Maintaining the ideal weight
Now that you have succeeded in reducing your body weight and feel young again, its time to maintain it. We know by studies done on “The Biggest Loser” (TBL) contestants that reducing calorie intake is not the answer. After losing 28% of my body weight back in 2014, I ran into this issue. Keep in mind that in those days OMAD was not a commonly used term, and the TBL was at its height. I had lost more than I ever imagine I could lose, and was back at my pre-wedding weight. So I decided to start eating breakfast and dinner again, albeit light meals. This despite the fact that I was habituated to my permanent OMAD regimen. My breakfast consisted of a simple banana, a 5.3oz serving of greek yogurt. My dinner was also a serving of greek yogurt and 1/2 serving of cashews.
My mistake
Inexplicably, my body began to increase from 162lb to 170lb by Apr. 2016. So I did what every TBL contestant would have done: I reduced my caloric intake and increased my exercise routine. It worked. Quickly enough I lost the pounds again and reached my ideal weight by Sept. that year (2016). However, without changing anything, I began to gain again, reaching 173lb by Mar. 2018. Confused and dismayed, while searching for calisthenics and weight lifting routines in youtube I ran across the term “intermittent fasting”. Ironically, it was not by a scientist, but by a bodybuilder so I more or less disregarded it. As it is usually the case in youtube, the subject kept coming up again and again. So I paid attention and realized that they were describing more or less, what I had been doing between 2009 and 2014.
Science does not lie, not for long, anyway
I began to understand all the benefits that I had experienced between 2009-2014. Despite my carb-rich diet, for the first time in my life, I loved working out and appeared fit. The studies on TBL contestants gained attention in mid-2016. They demonstrated that caloric restriction ended up in reduced metabolic rate as a defense mechanism. However, the science around intermittent fasting was quite sound and the more I learned the more sense it made. Despite decades of promoting low fat, caloric restriction, and exercise diets, the scientific community was doing an about turn. Convinced that I had not been doing it all quite right, I came to the realization that 250g of carbs a day was not helpful. Caloric restriction, exercise, and low fat were making my life difficult. No more.
Feast and Fast for Life
Now I know that OMAD is the most sustainable approach to keeping my body weight at its ideal. Further, I eat to satiety (feasting), reduce my insulin spikes to one a day (fast) and have so adapted to this lifestyle that I am sure I would sustain it indefinitely (for life). Better yet, the benefits to good health are multiple, including fitness and longevity (for life, again). Between 2016 and 2018, I became afraid that skipping breakfast would reduce my performance during my weight lifting and calisthenics routines in the morning. Quite to the contrary, my performance keeps increasing so much, that I have included more challenging routines in my calisthenics (see “advanced pyramids” in this post). As it turns out, pushups are a great indicator of reduced risk of cardiac disease (same post).
To TBL contestants
I have seen TBL contestants giving their accounts about success and failure. I wish I could put my arm around them and tell them how much I admire them. Then I would say to them: keep doing what you are doing, change only one thing: eat only once a day to satiety. The rest will come naturally: exercise and proper nutrition will be a byproduct of gaining control over your sugar addiction and insulin resistance.
