Hi 38 year old, 6’2” male who weighs about 245lbs. Trying to get back under 200lbs. Between changing jobs to a much less physical occupation, having our first child and being on a medication that made me constantly tired and gain weight I decided I need to change things up. When I was in high school I was eating only one meal a day not because it was a known intermittent fasting technique, but I just kind of accidentally found myself in that routine. I was probably in my best shape at least weight wise at that time. Yesterday I began the process of weening myself off my medication over the next 2-3 weeks. So I decided today to go head first back into that OMAD routine. I have a very erratic schedule and I fly a lot with short overnights without a lot of time for working out. I’m a little worried about waking up and needing something to eat before flying so I don’t get nauseous or woozy. Wondering if even a single protein bar or granola bar will ruin an intermittent fasting routine. I guess I’m just gonna go for this 7 days a week and shoot for non regular cheat days. Any advice or someone doing a similar routine with ideas and input would be appreciated.
>Wondering if even a single protein bar or granola bar will ruin an intermittent fasting routine.
Yes, calories will end the fast, but you determine if that’s ‘ruining’ your overall progress. You may also want to consider not jumping head first back into OMAD. It’s been a while since high school and you mentioned medication that you’re loading down from. Better to ramp up to OMAD than to crash out completely, it took me 5 months of IF to do OMAD somewhat consistently and I still don’t do it every day. There’s lots of methods and styles.
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>I have a very erratic schedule and I fly a lot with short overnights without a lot of time for working out.
So we’re the same age, height, and I’m a little further along in my journey trying to get down under 200 as well. Now I’m not saying I know your life or have walked your shoes, but I used to think this myself, that I could never find the time to work out. What got me started was a simple bodyweight routine. When I started it only took 30 minutes or so to finish 3 sets of it, but more importantly building that habit made me want to find the time and realize it was always there, I just let other things distract me.
Sup man, I’m a few years older and a few inches taller, and started at the same weight you are starting at, with the same goal weight, and actually ate similar to how you described back in my youth, too.
How hard OMAD will be is dependant on lots of things. What percent of your daily food intake is carbs right now, would you guess? If you eat anything like the standard American diet, the answer is “a shit load”. If that’s the case, going from that straight to omad can be tough.
How I evolved to omad was sip black coffee throughout the morning (any drink is ok, as long as it is zero calories), then pushed lunch out to 2pm. Took a day or two for that to become normal-feeling. Back then I was eating a bag of rice and a few pieces of fruit for lunch, aka a ton of carbs lol. Still, did that for a year or so before going keto.
Probably within a week of that switch, I was noticing that 2pm was coming around at work and I had zero appetite. So I’d wait til 3, or 4. I’d eat my keto lunch and then go home a couple hours later and have my keto dinner.
After a couple weeks of that, and strict adherence to fewer than 20g total carbs per day, I now easily can get all my eating done in a one hour window, or two if I’m feeling like taking my time.
In truth, I’ve gone mostly animal-based these past couple of months and my goal every day is zero carbs. I eat some of the veggies I like here and there, but otherwise it’s carnivore almost all the time now. It’s seriously amazing, and I haven’t felt better since my teens or early twenties, back when I was bulletproof.
So yeah, if you eat keto/carnivore, a natural by-product of that way of eating will be natural appetite suppression, so intermittent fasting will be something that just happens automatically without you intentionally planning it out. Hope that helps!