To eat one meal a day

[Lemonite]

Trying to lose the last 10lbs to get to my goal weight.

It's the most stubborn 10lbs in the bloody world. I track every calorie, I drink only water, exercise a lot, no snacking between meals or takeaways, no treats, no booze, essentially no fun whatsoever!

But it's not budging. And that's at 1300-1400kcals a day, consistently. But the past 2 months I've not lost a gram.

So - that must be my maintenance kcals. Would it be unreasonable to eat one meal a day (dinner) of around 800-1000kcals to just get this 10lbs shifted? Would it mess with my metabolism?!

Any tips I'd appreciate!

I always used to go down to 1000 calories to get the last stone off.

It would probably be better if you were wanting 1000 cals to split over two 500 cal meals and bulk them out with veg etc so you don't feel ravenous by dinner.

Have you cut out carbs and sugars?

Whats the point of being at your goal weight if its impossible to maintain at it anyway?

Why can't you split it across three meals?

It seems like such a low calorie intake!

My TDEE is 1297 - this is supposed to be the minimum amount, but I exercise 7 days a week. Mix of heavy weight lifting, HIIT and running so my calculated burn is 1800-2000kcal a day.

I figured eating 1300-1400 would enable a slow and steady loss, but nothing...I'll have to give 1000kcal a go. Will have to plan carefully....

I swear, it takes me 500 extra kcals to gain 1lb but 50000 less to lose even one!

Google the diet doctor, Dr Jason Fung, he has lots of info about intermittent fasting

I think you'll be tired and hungry.

Why don't you juice the last bit off? Am inclined to agree with the poster that asks why would you be 10 pounds lighter if you can't maintain it?

I feel your pain. One glass of wine and I’m 1lb up. I have to keep my kcal under 1000kcal to lose weight. Weirdly exercise makes no difference

I'd feel happier eating 'well' at one meal rather than splitting over three much less substantial meals - purely psychologically.

I can just switch off to eating during the day, drink lots of water, and have a nice meal to look forward to, and then hopefully sleep well!

If it works for you, you do you. Not sure why you've be unreasonable. There's a lot of evidence for the benefit of time restricted eating. I wouldn't bother calorie counting though; just eat fresh whole foods and include lots of plants.

It's so frustrating isn't it!! Practically only have to sniff towards food, and on the weight goes.

All the advice I've read says that exercise will make a difference but it just hasn't helped - ahhh.

100% definitely

I'm getting used to it now!

I will do, thank you!

I do this. Drink a couple cups of tea to stave off any hunger pangs whilst at work then just have a regular evening meal when I get home. I don’t feel hungry as the meal is substantial and fills me up without having to cut any nice food groups out like carbs

intermittent fasting. Look at 5:2. 5 days a week TDE and 2 days a week at 500-800 calories. Give it a few weeks. It’s really frustrating, I get it

It's the OMAD diet (one meal a day), it worked well for me to kick start weight loss again. I couldn't do it for life as I really missed having a lunch, but short term to get to your goal weight and then if you can maintain eating more calories then why not.

I am doing it now and find I really crave lots of lovely salad and veg. I would make sure you take a multivitamin everyday if you don't already.

Can't you have a meal of salad, vegetables or home made vegetable soup for lunch rather than eating absolutely nothing all day?

It's a very unhealthy way of losing weight and as pp said you'll be tired and hungry all the time.

What are you going to do once you've lost that 10lb, in order to keep it off? You can't spend the rest of your life eating one meal a day in order to maintain the weight loss.

What's the point if you have to live on so little to maintain this?

Agree with the others. What is the point of following a restrictive diet you cannot maintain just to reach an arbitrary number on the scales. Which you will then never maintain because it requires just restriction to maintain it.

The end does not justify the means here surely.

Is it possible you're not eating enough ? Your body will stop shedding weight if you aren't consuming enough particularly with all the exercise ? Are you aiming for a weight but not taking into account the added weight of the muscle you have acquired through weights ? Jason Fung is excellent though.

Jesus…are women still putting themselves through this shit?

i remember starving myself in a similar fashion in my teens/twenties along with 90% of other women I knew. Didn’t make me any happier, just dissatisfied when my unrealistic demands on myself and my body weren’t met and I ‘failed’ to hit the magic number on the scales.

Only when I broke the cycle did I become happy with myself.

I went low carb and lost 3 stone in 6 months. I eat two meals a day of breakfast and diner. High protein , high fat ( good fats not the bad ones) and plenty of green leafy stuff. I find on that diet I don’t need to count calories as everything is pretty low cal so I eat as I want of these and don’t feel hungry.

it is not good for your stomach to go for long periods without food, can cause excess acid.
there may be other problems too.
not good for keeping stable blood sugar levels.
avoid such extreme measures.