I’ve been doing intermittent fasting since before I knew what intermittent fasting was. Like Pete Campbell with direct marketing, “Intermittent fasting—I thought of that. Turned out it already existed, but I arrived at it independently.”
The year was 2011 and I was 19, and, having been overweight for the majority of my life, I was on my first attempt to lose weight. I was living with my dad and stepmom. And since this was the first time I lived with them (having grown up with my mom,) it took me a while to get comfortable living with them. And when they got home from work at 5pm, I, like your average moody teenager, would hide away in my room. Problem was, 5pm was dinner time. And I just HAD to eat dinner, right?
Long story short, the answer was obviously no. And ever since then, whenever I tried to gain control of my eating, IF has been a helpful tool.
Now, you may be asking, “If IF is so helpful, why has it taken you multiple attempts to achieve long-term weight loss?” Well, that was because it took me a good while to learn what IF is and, more importantly, what IF isn’t.
IF isn’t some magic bullet that allows you to eat as many calories as you can consume within your eating window without putting on the corresponding weight. IF doesn’t gift you with a furnace for a metabolism. IF doesn’t turn your body into some ideal machine that burns off all your fat for fuel. And each time I gained the weight back, it was partly because I believed these things. Or, rather, my food addiction wanted me to believe these things so that I could eat how my food addiction wants me to eat again.
But once I learned the true value of IF, and the limitations of human biology in general, I’ve been able to come to terms with what my relationship with food needed to be if I was going to achieve sustainable weight loss. And that value that IF has offered me is the ability to adhere to my calorie budget.
Now, I’ll admit that I’ve done limited research on how IF ostensibly benefits your body. But that’s because wheter IF offers some benefit to my metabolism, hormones, whatever, it’s irrelevant. Because the reason I do IF is because the value I find in the lifestyle it allows me to live, and how it helps me adhere to my calorie budget.
Now, I’ve done all kinds of eating windows, but the one I’ve had the most success with in terms of adherence is OMAD, so I will list off what I value about OMAD specifically. Also, to save time, I’m only going to list the main reasons for why I do OMAD.
One: the convenience. Not having to cook and clean 3 separate meals a day has made my daily routine so much easier. Now, disclaimer, I do have OCD, so, for me, I tend to make bigger deals out of things than they actually are. For most people, it’s just cooking eggs for breakfast. For me, it’s stressing about whether the house is going to explode because I left the stove on. There’s an argument to be made that the relief I feel from avoiding cooking 2 other times a day is unhealthy avoidance, but I like to think that I would still find the same value of convenience even if I didn’t have ocd. After all, I am the typical adult who struggles to find time for work, family, friends, working out, hobbies, and binge watching The Wire for the umpteenth time, and the time saved from OMAD surely gives me more time for all of that.
Two: I’m able to save my calories for when the food noise is loudest for me, which is at night. As mentioned above, I’m busy during the day. I’m working, working out, etc, and with my mind on so many things, I find that I’m not really thinking about food. But at night? When all I’m doing is watching my reflection in the black screen when Netflix asks me if I’m still watching? Food and binge eating are on the forefront of my mind. And had I used up 2000 of my 3000 calorie budget on breakfast and lunch, that means I only have 1000 calories (thanks, calculator) for dinner. And to me, that’s a lot like one of those tower defense games, using all your towers on the part of the map where there are hardly any evil balloons to shoot, instead of putting them on the most congested part of the map. And with OMAD, that’s exactly what I get to do. I get to fight off the food noise with 3000 towers, instead of 1000 or less.
Three: I find one large meal more satisfying than three or more smaller meals. And that’s because, for whatever reason, once I start eating, I find it hard to stop. And only starting once a day is easier than starting multiple times a day, especially when that meal is quite large, often feeling ready to stop eating by the time I’m done. Real food, that you actually have to chew, is very helpful here.
Four: eating during the day often makes me feel lethargic or more hungry than I was before I ate. Being able to avoid that provides my days with more energy and focus. It especially allows me to have better workouts, meaning more calories burned and muscles gained.
Concerns I have about OMAD: Now, I’m not convinced any diet or eating routine is perfect, and that also applies to OMAD. I’ve heard claims that OMAD is unhealthy and unsustainable. As far as sustainability goes, I feel very confident that OMAD is something I will stick with. And as far as the health claims go, I say to prove it. And until then, I’m going to keep on keeping on.
But there are some things I dislike about OMAD. Such as, sometimes eating so close to bed has me waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. If I ever have night plans (😏) , I have to figure out what I’m going to do about dinner (even if dessert has been figured out 😏). Social situations in general can be a little awkward, explaining that I won’t be eating any cake at the birthday party because the sun is still out. My coworkers are convinced I’m a vampire. And, of course, while the food noise is quieter during the day, it is still there, and having to resist it can get exhausting at times, hence why I’m writing this post right now instead of eating the leftover Halloween candy at work.
Thanks for reading!
