One Meal A Day (OMAD). Super simple, and apparently all that some of us need. Damn you, boxed cereals from the 80s touting your "most important meal of the day!"
I have a couple of cousins who have always struggled with weight, but needed to lose pounds for hip replacement. They are doing OMAD and have lost a lot of weight! In their 60’s and look better than they have since they were young!
I have come to realise that eating 2 moderate meals a day, with equal amount of veggies, carbs and protein does wonders to your weight.
Be careful with all these minerals fren. My guess is (I am not a doctor) this stuff will put your kidneys to extra work. Do you have a way to monitor it and make sure you they are not going crazy?
I have done fasting and have chronic kidney disease. I am supposed to watch my
Potassium and salt intake. For me, with the snake juice type stuff, I just kept a log of how much I was taking in, and also tried to spread it out throughout the day as to not impact my kidneys with 1000mg of potassium all at once lol.
I've been doing the 18:6 schedule and eating between 6 AM and 12 PM. I'm also restricting calories something fierce! Most days I try to have between 1200 and 1500 calories. They add up fast though! One sandwich can easily have 600 - 800 calories depending upon what all you put on it.
I've also completed my fourth day straight on intense 40 minute cardio sessions on my Rogue Echo Bike, or as I like to call it, The Pain Machine!. 😰
I've dropped 15 lb since April, but its really been picking up in this last week since I started diligently doing my cardio every day.
I'm aiming to get into the best shape of my life before The Storm hits.
how does everyone get past the shakes and pass out feelings from not eating, if you get them? i am only 5 ft 1 and like 110lbs max, so a small person by genetics to begin with, but i still get really nauceous and shaky if i do not eat at least a little once my stomach growls, ESP after coffee. i can eat a lot. lol. i would like to try this intermittent thing sometime for all the benefits but have never been able to go half a day w o eating. also, i feel like im dying if i dont have carbs.
It takes time. Fasting is like any other form of exercise, be it weight lifting, cardio, etc... When you fast, you put stress on your body.
Take it easy and start slow. Start with a basic circadian rhythm fast with 12 on 12 off eating pattern.
From there move to a 8 on 16 off.
Then a 4 on 20 off.
If you slowly ramp up your fasting like this, soon going 23 hours without eating will be a breeze. The body slowly becomes adapted to drawing energy from fat instead of digested food.
Also, if you are finding yourself shaking and getting light headed you are defintly low on electrolytes. Follow OP's guide for how to fix that. Get your minerals in each and every day! I'd wager most Americans are extremely low on their potassium, magnesium, and sodium levels.
I believe it can take many years retraining the body's insulin sensitivity before you can begin to drop your guard.
Dr. Fung describes this concept as a fat thermostat. The body has a set weight that is "normal." When you deviate from that weight, the body will vigorously defend itself against the weight loss from a pure survival standpoint. Afterall, if our ancient ancestors dropped 20 - 30 lb when they were hunters and gatherers, they'd have died of starvation.
In order to lower the body's set weight, you have to aggressively and consistently lower the body's insulin repeatedly over an extended period of time in order to retrain the body and achieve a new healthier set weight.
You are certainly correct. The only way to manage to solve these issues indefinitely is through consistent lifestyle changes.
I have found it helps to eat a couple small healthy low carb meals a day or so before you start your fast. If you think oh tomorrow I’m fasting so I’m going to pig out on pizza or something, you will have a harder time fasting.
Also everyBODY is different, some people have a really hard one without food, others can do it easily. I found caffeine helped, drinking lots of water with electrolytes helped too.
Dr. Fung talks a lot about the body’s hunger hormone and how it comes in waves and decreases over time. Frost couple days are always hard then after that it’s a breeze.
Read some more about blood sugar and insulin response to foods. Once you know more you can understand your cravings and see changes as your body is not pumping out insulin constantly during the day. Especially bad is when people 'nurse' a soda (or sweet tea) all day long. "But I don't eat anything, I just sip throughout the day'. Bad news - that keeps your insulin response going constantly. Fill your day with other pursuits to distract your cravings. After 3 - 5 days of no sugar, your body stops 'expecting' it/carbs/sugar and looks for other sources of energy (liver moves to your fat stores to get the energy for bodily functions). You will also see a big flush of retained water out of your body that your heart was having to deal with. Please give this a chance. Saying "I can't" do this (avoid cravings, miss a meal, eschew carbs) sets you up for failure. In anything.
Awesome info. Thanks fren!! I really only eat a lot of sugar when i have the munchies but i know i get a ton from all the carbs i need to sustain me lol. Obviously, thats bc of a lack of trying to change that but still. :) and when im trying to cut back on nicotine....i will sugar out. I can never say i eat anything bc while in the smallest person i know, i have to eat more than anyone i know to not feel weird. But thank you so much fren!
For sure......prob why I have never really looked into it. If anything, if i eat lean for like 2 wks, i need to actually gain weight. My dad was the same way. I have heard they are good if even not for weight loss so def curious of other benefits. Thanks fren!!!
for me, I lost over 30lbs via a carnivore dinner once a day (i.e. no veg, no fruit, no carbs at all) and salt water sipped all through the day. So - 22 hr. fasts most days.
At first, I was mega into the coffee, but lately, I find it tasteless, and it makes me feel jumpy, so I am more drinking herbal teas and water as well.
I have done a few 48hr fasts too.
I can hear the squeals from here, but you see I tried Keto and got hives from the green veg and carrots, so it was just a natural step to make.
Salt water is amazing BTW. it soothes a rumbly tummy, keeps you alert, takes away headaches, and is also good when acid reflux strikes.
Well, I have been carnivore for two and half years now, and I have yet to need potassium.
The craving for all those fruits is a craving for fructose IMO.
I was a vegan and a vegetarian before that, and that period of my life was riddled with being underweight, incessant hunger, rashes, candida infections and gum trouble, which all cleared up when I switched to meat only.
I don't fast but I'll admit I actually did buy the Biotrust Keto powder off of the X22 promo saying "what the hell, I'll at least try it." Well to my surprise that 1 scoop in the morning (mixed into water or my morning applesauce or yogurt) not only does give me energy to last to lunch with less snacking but more importantly it got me down from 3 cans of soda a day to 1 or none and I've not been having caffeine withdrawal headaches like I used to. And I mean I greatly reduced most of my caffeine habit in a single weekend to my surprise, I used to be barely able to function in the morning without it. The stuff is basically just powdered MCT oil with a flavor not unlike coffee creamer, the MCTs help trigger ketosis in you without having to try and go zero-carb to force your body into it.
It's expensive stuff to use long-term but in the short term it's at least helping me kick some old habits and hopefully readjust my metabolism as I make other changes so that I don't need it going forward.
Bulletproof coffee will help you get through the morning without causing you headaches, etc. In a little blender: black coffee + MCT oil (coconut oil—I found at Walmart) + a pat of butter (use really good, high quality butter). Blend and it will foam up and look like a cappuccino. It does not technically break your fast and the oil will help your brain. It gets me through to around 1-2pm before I need to eat.
...but i still get really nauceous and shaky if i do not eat at least a little once my stomach growls,
When your stomach is growling, that is the peak of the battle that you must win. Keep fighting, do not give in. The growls, and that nausea felling will go away after about 30-45 mins. It's temporary. The growling is caused by your stomach shrinking, and intestines rubbing together as your stomach is tightening. But after your stomach has adjusted itself into a more compact form, you will not feel hungry anymore. Your body will adjust your stomach a few times per day.
The key is to not stretch it out again by eating bulky, slow digesting meals, or by eating too often. The smaller you can shrink your stomach by fighting off the growls, the less you will need to eat to trick your stomach into feeling full, which in turn will help to shrink your stomach faster.
Everyone is different, but for my body it takes about a week of doing that routine before I get to the point where I hardly feel like I need to eat.
I did a hardcore water fast for 11 days a while back. After the first day I really wasn't hungry. I found myself missing the ritual of eating in a nostalgic way. There's a big hole in your day where you normally would spend time eating. I finally quit on day 11 as it seemed like I wasn't drinking enough pure water and my kidneys felt like they were knotted up. Energy remained good, as did my mental clarity. I might try it again with better electrolytes and hydration.
Something may have clicked in my metabolism after that. Several months later I found that I could easily lose a half a pound a day by limiting my night time meals to only unsweetened juice in any quantity. My body just downshifted and decided that 186 was preferable to 216. I've hovered within a pound or two of 186 ever since with no effort at all.
Another good water fast may take my average weight down into an even better range.
For me, days 1-3 are hard, with day 3 being the worst. After that, smooth sailing! Funny how just warming the water, or adding a squeeze of lime with sea salt becomes an exciting taste experience!
I recommend everybody work their way toward eating one meal per day. It's not nearly as difficult as some people believe. If you're eating 3 meals now, simply cut out one, preferably breakfast as eating a sensible lunch and dinner can get you on or close to the 18:6 (no eating:eating) fast. Once you get used to that, try skipping either a lunch or dinner for a day or two and see how it goes. I immediately adapted to it, but I know it took others a few tries before they settled into it.
We truly only need roughly 1/3 of the calories most people believe they need. And the less you eat, the longer you live. Digestion is the most taxing process your body performs for you daily. The less time spent digesting, the more time the body can dedicate to restoring, rebuilding, healing, etc.
BTW OP, I've done a number of 3-day fasts, one 5-day fast and one 7-day fast over the past few years. The only time I feel a little hungry is on the first night. During both the 5-day and 7-day fasts I felt like it would be simple to keep going but didn't want to push things too far - incremental steps. The next one I try will be for 10-days. I only drink morning coffee (with a touch of creme) and water during the fasts.
I know somebody who has done a 28-day fast. He said it was a cinch and he felt like a million bucks afterwards. I'm not quite ready for that just yet...maybe some day.
I used to do this a lot and lost over 80lbs, then relapsed and gained most of it back, then lost it all again. I used to do 3-4 days a week nothing but water/coffee/tea then eat on the weekend and early in the week and back at it midweek. Longest fast ever ever done was 21 days. For my body type OMAD and shortening a daily eating window did nothing, it’s extended fasts or nothing lol.
I’ve also done keto which is very good, I also lost a ton of weight on that, but for my body type I had to be very strict on keto. A cheat day could ruin two weeks of weight loss while others could have a cheat day once a week and still lose.
I always felt amazing while fasting, tons of energy, even felt a bit manic here and there lol.
One Meal A Day (OMAD). Super simple, and apparently all that some of us need. Damn you, boxed cereals from the 80s touting your "most important meal of the day!"
Black coffee till noon, water all day, dinner.
I have a couple of cousins who have always struggled with weight, but needed to lose pounds for hip replacement. They are doing OMAD and have lost a lot of weight! In their 60’s and look better than they have since they were young!
I have come to realise that eating 2 moderate meals a day, with equal amount of veggies, carbs and protein does wonders to your weight.
Be careful with all these minerals fren. My guess is (I am not a doctor) this stuff will put your kidneys to extra work. Do you have a way to monitor it and make sure you they are not going crazy?
I have done fasting and have chronic kidney disease. I am supposed to watch my Potassium and salt intake. For me, with the snake juice type stuff, I just kept a log of how much I was taking in, and also tried to spread it out throughout the day as to not impact my kidneys with 1000mg of potassium all at once lol.
I too am fasting Anon!
I've been doing the 18:6 schedule and eating between 6 AM and 12 PM. I'm also restricting calories something fierce! Most days I try to have between 1200 and 1500 calories. They add up fast though! One sandwich can easily have 600 - 800 calories depending upon what all you put on it.
I've also completed my fourth day straight on intense 40 minute cardio sessions on my Rogue Echo Bike, or as I like to call it, The Pain Machine!. 😰
I've dropped 15 lb since April, but its really been picking up in this last week since I started diligently doing my cardio every day.
I'm aiming to get into the best shape of my life before The Storm hits.
how does everyone get past the shakes and pass out feelings from not eating, if you get them? i am only 5 ft 1 and like 110lbs max, so a small person by genetics to begin with, but i still get really nauceous and shaky if i do not eat at least a little once my stomach growls, ESP after coffee. i can eat a lot. lol. i would like to try this intermittent thing sometime for all the benefits but have never been able to go half a day w o eating. also, i feel like im dying if i dont have carbs.
Fat adaption.
It takes time. Fasting is like any other form of exercise, be it weight lifting, cardio, etc... When you fast, you put stress on your body.
Take it easy and start slow. Start with a basic circadian rhythm fast with 12 on 12 off eating pattern.
From there move to a 8 on 16 off.
Then a 4 on 20 off.
If you slowly ramp up your fasting like this, soon going 23 hours without eating will be a breeze. The body slowly becomes adapted to drawing energy from fat instead of digested food.
Also, if you are finding yourself shaking and getting light headed you are defintly low on electrolytes. Follow OP's guide for how to fix that. Get your minerals in each and every day! I'd wager most Americans are extremely low on their potassium, magnesium, and sodium levels.
The key is to manage insulin resistance.
I believe it can take many years retraining the body's insulin sensitivity before you can begin to drop your guard.
Dr. Fung describes this concept as a fat thermostat. The body has a set weight that is "normal." When you deviate from that weight, the body will vigorously defend itself against the weight loss from a pure survival standpoint. Afterall, if our ancient ancestors dropped 20 - 30 lb when they were hunters and gatherers, they'd have died of starvation.
In order to lower the body's set weight, you have to aggressively and consistently lower the body's insulin repeatedly over an extended period of time in order to retrain the body and achieve a new healthier set weight.
You are certainly correct. The only way to manage to solve these issues indefinitely is through consistent lifestyle changes.
Ahhh ok well thanks!! All makes sense. Yes im sure im low on the minerals and such. I dont really take anything to pump those numbers up.
Cutting out coffee and replacing it with tea helped me with the stomach issues. When I ate less coffee had a much bigger impact on me.
I could def do that. I like tea. Just need the caffeine either way.
I have found it helps to eat a couple small healthy low carb meals a day or so before you start your fast. If you think oh tomorrow I’m fasting so I’m going to pig out on pizza or something, you will have a harder time fasting. Also everyBODY is different, some people have a really hard one without food, others can do it easily. I found caffeine helped, drinking lots of water with electrolytes helped too. Dr. Fung talks a lot about the body’s hunger hormone and how it comes in waves and decreases over time. Frost couple days are always hard then after that it’s a breeze.
Oh good point i hadnt thought of.....bc i prob would eat a whole pizza before lol. Simply bc i actually can haha.
Read some more about blood sugar and insulin response to foods. Once you know more you can understand your cravings and see changes as your body is not pumping out insulin constantly during the day. Especially bad is when people 'nurse' a soda (or sweet tea) all day long. "But I don't eat anything, I just sip throughout the day'. Bad news - that keeps your insulin response going constantly. Fill your day with other pursuits to distract your cravings. After 3 - 5 days of no sugar, your body stops 'expecting' it/carbs/sugar and looks for other sources of energy (liver moves to your fat stores to get the energy for bodily functions). You will also see a big flush of retained water out of your body that your heart was having to deal with. Please give this a chance. Saying "I can't" do this (avoid cravings, miss a meal, eschew carbs) sets you up for failure. In anything.
Awesome info. Thanks fren!! I really only eat a lot of sugar when i have the munchies but i know i get a ton from all the carbs i need to sustain me lol. Obviously, thats bc of a lack of trying to change that but still. :) and when im trying to cut back on nicotine....i will sugar out. I can never say i eat anything bc while in the smallest person i know, i have to eat more than anyone i know to not feel weird. But thank you so much fren!
For sure......prob why I have never really looked into it. If anything, if i eat lean for like 2 wks, i need to actually gain weight. My dad was the same way. I have heard they are good if even not for weight loss so def curious of other benefits. Thanks fren!!!
for me, I lost over 30lbs via a carnivore dinner once a day (i.e. no veg, no fruit, no carbs at all) and salt water sipped all through the day. So - 22 hr. fasts most days.
At first, I was mega into the coffee, but lately, I find it tasteless, and it makes me feel jumpy, so I am more drinking herbal teas and water as well.
I have done a few 48hr fasts too.
I can hear the squeals from here, but you see I tried Keto and got hives from the green veg and carrots, so it was just a natural step to make.
Salt water is amazing BTW. it soothes a rumbly tummy, keeps you alert, takes away headaches, and is also good when acid reflux strikes.
Well, I have been carnivore for two and half years now, and I have yet to need potassium.
The craving for all those fruits is a craving for fructose IMO.
I was a vegan and a vegetarian before that, and that period of my life was riddled with being underweight, incessant hunger, rashes, candida infections and gum trouble, which all cleared up when I switched to meat only.
Cole Robinson is a hoot. I laugh my ass off at his YouTube rants.
I don't fast but I'll admit I actually did buy the Biotrust Keto powder off of the X22 promo saying "what the hell, I'll at least try it." Well to my surprise that 1 scoop in the morning (mixed into water or my morning applesauce or yogurt) not only does give me energy to last to lunch with less snacking but more importantly it got me down from 3 cans of soda a day to 1 or none and I've not been having caffeine withdrawal headaches like I used to. And I mean I greatly reduced most of my caffeine habit in a single weekend to my surprise, I used to be barely able to function in the morning without it. The stuff is basically just powdered MCT oil with a flavor not unlike coffee creamer, the MCTs help trigger ketosis in you without having to try and go zero-carb to force your body into it.
It's expensive stuff to use long-term but in the short term it's at least helping me kick some old habits and hopefully readjust my metabolism as I make other changes so that I don't need it going forward.
Thanks for sharing! Lots of good information.😉
How much do you weigh
Bulletproof coffee will help you get through the morning without causing you headaches, etc. In a little blender: black coffee + MCT oil (coconut oil—I found at Walmart) + a pat of butter (use really good, high quality butter). Blend and it will foam up and look like a cappuccino. It does not technically break your fast and the oil will help your brain. It gets me through to around 1-2pm before I need to eat.
When your stomach is growling, that is the peak of the battle that you must win. Keep fighting, do not give in. The growls, and that nausea felling will go away after about 30-45 mins. It's temporary. The growling is caused by your stomach shrinking, and intestines rubbing together as your stomach is tightening. But after your stomach has adjusted itself into a more compact form, you will not feel hungry anymore. Your body will adjust your stomach a few times per day.
The key is to not stretch it out again by eating bulky, slow digesting meals, or by eating too often. The smaller you can shrink your stomach by fighting off the growls, the less you will need to eat to trick your stomach into feeling full, which in turn will help to shrink your stomach faster.
Everyone is different, but for my body it takes about a week of doing that routine before I get to the point where I hardly feel like I need to eat.
I did a hardcore water fast for 11 days a while back. After the first day I really wasn't hungry. I found myself missing the ritual of eating in a nostalgic way. There's a big hole in your day where you normally would spend time eating. I finally quit on day 11 as it seemed like I wasn't drinking enough pure water and my kidneys felt like they were knotted up. Energy remained good, as did my mental clarity. I might try it again with better electrolytes and hydration.
Something may have clicked in my metabolism after that. Several months later I found that I could easily lose a half a pound a day by limiting my night time meals to only unsweetened juice in any quantity. My body just downshifted and decided that 186 was preferable to 216. I've hovered within a pound or two of 186 ever since with no effort at all.
Another good water fast may take my average weight down into an even better range.
For me, days 1-3 are hard, with day 3 being the worst. After that, smooth sailing! Funny how just warming the water, or adding a squeeze of lime with sea salt becomes an exciting taste experience!
I recommend everybody work their way toward eating one meal per day. It's not nearly as difficult as some people believe. If you're eating 3 meals now, simply cut out one, preferably breakfast as eating a sensible lunch and dinner can get you on or close to the 18:6 (no eating:eating) fast. Once you get used to that, try skipping either a lunch or dinner for a day or two and see how it goes. I immediately adapted to it, but I know it took others a few tries before they settled into it.
We truly only need roughly 1/3 of the calories most people believe they need. And the less you eat, the longer you live. Digestion is the most taxing process your body performs for you daily. The less time spent digesting, the more time the body can dedicate to restoring, rebuilding, healing, etc.
BTW OP, I've done a number of 3-day fasts, one 5-day fast and one 7-day fast over the past few years. The only time I feel a little hungry is on the first night. During both the 5-day and 7-day fasts I felt like it would be simple to keep going but didn't want to push things too far - incremental steps. The next one I try will be for 10-days. I only drink morning coffee (with a touch of creme) and water during the fasts.
I know somebody who has done a 28-day fast. He said it was a cinch and he felt like a million bucks afterwards. I'm not quite ready for that just yet...maybe some day.
Good luck on your continued fast!
I used to do this a lot and lost over 80lbs, then relapsed and gained most of it back, then lost it all again. I used to do 3-4 days a week nothing but water/coffee/tea then eat on the weekend and early in the week and back at it midweek. Longest fast ever ever done was 21 days. For my body type OMAD and shortening a daily eating window did nothing, it’s extended fasts or nothing lol. I’ve also done keto which is very good, I also lost a ton of weight on that, but for my body type I had to be very strict on keto. A cheat day could ruin two weeks of weight loss while others could have a cheat day once a week and still lose. I always felt amazing while fasting, tons of energy, even felt a bit manic here and there lol.