One meal a day as a weight loss program is effective because it restricts you eating during a specific time of the day and the amount of food you can eat. This kind of diet comes in a variety of forms including intermittent fasting, eating a single meal each day or alternate day fasting. In fact, most people refer to one meal a day as caloric restraint.
The main goal of such a program is to reduce the number of calories you consume while maintaining your diet’s nutritional content. One meal a day has both pros and cons, so here are the benefits and risks you should expect.
How one meal a day works
The idea behind one meal a day is you get to eat only a single meal each day. Some people prefer dinner. That means fasting all day and then consuming your calorie needs in one seating in kitchen. That single meal may contain all the calories you need in a day, but that is dependent on your level of activity.
You should not count your calorie intake or shift focus to the micronutrients. Rather, you should eat until you full and try to include foods from all the essential food groups.
In most cases, you are free to consume a snack or two during the day apart from your single meal. The snack may include boiled eggs or fruit after your workout session. You are also free to consume non-calorie beverages like water, tea, and coffee.
Benefits
There are several long-term studies focusing on human fasting. The focus of these studies has been on fasting in males. Fasting is not that common in women since they tend to be affected by various body activities including menstruation, breastfeeding, and pregnancy.
A few studies on fasting have documented a number of benefits associated with fasting. For instance, when you restrict calories to just below 25 percent every day, your insulin efficiency may improve.
In fact, a recent research study on diabetes concluded that sporadic fasting for a period of six weeks could improve your blood sugar levels and body weight for those with type 2 diabetes.
A follow-up research study assessing the differences and similarities between intermittent fasting and daily calorie limitations concluded that sporadic fasting might help treat those showing signs of insulin or prediabetes resistance.
Actually, a few people who follow the one meal a day program claim it has the potential to increase your body’s energy prevents afternoon slump and can keep you sated for a long time.
Risks
Alternate day, intermittent fasting or any other kind of fasting can cause a number of side effects such as extreme hunger, shaking, fatigue, brain fog, weakness, lack of concentration and binge eating.
Fasting is also dangerous when you have a medical condition like hypoglycemia or diabetes. However, in general, the effect of fasting is different in each person. Some people adjust really well to one meal a day while others find it difficult to function on a single meal every day.
In addition, while the body can adjust and feel less hungry when you begin fasting when you stop, the body will tend to overcompensate by causing you to experience extreme hunger. In fact, fasting is somewhat technically to body weight and metabolism in non-obese and pre-menopausal women.
Other than physical effects, there is also the likelihood of a person experiencing negative emotional effects due to fasting. You may experience irritability or begin to binge-eat.
Other healthy ways to shed weight
At the end of the day, fad dieting or extreme approaches to losing weight are not sustainable at all. There are benefits to intermittent fasting as well as risks that can harm your health. Rather than depending on intermittent fasting to maintain a healthy weight, there are other alternative ways to losing weight you could try such as testosterone therapy.
You can check for testosterone weight loss results in several ways. Most people take before and after pictures while some weight periodically. The other way to check testosterone weight loss results is to schedule a regular checkup with your doctor. It might take some time for you to see positive testosterone weight loss results, but at least you will not experience the negative effects associated with fasting.
Track your diet. This is an approach that is linked to a healthy weight because you become aware of what you eat and drink. Something else that works even better is learning all you can about your nutrition. Visit your local hospital or health center and speak to a dietician to find out all you can about healthy eating.
Wrap Up
Ensure you speak to your doctor about diet changes you intend to make to find out how that will affect your health and body weight. To develop healthy weight, practice viable eating habits and be sure to incorporate exercise in your daily routine.
