Few people have yet to experience the glory that is eating one meal a day.
- No, eating one meal per day won’t make you fat.
- It won’t make you lose all your muscle.
- And it won’t screw your metabolism into the ground.
But it does allow you to feast like a fucking king every single night while eating your favorite foods.
And no, this isn’t a scam and there isn’t even any secret “guru” magic behind it.
It’s really just common sense.
But fitness and common sense is a lost art these days.
If you follow it, eating once per day JUST WORKS.
And if you’ve struggled with more traditional diets that make you eat 3-6 meals per day, then this may be the most stupidly simple way for you to successfully lose weight, ever!
If you’ve dreamed of eating 24 ounce steaks, with a mountain fries and ice cream, EVERY SINGLE night while still losing fat and building muscle then read on.
Eating one meal per day in a nutshell
The basic idea behind eating one meal per day is simple.
Every day, you eat one big ass meal (preferably at night). The basic idea is to get the majority of your calories in a single meal.
And during the day, you don’t eat anything.
However during the day you can eat 1-2 pieces of fruit or some protein after you workout.
This allows you to eat much more, feel fuller, and better adhere to your diet.
Remember, eating one meal a day is NOT magic
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When I first started eating one meal per day, I had this weird belief that eating once per day gave me the power to lose more weight than traditional diets.
While this might seem like the case, nothing could be further from the truth.
It might be nice to believe that eating once per day causes all these different hormones to change in my body that helps me to burn “more” body fat.
But that’s just not the case.
And insulin levels – everyone always brings up fucking insulin levels.
Don’t worry about your damn insulin levels.
Just focus on creating a calorie deficit – that’s the only way to lose weight and always will be.
Eating once per day just happens to be a great way to create a deficit that many people can actually stick with.
For example, let’s say you need to eat 2000 calories per day to lose weight.
Diet #1 has you eating 3 meals and 2 snacks.
Diet #2 has you eating one meal.
In the end of the day, calories are exactly the same.
You’re just splitting your calories up a lot more in Diet #1.
That’s it. There is no magic. Just simple math.
5 reasons why you should eat one meal per day
I originally came across the idea of eating one meal per day from the Warrior Diet back around 2008.
At that time I was brainwashed by all the “eat 6 meals per day or die” BS and the Warrior Diet was my first foray into intermittent fasting.
Hell, even Terry Crews does intermittent fasting.
I’m not saying it works for everyone, but if you love to feast every single day, have more energy, and potentially be 200x more productive during the day, then maybe this something you should give a shot.
Here are 5 reasons I recommend eating once per day:
Reason #1: Increased energy
How many times have you eaten lunch only to feel super tired 2 hours later? It sucks.
We’re all told lunch is supposed to give us this magic boost of energy, and maybe it does for some people, but I’ve found that most people just fall into a 2 pm slump where they eat lunch and their productivity shoots down the drain.
When you fast throughout the entire day, you experience this amazing surge of energy that lasts the entire day.
Reason #2: Never feel deprived when dieting
One of the many reasons people fail at diets is because they don’t get this sense of satisfaction with what they’re eating and how much they’re eating.
When you follow the conventional 6 meals per day model, you have survived on a couple of hundred calories every few hours.
At the end of the day, you just never feel satisfied.
You feel like something is missing…
Ironically, eating once per day solves this problem for most people.
The act of fasting throughout the day is a very powerful appetite suppressant, so when you have your massive feast at the end of the day, you practically feel “stuffed” every night.
Reason #3: More time & more productivity
Imagine how much more work you could get done if you didn’t have to worry about eating during the day.
No more worrying about that mid-morning snack, no more stopping at subway during lunch, and no more 2 pm energy slumps.
All this time you save can now be used to do more productive things that truly matter (like looking at pictures of cats online).
Reason #4: EVERYTHING tastes better
Fast the entire day, then eat a grape.
Just one grape.
I guarantee that grape will be the best tasting grape you’ve ever had in your entire fucking life.
Look, I don’t know the scientific reason for why food tastes so much better after a fast, and frankly, I don’t care.
But some of the best meals in my life have been after a long fast.
Reason #5: Because eating cake every night is awesome
Do you know what’s awesome? Cake.
Do you know what’s not awesome? Not eating cake.
Cake makes everything in life better but with traditional dieting, you aren’t allowed to eat cake, which sucks.
Everyone needs more cake in their life (scientifically proven), so why not have a slice…or two, every night.
When you only eat one meal per day, you can afford to have some cake every night since your calorie budget is so much bigger.
Is coffee, water, tea, or diet soda okay during the fast?
Yes, as long as it’s zero calories, it’s fine.
Coffee and tea is actually a great appetite suppressant.
Eat 1-2 pieces of fruit during the day
While it’s totally fine if you can go the full day without eating anything, a lot of people do get hunger pangs no matter how much experience they have with intermittent fasting.
In this case, you can have 1-2 pieces of fruit throughout the day. This shouldn’t add up to any more than 200 calories plus you won’t feel a huge drain in energy compared to eating something high in carbs like a granola bar or a sandwich.
I recommend 2 large apples due to the large fiber and water content to keep you full
Supplement with some whey protein after you workout
If you train hard with weights 3-4 times per week while fasting (and you should) and follow the 1 meal per day diet then you should consume some 100% whey protein powder after working out so you don’t go half the day without any protein in your system.
I’m not really anal about the post-workout “window of opportunity,” but it’s best to get some protein in within 2-3 hours after your workout.
Why 100% whey protein? Because it has the most complete amino acid profile which is great for muscle growth and recovery.
As for which protein powder is best? Try Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey Gold Standard.
The one meal per day approach might not work great for muscle building
You can absolutely build quality, lean muscle by eating once per day.
BUT…some people need A LOT of calories to put on muscle and if you’re supposed to eat 4000 calories per day, it’s going to be pretty hard for some to get that in one meal.
So unless you have a huge appetite, I would probably be better off splitting it up into 3-6 meals.
For more info on gaining weight and building muscle, check out these posts:
Eating one meal per day vs. other intermittent fasting protocols
Eating once per day is just one version of intermittent fasting.
And there are dozens of other fasting/feasting protocols out there that play with different fasting and eating windows.
But after looking at all of them, you’ll notice that the majority of them have the same underlying concept – fast for an extended period of time and get the majority of your calories in a small eating window.
Let’s look at some of the other intermittent fasting systems and how they compare to eating once per day.
One meal per day vs. 16/8 Leangains
If you follow Leangains, this means you’ll be fasting for 16 hours per day and eating for the other 8 hours.
During the 8-hour eating window, you’ll typically be eating 2-3 main meals.
There really isn’t a big difference between a Leangains style fast and eating once per day. The main difference is in the eating window and that all boils down to personal preference.
One meal per day vs. Eat Stop Eat
Eating once per day and Eat Stop Eat are not the same thing.
Many people confuse the two since they both involve 24-hour fasts.
Here’s the difference:
Eating once per day – Fast for 24 hours, under eat during the day, and get your entire daily calorie intake in one meal, every day.
Eat Stop Eat – Completely fast for 24 hours 1-2 times per week (no calories at all), eat a “normal sized” meal at the end of the 24 hour fast.
The problem some people might face is defining what “normal sized” means. It’s basically telling you to not eat until you’re stuffed and make sensible food choices.
But if you want to get more technical, your meal after an ESE style fast should be no more than 40% of your daily calorie intake.
Read my Eat Stop Eat review here.
ESE forces you to create a massive calorie deficit on your fasting days while the one meal per day approach simply changes up your meal frequency but you still get the same amount of calories every day.
One meal per day vs. 2 meals per day
Nothing different here besides meal frequency. If you want to eat 2 meals per day, that’s fine, just make sure your overall calories are the same by the end of the day.
Can you mix and match different diet & fasting approaches
Absolutely!
I am all about diet flexibility.
If you want to follow the one meal per day approach one day and do 2-3 meals per day the next, that’s totally fine.
For example, you can structure your diet to look something like this:
- Monday: 1 meal
- Tuesday: 2 meals
- Wednesday: Eat Stop Eat
- Thursday: 1 meal
- Friday: 1 meal
- Saturday: 4 meals
- Sunday: 1 meal
Remember, a calorie deficit is the most important thing to create when dieting.
So just because you’re following a one meal per day diet doesn’t mean you literally have to eat one meal per day, EVERY SINGLE DAY.
If you want to go out and have brunch on Sunday, then screw it, have 2 meals that day. Don’t be obsessive about this stuff.
Recommended Reading: The 1000 calorie diet
The one meal per day FAQ
I’ve compiled a list of commonly asked questions from readers about eating one meal per day.
Hopefully, this answers all your questions and gets you on the right path.
What kind of foods should you eat?
There isn’t any single food that you should or shouldn’t eat.
If you have specific macro/calorie goals, you still need to hit them. The only difference is you have the luxury of hitting them in a single meal so for those that like to eat a ton of food in one sitting, you’re going to love this way of eating.
But obviously, you need to get a hefty amount of protein, a good amount of carbs, and some fat.
So something like a massive steak, some roasted potatoes, a big ass salad, plus some cookies and ice cream would make for a pretty epic feast.
Recommended reading: “What Are The Best Foods To Eat?” Here’s Your Answer, Now Stop Asking Me
How many calories per day should you eat in my one meal?
I recommend multiplying your bodyweight in pounds by 10-12 to get your daily calorie intake.
Use 10 if you have 50+ pounds to lose or if you’re a woman. Everyone else can start with 12.
This is just an estimate. It’s impossible for any formula to accurately tell you your daily calorie needs.
How many hours should you wait before going to sleep after you have your big meal?
Doesn’t matter. Sleep whenever you want.
What does this do to the metabolism?
Nothing bad. Read this article on metabolism myths for more info.
How long can you eat one meal per day for?
As long as you want. This isn’t a quick fix diet.
Eating once per day is a real, long-term approach to dieting that can work for as long as you want.
Does it matter whether you eat your one meal in the morning or at night?
Nope doesn’t matter at all.
It’s a matter of personal preference. Most people do it at night.
If you eat your one meal for breakfast or lunch, you might feel sluggish and tired the rest of the day since you have so much food in your system.
Could eating one meal per day be bad for you? I keep reading other articles online that say it’s bad for you.
No it’s not.
Most people criticizing eating once per day are just woefully ignorant. Read those articles, and you’ll find it’s just people making assumptions without any real-world data.
Can I eat McDonalds for my one meal?
Sure, but I wouldn’t eat fries and Big Macs every night.
Use some common sense here.
You can still eat the foods you love, but you should still be eating mostly whole, nutritious foods for maximize your health and performance.
I love to drink coffee. Can I drink coffee during the fast?
Yup, coffee is a great appetite suppressant to use while fasting.
Can I add milk and sugar to the coffee?
I would stick with zero calorie sweeteners if possible. A splash of milk is fine, but don’t go overboard.
Is eating one meal per day guaranteed to help you lose weight?
Of course not.
It will only work if you put in the work.
I know the majority of you reading this are looking for some magic fat loss hack but eating one meal per day is not that.
You still need to make sensible food choices and you still need to be consistent like any other diet.
Nothing is guaranteed in life.
I tried this diet and it doesn’t work for me? What do I do?
Impossible to say. Maybe you’re eating too many calories. Maybe you’re not tracking your calories correctly.
It’s usually one of those two problems.
Why do you recommend the main meal to be eaten at night?
Whatever you want but try to make it sensibly healthy.
That means something like grilled meat, a carb source like rice/pasta, some veggies, and maybe some ice cream at the end is great.
Obviously food choices vary from person and culture, but use some common sense.
Can you drink alcohol while doing this?
Having one drink per night is fine.
Everything in moderation.
Should you exercise before or after your meal?
Again, it doesn’t matter.
It’s all up to you. Find what works best with your schedule and lifestyle.
Do you need to count calories while eating one meal per day?
I personally recommend tracking calories when starting out, only because it gives you an unprecedented level of tracking.
If you’re not losing weight, then you know exactly why and you can adjust calories accordingly.
I never want people to become obsessed with tracking calories, but it does give you a level of precision that you can’t get anywhere else.
But as you become more advanced and can recognize/estimate portion sizes more accurately, then you can back off from the calorie counting.
What if you get hungry when fasting?
Here are some tips:
- Drink plenty of water, black coffee, and tea.
- Chew sugarless gum.
- Stay busy and productive. People eat more out of boredom than anything else.
How much water should you drink?
At a minimum, enough to stay hydrated.
Also, if you’re pissing green, then you probably need to drink more water (and see a doctor).
The “8 glasses per day” recommendation is pretty solid.
I will say that drinking more water can help ward off hunger pangs.
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Have you tried the one meal per day diet? Let me know what you’re experience was in the comments.
I have used this for about 2 weeks now and not kidding, lost 34 pounds, more than any other diet I have done I am satisfied with this diet
34? That’s pretty crazy. What was your starting weight?
Get outta here. That’s insane. What was your starting weight and which method did you use?
Hi there what a great informative website! I just started this today coming from a week of 16:8 intermittent fasting. I feel tired and slunky when i eat and notice when i’m fasting I have energy. I love eating large meals so tonight I am excited to eat. No one in my family thinks this is healthy, but they are brainwashed. When I was fasting 16 hours and eating for 8 I would obsess over food for those 8 hours.
I have 1 apple at lunch and a big ass meal about 5-30pm i love the energy i have during the day i get home at3-30pm from work walk my dog for an hour, and i have lost 1 stone and 4 pounds in 5 weeks love love love this way, other diets i was calorie counting wondering what to have for breakfast lunch and dinner now i dont have to bother, mon-fri i do have a healthy meal at 5-30 saturday night is treat night take away fab bloody love it.
I was on this 1 meal a day lifestyle in 2012 and lost 10kg, it was really good, i am thinking of starting it again this year but i want my 1 meal to be in the morning before my weights training. so i am planning to wake up at 05h00, eat my big meal, gym from 06h00 and get to my office work at 08h00. OR should i just stick to eating my one meal at night? I am worried that this will affect my performance at the gym in the morning. I have realised that my 1 meal in the morning ensures that i have energy at the gym during my morning sessions, and i go through out the day not feeling hungry, i also find it easy to wake up the following day due to hunger, no more snooze button.
No don’t eat before training, do some more reading. Training in a Fasted State is the best training you can do, you will build muscle faster and you will not feel hungry. Make yourself a test case, try it and see how you go. For me eating my only meal for Breakfast would be too hard and very anti social, but hey everyone is different.
Eating many meals per day is really a bad practice, I have always gained weight this way, blood pressure went up….horrible. Ideally I would actually strive to eat 1 meal per day, the most 2. The bad part about eating many meals per day is:
1. You do not train your body to become efficient in fat burning. If you keep stuffing food into your body all day long…..it relies on the incoming food for energy and not on your fat stores. You constantly keep spiking your metabolism up and down all day long which is bad. Your sugar, fats, carbs, etc are on a roller coster ride throughout the day………insanity. Give your body the nourishment it needs once and then let it use that energy efficiently. Stop making your body digest food all day long, you are not a grazing cow.
2. Every time you eat over one meal per day…….starting from meal #2 onward, you risk the danger of overeating, unless you count calories which most people can’t or refuse to do. By eating one meal per day…..you have very little chance of going over your calorie limit for the day.
You will not go into the dreaded “starvation mode” if you eat at least 1200-1500 calories/day because you simply are not starving yourself. One hearty meal will fulfill this requirement. Especially high calorie American meals.
Will this really work? I do believe in this but i don’t know if it’ll work for me.. I’m 15 and weigh around 75-80 kilos. If i do this one meal a day thingy will it really work? Will i lose a bit weight? Will i lose fat around my waist? Please reply ASAP!:)
don’t do this if you’re 15.
Why tho? What is going to happen if i do this?:o
Man, fuck it. I’m still gonna do this. I have the skinny-fat body type which is why imma do this. I don’t give a shit if it’s unhealthy for me, as long as i lose bodyfat.
I eat once per day since 2013, every day. For years i was damn fat. My highest weight was 113kg (17,79 stone; 249 pounds), but since spring 2013, i started, i have no idea why, just started all of the sudden, with eating once a day. during day i eat any fruits normally, and im heavy coffe drinker. Drink like 3 or sometimes 4 cup of coffe per day. Thats like 4 big spoon of sugar just in coffe. I drink Coke too or any other juice if i want. I dont give a damn. Only eating part: i eat once a day. In 17:00 every day, i sit down and eat untill i am no longer human being. Few times i eat jumbo pizza. Eat 1-2 slice of cake? Damn i eat 5 slices if i am hungry. I will fucking eat anything until i feel 100% full. And then, when im full, im done. No more eating untill next day. So, at end of 2013. i had about 40kg less, and since then basically i stayed at same weight. From 113kg i dropped to 75-76kg and i am at that weight for 3 years already. People were shitting on me saying “U will fuck up your stomack with eating once a day” and im just like fuck you. I feel strong and healthy, like i never felt before. And even if its true, even if i am really fucking up my stomack, sooner i would die from harth attack than from stomack problems. 113kg for 180cm was too much. Sorry for my bad english. Ah, ill transform you what 75kg is: its 11.8 stone or 165 pounds. My advice: If you are fat, eat once a day!! And dont think about this as “diet” this is not diet, this is new way of life. Like 6 meals per day was your old way of life until you die, this for now on will be your new way of life, and do it until you die.
Okay, I’m convinced and I’m going to give this a try. I like the idea of not restricting foods and not eating 6 small meals throughout the day because that has never worked for me in the long-term. I’d much rather just deal with food once a day. Since I haven’t eaten anything yet today, I’ll make this day 1 for me of eating only one meal a day. I’ll give it 1 week and report back with my results. For reference, I’m a 41 y/old female and technically have about 15 pounds to lose. I’d like to lose around 25 pounds because that was my weight in my 20’s & mid-30’s so that’s what I’m used to. I put on the extra 15 pounds in the last 7 months due to extreme stress and I haven’t been able to lose it because I’m still under extreme stress (work related). Anyway, I’m going to give this a go and I’ll check in next Monday with my results, good or bad.
I started with the 5:2 diet, lost weight but didn’t like that I still had to count calories on my off days. Then I went to the Every Other Day diet. My weight loss has slowed dramatically because on my days off I would feast all day long. I’ve lost 42 pounds since January, but need to lose 20 more. I’m going to try this for the next month. I like that you can eat whatever you want as long as it’s for just one meal. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
I have been using this diet for years but have always been overweight even on the diet – people were shocked that I didn’t actually eat that much but was still a bit chubby . Then I was told to start eating healthier – eating 3 – 4 small meals per day I put on almost 3 stone. I think my body is so used to the diet that I can’t do the 3 meals a day thing anymore.
I have now been back on this diet for 1 week and I am losing 1 lb a day so far. God it feels good. I have more energy, I feel so much happier and I get to eat what I want in my 1 meal , including sweet stuff if I want.
Coffee is good throughout day ( usually 3 times per day) when I get those pangs, although I do drink it with milk, and I usually down a pint of water too.
It is amazing that I have so much more energy. I would be interested to see whether it’s healthy to cut down to 4 times per week diet if I start to plateau as I never seemed to get past a certain level before and always a bit overweight. I read somewhere that you live longer if you eat less too.
I started this diet 2 months ago, up until now I still feel great. On weekends I eat whatever I want to eat on any time of the day, on weekdays I do this 1 meal a day and a work out every other day. In 2 months I lost 22 pounds which is really big for me! I’m 5’9 in height and originally weigh 222 pounds. Now I weigh 200 pounds I’m trying to reach my goal 160 pounds. Which is not anymore impossible. I feel healthy, I don’t get sick, I don’t feel hungry. I feel energized even in work. I don’t know about the others but for me this really works great.
That’s great progress what’s your typical week day meal look like
The best diet I have ever done been doing it without excersise for 3 months and lost 13 kg just started the gym and feel great can’t wait to see the end result with the diet and the training
Wow, congrats on the weight loss. Yeah, I starting doing this diet without exercise but I’d like to add in some moderate activity to maybe speed up the process. It’s nice to know that it still works without exercise, though! 🙂
If I remember rightly the Romans only ate one meal per day, in the evening. Then they feasted, but like you say, they could afford to. The 3 square meal per day rule was invented in the industrial revolution when work was physical, and people often couldn’t afford to eat enough. It’s no longer relevant to most peoples’ lifestyle these days. I currently eat 2 meals per day, but might try this.
When I was 13 years old I weighed 155 pounds and was overweight and I knew I couldn’t live like that. I moved into an apartment that had a nice small gym. In the morning I would wake up early around 6, get ready, would not eat breakfast, go to school, would not eat lunch, came home around 4 and ate 2 or 3 cookies and immediately went to the apartment gym to work out on the elliptical for 25 minutes, then would go back to my apartment and eat an hour and a half later when my mom would come home and would eat whatever she was making that night, then go to bed and do the same thing over everyday. I felt fine all day with just a few stomach growls here and there and would always have enough energy to workout and spend a whole day at school. I lost around 40 pounds in about 3 months. It was the best choice of my life. When I did it though, I had no idea that it was a rarely known diet plan. I just did it because I didn’t have time to eat breakfast or lunch during the day. I definitely recommend this and once you’ve lost your goal weight than you can try going back to a normal 5 meals a day plan to maintain weight. 🙂
This is my check-in after starting to eat just one meal a day last week. Since May 23 (2016) I’ve lost 2.2 pounds. I realize it’s not a lot but considering that I’ve literally eaten and drank anything that I wanted during my one meal, I’m pretty satisfied with the results. I didn’t eat anything during the day and just drank black coffee or an energy drink. Then at about 5pm/6pm I’d eat dinner. Some nights I had cupcakes and ice cream for dessert, I’ve had pasta and beer…literally anything that I felt like eating. I just ate until I felt full which was usually around 40 min. to an hour later. I do begin my meals with a homemade vegetable juice, like carrots and kale, when I don’t feel like eating vegetables with my main meal. I didn’t exercise at all. I think what I like most about eating this way is that I was able to stick with it. Other diets where I have to eat 6 small meals a day or restrict certain types of food have never worked for me for longer than 2 maybe 3 days…and then I go off the diet because it’s too hard for me to sustain. But one meal a day has been relatively effortless for me. I think just knowing that I can eat whatever I want at dinner takes all of the pressure off. I’m going to keep going with one meal a day and I’ll report back after my second week is finished.
I have done 1 meal a day – at night for 7 years. And maintained a weight of 55kg at 178cm. I am vegan, and at night I have a hearty meal with all the nutrients i need. I am finding it hard to wake up early tho – whats the best way to snap out of this? Because i was studying id get to bed at 12 at night. Maybe this is the issue. Or do i need breakfast – like the 1-2 pieces of fruit?
Sleep issues could be a million diff reasons….really hard to say if it is diet or not. YOu need to start manipulating diff. variables one at a time and see if that improves your sleep.
One meal a day certainly does make you more conscious of actually how much you are eating.
It’s strange after a few days how unhungry you feel-until it’s your time to eat.
And then it does taste so much better….
I do feel slightly different in the day it’s hard to put it into words but I think when your metabolising a different fuel because you haven’t eaten you feel different. It’s hard to describe I’m not sure if anyone else knows what I’m talking about!