1 meal a day?

BigMOFO said:
Here is what I like to highlight in this article though. "Fasted Resistance Training = Not Optimal". It shouldn't come as a surprise, but if your including resistance training in your weight loss plan, which you should, 1-meal a day is not a good idea.
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If you read the actual paragraphs under that heading, I'm not sure you've reached the appropriate conclusion. I came away with the conclusion of "eat within a few hours before you lift weights, regardless of how frequently you eat." So someone who eats 6 times a day, but does their resistance work in the morning before breakfast, or who eats 3 times a day, and does their resistance work immediately before a meal, would get the same negative effects as someone who ate once a day and lifted before eating.
 
I see what your saying. I guess If your doing the 1-meal a day plan, then you should atleast corrolate meal timing with your workouts. But I just can't forgo my post-workout meal, even if this particular article emphasizes pre-workout over post workout meal.
 
Researchers Look at How Frequency of Meals May Affect Health
By Rosalie Marion Bliss
February 15, 2008
The health consequences of eating one large meal a day compared with eating three meals a day has not been established. Now two recently published journal articles are among the first to report the effects of meal skipping on key health outcomes, based on a study involving a group of normal-weight, middle-aged adults.

The study analyses were authored by scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Md., and colleagues at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Intramural Research Program in Baltimore, Md.

For the study, a small group of male and female volunteers participated in two eight-week meal-treatment periods. The study's crossover design meant that each volunteer completed both of the treatment diets, enabling them to serve as their own controls.

Volunteers were divided into one of two groups during each treatment period. They consumed either all of their required weight-maintenance calories in one meal a day or in three meals a day. ARS physiologists David Baer and William Rumpler and NIA neuroscientist Mark Mattson designed the study.

The first study analysis showed that consuming a one-meal-per-day diet, rather than a traditional three-meal-per-day diet, is feasible for a short duration. It showed that when the volunteers were "one-mealers," they had significant increases in total cholesterol, LDL "bad" cholesterol and in blood pressure, compared to when they were "three-mealers."

The changes in cardiovascular disease risk factors occurred despite the fact that the one- mealers saw slight decreases in their weight and fat mass in comparison to when they were three-mealers. Those findings were published in the April 2007 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Further analysis of the study group showed that when the volunteers were one-mealers, they had higher morning fasting blood sugar levels, higher and more sustained elevations in blood sugar concentrations, and a delayed response to the body's insulin, compared to when they were "three-mealers." Insulin is required to lower blood sugar levels. Those findings were published in the December 2007 issue of Metabolism.

ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research agency.
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We have a digest system, I think we must take care about...
 
If you're meeting all your nutritional needs and maintaining a caloric deficit it'd be fine and you'd lose weight. I wouldn't be able to do it for very long though.
 
lot_to_lose said:
1 meal a day is a bad idea if you want to lose weight. When you wake up your body needs food to start your metabolism working. Hence breakfast really IS the most important meal of the day. To keep your metabolism working optimally you should eat two other meals and small snacks every 2-3 hours. This helps keep the metabolism from slowing down or getting into starvation mode where it tends to store EVERY calorie you ate because it doesn't know when it will get the next energy boost.
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Absolutely wrong.
 
kati1790 said:
Does anybody follow a 1-meal a day diet? I have friends who only eat a large dinner everynight and are quite thin/fit. i also read somewhere about someone following this diet for years and not gaining an ounce..
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I suppose if you can get by with eating just one meal a day it may work for you... But I think most people with weight issues couldn't do that. And I've read many places it's actually quite bad for you to do that. I think it's better to eat 5 small meals than 1 huge one.
 
I'm a bit slow with this. Just one complete meal a day, and absolutely no other food? Or does it have snacks in between?
 
You asked, "Why am I wrong?"

lot_to_lose said:
1 meal a day is a bad idea if you want to lose weight.
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Why?

When you wake up your body needs food to start your metabolism working.
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No it doesn't.

Your metabolism is always 'on.'

To keep your metabolism working optimally you should eat two other meals and small snacks every 2-3 hours. This helps keep the metabolism from slowing down
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Meal frequency or number of meals doesn't seem to have any significant impact on metabolic rate. This is backed by a ton of empirical as well as scientific evidence.

or getting into starvation mode where it tends to store EVERY calorie you ate because it doesn't know when it will get the next energy boost.
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That is NOT how the "starvation mode" works. Use the search function and search for threads under the username "steve" and keywords "starvation response."
 
lot_to_lose said:
Ok, let me clarify as apparently I was not very clear in my previous posting. I understand that our metabolism is always working. If it didn't work at all we would die. I was apparently over simplifying what I meant. Essentially, if we don't start our day with something to eat, our body doesn't typically have the resources it needs to break down the needed fuel that keeps our motors running - glucose. Your brain and your nervous system need glucose to work: that means walking, speaking, stretching, typing - any activity requires this fuel.
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I don't think you understand the body as well as you think you do. I mean no offense by that but I've functioned fantastically without dietary glucose. Gluconeogenesis is a wonderful thing as well as ketones.

I suggest you take a look at what's going on with things like Intermittent Fasting and the like.

I'm not suggesting people should not eat breakfast, I'm not suggesting people should do low carb, and I'm not suggesting people should do fasting.

I'm simply making the point that your absolute statements don't make much sense in the realm of human biology and physiology, is all.

Yes, if you don't eat your body will attempt to get the needed energy from burning excess fat or muscle in your body. However, this also taxes your body in a variety of ways that are simply not wise.
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But nobody is suggesting you "not eat."

That's not what this is about. We're talking about a limited number of meals per day.

Big difference.

As for the starvation vs. starvation mode - this too I understand are two seperate things.. one is the act of depriving the body of calories - typically to less than 50% of the needed calories... whereas the starvation mode refers to the bodies response to the lower calories. While it may initially seem helpful because you are indeed burning up fat to lose weight... you will eventually reach a point where your body can't function properly.
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You don't understand the starvation response though. That's my original point. The metabolic and hormonal adaptations associated with the starvation response happen regardless of the size of the energetic deficit. Any hypocaloric diet will trigger the adaptations with time. These adaptations are more associated with body mass than anything else, too.

Why do you think people with hyper/hypothyroidism have problems? Their sugars get out of whack and they get a wide variety of symptoms - which can potentially lead to death.
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Absolutes are a terrible thing in the face of this field.

Maintaining a healthy well balanced diet (not allowing your body get into starvation mode) is the best course for healthy long term success at weight loss
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This is funny.
 
For someone not on a diet the recomeded daily allowance should apply in the 3 meal times as Breakfast, Dinner & an Afternoon meal.

For someone on a diet they key to success is eating smaller ammounts of food more regular so that your metabolism is kept more active and which burns more calories that your body takes in fat.

Someone who eats one meal a day in the afternoon will most likely put the calories from this as fat. As the body is in a slowdown process towards the night. Yes there are some people that can get away with this but not all of us. Hence the reason you arer supposed to have a good breakfast is that body uses this for energy and can easily burn this off through the day.
 
To the person above, you are not stupid, and you shouldnt keep things to yourself.

IMO, I think weight loss is really about finding something that works for you. Its a life style after all, we dont all have the same lives. There are some general guidelines that we should follow, seeing how we are all human and all, but I think trying to make everything super optimal could lead to failure. Having several meals a day probably has a slight metabolic advantage, but hey if it doesn't work you in your way of life then don't do it. carb deprivation might not work for you, but if it does then by all means do it. I'm a big believer in weight lifting while lossing weight, but i've seen some people who never lifted while they lost weight, and they have a great body now, so even that I can't say is carved in stone.
 
lot_to_lose said:
Ok you know what Steve.. this will be my last posting on this thread.. because you are absolutely right. I DON'T know as much about the body as I should. If I did.... I wouldn't be fat now would I.

Thank you for reminding me why dieting is a private thing that people don't/ shouldn't talk to other people about. Because any time I seem to talk to people about dieting they tell me things that contradict what my dr. has told me and what I have experienced as helpful... I will stick to talking to my dr. about the things I need to know ... and I will figure out this whole thing on my own.
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Ah, this forum has some action going on! whoo hoo

Hey Lot, don't feel intimidated on the forum, you will always find someone that doesn't agree with you. just let it roll off your back. Don't let it stop you from saying what you want.

Your doctor seems to be giving you the textbook advice for how to lose weight and live a healthier life. It's not like you are saying something unheard of or outlandish. If it is working for you, stick with it. No one can argue with results!!

My doctor told me that if everyone listened and followed what she tells them, that she would be out of a job.
 
lot_to_lose said:
1 meal a day is a bad idea if you want to lose weight. When you wake up your body needs food to start your metabolism working. Hence breakfast really IS the most important meal of the day. To keep your metabolism working optimally you should eat two other meals and small snacks every 2-3 hours. This helps keep the metabolism from slowing down or getting into starvation mode where it tends to store EVERY calorie you ate because it doesn't know when it will get the next energy boost.
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You do know by eating less calories than you use in a day, regardless of the number of meals, your body "goes into starvation mode" and burns fat, right?

...nevermind. I guess he/she is gone.
 
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For the record, I could never eat 1 meal a day. I like food almost as much as I like variety. One meal... no thanks.
 
lot_to_lose said:
Ok you know what Steve.. this will be my last posting on this thread.. because you are absolutely right. I DON'T know as much about the body as I should. If I did.... I wouldn't be fat now would I. I am apparently so stupid when it comes to having a healthy body and healthy eating habits that I believe my diet consultant when they tell me that going into ketosis is a bad things for me.... That I should eat multiple small meals every day because it keeps my metabolism working more efficiently than when I was eating one meal per day (which for the record - that is how I got fat to begin with - because I would eat too much food only one time per day because it was the only time I ate)... I will admit that I do not have a doctorate degree in nutrition or physical health - and I don't know a ton of huge words to describe the complex things that the body does in response to different things - all I know is what my diet consultant has told me... what my doctor has recommended... and what has worked for me. Apparently this is information I should just keep to myself. I mean .. heck I read one of your other posts in which you mentioned that you hate the idea of "programs' because no one program can work for everyone - and I wouldn't want to appear as though I am forcing my plan onto everyone.

Thank you for reminding me why dieting is a private thing that people don't/ shouldn't talk to other people about. Because any time I seem to talk to people about dieting they tell me things that contradict what my dr. has told me and what I have experienced as helpful... I will stick to talking to my dr. about the things I need to know ... and I will figure out this whole thing on my own.
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Wow.

That's about all I can say to that post.

Appeals to emotion are so funny b/c it only makes things look worse. It doesn't hide the facts though from anyone who actually knows what they're talking about.

I'm sure you won't read this though since you aren't going to be participating in this thread again.
 
My aunt is morbidly obese and is pre-diabetic (or boderline, can't remember the term). Her doctor said that one of the reasons was the fact that she only ate one big meal at dinner. Of course, I'm sure her meal wasn't the most healthy thing, but he did emphasize that it was a one-meal issue. Probably it's worse for people who are struggling with their blood sugar levels than the rest of the population.

I could never just eat one meal. I could probably get by with 2 and have on occasion when I've been really busy, but I prefer 3 or 4.
 
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