Balancing OMAD With A Big Move
Lessons Learned from an Unplanned Fast
I always wanted to be able to eat only once a day. Food is very enjoyable, and I love to eat, but it always takes quite a bit of my day to prepare the food, and then, of course, the actual eating process.
If I am able to eat only once a day, all I need is about a 2–3 hour food window a day; the rest of the day I don’t or shouldn’t have to worry about food.
It sounded so easy and very convenient in my ears, and I managed OMAD on a few testing days in February on office days at home.
On the 28th of February, Travis, my partner, my kids, and I got in the fully packed car with all our belongings to move to our new home in Australia, NSW. We started in Queensland early morning at 5am. We had to catch the first ferry which we had booked 2 weeks prior. I normally don’t drink coffee or caffeine anymore, but on moving day, I made an exception. I couldn’t sleep the night before the move because I was so excited, and I only slept about 3–4 hours in the end. We had a very intense day ahead, so I figured coffee was a good choice for this day.
I didn’t plan to OMAD on this day at all, but I didn’t feel like eating the whole day; my energy was quite high, my focus and my concentration were great so I figured I roll with it.
We arrived perfectly on time in the late afternoon for our appointment with our real estate agency. We signed contracts, drove home, and around 5 pm, we got some pizza home delivered. I know. Not the healthiest choice, but our kids love pizza, and it is quite affordable when compared to Indian, Thai, or Korean food, which I prefer every time.
I was surprised how difficult it felt to eat at 5 pm for the first time of the day.
I could only eat 2 slices of pizza and a small salad before I had to take a little break. I continued to eat later, but again, I couldn’t eat that much, but I was so tired and exhausted from the whole moving day now that I only wanted to sleep and had an early night.
What a successful day. We moved houses, and I even OMAD, unplanned, but the next day I felt that I didn’t eat enough the day before.
I didn’t do my normal intermittent fasting (16/8) and just tried to get more calories in my body to make up for one day of OMAD and not eating enough. I made some unhealthy eating choices the first day in our new home and I am not so happy about this outcome. I was just so hungry that I wanted to eat the whole day, anything that I could get.
I didn’t OMAD the last 2 days as we had so much to organize, and I still felt so hungry. I am back on my normal intermittent fasting interval.
Here is my plan: I keep my 16/8 for most days, but on 2–3 days a week, I want to OMAD.
The challenge with OMAD for me is not that I don’t enjoy the fasting period; I love the fasting period as my concentration and my energy level seem to stay quite balanced throughout the day.
The challenge that I feel most is eating ENOUGH in this short eating window.
To battle this challenge, I want to look into fruit and protein shakes (natural organic ones; I cannot stomach most protein shakes that are sold in gyms). I might also look into chia seeds in coconut milk again. I used to eat that during my yoga teacher training in Sydney a few years ago, and it was amazing how much energy I got from this little snack that I would prepare the day before and put it in the fridge. I used passion fruit to give the dish a little bit of sweetness, and voilà, a high protein, high vitamin snack. I need more of these kinds of recipes when I OMAD.
If you have any high-protein snack ideas for OMAD, please let me know.
My OMAD journey has begun, and even if I am not capable of doing this every day yet, I think it is a good idea to integrate 2–3 OMAD days a week from now on.
I believe that the trick is to stay away from all refined sugars, fast food, minimize the consumption of carbs, and skip processed food completely, but let’s see as I go.
Wish me luck.
Have an awesome day, stay fit and healthy!
Big hug.
Namasté
Alina
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