I only ate once a day for 2 months. Here’s what happened.
Hello lovelies, I hope you are doing great physically & mentally.
In today’s post I will pour my heart out to describe my whole journey which I started as a measure for weight loss. Yes, I decided to have some serious fat loss because I wanted to be healthier and more toned.
So, it started when I was done with other short term remedies and crash diets for weight loss and to burst your bubble, THEY DO NOT WORK!
Maybe you’ll lose a little weight in the start, but that’s just water weight. It will come back as soon as you stop doing it. And, these diets can have some serious negative effects and nutritional deficiencies if done for longer periods of time. To name a few, stay away from plain water diet, lemon water or any such diet which makes you devoid of nutrition.
Another disclaimer I wanna mention, I am a girl in her twenties with no such major underlying health condition & I ate full meals on my periods(menstruation) days.
Coming back to my OMAD story, let’s start:( I will be describing my own experience with One Meal A Day in this post, other info about OMAD in another post) One Meal A Day or OMAD is extended version of intermittent fasting. Our ancestors used to do this in Asia.
So, when I decided I wanna lose weight, I first started intermittent fasting with 16:8 hour window, which is fasting for 16 hours & eating in a span of 8 hours. And gradually, my body adapted and I started doing 22:2 hour window. (fasting for 22 hours, eating in 2 hour window)
What I ate?
I chose the lunch time which is around 12 p.m to 2 p.m. I ate full home cooked Indian meal, including salad, 3 Indian rotis (tortillas), vegetable curry, yogurt or whatever is cooked in my kitchen. I ate fats like cashews, almonds, walnuts, etc. And for protein I took plant based protein powder with cold milk to fulfil my protein requirements. I did not seriously count calories in my food because I was eating only for once so I wanted my body to have proper nutrition. I had one cheat meal every week in which I ate my favourite junk food, deserts, etc.
What was my thought process to be this determined to fast for so long?
As mentioned earlier, I was serious about weight loss and as I researched about it more & more, I was fascinated with the extraordinary benefits intermittent fasting can offer if you do it religiously. So, I gave it a try.
What benefits I experienced?
Weight loss: I know losing weight is very hard. But believe me, this is the safest method I have ever tried which is also pocket friendly. I lost 15 pounds or 8 kilograms in 40 days.
Energy levels: My energy levels increased as there is a term “autophagy” which runs in our body when there is no food to be digested. Our healing system starts to replenish any lost or bad cells, overall improving our health.
Smooth & glowing skin: I experienced my skin becoming more glowing & shinier in the process.
Softer hair and less hair fall: As GH called growth hormone in our body increases when we fast, it helps to remove any health problems in our body. I had less hair fall and hair started becoming softer.
Felt light: Whenever we go to bed without food, our healing system works on replenishing our body parts, not on digesting the food we ate. That is the reason we feel light and energetic in the morning not lethargic or tired after having a heavy dinner the night before.
More mental clarity: I had so much more focus on my work and studies and I was more conscious of my surroundings. Intermittent fasting helps to increase mental clarity.
So, the list never ends as I am still on OMAD and will update my experience on any additional benefits.
Are there any side effects of OMAD?
If you do not take proper nutrition in those 2 hours of eating window, there might be. So, do your proper research before attempting this fasting. You can always consult you doctor or in my case, I did thorough research and started small. I used to fast for 12 hours, then increased to 14, then 16 and then 22 hours. I also took multivitamin tablets every single day.
Any advice for people starting?
I would like to say, if you are fat, if you have any skin issues like pimples, your hair is falling, your gut is problematic and you are serious about your own health, I definitely advise you to try Intermittent fasting. Believe me, the way you feel while fasting can’t be described in words. You got to experience it yourself. Special mention goes to Youtube videos of “Dr. Eric Burg” from where I taught myself to completely understand my body and take guidance on intermittent fasting.
“At last I want to remind you to accept and love your body and don’t try to change it for anyone else. Do it for yourself, your own betterment & your body will thank you!”
Have you ever tried intermittent fasting before or are you going to?
Let me know in the comments!
Cheers!
