As we lose weight it is natural for our bodies metabolism to slow down. This is something that is used to keep us alive many years ago. If we went long droughts without food our bodies would have to slow down to keep us alive.
OMAD could be bad for you metabolism if you do it for long periods of time. However, shorter periods of fasting such as 48’s or 72’s seem to increase metabolism. Many studies have shown that diet breaks are needed to keep the weight off.
Our bodies are intelligent and do not care if we want to have a six-pack and muscles. It’s job is to keep us alive and going for survival purposes. OMAD is a type of fasting, and if you look online you will get mixed results on its effects on fasting.
How does OMAD Fasting effect your Metabolism?
Yes, it will slow down your metabolism but this is just your body adapting to it’s need for daily energy expenditures. Our bodies all have set points where they like to stay because of how many calories we are taking in each day.
this is why doing things like “dieting breaks” has a lot of studies backing up a weight gain rebound. A lot of people can lose weight, what is really tough is not gaining it back and then some.
One the other hand there are studies showing that fasting can increase metabolism. Soooo, which is it?
It looks like shorter fasts for up to 3 days can slightly increase your metabolism. While going past the 3-day mark will cause it to start to slow down.
With that being said the more body fat you have the longer or more frequent you will be able to do OMAD or any type of fasting.
“According to Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) Graduate University” That there is a boost to Metabolic activity while fasting.
“Fasting may help people lose weight, but new research suggests going without food may also boost human metabolic activity, generate antioxidants, and help reverse some effects of aging. Scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) and Kyoto University identified 30 previously-unreported substances whose quantity increases during fasting and indicate a variety of health benefits.”
| It seems that after 72 hours of fasting or frequent fasting can lower your metabolism over time. However, for shorter fasts from 48-72 hours can actually show a boost in metabolism. |
How fasting may help reverse Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is having multiple conditions at the same time. This can increase your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. There are also other symptoms that can follow such as high blood sugar, elevated blood pressure, increased cholesterol and triglycerides, and abdominal fat.
one study looked at when the 19 participants were asked to do their eating in a 10-hour window every day for 12 weeks. They allowed the participants to be flexible with their eating windows.
An example would be if they had dinner with friends one night they could eat then or breakfast following the next day. All of them had had a condition called metabolic syndrome.
Just by having metabolic syndrome you can be 5 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. It also can double the risk of having cardiovascular disease.
It’s thought that 3 out of 10 Americans have it. The treatment has little to offer other than beside the normal advice of exercise or move more, lose weight and eat less. Sadly, more times than not with everyone’s busy hectic life and fast food, on the run, they end up developing type 2 diabetes.
In one of the studies, the participants shortened their refereed day to shorter than 11-hours for the 12-weeks. They ended up dropping their caloric intake up to almost 9%. Also, they lost on average 3% of their total body weight while also sleeping better.
A standard sign of heart attack risk is the circumference of belly fat or the waist. The group lowered their risk of heart disease by 3%. All markers were improved with fasting and medications were lowered or discontinued.
| Fasting studies have shown that it may help reverse metabolic syndrome and improve blood test markers. |
Benefits of OMAD and Fasting
One of the biggest appeals for doing OMAD is not having to track calories. This is because if you are eating whole foods or cooking your own meals it can be tough to eat in a calorie surplus.
- Saves time meal prepping
- Saves money from eating out for lunch
- it’s simplified
- Makes being in a calorie deficit easy
- Good for metabolism in the short term use
- No energy crashes from constantly spiking insulin
- Adherence is high
If you are eating fast food that is loaded with calories there is a very good chance that you can overeat while doing OMAD. Tracking calories used to seem hard for me and seemed like something I’d start doing “one day.”
That one day came when I started doing OMAD and made it easier for me to track them. It was as simple as meal prepping for the next 3 days, weighing in ounces on a food scale and plugging it into myfitnesspal to track. I figured out my calorie deficit by using tdee.
One study had a group of overweight subjects with type 2 diabetes. They were told they could fast anywhere from 18-20 hours every day. They even let them eat whatever they wanted in their 4-6 hour eating window. the only caveat was to include at the every minimum 1/3 of their plate with protein to help satiate hunger.
The average amount of weight that was dropped was 3 lbs after 2 weeks. The biggest take-home was that 6 out of 10 of them said they would keep up with their fasting protocol after the study. This is really big because adherence or something you can stick with every day is key!
| There are multiple benefits to doing OMAD. Even more then what I have mentioned but this scratches the surface. The biggest one is adherence and making dieting simple for the average person. |
Final Thoughts
OMAD is great for those who are overweight and want to get healthier. As always I recommend it as a tool and not something to stay on forever once you’ve reached your goal weight. Nor is it ideal if you want to add muscle. I like to go down to 2 meals a day or eating in a 20:4 window when I like where I’m at.