that’s small or mid-sized and put it on your stovetop. Turn the heat on low, pour in some water, and let it come to a boil.

Step 2: Mix in your oats. Turn the heat up to medium and let the oats cook for five minutes. Keep stirring them in this time, but not constantly.

Step 3: Pour your cooked oats into a bowl, adding in your apple, cinnamon, flaxseed, honey, peanut butter, and protein powder.

Chickpeas with Cottage Cheese and Chili Powder

This zesty recipe courtesy of Beach Body On Demand will really wake up you up and put a pep in your step. It’s a nice small meal to round out your daily eating hour. Here’s what you need to get started:

  • Chives (2 to 3, sliced)
  • Chickpeas (1/2 cup)
  • Chaat masala powder (a pinch)
  • Red chili powder (a pinch)
  • Two-percent reduced-fat cottage cheese (1 ½ cups)

Step 1: Transfer your cottage cheese to a serving bowl. Coat with the chaat masala powder and the chili powder, incorporating evenly.

Step 2: Apply the chives and add your chickpeas. Then serve!

Sweet Potato with Low-Sugar Maple Syrup

We’ve got yet another filling and easy recipe to try: cook a sweet potato with low-sugar maple syrup. This will satisfy your sweet tooth without eating a sugar bomb.

You need these ingredients:

  • Ground cinnamon (1/4 teaspoon)
  • Packed brown sugar (optional)
  • Low-sugar maple syrup (1/4 cup)
  • Butter (1/4 cup)
  • Sweet potatoes (2 pounds)

Step 1: In a sizable saucepan, add your sweet potatoes. Put the saucepan on your stovetop. Dump water in until the sweet potatoes are covered and then let the water boil. Put a lid on the pan and allow the potatoes to cook for 25 to 40 minutes.

Step 2: When the potatoes are done, drain the water and peel the potatoes if you prefer.

Step 3: Slice the potatoes into large chunks.

Step 4: Turn your oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and let it preheat. In the meantime, grab a baking dish that’s at least two quarts. Add your sweet potato chunks and mix in your low-sugar maple syrup, cinnamon, brown sugar (if you want it), and butter. You can also just pour the sugar over the potatoes and eat as-is if you’re short on time, no baking required.

Step 5: If you do have the time to bake, then let the potatoes cook for up to 40 minutes.

Keto OMAD Salad

If you’re craving salad as part of your daily meal, try this recipe. It’s ketogenic and has a lot of fun veggies you’ll surely enjoy.

Here’s an ingredients list:

  • Cucumber (half or a whole one depending on your preferences)
  • Lettuce (half to a whole head)
  • Celery (up to 2 stalks)
  • Spinach (1 cup)
  • Cheese (1/2 cup)
  • Olive oil (1 to 2 tablespoons)

Step 1: In a large salad bowl, mix your ingredients, cutting and slicing to your liking as you go along.

Step 2: With tongs or spoons, toss the ingredients until everything is well mixed.

Step 3: Plate and serve.

Fried Salmon

We had a recipe that incorporated chicken and pork, but what if you prefer seafood? Salmon is a great fish to eat on the OMAD diet and anytime, really. It helps with weight loss and may lessen your chances of getting heart disease. A serving of salmon also contains astaxanthin (an antioxidant), selenium, potassium, B vitamins, protein, and omega-3 fatty acids.

Even better is this fried salmon from Food Network is as simple as can be. Here’s what you need:

  • Grounded black pepper and/or salt
  • Olive oil (2 tablespoons)
  • Salmon filets (5 ounces)

Step 1: Let the salmon reach room temperature before you cook it.

Step 2: Turn your burner on medium-low and put a nonstick skillet on the stovetop. Add your olive oil, making sure the entire skillet is well coated.

Step 3: Sprinkle pepper and salt on your salmon as you like it.

Step 4: Turn the burner to medium-high and add your salmon. The side with the skin should be facing up.

Step 5: Let the salmon cook over four minutes and then flip.

Step 6: Cook the other side of the fish for three minutes or so.

How Much Weight Can You Lose on One Meal a Day?

You know there’s potential for weight loss on an OMAD diet, but just how much weight are we talking about, exactly?

It’s hard to say, as the OMAD diet is a lot more open-ended than other types of fasts. What we mean by that is that no two people likely eat the same diet. Plus, factors like one’s metabolism and level of physical activity must be considered as well.

Some science indicatess there’s good weight loss potential through the OMAD diet. It comes from a 2007 report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. That study involved several respondents on different diets for over 16 weeks. They tried two diets in that time.

All the participants were older men. First, they ate three meals a day every day over eight weeks. Then, they began fasting, eating for only four hours daily. This lasted for about eight weeks as well.

The men lost some fat, which was described as “modest,” and they also consumed far fewer calories. It appears that eating once a day conditioned the men into becoming less hungry. When their mealtime arrived, even though they theoretically could have eaten more, they didn’t want to.

In a 2020 Discover Magazine article that covered the study, University of Illinois at Chicago nutrition researcher Krista Varady had this to say about the data. “They were almost force-feeding them. Eating 2,000 calories, or even 1,500 calories, in one sitting is kind of tough for people.”

Now, the above diet was more relaxed, as it allowed for an eating window of four hours instead of one. The data does show that your appetite will change and your need for food may lessen. Depending on how many calories you consume, your weight loss can be significant or moderate.

One Meal a Day Success Stories

As a better litmus of what kind of weight loss potential you might expect on an OMAD diet, we have a collection of success stories. Everyone we’re about to introduce you to went on the OMAD diet and had spectacular results.

These results are not necessarily indicative of what you will experience if you try the OMAD diet, so keep that in mind. That said, you can at least see what’s possible when eating once a day, which is important.

The Football Fan’s Diet

The Football Fan’s Diet is a dieting resource that uses football terminology to inspire healthier eating and weight loss. It’s no surprise then that the site founder is quite healthy himself. The Pittsburgh-based site founder went on the OMAD diet for over three weeks. In that time, he lost nine pounds.

He would eat for four hours a day, timing himself. He didn’t necessarily eat very healthy food, either, as the site founder admitted to drinking beer and not counting calories. Still, OMAD worked for him!

Self Care Daily.co

Earlier this year, a writer on Self Care Daily.co wrote about her experience on the OMAD diet. She stuck to the diet for two weeks and dropped six pounds in that period. Unlike the Footfall Fan’s Diet, she ate for only an hour a day and then spent the other 23 hours in a fasted state.

Raising Justice and Journee

The YouTuber Raising Justice and Journee published a video in 2019 sharing the details of her dramatic weight loss eating once a day. She spent a month on the OMAD diet and dropped 20 pounds in that time. As a new mother, that’s a lot of weight to lose!

Boxing Scene

The last success story is one of the most dramatic. It’s from the founder of Boxing Scene, a resource for boxing news. The writer’s friend mentioned how they had had success on the OMAD diet, which inspired the site writer to go on the diet themselves.

They said the first week posed a lot of difficulties, but the results were incredible. In those first seven days, they dropped six pounds. Within 30 days, they had lost 15 pounds. In 60 days, 13 more pounds had come off.

Within four months, the writer had lost 51 pounds, which is extraordinary.

Celebrities Who Eat One Meal a Day

If you’re the type who’s more inspired by celebrities than everyday people, you’ll love this list of celebrities who at one time followed the OMAD diet or still do!

Jack Dorsey

Twitter has roughly 145 million users who log in every day to use the social media service, and that’s all thanks to founder Jack Dorsey.

Besides his wild success in the sphere of social media, Dorsey is also an OMAD diet follower. According to an Inc. article, Dorsey eats five meals every week, which is about one every day. He says it helps him to “feel so much more focused.”

When Dorsey does eat, he prefers dishes with Brussel sprouts, asparagus, spinach, steak, chicken, and fish.

Megan Fox

Actress Megan Fox, the star of the Transformers movies and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, was known to follow the OMAD diet around 2009. It was that year that an article in SparkPeople was published about her diet. She stuck to eating once in the evening without exercising. It seemed to have worked, as Fox was once declared the Sexiest Woman in the World.

Pippa Middleton

Years ago, the world fell in love with the Royal Family during the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Her sister, Pippa Middleton, was put on the map for her role as maid of honor in that famous wedding.

When it was Pippa’s turn to get married, she started eating once a day. She mostly focused on dishes like rye toast, porridge, sweet potato, quinoa, lentils, and brown rice.

Elizabeth Hurley

Model, actress, businesswoman: the beloved Elizabeth Hurley wears a lot of hats. To maintain her trim frame, she’s also tried nearly every diet under the sun, including a loose OMAD diet.

Hurley would consume hot water to start her day, then wait until the evening to eat. While she said this caused her to go to bed feeling hungry, she’s since revised her approach so her diet is more nutritious. It encompasses foods like grilled chicken, vegetable soup, and Greek yogurt.

Hugh Hefner

One of the most infamous celebrities of all time, Hugh Hefner was the founder of Playboy. He lived his life to the fullest until he died at age 91. According to a 2016 article in The Daily Meal, Hefner abided by the OMAD diet, eating only a baked potato and lamb chop. Yes, every single day.

Kohei Uchimura

From movie stars and models to Olympic athletes, Kohei Uchimura is a renowned gymnast from Japan. He’s taken home seven Olympic medals in his time competing in the games, with four silver medals and three gold ones. He’s also a well-decorated World medalist, having won 21 times.

Uchimura shared his diet secrets in this YouTube video. Here and elsewhere, he said he eats once a day after working out twice. To keep his energy up until he can eat, Uchimura drinks coffee.

Brooke Shields

A household name, Brooke Shields started her career as a model and actress. Today, she appears on TV shows and even does some voice acting.

At nearly 55 years old, part of the reason Shields may look so radiant is her diet. While it’s unclear if she still practices OMAD today, she certainly did around 2009. That’s when Daily Mail talked to Shields about her diet.

She says her one meal a day eating habits grew out of not having time to eat because she was performing so much theatrically.

Channing Tatum

One of the most popular male actors, Channing Tatum has starred in such films as Logan Lucky, The Hateful Eight, Foxcatcher, White House Down, and Dear John. His acting range is versatile, and he’s been called the Sexiest Man Alive by People in 2012.

When he first started breaking into Hollywood, Tatum says he ate once daily, although his eating habits weren’t the healthiest. He visited Checkers on the daily, consuming a hamburger. Since becoming a Hollywood megastar, Tatum has moved on to more nutritious eats.

Snooki

The Jersey Shore star turned dancer, author, and even professional wrestler Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi trimmed down after her first reality show ended. In a 2013 article in Wetpaint, Snooki said she did so partly through eating once daily, primarily vegetables and chicken.

Is Eating One Meal a Day Bad for You?

The OMAD diet can deliver amazing results if you stick to mostly nutritious foods for your one meal a day. However, there are some risks associated with this diet that we have to discuss. Make sure you read this section carefully so you know what to expect if you cut down your eating to one meal.

Brain Fog

This is a side effect of most fasting types that limit food consumption. As we’ve discussed on this blog, your body uses glucose for energy. This glucose comes from the foods we eat. While your body may have a leftover store of glucose, if you’re a regular faster, that’s less likely to be the case.

Therefore, when you stop eating, you’ll lack energy. This can create a sense of brain fog. You may like you can’t concentrate, which can make school or work tasks seem impossible.

We have two suggestions for this. One, follow in Kohei Uchimura’s footsteps and drink coffee to keep sharp throughout the day. You can also try OMAD fasting on the weekends or on days when you’re not as busy so this brain fog isn’t super detrimental.

Exhaustion

For the same reasons you feel mentally fuzzy, you’ll also notice you’re quite tired. It almost doesn’t matter how much sleep you get, as it doesn’t seem like enough.

Make sure you eat a nutritious, well-balanced meal when you do get a chance to eat, as this should help with your tiredness. If you can during the day, spend a few hours napping. This will speed up your fast and should erase most of your fatigue.

Weakness

Physical weakness can be a dangerous side effect that may be caused by OMAD dieting itself or by combining the diet with exercise. If you feel weak and unsteady on your feet, we’d suggest you stop all physical activity until later or even the next day.

Rest and lie down until most of the weakness passes. Remaining up and on your feet increases your chances of potentially hurting yourself in your weakened state.

Binge Eating

When you eat two or three meals a day with snacks in between, you probably rarely feel hungry for long. This feeling of satiety allows you to eat reasonably when you open the fridge or the kitchen cabinet.

When you have to live with your hunger literally every hour of the day but one, that sensation can get overwhelming. As soon as your eating hour arrives, you gorge yourself on anything and everything you can get your hands on.

You don’t feel hungry anymore, but you won’t lose any weight this way. Depending on what you eat and how much, there’s even a possibility you could gain weight.

Not everyone who follows the OMAD diet will binge like this, but it’s a possibility for some. You may eventually feel less hungry when you do get to eat, but it can take a while for your body to adjust. In those first few days of this new diet, you may be ravenous.

Instead of eating empty calories that will leave you hungry in an hour or less, stick to nutrient-dense foods that will fill you up and keep you fuller longer.

Nutrient Deficiencies

It’s hard enough for some people to get all their nutrients and minerals when they eat three meals a day. Now you’re only eating once every day and you have to account for all your nutrient and mineral needs. That can be difficult.

Through the OMAD diet, it’s possible to develop some nutrient deficiencies you may not have had before. We’d recommend talking to your doctor about which minerals and nutrients you need to consume daily and then making sure you incorporate these into your meal plan.

Dehydration

Some people think that because you can’t eat more than once on an OMAD diet that you only have an hour to fulfill your hydration needs as well. As we said at the beginning of this article, that’s not true. You can sip on coffee and water throughout the day, and you should, especially water. This prevents dehydration, which can be fatal in serious cases.

Hypoglycemia or Hyperglycemia

Even if you’re not diabetic, you may want to consider investing in a blood sugar meter so you know where yours is as you fast. When you go 23 hours of the day without food, there’s always a possibility your blood pressure can drop quite low, leading to a case of hypoglycemia.

If you are the type who binge eats for your daily OMAD meal, you can top out your blood sugar, leading to hyperglycemia. Both aren’t great for your health, so try to have a gauge on where your blood sugar is at all times.

Eating Disorder Risk

Admittedly, the biggest risk of the OMAD diet is that it could create an eating disorder mentality. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as of 2018, roughly three percent of US adolescents have an eating disorder.

Disordered eating can easily carry into adulthood. Even those who have never had an eating disorder may find that eating once a day creates a negative relationship with food. Women tend to have eating disorders more than men, and it’s believed that the OMAD diet is more dangerous for women.

If you notice that you feel different about eating or that you care more about counting and cutting calories than you once did, it may be time to quit the OMAD diet for a while.

Conclusion

The one meal a day or OMAD diet limits you to a one-hour window in which to eat. The other 23 hours of the day are for fasting. You have plenty of freedom in what you can eat during that hour, but healthier, more nutritious meals will deliver greater results, such as weight loss.

Now that you know more about the OMAD diet, you can decide whether it’s right for you. If you want to try it, you can also follow it safely. Best of luck!

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