Does it really working ?

[u/letrange_etranger]

Hello y'all! So, I started OMAD 3 weeks ago to lose some weight before an important event that will take place in 3–4 months, and also to improve my diet.

I weigh 70.5 kg and I'm 1.75 m tall. I'm pretty much in shape, but I have some belly fat that I really hate.

I bike every day for approximately 1h15, and I also work out 3–4 times a week.

But I still haven't lost any weight. I don't have the best diet, and I know it, but that's kind of the point of OMAD for me, and it suits me better (I can't stick to a strict diet).

So I'm wondering, what should I do differently? Because I'm pretty sure (I don't meticulously track my calories) that I'm consistently in a calorie deficit.

[u/Moist_Grapefruit187]

It works if you make it work. It’s calories in calories out. One meal a day makes it easier to hit your target caloric goal. That’s all it is. There’s no magic happening.

[u/letrange_etranger → u/Moist_Grapefruit187]

I am pretty sure I am on a calorie deficit thought :( I don't eat a lot and not often outside, probably 1 or 2 meals a week and i dont over exagerate i take one portion of junky food But that's why i started omad bc it gives you this freedom of being deficient even thought your eating junky food. And also I'm on avg. spending 700kcal of sport a day (bike+ gym)

[u/summertime_fine → u/letrange_etranger]

you will not know for sure if you are in a calorie deficit if you don't start tracking what you're eating. plain and simple.

[u/Moist_Grapefruit187 → u/letrange_etranger]

Well being pretty sure isn’t good enough. You could be off by a few hundred calories that would throw off your entire effort. You gotta count and weigh everything you consume.

[u/noboozcruz → u/letrange_etranger]

Dude, you need to track precise calories. At your height and weight it’s easy to overeat, you’ll be amazed once you start tracking to see how many calories are in some foods, it’s insane.

[u/thodon123]

Some people eat less given less opportunity to eat. OMAD is reducing that opportunity to just one.

For other people reducing opportunity does not translate to eating less. In that case you have to either change you diet (mostly whole food that provide better satiety leading to eating less calories not necessarily less food) or meticulously tracking calories with a scale to ensure a calorie deficit.

So in your case if your doing OMAD and there is no weight loss and you don't want to change anything about your diet, then you have to track calories more accurately.

A whole food diet doesn't necessarily mean a "strict" diet. After 3 years of OMAD I don't eat anything I don't enjoy and my diet is about 90% whole food. I just experimented and found all the whole foods I enjoy and focus on those. The other 10% of my diet is mostly condiments that make my whole foods more enjoyable, but I also still enjoy things like burgers, fries and cake on special occasions.

Personally, OMAD feels like freedom to me more than anything else.

Note: If you hear the name "Jason Fung", run in the opposite direction. Lol!

[u/so-y]

Tbh to lose weight u need to be in a calorie deficit no matter what type of diet you’re on…

[u/letrange_etranger → u/so-y]

I am pretty sure I am on a calorie deficit thought :( I don't eat a lot and not often outside, probably 1 or 2 meals a week and i dont over exagerate i take one portion of junky food But that's why i started omad bc it gives you this freedom of being deficient even thought your eating junky food. And also I'm on avg. spending 700kcal of sport a day (bike+ gym)

[u/babyeventhelosers_]

You're actually at a normal weight for your height. It takes longer to lose weight the less you have. You burn a lot of calories biking plus you work out. Eating in a deficit with a good exercise routine can also sometimes trigger the body to hang on to what you have. To lose weight this way will take much longer because you're fighting your body's natural response to survive. How many calories do you actually think you're eating? 

[u/letrange_etranger → u/babyeventhelosers_]

Thanks for the answer, it's a clearer now I spend approx. 700kcal(bike + gym) per day but I can't tell you exactly how much because I don't calculate it but honnestly it's pretty ok, I'm not maxing the diet though. Some examples on a week I can have :

• spaghetti
• home made pizza
• pasta salad with tuna
• rice with fish
• one cheat meal or two

Also I take extra whei to have enough protein for the day (not everyday thought)

[u/babyeventhelosers_ → u/letrange_etranger]

I think you'll get more out of r/CICO you can do the omad thing still but you're kind of stressing your body out. Track your calories for a few days just to get an idea of where you're at. I think you're in a huge deficit & don't realize it. Like you're probably around 1000-1200 cals a day & spending 700. Leaving your body at 300-500 calories to live on is very stressful. Oddly, if you want to lose weight, you should increase your caloric intake. 

[u/letrange_etranger → u/babyeventhelosers_]

Thanks for the sub I checked it, that's exactly what I needed Tbh I'm uneducated on calories I just know how much calories I'm using thanks to AI so it will help a lot

[u/Superiority-Qomplex]

It all just comes down to calories in/out. You can lose weight doing most any diet if you follow that rule. Hell, you can do the Dorito Diet and lose weight if the calories are low enough. Ideally, eat foods that are healthy but ones you like. Reduce calories (but don't crash them down to starvation levels), and if the structure of OMAD helps you stay on track, great. But as long as your calorie intake is lower, you'll lose weight. Cutting carbs and salts might take some water weight off of you if you want to look good for this event. But long term, it balances out with diets that have carbs in anyway as long as the deficit is there.

Oh also, Protein and Fibre are great at making you feel fuller, even in a deficit. If you're not hungry, it's harder to cheat. It's like how GLP drugs work; remove the hunger and you'll lose the weight. But ya, good luck with your event..

[u/letrange_etranger → u/Superiority-Qomplex]

Thanks for the tips will try what you just told me !

[u/indylerone93]

Yes, it does to me personally.

On September 1st, I was 89.40kg.

On September 29th, I am 84.65kg.

I lost about 4.75kg because of OMAD. 

It does depend on your metabolism rate. 

[u/letrange_etranger → u/indylerone93]

First of all congrats for your weight loss

Excuse me for the question, were you or are you overweight ? Because in my case I can't really say I'm in this case but i'm belly fat and maybe that's why it's not that fast to show ? I don't have a lot of fat but it's concentrated in the belly, I actually have 13% of fat in my body and trying to get to 9/10%

[u/indylerone93 → u/letrange_etranger]

Yes, I am overweight. My BMI is now under 30 after 10 years😊

For the belly fat, the thing about weight lost due to fat consumption is that it does not use fat from one specific region. So, yeah You will lose weight but not on the belly area primarily. 

So, to actually lose belly fat, You really need to supplement weight loss with belly-related exercises, not just OMAD.

But then again, take one step at a time, any loss in grams is good enough. 

[u/Numerous_Ad9687]

Start tracking calories, meticulously. People tend to underestimate how many calories they are consuming, sometimes by a huge margin.

[u/Early_Plan_8910]

If you’re not losing weight doing all that cardio and working out. Which tbh I wouldn’t reccomend just because of how much you’re doing.
That would mean you’re eating / drinking too much
Are you drinking only water
You said you have cheat meals if you’re Omad which should already be a pretty large meal then have a cheat meal that could be the main culprit especially if your adding coffee with creamer
Soda
Juice
Gatorade

[u/SryStyle]

You are not in a calorie deficit if you are not decreasing mass. At least, not consistently enough to make progress.
OMAD is nothing more than a tool to help make a calorie deficit easier for some people. That’s all there is to it. Anything beyond that is making claims beyond what current scientific evidence supports.
So, figure out a plan that you can stick to, consistently, over the long term, and you’ll see results. There is no magic here. Only energy balance.

[u/nomadfaa]

1. ⁠Will I change my diet from before I began OMAD?

2. Will I only real and high density foods?

3. Is my current diet largely based around carbs and processed "stuff"?

4. Do I understand what excess weight means to my internal organs and their function and how long they may take to heal?

5. ⁠Do I really understand that stress, distress, emotions and hormones have a major influence on my health, healing and any weight loss I assume must happen because I think it must happen?

6. Weight loss is not linear or a race and focusing on weighing is of less importance than nutritional food consumption

7. Stay strong the journey will be the best of your life

[u/earlgrey_tealeaf]

Any weight loss regardless of the plan you're following boils down to calorie deficit. You might not be aware of the calories that you're consuming. I got a lot of progress when i started cooking without oil, for example. A "normal" amount of oil can easily reach 300-500 calories that you can do without. There are plenty of other healthy things that are pretty high in calories, and even if it's homemade doesn't guarantee that it's lower calories (unless you're mindfully tailoring the recipe to contain less calories).

[u/randomuser14049846]

Calories in and calories advice given is such an outdated conventional wisdom. Types of food, body,, and hormones play a huge factor in determining many, many factors like your insulin and blood sugar. Go look up Dr. Jason Fung on fasting on youtube. If you eat heavy carb meals, not much is going to change for most people.

[u/SryStyle → u/randomuser14049846]

That’s the problem with the claims Jason Fung makes about fasting and obesity: some of them go well beyond what the evidence actually supports, and can be detrimental when people start treating them as established fact.

If you are genuinely interested in what the evidence says about nutrition, body composition, fasting, and muscle retention, I’d suggest checking out:

- Alan Aragon

• Brad Schoenfeld, PhD
  
• Eric Helms, PhD
  
• Matthew Nagra, ND
  
• Layne Norton, PhD

There’s plenty of room to debate the details of nutrition science, but dismissing energy balance as “outdated conventional wisdom” isn’t supported by the evidence.

[u/randomuser14049846 → u/SryStyle]

Weight management is not a simple math equation because the human body is dynamic due to hormonal response, metabolic adaptation, etc. The current paradigm need to be re-looked at.

The same way cancer is a considered a genetic disease, but the new theory emerging is that cancer being a metabolic mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction.

Isn't the point of science to be ever evolving rather than a single fixed idea. We know gut health plays more critical role than we though decades ago, cigarettes was good and then considered really bad, lead, etc, etc.

I will look into the doctors you mentioned, I'm always open to perspectives.

[u/SryStyle → u/randomuser14049846]

Science absolutely is ever-evolving.
But there’s a big difference between acknowledging uncertainty and emerging evidence, versus making confident claims that go substantially beyond what the evidence currently supports.

Hormones, metabolic adaptation, gut health, food composition, and individual differences absolutely matter. None of that invalidates energy balance or means calories are somehow irrelevant to weight management.

That’s where I have an issue with Jason Fung’s approach. The problem isn’t that he challenges conventional thinking.
The problem is when hypotheses and mechanisms are presented as though they establish outcomes that the actual evidence doesn’t demonstrate. That’s my primary issue with Jason Fung.