Health Benefits of Intermittant Fasting and OMAD (one meal a day)

Olivia said:
The only way I have ever lost weight was by eating less, therefore my mantra "Hunger is my Friend". Didn't matter when I ate. Just cut back.
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I tried doing that, cutting down on portions, it didn't work. With me I've noticed that the more often I eat the hungrier I get. By restricting the time I can eat to only 2 hours puts a brake on my eating portions. I simply can't eat a lot at once. I always say that the all-you-can-eat buffet style restaurants make money on me because I can't eat a lot at one sitting. So, eating only for two hours a day is helping me lose the weight. Your way is probably the healthiest option, but we're all different, the end goal is what is important to me. I want to be 140lbs before the start of 2020. Yeah!
 

Once you understand the different forms of sugar and how they affect your blood sugar / insulin / metabolism, you will better understand how calories aren’t all the same and how the human body uses fuel for energy. Understanding this is important if you are striving to reduce food in order to lose weight.

My brother in law lost over 100 pounds in less than 8 months on a keto diet and has kept it off. He did this all doctor supervised which was a wise choice but like PVC, it’s far too restrictive for me. Besides which a keto diet isn’t meant to be a lifestyle change and should only be used no more than 6 months at a time as it’s very hard on the liver & kidneys whereas a low carb diet can be used indefinitely as a dietary choice.

People who do well on these types of diets are usually people who do well eating a variety of meats, vegetables, fats, dairy. Not everyone can.

Restricting sugar in the diet as a way to lose weight is far healthy than the conventional way of restricting fat and / or calories. Low fat products actually cause more increases in weight due to the added sugars.
The body needs fats. They are an essential part of a healthy diet.
 
PVC, have you (or anyone else on this thread) lost weight using the OMAD or restricted hours for eating methods having reached their goal? I'm not asking about other folks outside of SF who have written about it.

It's true, the more I eat the more I want to eat. I guess the body wants whatever it can get. I think it's part of how humans evolved to survive. Restricting food does work against natural tendencies of our biology. But habits can overcome that. And that takes time and learning to eat normally but less during a day, every day, is teaching the body to be happy with less. To me, cramming oneself with food once a day or during restricted hours is just not going to do that. I'm just curious how it;s worked for anyone here and how does one maintain that.
 

I lost 100 pounds on a combination of restricted time and low carb. At the time I didn’t understand about restricted time diets so didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. Between this restricted diet and walking I lost all the weight. It took me a bit over a year and up until this year I kept it off.

I was 219 pounds back in 2009 and went down to about 140 pounds then went to 115 in the summer of 2017.

Note: I was walking at least two hours a day and wouldn’t eat until I got home. After a while this became my daily routine.
 
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Olivia said:
PVC, have you (or anyone else on this thread) lost weight using the OMAD or restricted hours for eating methods having reached their goal? I'm not asking about other folks outside of SF who have written about it.

It's true, the more I eat the more I want to eat. I guess the body wants whatever it can get. I think it's part of how humans evolved to survive. Restricting food does work against natural tendencies of our biology. But habits can overcome that. And that takes time and learning to eat normally but less during a day, every day, is teaching the body to be happy with less. To me, cramming oneself with food once a day or during restricted hours is just not going to do that. I'm just curious how it;s worked for anyone here and how does one maintain that.
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Olivia. I get the distinct feeling that you disagree with any other ways of losing weight that don’t use the standard methods of counting calories to do so like you and trade are doing.

You don’t come directly out and say as much but your post(s) suggest as much.
 
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Olivia said:
PVC, have you (or anyone else on this thread) lost weight using the OMAD or restricted hours for eating methods having reached their goal? I'm not asking about other folks outside of SF who have written about it.

It's true, the more I eat the more I want to eat. I guess the body wants whatever it can get. I think it's part of how humans evolved to survive. Restricting food does work against natural tendencies of our biology. But habits can overcome that. And that takes time and learning to eat normally but less during a day, every day, is teaching the body to be happy with less. To me, cramming oneself with food once a day or during restricted hours is just not going to do that. I'm just curious how it;s worked for anyone here and how does one maintain that.
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I was 164 when I started in September 2018 and am now 151. During that time I cheated a lot and went for many days eating the 2-3 meals a day. Even now I eat on Sundays as a form of treating myself after 6 days of fasting/eating for two hours. I should not, but keeping the spirits up is just as important as keeping the weight down. As I said, eating your way is healthier, but you must have good willpower to do it. I don't have strong willpower, the only thing I've done consistently and for a long period in my life is becoming a vegetarian in Nov 1984 and have never eaten animal flesh in all that time. But, I did that ''for the animals'' and that has been a very strong incentive for me. This diet works for me, it's very flexible and I have 11 more lbs to go. I was 150 on Saturday and gained one lb yesterday, my cheat day, and today I'm ''back on the wagon''.
 
Keesha said:
Olivia. I get the distinct feeling that you disagree with any other ways of losing weight that don’t use the standard methods of counting calories to do so like you and trade are dining.

You don’t come directly out and say as much but your post(s) suggest as much.
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It's not a matter of agree or disagree. I just never could do that and I just wonder how some folks do. To me, it''s self torture. Seriously, even right before my scheduled next meal (one of three a day) I even feel a bit weak and starving sometimes. But then I get to eat that next meal and then I'm fine. If I had to eat OMAD, the next thing I know I would scarfing down anything I could get my hands on. 😛

Anyway, I speak for myself. Nobody else.
 
Olivia said:
It's not a matter of agree or disagree. I just never could do that and I just wonder how some folks do. To me, it''s self torture. Seriously, even right before my scheduled next meal (one of three a day) I even feel a bit weak and starving sometimes. But then I get to eat that next meal and then I'm fine. If I had to eat OMAD, the next thing I know I would scarfing down anything I could get my hands on. 😛

Anyway, I speak for myself. Nobody else.
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Ok fair enough.
Thank you.
 
Keesha said:
Restricted time diets key points
https://www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting/time-restricted-eating
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Thank you so much for the restricted time article, great reading. This below shocked me, I can't believe the guy fasted that long and lived:

{{Let’s put it this way. Why would a highly obese person EVER be hungry? They have enough fat stores to last a very long time. The world record for fasting went to a 456 pound man who fasted for 382 days, consuming only water and vitamins and losing 276 pounds with no ill effects (although we don’t recommend this!).}}
 
Olivia said:
If I had to eat OMAD, the next thing I know I would scarfing down anything I could get my hands on. 😛
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BUT, you would only have ONE HOUR time on the OMAD to scarf down food on. And when you fast the other 23 hours your body would have to find the sugar elsewhere (your fat cells). Like I've said, you must have strong willpower to limit your food consumption, not everybody does. I feel hungry in the afternoon, like 3 hours before my 5pm eating window and I don't feel faint or anything, so it works for me. I feel better knowing that that hunger means my body is eating my fat cells, so I grit my teeth and put up with the hunger.
 
PVC said:
Well, I hope you don't intent to get back to 115! At 5'7'' you would look anorexic.
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Oh I was VERY anorexic looking. Even @ 125 pounds I was too thin looking for my height.
I gained the weight due to ptsd and clinical depression and lost most of in just over a year (most of the weight I gained in just over a year also)

The weight I lost after 140 pounds was due to another reason entirely. I DID NOT want to lose that much weight. In fact I think 130 is the lowest I’d like to get.
 
PVC said:
BUT, you would only have ONE HOUR time on the OMAD to scarf down food on. And when you fast the other 23 hours your body would have to find the sugar elsewhere (your fat cells). Like I've said, you must have strong willpower to limit your food consumption, not everybody does. I feel hungry in the afternoon, like 3 hours before my 5pm eating window and I don't feel faint or anything, so it works for me. I feel better knowing that that hunger means my body is eating my fat cells, so I grit my teeth and put up with the hunger.
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Plus when you first start, you are famished. It takes a few days of low blood sugar from eating such a diet to stop intense food cravings but they do stop.
The only time they come back is if I cheat or work out too much
 
PVC said:
Thank you so much for the restricted time article, great reading. This below shocked me, I can't believe the guy fasted that long and lived:

{{Let’s put it this way. Why would a highly obese person EVER be hungry? They have enough fat stores to last a very long time. The world record for fasting went to a 456 pound man who fasted for 382 days, consuming only water and vitamins and losing 276 pounds with no ill effects (although we don’t recommend this!).}}
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You’re welcome. It’s a great article that explains the science of why it works. I was shocked at the guy who lost 276 pounds in one year. 🥴😨 Thats scary even.
 
Keesha said:
Oh I was VERY anorexic looking. Even @ 125 pounds I was too thin looking for my height.
I gained the weight due to ptsd and clinical depression and lost most of in just over a year (most of the weight I gained in just over a year also)

The weight I lost after 140 pounds was due to another reason entirely. I DID NOT want to lose that much weight. In fact I think 130 is the lowest I’d like to get.
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Yeah I went to look at the weight chart I posted (#582) and it said that a good weight for 5'7'' is 121-153, so 132 would put you in the middle and give you room to gain a few pounds before getting alarmed. Good goal.
 
There are many things you don’t think of as being complications of being obese until you are. It didn’t surprise me too much that my ring would need cutting off but I hadn’t even considered that my shoe size would increase and my feet actually change shape. Since foot size increases in all directions this can change your walking gait or the way you walk.

That was the turning point for me. I couldn’t walk properly any more. Another surprising thing is how much more painful body joints are due to all the extra weight. Fibromyalgia symptoms were accumulating and pain was increasing. When it got to the point that I couldn’t walk my dogs properly I decided to lose the weight.

Since I’ve never really been a breakfast eater I walked hours before eating my main meal and after months of doing this , the weight dropped off but a HUGE part of my weight loss was the walking. I did some serious walking and still do so technically I am eating less and exercising more.


Is there anything that surprised you when you gained weight ?
 
Keesha said:
Is there anything that surprised you when you gained weight ?
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My weight came on gradually, it just creeped up on me as I got older. My top weight was 164, before that is was like 149. I don't remember having any health problems per se, but I was disgusted how my belly area looked, that's where most of my weight went to reside.

I had one morbidly obese friend and most of her complaints were that her inner thigs rubbed against each other when she walked and they became raw and painful and that her knees hurt.
 
I am trying out this diet, or way of eating. I am settling for my eating window is supper. I cheated only once and drank a meal replacement but it had lots of sugars and carbs. So, we will see how it goes.
 
PVC said:
BUT, you would only have ONE HOUR time on the OMAD to scarf down food on. And when you fast the other 23 hours your body would have to find the sugar elsewhere (your fat cells). Like I've said, you must have strong willpower to limit your food consumption, not everybody does. I feel hungry in the afternoon, like 3 hours before my 5pm eating window and I don't feel faint or anything, so it works for me. I feel better knowing that that hunger means my body is eating my fat cells, so I grit my teeth and put up with the hunger.
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That pretty much says it for me. Willpower, saying no, and just doing it.
 
I am very happy with this diet, with the window of eating. I have not cheated but once and am gradually losing pounds! One at a time. I haven't done a diet recently that helped me lose ANY pounds. While I was off healing from my total knee replacement, I ate whatever and even a size 18 got tight! So, I am glad I found this board and the forum at the OMAD site as well.
 
fancicoffee13 said:
I am very happy with this diet, with the window of eating. I have not cheated but once and am gradually losing pounds! One at a time. I haven't done a diet recently that helped me lose ANY pounds. While I was off healing from my total knee replacement, I ate whatever and even a size 18 got tight! So, I am glad I found this board and the forum at the OMAD site as well.
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Im happy with this diet and lifestyle change also and I’m losing weight and getting toned up. While there isn’t much weight loss itself, my body IS shaping up quite nicely now. My clothes aren’t as tight and my muscle tone is showing more.

At one point in my life for a short period of time I was a size 18 and I hated it. I promised myself I’d never be that neglectful of my body again and haven’t been. I’m glad you joined this forum and found this thread. We can support each other’s progress. ❤🥰
 
Keesha said:
While there isn’t much weight loss itself, my body IS shaping up quite nicely now. My clothes aren’t as tight and my muscle tone is showing more.
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You do have to remember that muscle is heavier than fat. You have been working out a lot and building muscle (see highlight above) and your scale might not be going down but that's because your new muscles weigh more. Yours is the better result than mine since I don't exercise. Keep it up! I wouldn't care how much I weighed if I looked slim and fit instead of looking like an apple, supposedly the worst kind of fat.

Funny story. When my son-in-law was in the army he got a warning that his weight was above regulations. He had been doing weightlifting and was very toned with no fat. He pointed it out to them but they ''went by the book".
 
fancicoffee13 said:
I am very happy with this diet, with the window of eating. I have not cheated but once and am gradually losing pounds! One at a time. I haven't done a diet recently that helped me lose ANY pounds. While I was off healing from my total knee replacement, I ate whatever and even a size 18 got tight! So, I am glad I found this board and the forum at the OMAD site as well.
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I was 149 lbs when I retired, a little heavy but not disgusting. After I retired I became less active and the pounds creeped on until I reached 164. I tried ALL kinds of diets. Okinawa, Mediterranean, several others, even the 5:2. The 5:2 was hard because I had to fast 36 hours twice a week and then go back to eating normal, that yo-yo kind of diet does not work for me. With this diet it's steady every day, same time every day (except my Sunday cheating) and it works great. When I reach my goal I've decided to eat breakfast, skip lunch, and eat a reasonable dinner, we'll see if I can maintain my weight loss that way. If not, it'll be back to the drawing board, maybe even doing this diet as a lifestyle.
 

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