I’m a week into OMAD or One Meal a Day and felt I should give you my OMAD Diet Update, so you know how things are progressing.
How I’ve been doing OMAD is by taking in my one meal a day at dinner time, or as us East Coast of Canada folks say it: Supper time. The meal normally consists of two portions of what I would normally eat, a treat at the end and some miscellaneous items such as cheese and nuts if I didn’t take in enough calories during that meal.
My eating window ranges from 5pm to about 7pm based on how busy my job is that day and when I can get home. I eat over the span of about an hour grazing before and sometimes after the big meal.
GOOD NEWS FOR THE OMAD DIET UPDATE
The good news is I feel strong and fine. The hunger hasn’t been anywhere near where I thought it would be. Monday was tough as it was the first day and I didn’t take in a big enough meal Sunday night to carry me through. I used a little will power and a lot of black coffee to carry me through that day. For Monday’s meal I looked like a ravenous maniac just shoving food in my face. But all and all I handled it okay.
Throughout the week I found the hunger depended on how busy or stressed I was. If I was busy, I never gave the hunger a second thought, but if I was bored or stressed, I thought about food a lot. That’s an important lesson. It shows that even after two years of keto I’m eating based on my life habits not my needs.
Another benefit is hydration. I found I drank a lot more liquids during this week. Water is so vitally important to our lifestyle it was easy on OMAD to get what I needed and more.
BAD NEWS ON OMAD
The first few days felt like I was going through keto flu all over again. I was a little foggy, got a headache, and just felt tired. By Tuesday I figured it couldn’t hurt to treat it like keto flu and upped my foods that provided electrolytes and took an extra hit of magnesium and potassium. Boom! It worked. By Tuesday I was back to my old self and feeling strong.
Another bad news item might be considered bloating. Eating that one big meal can be taxing when you used to two or three smaller meals throughout the day. I find it sits a little heavy and seems to fill my stomach to capacity. That was/is a strange feeling for me, but I’m adjusting and it’s not to the point of being painful.
OMAD also changes your routine significantly. For instance, I’m writing this on Father’s Day. We would normally eat throughout the day ending with treats. The big celebration breakfast and lunch are out this year due to OMAD. Not a huge deal in our house, but something for you to consider.
OTHER OMAD DIET UPDATE CONSIDERATIONS
So, will I continue OMAD next week? At the moment I would say yes. I feel good and love the convenience of only worrying about eating once a day. I don’t have to pack a lunch, don’t have to get up in the morning and prepare something right away. It’s an easy lifestyle.
I have also dropped five pounds of the unwanted weight I have recently put on. The scales aren’t that important in my life, but I must admit it provided some motivation to keep going. Right now the OMAD DIET has far more pluses then minuses so I will keep the experiment going for at least next week.
Keto on friends, Bill
