Eat once a day?

When I truely listen to my body and only eat when I am hungry, I only end up eating once a day, the rest of the day it will be a piece of fruit maybe for breakfast and some carrots later, but only one main meal, is this okay?

then why are you on here in the first place? were you overeating before? how much do you eat when you do? what kinds of food are you eating? what time of day is it? is it right after you work out? you need to give more details

Yes I am a compulsive binger. I came on here looking for a way out. If I can "hold out" and not binge, I usually will eat a big dinner with my husband which is around 6:30-7:00 ish. I am not overweight, but would like to lose about 15 lbs. I am 5'5 weigh about 140.

when we eat is largely habit. Eat three times a day, starting with a proper breakfast at a normal time, for a week, then if at the end of this time you really only truely feel hungry once a day, perhaps that is true, and if you are eating enough calories in this meal and the rest of the day, that is probably fine.

But i'd be surprised if after eating at normal times for a week, you didn't also find yourself getting hungry at more normal times.

Editted taking into account posts above: I don't know if in my experience avoiding food is a way to combat binging. I would say the opposite is true, when i eat more normally, i tend to binge less, when i restrict, I tend to binge.  For me it has been true, that when I eat breakfast properly, I tend to be able to keep the rest of my time under control properly too.

well, if you wait until your seriously hungry...like grrrr hungry, then you will probably end up eating more than you should, and probably won't make the healthiest of choices. Most often I used to wait until I was ravenous and then eat a single REALLY unhealthy meal, and a lot of it, usually far too late at night than was probably good for my metabolism to keep up with over night while I slept. I've also heard that you should really try to eat an at least moderate if not decent sized breakfast every day. It keeps you going for hours, and it sets your metabolic rate for the rest of your day. Even if you can't separate meals, like I do perhaps (like 5 or 6 a day); then aim for three squares if that's all you have time for or can handle. Working out and what you eat specifically do make a big difference if your looking to seriously lose weight.

Hope this helps...:) 

The body can only USE so many calories at a time, the rest is put away. As.... FAT. Eating once a day tells your body to store up as much as it can the rest of the day because it is only going to get fed one time. IE even SLOWER metabolism.

 And as it was already said, you are much more likely to binge eat. So now you exacerbate the whole thing by eating more than you should for a day possibly all at once. There is a lot of information on healthy eating patterns on this site.

I would be concerned about my blood sugar level if I only ate once a day. I'm not sure it is true or not, but I would think that spreading out your calorie intake throughout the day helps the body to regulate blood sugar better. I would do some research on this if I were you.

well there's something called the 'warrior diet' that holds similar principles of eating one big meal late in the day and just 'snacking' throughout the day before your main meal. you'll still have to stick to eating healthy foods and exercising though. u can read up more abt it at www.warriordiet.com

i've never tried the warrior diet but I was fasting for religious reasons for one whole month, we only eat/drink at dusk and again at dawn with no food or water in between. i strength-trained/exercised and lost a whole dress size, didn't feel weak or lose any muscle or anything like that. however, i still prefer to spread my meals out throughout the day :P it's more forgiving this way :)

I've always wondered about how healthy/unhealthy that actually was... my best friend usually only eats one big meal a day (sometimes she'll splurge on lunch though) and she never exercises. She's not overweight or anything, but I can't imagine how she maintains..

I would be concerned you are not taking in enough calories when you eat once a day, and are therefore undereating and perhaps sending yourself into starvation mode (altering your metabolism).

What do you eat for your solitary meal?

Have you calculated how many target calories you should be consuming to lose or maintain as you desire based on your daily caloric expenditure??

I use to eat once a day, and actually lost about 10kg in three months. I felt good...once your body gets use to eating that way, its very easy. The problem is just to stick to it. I don't think it's unhealthy at all... I think you should listen to your body.

Eating once a day/binging is an unhealthy habit, and one that is commonly connected to an eating disorder such as EDNOS (Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.) Eating once a day/binging is often considered to be a precursor to more dramatic behaviors and should be considered a warning sign.

Do I Have An Eating Disorder? can help you determine if you have an eating disorder.

You need to EAT in order to lose weight in a healthful manner, with a REASONABLE deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories and not more. 

I encourage you to check out the information in the library from our Eating Disorder Guide, Matthew Tiemeyer.

Eating Disorders Guide

Please be aware that posts involving eating disorders and other unhealthy methods of dieting will be locked or deleted if they appear to promote the behavior rather than attempting to recover from it.

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