Plain and simple, the proponents of the OMAD diet Eat only one meal a day. Hence the name in English: one meal a day. An extreme method of intermittent fasting that in many cases achieves a maximum of 20 hours of fasting and is practiced by certain celebrities, such as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Martin, lead singer of the British band Coldplay.
concentrated as a unit, a more aggressive way to lose weight is to take the time without food to the extreme, which, as we will see below, carries great risks. One of the most obvious is that it means we’re consuming all the calories we should be eating each day at once. Of course, it is also important to absorb all macronutrients at once.
This assumes we will be cutting calories in addition to achieving the slimming profile of the OMAD diet. But really, the complex Aside from following such a strict diet, they also discuss trying to get all of those macronutrients in a single meal, which they reference in the journal Health.
Let’s take an example where a daily staple—five meals—contains between 1,600 and 2,400 calories (depending on age, gender, and skin color), which would mean eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner in one pack. Logically, you don’t get to the extreme of 20/4 (20-hour fasting) or, more strictly, 23/1 in one day. The theory, which does not have a good scientific basis and is not supported by the majority of nutritionists and doctors, is to change intermittent fasting as we get used to it.
What is an OMAD diet?
If we consider the Harvard Healthy Plate recommendations for daily macronutrient intake, which we discussed earlier in THE OBJECTIVE, we can see that the OMAD diet is complicated. Translated into calories, it is estimated that about 55% of daily calories should come from carbohydrates. About 30% should come from fats, and the remaining percentage corresponds to proteins.
A reality that we too should take in every day: about one gram of protein per pound of body weight. But it can also be a ratio of 0.75 grams per kilo of weight. Also, assuming that a Spanish adult weighs 78kg (males) and 67kg (females), this means that the former would consume 59 grams of protein while the latter would consume 50 grams.
Applied to a “conventional” diet, that means eating about 200 grams of grilled chicken breast to meet protein standards. In addition, of course, there are the remaining macronutrients. That is why you may not be getting all the daily nutrients you need.
The health dangers of an OMAD diet
This is how we confirmed that eating a single meal on the OMAD diet is difficult. Not only because of the possible damage but also because of the difficulty of this intake. Given that, there’s another, even more important reality: understanding the calorie deficit. We have insisted that the key to losing weight is always to consume fewer calories than are expended. Hence, the risks of the OMAD diet are still there if we don’t make that calorie reduction.
It must, of course, be followed if we want to lose weight. But it’s not just about calories. Also, the mental factor that could be behind such a long fast By restricting calorie intake, Hunger is much more likely to escalate and become uncontrollable. Therefore, we could eat more than necessary and end up gaining weight. Much of that blame lies with ghrelin, the hormone that regulates appetite and is released when we’re hungry.
In addition, it should be clear that The effectiveness of intermittent fasting diets is not superior to other calorie-restricted diets. as this study shows. Likewise, there are other complications of intermittent fasting that are relatively common, such as hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. Also, as this study demonstrates, there is a complication between high blood pressure and cholesterol.
