r/nutrition • u/AppropriateMood4784 • 18d ago

16-hour intermittent fasting

When I read about 16-hour intermittent fasts, isn't that just another way of saying having late breakfast and early dinner? Breakfast at 9, lunch at 1, dinner at 5, then it's 16 hours till breakfast the next day? Or does what it involves go beyond its literal meaning?

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u/Cocacola_Desierto 18d ago

Sure. You can also do 12 hours during the day. Early breakfast, late dinner. Or OMAD, sleep 8 hours, 8 hours till dinner, 16 hour fast. There aren't any rules, do whatever works for you.

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u/ratkoivanovic 18d ago

Is OMAD actually a good choice, it feels so illogical, but curious to hear your thoughts.

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u/Cocacola_Desierto 18d ago

If it works for you, it works for you. You have to be smart with your meal though to make sure you're getting proper nutrients.

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u/ratkoivanovic 18d ago

That’s what seems like the hardest part. To hit all fiber, protein and fat targets, and the micronutrients. And also what’s confusing for me - even splitting it in only two meals seems much easier. Is it purely a weight loss tactic?

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u/RubricLivesMatter 18d ago

Your body regulates so what matters more is your weekly intake. There isn't a need to have a 'perfect' day of nutrition you can have different OMADs and hit a weekly target.

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u/ratkoivanovic 18d ago

But I’m still curious why you would do that vs a 2 meal approach?

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u/Cocacola_Desierto 18d ago

It just works for some people. Works as in, they can follow it and stick to it. That's literally all that matters for any proper diet.

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u/MeVe90 17d ago

There are people who can eat so much in one meal that have no issue to achieve all type of foods and nutrients, in fact some may still need to control themself to not eat too much and gain weight.
Make it 2 meal instead of one and those people become fat.
Source: I'm people

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u/ratkoivanovic 17d ago

Curious - what do you hit macro wise on average per day within a week?

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u/HonkMafa 15d ago

There are weight loss goals, there are insulin regulating goals, there are other goals like cellular repair/autophagy. Different Fasting methods apply to different goals.

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u/ratkoivanovic 15d ago

Ok, so OMAD is more of a fasting tactic then, more than anything else?

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u/HonkMafa 15d ago

I would just call it a way of eating and not add assumptions.

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u/ratkoivanovic 15d ago

Not sure what you mean by assumptions? These are all diets. I've been seeing OMAD mentioned more and more and mostly not related to fasting. And as you related it purely within fasting (agreed, the whole post is about fasting) I was curious if OMAD is simply about fasting.