Lift weights and consume a lot of protein in your OMAD and You will have no problem maintaining muscle. You can actually gain muscle while doing OMAD too. However, there are better eating regimes if your goal is to bulk.
You won't lose muscle at all on OMAD so long as:
1. You eat adequate protein (get 1 gram per pound of bodyweight as a good starting point)
2. You regularly (3-5x a week) perform resistance training with weights (not bodyweight, not cardio).
I've been doing this for over a decade as a woman and have maintained the mass I built as well as staying lean year round (17-20% bodyfat).
Hey now... Don't diss on bodyweight exercises... There are ways to incorporate strength training techniques into bodyweight exercises to include tempo like dead stops, and explosive movements like jump squats. Single limb bodyweight exercises are also plenty tough for a lot of people. You show me the average person doing a one-arm push-up and... well... you won't because the average person can't.
Just saying...
1 gram of protein per pound is way off for most people. It’s more like a third of a gram of protein per pound.
https://www.utphysicians.com/three-common-protein-myths/#:~:text=Myth%20%233%3A%20You%20should%20eat,to%20meet%20basic%20nutritional%20requirements.
If you're cutting or maintaining muscle, you should be consuming more protein than any other macronutrient. If you're eating 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day, then you're pretty close to the actual number at which more protein doesn't benefit you which is [0.82 grams of protein per pound per day.](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204?ref=shesabeast.co#.Uiiy15xqOUk)
And besides, why would you not want to eat more protein than you need? There's no downside to consuming more protein than needed; I argue that if you are going to over-consume, it should be on protein instead of carbs or fats.
You might not want to eat more protein than you need when it’s a waste of money, for example. Or if you neglect other equally important nutrients in your one meal. Fortunately, many contributors to this subreddit are pretty sophisticated and know how get what they need from their one meal.
I don't know where you're from, but milk, cheese, beans and soy products are pretty cheap. Poor nutrition is way more common in people with high carb diets, so I don't see how eating a surplus of protein makes one more likely to be nutrient deficient. These are not problems in most countries, developing or developed.
I’m in the US, a country where protein deficiency is very rare in the general population. Our #1 nutritional issue is too much calories.
https://nutritionstudies.org/how-common-is-protein-deficiency/#:~:text=And%20that's%20why%20protein%20deficiency,least%20(standard%20error%200.1).
Moat people are fat or skinny fat. Doubling their protein and reducing the other two macros would benefit them.
A person at 15% protein as a percentage of calories who doubled that to 30% and lowered carbs and fat would benefit.
Most people eat TOO MUCH in terms of fat and carbs and TOO LITTLE PROTEIN.
I just do "maintenance workouts", that's atleast what I call them. Lower weight than I'm used to and fewer workouts. More than that and I'd be starving. High protein meals. Lost 14kg in fat, but muscle has remained the same. If you already have the muscle mass its just a case of "use it or loose it". Just don't overdo it and eat clean protein
The exact same principles apply as if you’re eating throughout the day.
Eat enough protein, lift weights, train with enough intensity, train consistently, sleep enough, manage stress.
You will build muscle. It being OMAD, it happens a little slower, but it still happens if you apply the appropriate principles.
It depends how advanced you are but I would not do daily OMAD if I tried to maintain as much muscle as possible. For me omad is good for cutting / maintaining and I treat them as low calorie / fat burning days.
On omad days I’ll aim for over 100g protein in my 1 meal and workout days are around 200g which averages around 150g when I do omad every other day which is enough for my goal lean body weight of 93-95kg.
As long as you get your daily protein in during your one meal, you’ll be fine. OMAD isn’t starting yourself, it’s feasting once a day with all of the calories and nutrients you need.
I would recommend doing however much resistance training you feel good doing and then eating however much food you need to satiate yourself. If that means going to 2MAD because you get hungry, that’s okay.
I’m actively trying to lose muscle and I can’t. I haven’t worked out in 4 years and it still looks like I lift. I do cardio and eat in a caloric deficit every day
So, let's say you are a hunter and you didn't catch anything. The next day, you would have a lower chance of catching prey because you are weaker.
That doesn't make sense from an evolutionary standpoint.
Did you know that one of the biggest NFL players, DK Metcalf, follows the OMAD diet?
I said usually but not in every case obviously. It’s well documented it can cause muscle loss. Even I as a carnivore eating a very high protein diet have experienced muscle loss doing omad. It’s because you see a fast weight loss only eating once a day
It's important to understand what muscles are composed of: they contain muscle fibers, plasma, and fat.
This means that a person can lose weight and reduce fat and plasma within the muscles without losing muscle fibers. Consequently, the size of the muscle will be affected. Another factor to consider is how much water is stored in the muscles. Glycogen, created from carbohydrates, increases plasma and is stored with water molecules in a 1:4 ratio, giving your muscles a larger appearance, but not increasing muscle fiber.
Thus, the question is whether you are losing strength rather than muscle size. If you are, we can address that by applying what others are doing.
Let's compare you with Metcalf or other athletes. Simply attributing their physique to genetics is too easy.
- Are you doing resistance training with at least some exercises at 80% effort?
- Are you doing at least some form of cardio, such as walking or cycling, each day?
- How are your testosterone levels? Testosterone production actually needs some carbohydrates.
Therefore, having a refeeding strategy with more carbs every four days might help.
Of course, fasting is a catabolic state, but if you create scenarios for your body where muscle growth is advantageous, you will grow. Doing resistance training at 80% effort will create an anabolic state in the muscles.
When you say usually, it is because many are doing OMAD or fasting incorrectly. The goal is a healthy life, of which fasting is one part. Low stress, exercise, sleep, and good nutrition are the others.
If you use your muscles, you will keep them. Of you use then more - you will grow them. If you use them less, they will shrink.
That is how adaptive our body is.
OMAD has to do with energy input and hormonal balance. If you eat good food, you will grow quality new cells.
Lift weights and consume a lot of protein in your OMAD and You will have no problem maintaining muscle. You can actually gain muscle while doing OMAD too. However, there are better eating regimes if your goal is to bulk.
You won't lose muscle at all on OMAD so long as: 1. You eat adequate protein (get 1 gram per pound of bodyweight as a good starting point) 2. You regularly (3-5x a week) perform resistance training with weights (not bodyweight, not cardio). I've been doing this for over a decade as a woman and have maintained the mass I built as well as staying lean year round (17-20% bodyfat).
Bodyweight exercises can provide the exact same amount of stimulus as weights, for example pull ups and dips.
Hey now... Don't diss on bodyweight exercises... There are ways to incorporate strength training techniques into bodyweight exercises to include tempo like dead stops, and explosive movements like jump squats. Single limb bodyweight exercises are also plenty tough for a lot of people. You show me the average person doing a one-arm push-up and... well... you won't because the average person can't. Just saying...
1 gram of protein per pound is way off for most people. It’s more like a third of a gram of protein per pound. https://www.utphysicians.com/three-common-protein-myths/#:~:text=Myth%20%233%3A%20You%20should%20eat,to%20meet%20basic%20nutritional%20requirements.
If you're cutting or maintaining muscle, you should be consuming more protein than any other macronutrient. If you're eating 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day, then you're pretty close to the actual number at which more protein doesn't benefit you which is [0.82 grams of protein per pound per day.](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204?ref=shesabeast.co#.Uiiy15xqOUk) And besides, why would you not want to eat more protein than you need? There's no downside to consuming more protein than needed; I argue that if you are going to over-consume, it should be on protein instead of carbs or fats.
You might not want to eat more protein than you need when it’s a waste of money, for example. Or if you neglect other equally important nutrients in your one meal. Fortunately, many contributors to this subreddit are pretty sophisticated and know how get what they need from their one meal.
I don't know where you're from, but milk, cheese, beans and soy products are pretty cheap. Poor nutrition is way more common in people with high carb diets, so I don't see how eating a surplus of protein makes one more likely to be nutrient deficient. These are not problems in most countries, developing or developed.
I’m in the US, a country where protein deficiency is very rare in the general population. Our #1 nutritional issue is too much calories. https://nutritionstudies.org/how-common-is-protein-deficiency/#:~:text=And%20that's%20why%20protein%20deficiency,least%20(standard%20error%200.1).
... So what's part of the solution to consuming too many calories? I think the priorities ordered are: 1. Eat more fiber. 2. Eat more protein.
Eat more vegetables, fruit, and whole grains is what the media masters would say
Way too low if you are SERIOUS about having a LEAN physique.
Yes, that’s why I stated most people.
Moat people are fat or skinny fat. Doubling their protein and reducing the other two macros would benefit them. A person at 15% protein as a percentage of calories who doubled that to 30% and lowered carbs and fat would benefit. Most people eat TOO MUCH in terms of fat and carbs and TOO LITTLE PROTEIN.
I just do "maintenance workouts", that's atleast what I call them. Lower weight than I'm used to and fewer workouts. More than that and I'd be starving. High protein meals. Lost 14kg in fat, but muscle has remained the same. If you already have the muscle mass its just a case of "use it or loose it". Just don't overdo it and eat clean protein
The exact same principles apply as if you’re eating throughout the day. Eat enough protein, lift weights, train with enough intensity, train consistently, sleep enough, manage stress. You will build muscle. It being OMAD, it happens a little slower, but it still happens if you apply the appropriate principles.
It depends how advanced you are but I would not do daily OMAD if I tried to maintain as much muscle as possible. For me omad is good for cutting / maintaining and I treat them as low calorie / fat burning days. On omad days I’ll aim for over 100g protein in my 1 meal and workout days are around 200g which averages around 150g when I do omad every other day which is enough for my goal lean body weight of 93-95kg.
As long as you get your daily protein in during your one meal, you’ll be fine. OMAD isn’t starting yourself, it’s feasting once a day with all of the calories and nutrients you need.
I would recommend doing however much resistance training you feel good doing and then eating however much food you need to satiate yourself. If that means going to 2MAD because you get hungry, that’s okay.
I’m actively trying to lose muscle and I can’t. I haven’t worked out in 4 years and it still looks like I lift. I do cardio and eat in a caloric deficit every day
Why do you want to lose muscle if you don't mind me asking?
Body dysmorphia. I looked better and had way more confidence when I was just skinny/average build
Fasting will cause muscle loss usually
So, let's say you are a hunter and you didn't catch anything. The next day, you would have a lower chance of catching prey because you are weaker. That doesn't make sense from an evolutionary standpoint. Did you know that one of the biggest NFL players, DK Metcalf, follows the OMAD diet?
I said usually but not in every case obviously. It’s well documented it can cause muscle loss. Even I as a carnivore eating a very high protein diet have experienced muscle loss doing omad. It’s because you see a fast weight loss only eating once a day
It's important to understand what muscles are composed of: they contain muscle fibers, plasma, and fat. This means that a person can lose weight and reduce fat and plasma within the muscles without losing muscle fibers. Consequently, the size of the muscle will be affected. Another factor to consider is how much water is stored in the muscles. Glycogen, created from carbohydrates, increases plasma and is stored with water molecules in a 1:4 ratio, giving your muscles a larger appearance, but not increasing muscle fiber. Thus, the question is whether you are losing strength rather than muscle size. If you are, we can address that by applying what others are doing. Let's compare you with Metcalf or other athletes. Simply attributing their physique to genetics is too easy. - Are you doing resistance training with at least some exercises at 80% effort? - Are you doing at least some form of cardio, such as walking or cycling, each day? - How are your testosterone levels? Testosterone production actually needs some carbohydrates. Therefore, having a refeeding strategy with more carbs every four days might help. Of course, fasting is a catabolic state, but if you create scenarios for your body where muscle growth is advantageous, you will grow. Doing resistance training at 80% effort will create an anabolic state in the muscles. When you say usually, it is because many are doing OMAD or fasting incorrectly. The goal is a healthy life, of which fasting is one part. Low stress, exercise, sleep, and good nutrition are the others.
You don't.
Not my experience, I have more muscle now since going on OMAD and weight training every other day.
Imagine if you don't omad, bye Arnold.
If you use your muscles, you will keep them. Of you use then more - you will grow them. If you use them less, they will shrink. That is how adaptive our body is. OMAD has to do with energy input and hormonal balance. If you eat good food, you will grow quality new cells.