There are many types of fasting; ADF and OMAD are the most popular ones. Both OMAD and ADF have their pros and cons. They have different impacts on the body. When it comes to choosing between One meal a day (OMAD) and Alternate Day fasting (ADF), it depends on the individual’s choice, which fasting suits their lifestyle best.
With OMAD, you eat one meal a day and fast for the rest of 23 hours a day, whereas on ADF, you fast on alternative days. Some researchers suggest that OMAD is better than ADF as here you consume only seven meals in a week which is better than ADF, where you end up having 12 meals in a week, hence better results are expected with OMAD
Difference between OMAD and ADF
OMAD and ADF are both types of fasting; the only difference between them is the window and time frame for fasting. With OMAD, you only eat once a day, whereas, on ADF, you can normally eat once a day and fast for 24 hours after the meal, alternating 24 hours of complete fast with 24 hours with one meal.
Both approaches to fasting are equally effective; it all depends on what works best for you. In the longer run, both OMAD and ADF have a positive impact and role in effectively losing weight. Furthermore, it is necessary to be consistent in whatever fasting you opt for to see amazing weight loss results.
Alternate Day Fasting (ADF)
Alternate Day Fasting (ADF), is a way of doing intermittent fasting that can help you lose weight quickly, but only if you remain consistent. In this type of fasting, one can eat anything and everything on non-fasting days but have to fast the following day.
ADF helps in effective weight loss, therefore you are less vulnerable to health issues like heart diseases and type 2 diabetes. On a fast day, you can consume as many calories-free drinks as you want to. These drinks might include unsweetened coffee, tea, and water.
Furthermore, there is also a modified approach to ADF, where you can consume up to 500 calories even on the fasting day. People find alternate day fasting easy as they can eat anything on the non-fasting days and not necessarily have to wait for days to satisfy their food cravings.
Research shows that ADF is significantly effective in reducing belly fat and weight loss in general. Moreover, ADF helps in tackling issues like insulin sensitivity and blood pressure.
Moreover, the research shows that by being consistent in ADF, one can lose up to 7 pounds in a month. And that, by being consistent for three months, you can expect to lose 3-7% of the overall body fat.
ADF is easier for many people, as you do not need to count calories and get used to it after a certain time. An extensive number of researches are being conducted to identify more about ADF. The researchers observed that modified ADF makes fasting comparatively easy.
ADF also leads to increased brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which is the protein in the brain that helps with body weight maintenance and balancing the overall energy levels during fasting. ADF can cause long-term changes in BDNF, Making it easier to maintain your ideal weight and body shape long-term.
Furthermore, fasting flips how the metabolic system works and uses fat to generate energy for our bodies. This burning of fat instead of glucose for energy leads to one of the most significant and effective ways of weight loss. For some people, it might be challenging to fit ADF schedules as per your lifestyle, but once you have figured that out, the weight loss journey would become comparatively easy, and soon you will start noticing results.
Tips for Alternate day fasting
For people who are used to intermittent fasting, ADF is the most suitable and effective way of weight loss for them, as they already know how fasting would impact and affect their bodies. This approach also enables individuals to eat whatever they want to and just fast the following day to balance it out effectively. Below mentioned are some of the tips for alternate-day fasting:
Trial ADF
Here, you can just fast for a day to see and check exactly what impact fasting has on your body and whether you will be able to be consistent with it.
Adjust schedule accordingly
Try and be efficient in planning out your schedules and fast accordingly. keep fewer responsibilities on the day when you are fasting so that it won’t affect your work.
Hydration is the key
On fasting days, one can have as many calories-free drinks as they want to, therefore, make sure you stay hydrated.
Track what you eat in a day
keep track of what you consume in a day and what makes you feel lazy and grumpy. This will help you get better self-awareness and will help in better decisions regarding what you should consume next time.
Avoid overeating on non-fasting days. Focus on just eating the normal portion size and fast the following day.
How long you should do Alternate day fasting
People who opt for alternate day fasting tend to see promising results in just weeks. Research shows that ADF leads to shedding approximately 8% of the overall body weight in just 2-12 weeks. Depending on your weight loss goals, you can decide the duration of the ADF.
There are no such side effects of ADF. Therefore, one can easily continue and set the duration of ADF based on their weight loss goals. It would not be wrong to state that there is no fixed time period or duration for which one should continue ADF; it varies from person to person and their set goals for weight loss.
