Do you want to be part of this movement? What are the rules to follow to eat one meal a day or OMAD for weight loss?
Are there rules to follow if you wish to eat one meal a day? After all, one of the many attractive features of OMAD is that you can eat anything.
One Meal a Day: OMAD Diet Rules
1. No Snacks in Between Meals
The main rule of OMAD for weight loss is to eat one meal a day. You can’t have snacks every few hours.
If you’re following water fast, you can drink water. However, if you wish to follow the more extreme form of OMAD, you can’t eat and drink anything during fasting.
Fasting without water or any liquid is called a dry fast. This is similar to how Muslims abstain from food and water during Ramadan.
However, Muslims fast for 12 to 16 hours.
When you follow OMAD, you fast for 23 hours.
And not drinking water within those hours can cause dehydration.
In that case, dry fasting isn’t ideal if you do OMAD. You can probably do it if you’re fasting for 8 hours.
Water is also important in OMAD for weight loss because it compensates for the fluids you have lost during fasting.
You can drink other beverages, like black coffee and tea, as long as you don’t add sugar to them.
2. Drink Calorie-Free Beverages During Fasting
You can drink calorie-free beverages. These would include water, black coffee, and tea.
You can drink them at any time, as long as you don’t add anything to them.
It means that you can’t sweeten them by adding sugar. Even artificial sweetener is a no-no in OMAD.
There are, however, artificial sweeteners without calories. But they’re not part of the stricter OMAD rules.
Remember that one of the advantages of fasting, like OMAD, is that it can help in stabilizing blood sugar.
It also controls your hunger.
If you add artificial sweeteners to the equation, it will cause you to crave food. In that case, you can’t reach your goal of fasting for 23 hours.
Thus, you must avoid any artificial sweetener, even monk fruit.
You can, however, drink a flavored drink during your eating window. But you can’t drink it during fasting.
3. Be Consistent and Follow OMAD Rules
You must also need to be consistent when following OMAD for weight loss.
For instance, if you eat at 6 pm, you need to eat at 6 pm every day. Consistency is the key here. OMAD can help retrain your eating habits and end your food addiction.
However, there are times when you can’t eat at the same time every day.
For instance, if you need to eat with your friends or colleagues at lunch but your eating window starts at 4 pm, then you don’t have a choice. You can shorten your fast. You shouldn’t worry about it.
Consistency will also help you stick with OMAD each day. It’s easier to remember. you’re training your body to look for food at 6 pm.
4. Use an 11-Inch Dinner Plate
You should use a dinner-size plate for your OMAD diet meals. It’s about 11 inches in diameter.
This isn’t a popular OMAD diet rule. However, having this kind of plate will ensure that you are getting enough nourishment.
It’s not too big but it’s also not too small.
This plate will allow you to consume a reasonable amount of food from the start. You can easily evaluate the content of what you will eat before you start.
It means that you will know the servings of veggies on your plate.
When filling your plate, half of it must be lean protein. The other half must be filled with low-starch vegetables. However, if you’re following vegan OMAD, you can’t have animal protein in your meal. Tofu is a good replacement.
On the other hand, if you are incorporating OMAD for weight loss with a ketogenic diet, then your plate must only include a small portion of carbs.
For ketogenic OMAD diet meals, you must eat 80% healthy fats. It means that the majority of your plate consists of healthy fats, like eggs, bacon, butter, hard cheese, avocados, and salmon.
If your goal is to lose weight, though, make sure that you don’t eat an endless amount of fat. Keep in mind that your body must use up stored fat and not the fats from your food.
Then, 15% of the plate must be protein. You can choose from chicken, beef, pork, turkey, and fish. For vegan OMAD, you would only eat plant-based protein.
You should only eat a moderate amount of protein to help you achieve ketosis. In one meal, you must only have up to 6 ounces of protein.
For the 5% of your plate, put green leafy veggies or non-starchy vegetables.
5. Aim to Eat at Least 1,200 Calories
One meal a day will drastically lower your calorie intake. You don’t need to eat 1,200 calories in one serving.
You can spread it out across your one-hour eating window.
If you consume lower than 1,200 calories, you may increase your risk of nutrient deficiency because you’re not getting sufficient nutrients.
You will also feel hungrier if you don’t eat enough.
Some OMAD followers do an 800-calorie a day. They thrived though.
But if your calories are depleted severely, your body starts to break down muscle, which isn’t good.
That’s why you must structure your one meal per day. You may talk to a nutritionist or a dietitian.
6. Eat Only Healthy Fats
Healthy fats will keep you full for a lot longer. It is an appealing advantage because dieters can eat a lot of healthy fats.
Adding these fats to your meal will slow down the rate at which your stomach gets rid of food during digestion.
It means that some food will remain in your stomach so you will have a sense of fullness for a lot longer. It sends a signal to your brain that you’re still full and you don’t need food.
Although fats are necessary during OMAD for weight loss, you must avoid those unhealthy fats.
7. Avoid Inflammatory Foods
If you want to survive OMAD for weight loss, you need to avoid pastries, ice cream, candies, and other refined carbs. They will make you crave more food.
These foods will increase your hunger pangs.
Wrapping Up
These are just some of the OMAD diet rules that you need to remember so you’ll be successful in following them.
But before you eat one meal a day, make sure that you talk to your doctor. It’s especially true if you have a medical condition, like diabetes or hypertension.
And if your doctor gave you a go signal to try OMAD, you may read our article about whether or not OMAD can be a lifestyle. Can you do it for many years? We have answered it in our post.
What do you think about these OMAD diet rules? Do you have something to add? Please share your thoughts.
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