One meal a day – what I coin as the term ‘intermittent fasting on steroids’ because you fast for 23 hours and fit all your calories into 1 hour, very much like Man versus Food from the Food Network.

In July 2020 I tweaked my intermittent fasting eating plan (18/6) to include two sometimes three days a week of OMAD fasting. It can be used for weight loss however I was aiming to get my full calorie fill in that hour….not easy.

The benefits of OMAD fasting claim to be autophagy of cells (removal of old and creation of new ones, reduce blood sugar, potentially heart disease and reduces inflammation.

18/6 Intermittent Fasting (fast 18 hours and eating in a 6 hour window) has been a positive transformation the past few years so I was aware of OMAD and how it’s the next step up. I just didn’t know how I could go without food for 23 hours haha – and how much could I stuff down my mouth in a hour?! Also a double sometimes triple training day with no food – the ultimate visceral burning plan however would my body cope without food until the end of the day?

One month in and I was able to handle the twice a week OMAD sessions and I felt good. I struggled to eat all the necessary calories but after month 2, I had bigger problems. (I measure my body stats daily, obsessive no…meticulous definitely.) My blood pressure started to fluctuate wildly. Usually around the 108/68 figure – it started to go towards 130/90  – danger signs for sure especially if you have one kidney. At first I didn’t link it to OMAD and put it down to Covid stress. My GP was straight onto about the BP tablets. Tried that and it got worse…and I wasn’t feeling so good. Even my numerous mindfulness hacks had no effect – they always worked. Also my resting heart rate from 46 to 59 beats per minute – not dangerous but percentage-wise enough to add to the concern.

Through elimination, I decided to ditch OMAD and a week of normal my usual intermittent 18/6 eating style, my BP came shooting down, heart rate normalised to 46 bpm and thankfully off the meds. I concluded that training hard – especially cardio and doing OMAD is not the right combination for me. There are success stories out there, especially for weight loss and I can believe that it is easy to lose weight because ramming 2000 to 2500 calories in one hour is near impossible with with healthy food food anyway. I mean it is pointless downing 2 burgers and fries in a hour to make up the calorie count.

My advice – get some professional advice before considering this eating plan – especially if you train and exercise regularly. I just don’t believe you can squeeze all the nutrients in and I think the 18/6 or even 16/8 hours intermittent fasting plan works better for overall health and I am proof of that.

Listen to your body – if it is sending red flags, change up what you are eating, the windows of eating and f course what you are eating.

STAY RELENTLESS – STAY HEALTHY