Before my first explorations into intermittent fasting back in 2009, I had already gone through low-calorie diets and low-fat eating had been my routine since the early 80s. Eggs and red meats were part of my diets only once or twice a week, and I did not eat bacon or butter at all. Yet, year after year, I saw my body weight increase, even though I did walk for 45-55 mins. every day. Bread, potatoes, and rice were common in my diet.
Low-calorie diets never worked for me, at least not in a sustainable way. I am indeed one of the many obese people that ended up at higher weights after giving up on my low-calorie diets. The evidence is bountiful that our body does not work mathematically to the calories in-calories out paradigm. In fact, while calorie restriction triggers the starvation mode in which the body slows down to conserve energy and store as many calories as possible, in the form of fat, in preparation to the famine period it expects.
Intermittent Fasting is NOT starvation. In fact, the one meal a day is more like a feast, and the amount of calories to be taking in is only limited by your satiety. I for one was eating a high carb low-fat diet between 2009 and 2014, and still lost 64lb. I understand now that the best approach would have been a high fat, low carbohydrate diet, and I could have possibly have lost that much weight in a shorter period of time. However, I was not trying to beat some world record, I was making sure that I could sustain my approach for the long run, and that I did. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that by eating one meal a day, I was limiting my Insulin response to only one a day, and by exercising during fasting, I was taping into my fat metabolism, rather than into my dietary sugar to produce energy.
Whether you are in any of the varieties of intermittent fasting, or specifically OMAD, or whether you are in a high fat, low carbohydrate diet, you may end up in a state of ketosis in which your body becomes adapted to using fat metabolism for energy and begins to use your fat stores, rather than sugar to give produce the energy your body requires.
Feel free to research about the “Ketogenic Diet” (Keto), but keep in mind that OMAD and Keto have similar benefits, but OMAD has additional ones associated with HGH and Autophagy, which I will cover in posts to come. For now, this video will help you see their similarities and differences:
