It may help you to burn fat. Study participants who tried eating one meal a day ended up with less total body fat. This particular group of people didn't experience significant weight loss. That said, intermittent fasting in general has proven to be an effective weight-loss method.
A 2007 study compared the effect of eating the same number of calories in one or three meals per day for 6 months in a group of healthy adults. None of the participants experienced a significant weight change, but those who ate only one meal per day experienced a reduction in body fat.
OMAD diet starts working from the very first day of fasting. You can lose 1-3 kilograms in the first week of doing OMAD. Reduction of carbohydrates and sodium intake from diet triggers the body to release extracellular water. That said, any changes on the scale in the first week are due to the water loss (2).
It can be useful to remember that, just as one day of dieting will not cause a person to lose weight, a day of binge eating will not cause weight gain. Although an episode of overeating can happen to anyone occasionally, some people have a binge eating disorder, which usually requires professional attention.
Theoretically, eating 10,000 calories in a single day can make you gain up to 3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) of weight. That's quite a lot, and depending on your age, height, weight, etc., you'd need around 10 hours of intense exercise to burn it off.
Going a day without eating is generally safe and can be beneficial in several ways, including as a weight-loss tool. Fasting does not help weight loss any more than other conventional approaches and can be harder to stick with over the long term.
However, other studies show that while consuming 1,000 calories a day may result in significant weight loss, most people cannot sustain it and often experience significant weight regain . The reasons include regaining lost muscle mass and increased appetite. Also worth noting is that the human body can adapt.
Overeating one day will not have much impact on your weight, but it will surely leave you feeling bloated. You can have an extra slice of your favorite cheesecake occasionally, but do not make this your habit. The next day, return to your fitness routine and everything will be fine.
Short-term risks of eating 1,000 calories a day may include dizziness, hunger, gallstones, nausea, fatigue, headaches, and nutrient deficiencies. It can lead to nutrient deficiencies, slow metabolism, and make bones weaker if you exercise along with a low-calorie diet.
Outside of the eating window, there are no restrictions on the OMAD Diet. So you can eat whatever you want on OMAD, as long as it's in your eating window. Now, as in any intermittent fasting protocol (which OMAD would fall into), it's encouraged that you eat as healthy as possible during your eating window.
"Across all peer-reviewed research and health practices, three meals a day is a general recommendation to encourage consistent, adequate energy intake," Miluk said.
So, the science seems to say the healthiest way to eat throughout the day is to have two or three meals, with a long fasting window overnight, to not eat too early or too late in the day, and to consume more calories earlier on in the day.
Mattson says that after hours without food, the body exhausts its sugar stores and starts burning fat. He refers to this as metabolic switching. “Intermittent fasting contrasts with the normal eating pattern for most Americans, who eat throughout their waking hours,” Mattson says.
Not eating means your body doesn't get the sugars it needs to operate properly. This leads to a process called gluconeogenesis, which also causes the loss of appetite. Gluconeogenesis is your body's way of telling itself that blood glucose levels are too low.
Some markers include reduction in blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and surprisingly an increase of energy and clarity of thinking. One theory is that hunger initiates a constant stress level that makes us stronger and more resistant to aging.
However, calorie intake should not fall below 1,200 a day in women or 1,500 a day in men, except under the supervision of a health professional. Eating too few calories can endanger your health by depriving you of needed nutrients.
Why am I gaining weight while eating less than 800 calories a day? 800 cal is very little, so you put yourself in a starvation mode, where your body tries to save energy. Whatever you eat that exceeds your metabolic rate, will therefore turn into fat.
Some research also suggests that weight loss is about more than the calories a person consumes and burns. The body may change the rate at which it burns calories depending on how many calories a person eats. Therefore a person on a 1,200 calorie diet may burn fewer of them. This can slow weight loss.