Good afternoon, Steemians!
You may not know what OMAD is, or even intermittent fasting for that matter. I will start off with intermittent fasting. It's basically just abstaining from snacking between meals. Many people who fast intermittently will follow what's known as the 8-16 rule. They will usually eat two meals within and 8 hour period and fast for 16 hours. OMAD takes it up a notch: With only one meal a day, people who follow this strict diet do just that, they eat only one meal a day. I have been very interested in the health benefits of fasting for a long time now, and so I thought that this would be an interesting thing to try for a month, to see if it was at all sustainable for me.
Here is basically an overview of the diet, and how this fairly successful young guy has implemented it into his life.
I wouldn't go as far to say that I have an obsession with food, but I definitely overeat way too much. I'm relatively thin, because of my long-term vegan diet, but I seek a challenge. I decided to try OMAD for the month, as I've already said. I began on April 1 (not as an April Fool's gag, but quite seriously. I wanted to see if there were any lasting benefits that could be had from abstaining from eating a great majority of the day and only eating one large meal.
Here's how my experience has been so far:
Day 1:
I woke up feeling excited to start something new. I had a cup of black coffee (acceptable as long as you don't add any sweeteners) and drank some water. And some more water. And some more water. Since I had my last multi-meal day on March 31st, 2018 at around 7:00 pm, I was beginning to get hungry around 9-10:00AM on the first day. Or was I? I think much of hunger is mental, and we can actually stave it off with water. I just went with it. I realized that with enough water, I wasn't even very hungry (this was reminding me a lot of my last water fast last summer that lasted 5 days).
My first and only OMAD meal on April 1st was this:
This meal lasted 45 minutes, from 6:15-7:00PM. It was delicious. I was extremely full afterwards though. I went to bed full, and it was uncomfortable. I decided that I might need to eat my OMAD earlier in the day.
Day 2:
**I woke up feeling pretty full still, which was only heightened when I drank a whole bottle of water. I again began my day with a cup of black coffee (I decided I'd have two a day from that point on to help me get through the day of not eating). This greatly helped me move my bowels. Day 2 was yesterday, which was my first day back to work from the long weekend. I was somewhat scared that teaching wouldn't allow me to do OMAD, and that I would be rushing to go to the bathroom between classes because of the amount of water that I would have to drink to stave off my hunger (not entirely true in hindsight). I got a little light-headed during the last 10 minutes of my last class, and a little giddy to be honest. After drinking even more water, this feeling went away and I was able to focus better again. Tennis practice was canceled yesterday, so I went straight home and had my OMAD early. I forgot to take a picture of what I ate yesterday, so I will sum it up here:
Day 2 Vegan OMAD - two cups black coffee, 7 bananas, jasmine rice, tomatoes, zucchini, onion, chickpeas, salsa, half an avocado. 2:45 - 4:00PM.
Day 3:
**Today is Day 3, and I am getting used to not eating in the morning. The taste of the black coffee, which I've always tended to have a disregard for, is actually quite pleasant. Work was fine, drank a ton of water and felt fine, but then tennis practice came. I played against our number one seeded player, and beat him in a set. Let me tell you that I put everything I had into that set. I had been fasting for about 20 hours, but by keeping hydrated, I found a way to triumph lol. I sweated more than I have in a LONG time, but it was fun. At no time did I feel I was going to pass out. The only thing I felt was thirst, and so I quenched it.
I just got done with my Vegan OMAD Day 3 meal, and here it is:
I began with 3 bananas (not pictured). Then I had some leftover rice, garbanzo beans, zucchini, and other veggies from yesterday that I dumped a whole can of tomato paste into. I stirred it up, added a few cups of coconut milk, and put it in the microwave. I took it out and added a few spoonfuls of sauerkraut. I added a whole avocado, and two pieces of whole wheat bread. I finished my meal off with a small piece of dark chocolate.
Why am I sharing this? Well, I think it's sustainable. If I really stick to it, I believe this can be a healthy food regimen for me to control my strong desire to eat when I'm not hungry. I've learned to really appreciate my food. I would love to show you guys what I'm eating everyday. I think I will.
Do I think OMAD is for everyone?
Short answer is "No." You have to have a lot of willpower to not eat for 20-22 hours on a daily basis. I am also logging this here, Facebook, and Instagram because I think it helps me stay on track.
Hope you guys enjoyed this, feel free to post your comments down below. Do you think you could ever eat only OMAD? You might be surprised!