Intermittent Fasting and One Meal a Day (OMAD)

Your body stores fat. Your cells produce byproducts, cells and proteins get damaged.

Intermittent fasting is not consuming calories over a period of time and only eating within a certain number of hours. OMAD is a more restrictive form in that one only consumes calories in one meal and maybe a snack a short time afterwards.

The most common is for people to eat in a 8 hour window and fast for 16 hour. Another common variation is a 6 hour window to eat and fast for 18 hours. Your eating window should fit your life's schedule. If you work nights, your schedule would be different than someone who works days.

Can you have anything at all during the fasting period. Most experts agree that plain water, black coffee, and unsweetened tea do not break your fast. Some say you can add a splash of cream and sweeteners to those beverages.

Why do this? Your body will burn stored fat faster after approximately 12 hours of fasting. The longer the fasting window the more fat you will burn. Those damaged cells, proteins and such are cleansed out of your body after 12 to 14 hours of fasting, so it helps with general body cleansing and health.

Once you are fat adapted, your appetite will greatly reduce. So going longer is not harder.

I started with 16:8 after living keto for about 6 weeks. After two weeks I switched to 18:6. I didn't find that difficult at all and decided to try OMAD for a day or two. I have been OMAD ever since with an occasional 18:6 thrown in to work around social events. I work 5:30 am to 6:00 pm. My original eating window was noon to 8p. Then it was 2p to 8p. Now I eat my one meal at 7:30 p and have a sweet snack at 8:30p.