What is the OMAD Diet?

Go online and search for the term “how to lose weight”. Chances are, you’ll run into a lot of fad diets that promise to make you fit and healthy (read: thin) in no time! One such diet is the One Meal A Day (OMAD) diet.

What is the OMAD Diet?

The name’s self-explanatory: you eat just one meal a day. “This meal could be breakfast, lunch or dinner. The rule is to make sure you eat just that one meal and absolutely nothing else throughout the day,” says Jitendra Chouksey, founder of FITTR (SQUATS), an online fitness platform that provides professional assistance for all fitness and health goals. The one meal could be a high-calorie burger, a full meal or a salad with veggies and protein.

Sandhya Pandey, Chief Clinical Nutritionist, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, says, “Eating only one meal a day is an extreme form of intermittent fasting. In Intermittent fasting, the fasting time is between 14 to 16 hours and eating period is between 8 to 10 hours. So the ratio of fasting and eating is 16:8 or 14:10,  whereas the ratio of same in OMAD is 23:1.”

The reason why the diet has become popular is because it leads to faster weight loss and one doesn’t have to think of the calories or portions consumed while eating just once a day. It seems easier to do.

Should you try it?

“As a dietician, I would strictly not recommend eating just one meal a day,” says Pandey adding that systematic studies need to be done to see the overall impact of such an extreme diet. Chouksey also feels there is no need to go to such extremes to lose weight. There are better ways to diet. “Plus, it’s quite likely that such an extreme form of food restriction will do more harm than good,” he adds.

 What’s wrong with OMAD?

Your body is like a car. It runs of fuel (that’s the food) and you need to make sure you add enough fuel each day so that you have adequate energy to make it through the day. With OMAD, there are a lot of things that can go wrong, Chouksey lists a few below.

Starvation: Let’s say you decide to skip every single meal and only eat dinner. Ask yourself – just how much food do you think you can eat in that one meal? Chances are, you’ll run out of steam and not be able to finish eating everything. The result: your body won’t get all the nutrition it needs to sustain all its functions. Over a period of time, you’ll get into starvation mode – not a good place to be!

Food relationship: Any extreme diet (and OMAD certainly qualifies as one) works in the short term because of the restricted calorie intake. But for most people, the larger issue at play is their relationship with food. OMAD is likely to exasperate this bad relationship and make it toxic. OMAD doesn’t solve your food relationship problem, it just sweeps it under the rug where it continues to fester.

Binge-eating and cravings: Emotional eating is real, people! The minute you go off OMAD, those cravings are going to return with a vengeance. Any weight you might have lost is going to rebound – and then some!

Nutrient deficiencies: All the food we eat are split into two categories: macronutrients (Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates) and micronutrients (Vitamins and Minerals). Severe calorie restriction carries a very real risk of creating nutrient deficiencies. Signs include dizziness, fatigue, headache, weakness, irritability, gastrits and sometimes, hormonal imbalances.

The final word

There are no short cuts to health. It is a daily effort and requires consistent work. “The long term ill effects can be varied depending upon the extent of deficiencies of micronutrients in the diet. By following this diet, you may end up eating a far bigger calorie dense meal which may be unhealthy in terms of  high salt, refined carbohydrate, saturated fat and low on essential nutrients,” says Pandey.

A calorie-restricted diet balanced in terms of nutrients and various food groups is the right way to achieve your target weight. “Find a diet that fits your lifestyle, not the other way around,” suggests Chouksey. For weight/fat loss, make sure you expend more calories than you consume. Opt for a balanced diet that contains enough proteins, vitamins and minerals, prebiotics and probiotics that come from whole grains, pulses, legumes, white meat, nuts, seeds and low fat dairy in right proportions. Eat a variety of food, restricting certain foods or entire food groups is not a good idea.

Stay hydrated, exercise regularly and focus on overall well-being. Stay away from extreme diets.