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Any downside to *occasionally* only having one meal in a day?

Hi all! I’ll try and keep this brief. I’m doing intermittent fasting, with a flexible 8 hour eating window (which usually ends up being 4-6 hours, punctuated by lunch and then dinner), and I practically don’t ever snack, opting to drink water instead.

Today it came time to break my fast - and I just genuinely wasn’t hungry. That was midday; it’s now almost 4, and I’m still not really hungry. I’m thinking I’ll just have dinner as my only meal today.

I don’t plan on doing this every day, but are there going to be drawbacks if I have a day like this once in a while?

Cheers!

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Answer

I do one meal a day on a regular basis. As far as I know, there are no health downsides compared to two meals a day. Only downsides are social imo, like not having lunch with friends, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

Answer

I started with 16:8 and have now just sort of stumbled into only eating supper(s). As long as you’re getting the appropriate amount of calories, and you’re getting good nutrition from that food, your body should be able to adapt.

That’s what OMAD means - “One Meal A Day”.

Answer

According to Gin Stephens, author of Fast Feast Repeat, mixing up your eating window is a good thing. I go day by day. Some day I’m 16:8, others 18:6, sometimes 17:7. Try not to overthink it and focus on one day at a time.

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