I’ve Tried OMAD for 14 Days: Here’s My Verdict

Written by Mariia Roza

Written by Mariia Roza

Mariia Roza is a weight loss and fitness writer at Unimeal. She is an expert in nutrition, wellness, longevity, and sports.

on May 07, 2021

Fact checked by Stephanie Beaudette, M.Ed., RDN

Fact checked by Stephanie Beaudette, M.Ed., RDN

Stephanie Beaudette is a dietitian and nutritionist accredited by the Commission of Dietetic Registration. She is a BS in Dietetics and an ME in Nutrition.

The Unimeal team works to give you the most accurate and up-to-date information. All texts are reviewed by a panel of experts and editors and updated according to the latest research. Only evidenced-based and verified sources of leading medical publications and universities get into the article materials.

This diet can help focus and improve performance. It gives your mind freedom from thinking about food. What is more, you can forget about counting calories and frustration while trying on a new dress! Look's like impossible, but we are ready to contradict.

Should you experiment with the OMAD diet? What are its pros and cons? Is it safe for your health? Will you receive all the nutrients and necessary calories from this diet? Will it work for you? Check out the feedback of our writer, who’s been following OMAD for two weeks, to see if you should try this type of intermittent fasting for yourself.

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How OMAD became so popular?

The point of this diet is that you eat during a one-hour eating window, and you fast for the rest 23 hours of the day. OMAD is an extreme version of intermittent fasting, which has multiple schemes, including 16:8, when you eat during an eight-hour window and fast for 16 hours or 5:2 when you eat only five days a week and fast for two days.

One of the main arguments of the OMAD followers is that fasting is a natural state for a human being, and people around the globe used to and still fast regularly. Some people fast because of religious reasons. Some communities eat only three square meals a day and have no snacks in between, unintentionally sticking to the 16:8 scheme. Our ancestors used to fast because they were hunting mammoths and could eat only when they had enough food. 

Dieters with a more science-based approach say that OMAD, being a kind of prolonged fasting, can stimulate autophagy¹Alirezaei M., Kemball C. C., Flynn C. T., et al. (2010, August 14). Short-term Fasting Induces Profound Neuronal Autophagy. Autophagy. DOI:10.4161/auto.6.6.12376 linked to cell renewal and improved longevity. Some OMAD followers also combine a one-meal-a-day approach with ketogenic diets. They state that the combination of intermittent fasting and restrained carbohydrate consumption helps them get and stay in ketosis²Foster D. W. (1967, August). Studies in the Ketosis of Fasting. The Journal of Clinical Investigation. DOI:10.1172/JCI105621, which is a beneficial state for your health as it normalizes³Kinzig K. P., Honors M. A., Hargrave S. L. (2010, April 28). Insulin Sensitivity and Glucose Tolerance Are Altered by Maintenance on a Ketogenic Diet. Endocrinology. DOI:10.1210/en.2010-0175 insulin production and stimulates⁴Bolla A. M., Caretto A., Laurenzi A., et al. (2019, April 26). Low-Carb and Ketogenic Diets in Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes. Nutrients. DOI:10.3390/nu11050962 weight loss. All these arguments sound legit, and the results the OMAD adepts promise look appealing. It’s time to try it on myself to see if it really works!

Context

These February and March turned out to be quite a stressful time for me, accompanied by emotional eating and no exercise at all. Because of this, on the 15th of April, I found myself at 133 pounds, 11 pounds heavier than my perfect-to-normal weight. I was distressed and searching for quick fixes, so I decided to try an OMAD diet.

Days 1 to 4

The beginning is the most challenging part, they say. That is 100% true for those who decided to try a one-meal-a-day eating pattern. The first day was not hard as the weeks before, I was eating in a massive calorie surplus. I decided to eat at 4 pm every day. My first-day meal seemed quite heavy, and I couldn’t get myself through all 1,400 calories my body needed. 

On the second day, I started to feel hunger early in the morning. I usually eat a light breakfast at 7 am that consists of fat-free cottage cheese and berries, and it was hard to calm my cravings for high-quality protein and juicy carbs. Everything I could think of during the second, third, and fourth days was food. The fact that my job is writing about food didn’t make fasting easier. 

Even though I tried to stay in a slight calorie deficit, I couldn’t finish the whole 1,400 meal even once. The reason behind this failure was that I tried to eat a balanced meal filled with lean protein and vegetables. The result was a heavy 3-dimensional plate I couldn’t stuff into my face all at once. 

Day 5

On the fifth day, I started to feel that I’m in a constant deficit. I had a full-day Brazilian jiu-jitsu seminar, and on its fourth hour, I understood that I couldn’t stay any longer; otherwise, I will simply faint. I went home before the seminar has ended, lay on a bed without changing my clothes, and fell asleep for three hours even though it was only 4 pm. When I woke up, I faced a binge episode, the one I haven’t had in years. I ate everything I could find at home, and though it was still technically one meal a day, that wasn’t healthy at all. 

Days 6 to 10

I understood that I have to hit my calorie goal. If I won’t, I would be unproductive during my workouts and would surely have binge episodes. I also understood that if you go to the gym more than three times a week and don’t take supplements like Turkesterone , you have to sleep more. Otherwise, your muscles will be weak, and your performance will suffer. 

To get more calories, I’ve added more fats to my meals and decreased the volume of vegetables on my plate. This was not an easy decision for me, as I truly love cauliflower, cabbage, tomatoes, and other juicy but voluminous veggies. Adding more olive oil, opting for salmon instead of cod, and pork instead of turkey helped me increase my calories and eat them all in one sitting.

Days 11 to 14

Some people might find it easier to follow an OMAD when the first few days were over, but it wasn’t my case. During the last days of my diet, I started to enjoy hunger, and I knew this was an alarming sign. Eating one meal a day can trigger your eating disorders, and that’s specifically dangerous if you used to have disrupted eating patterns. 

On days 11 to 14, I was able to eat my 1,400 calorie norm though I wasn’t particularly happy with the kind of food I was eating. Let me explain. It’s extremely easy to get all the calories you need in one sitting without stretching your stomach too much: Just choose high-calorie foods! However, in this case, your meals won’t be well-balanced.

It’s easy to eat two double bacon cheeseburgers and small ice cream and receive your 1,400 calories but will your body benefit from this food? Opting for high-calorie but low-in-nutrient meals is a kind of mistake many OMAD dieters make. They believe that the only thing that matters is to fit all the food in one hour and overeat with junk food. And they don’t understand why they can’t lose weight eating only once a day.

You have to keep OMAD meals balanced to see results!

Pros of 23:1 intermittent fasting scheme

• You stop snacking. If constant mindless snacking is the reason behind your excess weight, you will benefit tremendously from any intermittent fasting scheme, including the OMAD. If previously I could have an apple or a candy now and then, the OMAD scheme stopped my hands from grabbing food if it wasn’t during my eating window.
• Being in a caloric deficit might be more manageable. I say “might be” because it all depends on the food you choose. If you opt for balanced eating where half of your plate is vegetables, and a quarter of it is given to carbs and protein, you should be safe. However, if you see OMAD as a chance to make cheat meals every day, you won’t lose weight or otherwise benefit from this eating pattern.
• You learn the difference between being bored and being hungry. When you fast for 23 hours, sooner or later, you come to the point where you feel physical hunger. You feel tired or irritated, and your stomach sends you signals that it needs food, you might have headaches and dizziness. Experiencing true hunger might be helpful if you’ve never fasted before and don’t know your body’s reaction to actual hunger.
• It’s simple. This is something everyone agrees on. There is only one rule on OMAD: You can eat whatever you want but only for one hour a day. You don’t have to count calories or avoid some food groups: Just fast for 23 hours every day.

Cons of eating one meal a day

• It’s not easy. Fasting when you’re surrounded by food and eating people is challenging! You will most likely have cravings, and the true hunger might make you feel miserable. Even though some OMAD followers state that they’re less hungry after following OMAD for prolonged periods, there is no scientific evidence to prove that 23:1 intermittent fasting affects ghrelin or leptin levels.
• You might lack critical nutrients. It’s not only about vitamins or minerals your body might lack when you’re on a restricted diet. OMAD can also affect how your body absorbs protein from your meal. Research⁵Schoenfeld B. J., Aragon A. A. (2018, February 27). How Much Protein Can the Body Use in a Single Meal for Muscle-Building? Implications for Daily Protein Distribution. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. DOI:10.1186/s12970-018-0215-1 published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition states that if your goal is to put on muscle, you should distribute your protein intake through several meals per day. In this case, your body will be able to absorb more protein than it would if you had the whole portion in one sitting. 
• Gut problems are frequent. Eating too many calories or a too large amount of food during one meal never leaves you feeling comfortable. You might experience all the harmful effects of overeating, starting from the pains in your stomach to constipation and gases. Gastric colics and heartburn are also frequent consequences of eating a large meal.
• OMAD can trigger eating disorders. It’s not only my observation but a fact proven by researchers⁶Stice E., Davis K., Miller N. P., et al. (2008, November). Fasting Increases Risk for Onset of Binge Eating and Bulimic Pathology: A 5-Year Prospective Study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. DOI:10.1037/a0013644. If you ever had eating disorders, intermittent fasting, including the OMAD diet, is not the best choice for you. 
• You have fewer options for socializing. Socializing and food are interconnected, and even the lockdown hasn’t changed it. If you like happy hours with your friends or late dinners with your family, OMAD might not be your best option, as it deprives you of much more than food.

OMAD: My verdict

During 14 days on the OMAD diet, I’ve lost seven pounds. It’s a bit more than I’ve expected. I explain this number with two reasons. First, most of this weight was fluid. Second, I was at a higher deficit than I’ve planned. Being unable to eat all 1,400 calories in one sitting, I end up at 1,154 calories per day on average, which is way too much below my maintenance level.

The great thing about intermittent fasting is that you pay more attention to your unconscious snacking and stop drinking a late-night glass of wine. If you’re prone to these habits, OMAD might work for you. 

What I’ve found while reading OMAD forums is that this eating pattern is frequently combined with the ketogenic diet. It makes sense, as eating keto, you consume more calorie-dense fats, which means you can easily fit all calories you need for a day in one meal by simply adding more oil to your food. 

OMAD is not my diet-for-life. I’ve tried it, I didn’t like it, I won’t try again. If you’re about to start OMAD, make sure you consult your doctor first!

Article updated: July 12, 2022