Eating One Meal a Day for a Month. What Can You Expect?
The one-meal-a-day diet structure, also known as the OMAD plan, can help a person to lose their weight very quickly. However, there is a catch. While following this diet plan, you will only be able to eat only once a day. You can either eat the delicious cheeseburgers or, you might also opt for the salad-based delicacies like roasted vegetables, nuts, whole grains, seeds, etc.
Nevertheless, once you are done with eating, then you will have to fast for approximately 23 hours before you can eat again. It can help you to limit your overall calorie consumption and aid you in losing weight. While following this diet, you can drink water, tea, or unsweetened coffee as well. But, you can’t eat anything else.
How Does an OMAD Diet Plan Work?
As mentioned before, the main initiative of this specific type of intermittent fasting is to stop you from overeating. Hence, with it, you can also decrease your daily calorie intake. It, in turn, will force your body to produce energy from the fat stores of your body. Therefore, if you do a small amount of exercising while following this plan, you can lose weight quite quickly.
So, as you already know, you can only eat once with an OMAD diet structure. So, you should try to make the most of it. For example, to get everything out of your meal, you can include fresh vegetables, lean meats, whole grain-made foods, etc, in it. They can help in keeping you nourished all day long.
However, as you can eat only once in a day, you would have to make sure that you are full before you get up from the dining table. Moreover, sometimes, you may also eat twice a day, especially if you are exercising. So, in those cases, you would have to eat high-protein items, such as a boiled egg, or some fruits, to get the strength of working.
How Should You Begin OMAD Dieting?
If you have never followed a diet structure before, then the OMAD diet plan can seem to be quite daunting at first. For starters, if you are thinking about avoiding your favorite foods for 24 hours, then you will have to prepare yourself, both mentally and physically. Besides, if not followed correctly, the extremities of the diet plan can also take a toll on you. So, here are a few tips that can help you deal with them.
- You should begin following this plan by practicing fasting on alternate days. It will aid your body in getting used to this new regime.
- In the beginning, you can start by fasting for around 12 hours. After that, you can gradually increase the time limit.
- While following the same routine, you can suddenly try out the 23:1 regime to see how your body and health reacts to it.
Eating One Meal a Day for a Month. What can you expect?
While it might look quite difficult at first, but any type of intermittent dieting comes with a lot of benefits. The following are some of them.
Amplifies Bodily Metabolism
Intermittent fasting, especially the OMAD diet, can have prominent effects on your body’s metabolism. It can increase your hunger-related tolerance and help you to burn your fats a lot more quickly. Moreover, it can also increase the efficiency of insulin and prevent diabetes-related issues quite effectively. So, if you follow the diet plan for a month, then your body’s metabolism rate will surely reach at the peak.
Helps in Managing Weight
With the OMAD diet structure, you cannot eat all day long. Hence, to produce more energy, your body starts using the extra fat storage. It, in turn, can reduce the amount of unhealthy fats from your body and assist you in managing your weight. If you proficient maintain the same routine for at least four weeks, then you can expect to lose around 7-8 kg weight easily. However, it would basically depend on your overall body weight.
Increases Protection against Diseases
Several studies on this aspect have revealed that intermittent fasting can enhance the strength of your immune system. Hence, with it, you will not get affected by fevers, colds, or other internal infections that easily. Moreover, if you keep following the diet structure for more than a month, then it might also minimize the risks of cardiovascular and blood sugar-related health issues.
Can Reduce the Speed of Aging
Any type of intermittent fasting, especially the OMAD diet, can activate a condition called autophagy in your body. It, in turn, can enhance your body’s ability to clean up wastes and toxins from the organs and keep them healthy. If you, somehow, can cope with the basic OMAD plan for a month, then your wrinkles may also get reduced.
How Can You Increase the Efficiency of an Eating One Meal a Day Diet?
There are two ways, which can help you to increase the efficiency of your diet plan. Here is what you need to know about them.
- Drink Coffee at the Crack of Dawn: If you do drink a cup of coffee every day, especially in the morning, then your body will start to produce more ketone than usual. It, in turn, will increase your metabolic rate and help you to lose your weight even faster.
- Reduce Your Carbohydrate Intake: Eating carbohydrate-rich foods, even only once during a day, can make your body start stockpiling glucose again. It, in turn, might affect your weight loss plan. So, while following an OMAD diet structure, make sure to cut off carbs from your meal as much as possible.
Are There Any Risk Factors Associated with Eating One Meal a Day Diet Plan?
Like everything, the OMAD diet plans do also have a darker side. So, let’s take a look at it too.
- Might Increase the Level if Bad Cholesterol: Believe it or not, but any type of fasting can increase the amount of LDL in your body. Hence, if you do not follow the rules of OMAD in a proper manner, then you may end up increasing your weight instead of losing it.
- Nausea: If you are just starting out with the plan, then you can also encounter bouts of nausea quite frequently. So, make sure to be a little light at the beginning.
- Dehydration: While following the OMAD diet plan too strictly, many people also forget to drink an adequate amount of water. It, sometimes, might lead to extreme dehydration.
Conclusion
Most people consider OMAD plans to be somewhat dangerous and daunting. However, truth be told, it is actually one of the healthiest and simplest diet structures among the pile. Nevertheless, to get the best out of it, you will need to make sure that you are following all the rules properly.
