For most people, there are no serious dangers involved in eating one meal a day, other than the discomforts of feeling hungry. That said, there are some risks for people with cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Eating one meal a day can increase your blood pressure and cholesterol.
The one-meal-a-day diet — also known as 23:1 intermittent fasting — may help people lose weight and body fat. However, it can lead to hunger and cravings and may not be suitable for everyone.
How to get started with OMAD. It's best to start with 12-14 hour overnight fasts, which helps eliminate late-night snacking. Once you master the 12-14 hour overnight fast, the most logical and easiest progression is to move to 16-18 hour fasts. Add 1-hour of fasting time every week until you are fasting for 22-23 hours ...
While it seems perfectly fine to eat two meals a day, such a routine is not suitable for everyone. There are a few groups of people who are advised not to try such a diet plan. It is because such a meal plan may increase their risk of health problems.
"Across all peer-reviewed research and health practices, three meals a day is a general recommendation to encourage consistent, adequate energy intake," Miluk said.
While many folks still plan their days around “three square meals,” it turns out the number of meals you eat may not be so important. How you eat those meals is what matters most when it comes to decreasing the risk of heart disease and other health problems that come along with being overweight.
The goal is to eat every 3 to 4 hours in order to keep your blood sugar consistent and for your stomach to optimally digest. Setting this schedule consistently across days can also help curb overeating which can lead to bloating or indigestion.
Mood swings, lack of concentration, irritability are some common side effects of following one meal a day diet. If you eat fewer calories in a day, your body goes into a preservation mode, which slows down your metabolism. This may be harmful to you in the long term.
One of the latest trends among celebrities is the “one meal a day” diet (or “Omad”). Fans of Omad include Bruce Springsteen and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin. Many proponents of Omad claim it helps them better manage their weight and keep fit.
OMAD can then start to look a lot like chronic caloric restriction. Although chronic caloric restriction helps with initial weight loss, it poses long-term concerns because it tends to lower resting metabolic rate, which makes weight loss very difficult to maintain.
The one meal a day (OMAD) diet is, simply put, fasting from food for 23 hours a day and eating whatever you'd like for one meal. That meal can range from a double cheeseburger and fries to a more healthful salad loaded with greens, roasted veggies, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.
Nutrition professionals do not advise trying the OMAD diet for any length of time. It's incredibly restrictive and unsustainable and can lead to extreme weight loss, nutrient deficiencies and binging.
This extreme style of intermittent fasting actually helps take fat off of the liver. This can help correct fatty liver disease.
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's normal and acceptable to enjoy an indulgent meal from time to time, just don't make it a regular occurrence. Don't think of a bad meal as cheating, but rather as a “conscious indulgence.” As long as you follow a healthy diet 90 percent of the time, you can have a “conscious indulgence” two to three times a week.
Eating once a day slows down your metabolism.
"If you go long periods of time without eating, your metabolism actually slows down to hold on to energy," Brenda Braslow, RD, MS with MyNetDiary. "It can defeat your efforts to cut back on calorie intake."
King Charles III's former press secretary has revealed some of his eating habits.
Risks of OMAD
An unhappy stomach Some people experience cramping or stomach pain with eating after prolonged periods of fasting. Others may have diarrhea or loose stools. Increased blood sugar OMAD fasting has been found by one study to increase fasting glucose (5).
You need to eat only once when on OMAD diet, but that doesn't mean that you will not even have water for the rest of the day. Keeping yourself hydrated is the key to lose weight. So, drink plenty of water. You can even have coffee, tea, and other calorie-free beverages when following this diet.
“Ideally, an 8-to-10-hour window during daytime is the best time for us to eat.” On the other hand, Wick says making a routine out of eating late in the evening or at night doesn't give our body ample time to use the energy it gets from the food we eat.
It's best to stop eating about three hours before going to bed. That allows plenty of time for your body to digest the last food you ate so it won't disrupt your sleep, but leaves a small enough window before sleep that you won't go to bed feeling hungry.
The best time to have your breakfast is within two hours of waking up. Having breakfast after waking up is good for your metabolism, say experts.
The Theory: Nutrition experts tend to recommend eating 3 balanced meals (350 to 600 calories each) and 1 to 3 snacks per day (between 150 and 200 calories each). The calories for each meal and snack depend on a variety of factors including, height, weight, age, gender and activity level.
In Western culture, it is a common idea that the daily food intake should be divided into three square meals: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Often dieticians suggest adding two snacks (morning and afternoon) to help appetite control, and indeed the mainstream media message is to eat “five to six times a day”.