Carnivore fasting - OMAD?

[mdunavant]

I've been on the carnivore diet 5 months and have lost about 57 pounds.  Started at 370 and weighed 313 this morning.  For more than half of this diet, I've only eaten lunch and dinner, no breakfast.  I'm thinking of going to OMAD.  From you guy's experience, what one meal is it best to eat if you're only eating one per day?

I can see pros and cons to each. 

If it's only breakfast I eat, I won't be having a meal with the family, and I'll create a hassle trying to cook while two kids and my wife are all trying to get ready for the day.  I guess a pro could be that I can run all day on that meal and the time at which I'd be most likely to be hungry is when I'm asleep.  But if that caused sleep problems, it wouldn't be worth it.

If it's only lunch I eat, I'll be at work and having anything decent there would be a chore.

If it's only dinner I eat, I'll be sleeping with all that food on me and most likely be super hungry at work.

What have you guys experienced?

[Geezy]

When I went OMAD it wasn’t a conscious decision it just came natural.
A couple of months into my new lifestyle I realized that I was eating by the clock but I wasn’t hungry when I ate. The seemed silly to me so I figured that eating when I was hungry made more sense. That ended up being just once a day. The time that I would eat verified. On the average I would get hungry between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. Sometimes it may be around 3:00 pm or even 6:00 pm. The key was just to eat when I was truly hungry.
One thing I noticed that there were times when I would get hungry but I’d be too busy to eat but it was easy to ignore and just wait until later when it was more convenient to eat.
There have even been times when I just forgot to eat and ended up going on a long term fast.
Now with all of that being said I must say that I’m retired so I have more flexibility that most. If I was still working and only OMAD I believe I would just eat when I got home in the evening.


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[Scott F.]

Getting to OMAD just sort of happened for me as well. I just progressed to eating when I was hungry and like Geezy said, sometimes it stretched past OMAD into the next.

I work rotating shift work, and my wife is not going carnivore. These life variables will play a part in your eating 'habits', even when you are learning not to eat from habit....as crazy as that sounds.

When I am on dayshift, I eat a small lunch and then again when I get home, maybe 8 or so. If I am on nights I eat soon after the shift starts, usually around 8PM. On nights I eat the next two or three shifts at the same time which is the OMAD. When I am off it is OMAD but on occasion I may dog a big egg breakfast after the gym.

I'm seldom, if ever actually hungry, so the majority of my mills are dictated by shift schedule, then lining up to eat with my wife when she eats. The third part would be on my days off mid-week when my wife is working, I could go 24-36 hours and not realize I hadn't stopped to eat. Again, craziness.

I have done a couple 48 hour fasts (intentionally) and just recently completed a 72 hour fast. Both were both much easier than I ever expected. I did get hungry at the very end and I also hit an energy wall, but overall, pretty easy.

Babbling but not being hungry makes it easier to have a varied schedule with the best being eating when hungry, but at the same time life factors.

Scott

[mdunavant]

Well I'm hooked on OMAD.

Gotta recap a little.

Sept 15th I hit 315.

Next three weeks, I hoovered up and down, never reaching 310.

Last Saturday was my first day of OMAD. Worked on hanging tree stand and clearing shooting lanes in the woods half of the day.

Got home that afternoon and weighed 309.

Kept doing OMAD.

Sunday weighed 308

Monday, 307.

Today I weighed 305 first thing in the morning and just now, 304.

I won't expect it to keep that pace but wow. What a way to sell me on eating one meal a day. Not as hungry as I expected either.

[Scott F.]

Don't be surprised. I dropped 30lbs in the first 31/32 days and the first week I didn't toss out the Mountain Dew and ice Cream I bought the day before I started. Although I did move to carnivore on May 8th of this year I did eat some crap the first 4 or 5 days. (I guess I sort of eased into Carnivore)

I started walking about a mile and half three to four times per week. In June I started going to the gym. I hit some stalls along the way as my meals staggered along with shift work. As of this week I am down 74lbs in less than 6 months. 

I'm not exactly killing it in the gym and my walks are about 4 miles three to four times per week. 

Scott

[mdunavant]

That's great progress. I'm about 5.5 months in and down 66

[Scott F.]

Great job on the 66.

It's funny to me that weight always seems to be the lead-in with the Carnivore conversation. I'm the guiltiest. 

For me, I should lead off with my autoimmune disease NMO/SD (basically it is like Multiple Sclerosis but attacks the optic nerve impairing vision). I was diagnosed in late 2018/early 2019. I have been prescribed gabapentin(Neurontin) and prednisone ever since. I would take them at flare-ups or when the scar tissue from the lesions along my neck and spine. The gabapentin made me a zombie and I hated it but it kept me going. 

I had a video pop up about carnivore and MS and it caught my eye. After watching it I didn't really buy in but as I thought about it I had went a couple three weeks without going to the medicine cabinet. I was like, "What a coincidence?". Then another couple weeks and it sort of sank in there was something more to the carnivore approach than just weight loss.

I have been medicine free since late May/early June. I don't totally count the first week because I finished off the Dews and the Ice Cream but from week two to about week four or five the inflammation and pain didn't flare up and has not since. That is simple craziness.

I get some of the medical issues are made better by the weight loss and the effects of being overweight. But for me, I had lost weight before and didn't relieve any of the inflammation and used medicine as necessary. 

When I tell people that they look at me just like I thought when I watched the first video on the positive affects of carnivore with autoimmune disease. 

Again, simple craziness at the changes it has done for me.

Scott

[mdunavant]

I started it for the weight loss but it has improved my sleep apnea and cleared up my brain fog.

[Miranda]

I started fasting in 2021 for WL and longevity. I struggled with binging though. I will still fast if I am not hungry. I try not to push the fasting if I am not feeling it though. I think carnivore takes priority over fasting and fasting is a by-product of carnivore.

[Meathead]

On 10/2/2024 at 8:19 PM, Geezy said:

When I went OMAD it wasn’t a conscious decision it just came natural.

Same here for me up until surgery. 

On 10/15/2024 at 4:18 PM, mdunavant said:

Well I'm hooked on OMAD.

Gotta recap a little.

Sept 15th I hit 315.

Next three weeks, I hoovered up and down, never reaching 310.

Last Saturday was my first day of OMAD. Worked on hanging tree stand and clearing shooting lanes in the woods half of the day.

Got home that afternoon and weighed 309.

Kept doing OMAD.

Sunday weighed 308

Monday, 307.

Today I weighed 305 first thing in the morning and just now, 304.

I won't expect it to keep that pace but wow. What a way to sell me on eating one meal a day. Not as hungry as I expected either.

Don't get hooked on numbers also look for fitting into clothes you couldn't fit into for years.  I stalled for 2  months now but I can fit into jeans I was too fat to fit into since 2019.

[mdunavant]

Not completely hooked on numbers but it's very encouraging to see them go down especially when I started so heavy.  My clothes are falling off of me, even the stuff that was too tight to wear when I started.  My sleep apnea has improved to better than it was when I was diagnosed with it ten years ago.  I feel so much better too.  When hiking through the woods while hunting or walking my job sites at work, I get around so much easier.  I'm happy to get out there and have something to do now.

[Meathead]

Good to hear and hope you stick with it. 

Carnivore is the gift that keeps on giving. 

[Geezy]

4 hours ago, mdunavant said:

My sleep apnea has improved to better than it was when I was diagnosed with it ten years ago.

That good news. Mine was at a 22 but is now down to 8. I’ve been able to get off of the Bipap machine and go to a dental mouthpiece.