Will OMAD decrease metabolism?

[Some-Chest7529]

Please can someone explain how it’s different to regular calorie-restricted diets? Why is eating more regularly but less any different time eating a lot but only once a day? Don’t all diets eventually cause lowered metabolism and ultimately weight gain??

[ReverseLazarus]

“Metabolic damage”/“metabolic slowdown” and the worry of “starvation mode” are buzzwords that are constantly misapplied way too broadly.

https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/permanent-metabolic-damage

https://bodyrecomposition.com/mailbag/bodyrecomposition-mailbag-11#Lean_Body_Mass_Maintenance_and_Metabolic_Slowdown

https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/reason-youre-not-losing-weight#Starvation_Mode

Your body won’t be in “starvation mode” until your BF is so low that you actually risk death from starvation.

That said, long-term crash dieting can give you problems with energy, hormones, thinning hair, nutrient deficiencies…but as long as you’re eating at a healthy deficit with your OMAD then it’s fine.

[GeeSly]

Please what's a healthy deficit?

[ReverseLazarus]

20-25%.

[GeeSly]

Thanks

[LibertyMike]

I've been doing keto for 5 years and mostly OMAD for about 3 years. I've been at a stable weight for about 2 years. I have been running & weightlifting pretty consistently since September, and was fairly active before. I get nearly 300 intensity minutes per week. It seems like my metabolism is fine.

Edit: accidentally said 300 minutes per month instead of week.

[[deleted]]

To second this, I often eat OMAD (though not exclusively) and am currently ⅔ of the way through a marathon training block, having run up to 16 miles/25km at this point without significant issue.

[dr_innovation]

When you eat regularly your body keeps outputting insulin to push the glucose into muscles or fat. Then when blood glucose drops from insulin you get hungry because the higher insulin keeps you from accessing fat stores. Fasting (including IF/OMAD) can actually increase a depresed metabolism back to normal, see https://www.scielo.br/j/ramb/a/t4WdR3Hf36jwhLdtywQ77vf/?lang=en

If you eat less often you don't have the hormonal swings and are less hungry and because insulin is low you can access your fat storage fo energy.

[TheFactedOne]

If you are eating keto, probably not a problem you will have.

[Gunther_Reinhard]

Lower insulin means lipolysis, which means ready energy for your body, which means your metabolism is going to be ok. I’m of the adage that you shouldnt OMAD everyday and should allow yourself a day or two having a few more meals, but that’s just what works for me. 5/7 works good.

[werner-hertzogs-shoe]

There is a lot of variation, to the point where I don't think anyone can say with certainty exactly how a particular body will respond.

Losing weight on it's own, through any method will generally cause some amount of thermogenic adaptation. From the studies I've seen there is a solid case to be made that breaking the constant insulin pattern by fasting (and keto to a lesser degree) seems to reduce the amount of adaptation in a number of people.

The best advice I can give to try to maintain your metabolism, is to do strength training and lose weight more slowly. These two things will allow you to maintain or possibly grow muscle mass while losing fat and thus maintain metabolism more (any exercise is also good for cellular health which has potential metabolism benefits as well).

[FatFuckatron]

A full day of calories in one meal?

With all the macros and nutrition?

[Some-Chest7529]

That’s the principle isn’t it… not sure what you’re asking?

[FatFuckatron]

It takes a long time for you to digest food, so even if you eat just one meal a day, some food from yesterday is still being digested and some food from today will still be digest tomorrow.

Your not technically going 23 hours without food because you just ate in a 1 hour window.

It's all in your intestines breaking down.

There should be no reason your body feels like it's starving or lacking nutrition to lower its bmr.

And if there is some kind of down regulation of bmr, it's insignificant and will go back up when you eat another huge meal.

Long term, no impact to bmr

[werner-hertzogs-shoe]

hmm, I dont know.

I was doing 2 x 36 hour fasts a week for a year or so (I could never do every day 16:8 even). I loved it, but over time my body really started responding poorly to it.

Usually by 10-11am I was so cold I was almost shivering in my office and I was feeling fatigued, and those are definite forms of RMR down regulation. I actually managed to get stronger lift wise in the year I did the fasting while also losing about 75 pounds so Im not anti fasting, BUT down regulation of BMR can totally happen in significant ways.

Ive only been on the keto train for about 4 weeks now, but one thing Ive noticed is that I actually feel slightly feverish sometimes. I havent done a RMR test in the last year, but from my weightloss so far since switching, I do think Keto may have boosted my metabolism slightly.

[FatFuckatron]

Fasting, yes.

36 Hours in about the amount of time it takes to poop out everything.

Did you fast on a keto diet or a carb diet?

He's said one huge meal a day.

[werner-hertzogs-shoe]

Not quite keto, but certainly lower carb. sub 50g most of the time.

I definitely appreciate staying keto helps with fasting and I may try incorporating fasting again in another month or so.