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7-day OMAD protocol

I Tried the One Meal a Day (OMAD) Diet – Here’s My Experience

If you have ever looked into intermittent fasting then you have likely come across the most extreme version, called the One Meal a Day diet, or OMAD for short.

The protocol is really simple in theory but is on the extreme end of the different intermittent fasting protocols you can follow. The idea is to eat within a one-hour time window and fast for the remaining 23-hours each day.

In principle, it’s straight forward but for most of us in practice certainly not easy.

I can see the appeal to some hardcore intermittent fasting fanatics, I was keen to understand if the science supports the protocol and whether I could do it for 7-days, and importantly would it work for me.

With staying at home more now my energy requirement is lower than usual so I was concerned about weight gain as a wandered around my condo. So, I thought why not give the OMAD diet a try for the next 7-days.

This post is a bit longer than usual. Stick with it though and discover my experience of following the OMAD diet protocol for 7-days straight. I reveal my daily measurements for my weight (kg), sleep (hours), activity levels (steps), food and beverage intake, and how I felt each day.

Fasting eating protocol

Are you Crazy? OMAD During Lock-down!

This is probably the number one question I have been asked this week.

Indeed staying at home and trying a restrictive eating pattern is the last thing you want to do.

I disagree, let me tell you why.

The thing is, within just a few days of being in lockdown in Malaysia due to the Coronavirus, I found it way too easy to eat more than I am used to. In fact, within the first few days, I could feel, and see on my scales, that I was putting on weight.

Considering the prospect of then 2-weeks, but now it's a minimum of 4-weeks staying at home and likely over-consuming, I didn’t want to be back at 70 kilograms and 28% body fat, like I was in July 2019!

So, this is why I thought, why not spin this around and turn this into a challenge?

That is precisely what I did.

What's My Purpose of Following a 7-day OMAD?

I wanted to prefix this challenge with what I am aiming to get out of this.

  • Some weight loss – Reducing a few KGs would be nice
  • Focus & productivity – What impact does OMAD have on work
  • Mental challenge – Simply put, can I do it in these challenging times!

I am not intending to follow OMAD indefinitely, instead, I am keen to see how physically and mentally how I respond to it.

It would be great to reduce body fat over the next 7 days of course, but this is only part of the aim.

With this in mind, I know that I will be in a calorie deficit this week. I won’t be counting calories, I won’t be doing any exercise (but will note my daily step count).

A secondary benefit will be to experience the impact of focus and productivity, or at least to see how this plays out.

My Interest in the OMAD Fasting Protocol

I have been experimenting with the Intermittent Fasting (IF) protocol for the best part of the last 6 months. My fascination first started from wanting a healthy eating program that didn’t involve counting each morsel of food or liquid I consumed.

This led me to try the 18/6 fasting protocol back in July 2019 for the first time in what I coined my fat belly challenge (you can check it out here). I ended up easily losing 5 kilos in 3 months, a little shy of my goal of 6 kilos, but importantly I discovered that the Intermittent fasting protocol suited me.

Since the fat belly challenge, I have continued with this protocol. Most weeks I do a 24-hour fast typically from Sunday night to Monday, and each month I try to do a 40-hour fast (if you haven’t tried this I really recommend giving it a go, it’s really not as bad as it sounds).

My Intermittent Fasting Schedule

Benefits of Eating Just Once a Day?

Most of us are so used to eating what and when we like that the prospect of eating just one meal per day is daunting.

There are many benefits to skipping meals and restricting the time in the day that you eat. I know, because of last year when I gave intermittent fasting a try for the first time I experienced weight loss (fat loss too) and better clarity (at times).

last year when I gave intermittent fasting a try for the first time I experienced weight loss (fat loss too) and better clarity (at times)

A side benefit that is less talked about is the easier your life becomes.

When I wake up I am not thinking of what to eat, preparing breakfast, and then tidying it up.

I just drink water and grab a black coffee and I am ready to go.

Main Benefits of OMAD

  • Weight loss – It goes without saying that consuming just one meal per day means that you’re most likely in a calorie deficit for the day. Extended periods of following the OMAD protocol may have trade-offs with reduced metabolism, I talk about this later on. However, in the short term, it’s inevitable that you will lose some weight, both water, and fat.
  • Increased focus – The tiredness and brain fog that follows most lunchtime meals is a thing of the past simply because you’re not consuming a lunchtime meal. When I fasted for 40-hours I was super focused and productive on the second day.
  • No food restriction and calorie counting – Most diet protocols consist of fairly rigid food selection and typically counting all your calories. With the OMAD protocol there is no calorie counting or having to hit percentages of each macro.

What Does the Science Say About Fasting?

Now fasting helps with weight management and improves focus is through a couple of ways.

Firstly by keeping insulin levels in a better range and avoiding the spikes seen when eating multiple times a day, especially when consuming high sugary foods. Lower levels of insulin during the day mean you can burn more fat.

Secondly, a process that’s called autophagy, which is when the body cleans our damaged cells to help in regenerating newer cells.

The process of autophagy is encouraged as it removes toxic proteins, recycling other useful cellular material for other processes,

Autophagy is receiving a lot of attention for the role it may play in preventing or treating cancer, too.Healthline

Basically, do it the right way, fasting can be healthy for you!

What Are The “rules” of the OMAD Protocol?

Recently, I have discussed the OMAD protocol with a few friends I have noticed there are some different interpretations of how this works.

Basically what’s allowed, and what isn’t.

Keen to get it right, I delved into a few great articles that give a breakdown of how to successfully complete an OMAD diet.

The common questions around OMAD that I was looking for answers to.

Are you really meant to get ALL your calories from one meal?

This is the main question most people ask when discussing OMAD, one I had with a few of my friends too!

I for one would really struggle to try to consume ALL my calories in one meal.

From what I have read on Diet Doctor you're not necessarily trying to consume all your calories in one meal. Instead, you try and consume most of them.

DietDoctor suggests looking to consume a daily calorie intake of 1,800 kcal per day when on OMAD.

Based on their research, DietDoctor suggests looking to consume a daily calorie intake of 1,800 kcal per day when on OMAD. I was most likely going to be consuming less than this for three reasons.

  1. My body weight is 67 kg and so basal metabolic rate (BMR) is lower
  2. This week I will be more sedentary due to being in lockdown
  3. I am looking to lose a little body weight

That said, during OMAD you don't necessarily have to count calories.

I look into the number of calories to consume during OMAD next.

How Many Calories Should I Eat on OMAD?

I couldn't find a resource that gives hard and fast rules on the exact number of calories to consume, of course, this will vary will body weight.

I am between 65-70kg most times and so my calorie intake will significantly differ from a guy weighing 100kg.

According to the Harris-Benedict Formula that's commonly used by nutritionists, this helps work out how many calories above your basal metabolic rate you need each day.

First you need your BMI, I used this calculator to get my BMI of 1532.

Next, I used the Harris-Benedict Formula with the sedentary (or no exercise) metric of 1.2 to arrive at my daily intake of 1838.

If I wanted to consume ALL my daily calories then I would need to consume 1838 Kcal during my one-hour eating window.

Out of interest, I checked the “total burn” data on my Oura ring to see how many calories in real life I used. Flicking through the data over the last few weeks I can see that my readings vary from 2,000 to 2,500 kcals per day, depending on the number of steps.

This correlates approximately with what the Harris-Benedict Formula came back with within a 10% margin of error.

..one of my goals is some weight loss this week. The healthy recommendation is to consume 500 per day less calories, which means my aim is to eat a minimum of 1300Kcal per day.

However, I am wanting to be in some calorie deficit as one of my goals is some weight loss this week. The healthy recommendation is to consume 500 per day fewer calories, which means my aim is to eat a minimum of 1300 Kcal per day.

How much to eat on OMAD

Can I Drink Coffee on OMAD?

In short yes, In fact, you can drink any calorie-free beverages such as water, and black coffee or tea at any time. It makes sense to avoid drinks that contain caffeine too close to bedtime though for obvious reasons.

I have been drinking 2-3 iced black coffees during the day, no later than 5 pm.

Can I Drink Zero Calorie Soft Drinks?

No.

I struggled to find evidence to support no, but it's thought that the sweet taste in such soft drinks could release some response from the pancreas in the form of insulin. If this happens the insulin could linger for a long time in the body trying to grab sugar that's not there.

To follow a proper fasting protocol it makes sense to err on the side of caution and stick to water, black coffee, or tea.

Will OMAD Slow my Metabolism?

If you’re following the protocol primarily for weight loss then a slowing metabolism is not what you want.

When you first start a calorie-restricted diet everyone experiences initial weight loss, mostly from less water retention.

However, experiencing chronic caloric restriction will start to lower your resting metabolic rate, which then makes longer-term weight loss tricky.

This is a concern for anyone trying OMAD for weight loss a big concern is whether OMAD will make you fat.

Consistent clinical experience shows that widening the fasting window can help improve these metabolic conditions.DietDoctor

Longer-term slowing of metabolism is the reason why intermittent fasting is preferred to just following very-low-calorie diets.

It's also why alternate days fasting, the 5:2 diet (fasting for just 2 days each week), or doing the 16/8 (or 18/6) intermittent fasting approach is recommended (Healthline).

What are the Possible Side Effects of OMAD

It's VERY likely that you're going to experience low energy levels and hunger pains at some point. The side effects we are talking about here, are the ones to be really concerned about and you need to watch out for.

Side effects like feeling unwell, extremely fatigued, dizzy, and nausea are not normal experiences when following OMAD.

If you experience any of these then stop and seek medical advice to check you are fine.

In most cases simply stopping the protocol will help, but if it’s still recommended to seek a medical opinion.

Crashed out asleep on the sofa - fatigued

Can OMAD be a Healthy Lifestyle Choice?

This is the ultimate question really.

Past the practicalities of sustaining an OMAD diet, the question I think is more, should you?

Long periods following an OMAD diet are not considered the best approach. In fact, following any restricted calorie intake diet long-term is not recommended.

Instead, the advice is to switch up OMAD alongside either you're normally eating pattern or even better to alternate with a less restrictive intermittent fasting protocol, like the 16/8.

This is the approach I am looking to adopt, as it will keep my metabolism on its toes making sure I don’t overeat and still enjoy many of the benefits of following an intermittent fasting protocol.

In my experience of doing OMAD for one week, I found this okay but a bit too long, even though I got used to it by day 6.

Which is Better OMAD or Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent fasting is without a doubt much easier than OMAD. I found following an intermittent fasting routine helped with trying OMAD, so if you want to try OMAD I would try intermittent fasting first.

It's easy to make mistakes when fasting though, so you should avoid doing these intermittent fasting mistakes.

To answer this question it comes down to your goal.

If you're looking for faster weight loss then OMAD did correctly can work better than intermittent fasting.

Otherwise, for health benefits, there is not much difference between the two meal protocols. Following a 16/8 intermittent schedule is easier and has similar health benefits.

My Experience and OMAD Results for 7-days

Every day last week I measured my weight using my PICOOC Bluetooth weighing scales (you can find this on Amazon here) first thing in the morning after peeing.

I noted body weight and body fat percentage.

I tracked my total sleep time and activity level using the Oura ring (check out my review of it here) that I wear every day, this also tracks my activity level in terms of step count.

I took pictures of everything I ate during the feeding window that I kept between 6-7 pm each day so that I could eat with my family.

The other benefit was that I could enjoy my wife’s cooking too 😉

My assessment of hunger was purely subjective and noted during the day whenever I noticed any significant change.


Day One

  • Body Weight: 67kg
  • Fat Percentage: 26%
  • Total Sleep Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
  • Daily Steps: 4,973
  • Meals: 4 sausages, mash potato, vegetables (double the portion shown in the picture below)
  • Drinks: 2.4l water, 2 x black coffees, 1 x black tea, 1 x purple minoa drink, 1 x SuperGreen TONIK greens drink

OMAD Day 1
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

SUMMARY: My first day on OMAD and boy was I looking forward to my first and only meal of the day. The day went okay and mentally was set for this week's challenge.

Day Two

  • Body Weight: 66.3kg
  • Fat Percentage: 24.9%
  • Total Sleep Time: 4 hours
  • Daily Steps: 4,750
  • Meals: 1/3 salmon, rice, egg, baked beans, cauliflower, spinach
  • Drinks: 2.4l water, 2 x black coffees, 2 x black tea, 1 x purple minoa drink, 1 x SuperGreen TONIK greens drink

OMAD Day 2
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

SUMMARY: I woke up already hungry, which is not a great start. In hindsight, I have to admit that my food choice the day before wasn't the best. I should have eaten a little more protein and consume a bit more food. The main issue was the lack of sleep last night. I worked late on day one, which meant I struggled to get to sleep before 3 am. Lesson learnt, don't work in the evenings!

Day Three

  • Body Weight: 65.9kg
  • Fat Percentage: 25.8%
  • Total Sleep Time: 7 hours 30 minutes
  • Daily Steps: 5,050
  • Meals: pasta, chicken, carots, spinach, yoghurt with berries, nuts and berries
  • Drinks: 3l water, 2 x black coffees, 2 x black tea, 1 x purple minoa drink, 1 x SuperGreen TONIK greens drink

OMAD Day 3
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

SUMMARY: Felt good today, no hunger when waking. I did feel hungry the afternoon though and really enjoyed my meal at 6pm. This didn't affect my working schedule at all.

Day Four

  • Body Weight: 65.6kg
  • Fat Percentage: 25.7%
  • Total Sleep Time: 7 hours
  • Daily Steps: 6,167
  • Meals: chicken, rice, beans, carots, egg, tomato, fish
  • Drinks: 3l water, 3 x black coffees, 1 x black tea, 1 x purple minoa drink, 1 x SuperGreen TONIK greens drink

OMAD Day 4
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

SUMMARY: Morning I was fine but the afternoon I struggled with hunger a bit. The hungriest I have felt since starting OMAD. After eating I was fine though.

Day Five

  • Body Weight: 65.2kg
  • Fat Percentage: 25.6%
  • Total Sleep Time: 7 hours 47 minutes
  • Daily Steps: 6,167
  • Meals: salmon croquette, rice, vegetables, chicken soup, yoghurt and honey, nuts
  • Drinks: 2.4l water, 2 x black coffees, 1 x black tea, 1 x purple minoa drink, 1 x SuperGreen TONIK greens drink

OMAD Day 5
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

SUMMARY: Awful day today as I woke up feeling unwell (not coronavirus). My body was aching and had a sore throat, very tired. I spent the day in bed until I resurfaced at 5 pm in time for my meal of the day.

Day Six

  • Body Weight: 65.4kg
  • Fat Percentage: 25.7%
  • Total Sleep Time: 7 hours 1 minute
  • Daily Steps: 6,167
  • Meals: 1/2 salmon, pasta, sun-dried tomotoes, carots, cauliflower, yoghurt with honey, nuts and berries
  • Drinks: 2.4l water, 2 x black coffees, 2 x black tea, 1 x purple minoa drink, 1 x SuperGreen TONIK greens drink

OMAD Day 6
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

SUMMARY: Felt much better today and back to 90% health. Little hunger today and had a productive day doing a little work and spending time with the family.

Day Seven

  • Body Weight: 65kg
  • Fat Percentage: 25.5%
  • Total Sleep Time: 7 hours 46 minutes
  • Daily Steps: 6,720
  • Meals: fish and chips, lots of roasted vegetables, 4 slices of pizza, yoghurt with honey
  • Drinks: 3l water, 3 x black coffees, 1 x black tea, 1 x SuperGreen TONIK greens drink

OMAD Day 7
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

SUMMARY: Felt amazing today, very little hunger and enjoyed spending time with the family. Gave myself a treat on my last meal in having 4 slices of pizza (tasted super good).

What I Learnt and Results from Doing OMAD for One-week

I am not going to lie to you, following OMAD on consecutive days is not easy. Depending on your consumption pattern you may find OMAD very hard to follow.

But, it does get easier thanks mostly to training your hunger hormones (Leptin and Ghrelin) to fire less often.

This week was far easier than when I first tried a fasting eating pattern many years ago when I lived as a monk during my stay in a monastery in Thailand, trying to cleanse my body and soul of too much partying.

Spoiler alert, it didn't work!

Let’s focus on mentally how I found last week. All in all pretty good.

I was pleased that my willpower and discipline were strong enough to complete the task. I have written how being too comfortable is a productivity killer before, so I like to mix it up and challenge myself now and then.

One thing is for sure when you haven’t eaten for 23 hours you really do savor your first mouthful. My wife commented that this way I would find all her meals super tasty! She doesn’t have to worry there, her cooking is really nice and much more inspiring than my pasta sauces.

…when you haven’t eaten for 23 hours you really do savour your first mouthful.

This was my longest period of time eating just once a day.

I found it physically easier to handle after the first 2 to 3 days. Days that I felt tired were related to the previous night’s sleep, so on day two, I found it difficult to stay awake in the evening and was noticeably tired during the morning.

My 5 Hacks to Surviving OMAD

Anyone keen to give OMAD a try should first ensure they are healthy enough too firstly. If you’re unsure then have a chat with your medical doctor to be sure.

If you’re good to go through, this is how to make following OMAD easier:

  1. Don’t jump straight into OMAD. I would recommend trying a less strict intermittent fasting protocol, like the 16/8, and see how you get on.
  2. Make your one meal really count. Don’t reach for the fast food that’s unhealthy for you. When you haven’t eaten for 23 hours most food is going to taste great, so ensure you get a healthy selection of macros and micronutrients
  3. Drink plenty of water. This has two benefits, of course, there is the much-needed hydration but also drinking water can make you feel fuller. Using a zero-sugar electrolyte may be sensible too.
  4. Drink a greens drink. Seriously, I am not just plugging my SuperGreen Tonik here (well okay a little bit), having a greens powder supplement means you can get all, or most, of your micronutrients in one easy drink.
  5. It’s not a big deal. OMAD is a mental challenge, quite a big one for some people who really enjoy their food. Speaking to people about doing this and most people are amazed, believing it’s such a challenge. Believe me, it’s not with the right mindset.

Is The OMAD Diet For Me?

After 7 days of OMAD
Photo by Lifehacker Guy

Following the OMAD diet on consecutive days for a week was initially challenging, I am not going to lie to you. Even when your energy expenditure is low, it still takes a degree of mental toughness to stick to.

But, if you can stick to it (and why not?) then you start to experience the benefits after a few days. For me, I felt good after 6 days.

My OMAD physical results included a flatter stomach, check out the side profile!

I just need a six-pack and pecks, I know!

Mentally I experienced better focus and productivity, it was hard to ignore that I felt great.

Only on day five when I was completely out of action, I could work well, and actually, it made each day really easy. No stopping for lunch breaks and feeling tired in the afternoons.

I never intended to follow the OMAD intermittent protocol indefinitely, mostly from a practical viewpoint as you can get the benefits of fasting following a less restrictive protocol.

I already incorporate one day on OMAD each week, well most weeks. It’s perfect when you want to counteract periods of overconsumption, which is the main reason I do it on Sunday evening to Monday.

Familiarity with intermittent fasting certainly helps you to get into the pattern quicker. So, I would certainly not recommend jumping straight into OMAD on consecutive days, but follow the 16/8 or 18/6 first.

The benefits of OMAD are very appealing, for the reasons outlined above. But doing back-to-back OMAD days is not needed to enjoy the benefits. So, why put yourself through it!

From today I will be following the Intermittent Fasting schedule outlined by DietDoctor. Tuesday and Thursday will be OMAD protocol days, with the rest of the week following an 18/6 intermittent fasting protocol. Sometimes though, I will grab a hearty breakfast, as, after all, I am only human!

It hopefully goes without saying but the information on this page is not a substitute for direct, individual medical treatment or advice. It is the responsibility of you and your healthcare providers to make all decisions regarding your health.

This is the final post from my fat belly challenge where I have spent the last 90-days trying to lose weight.

The idea was simple. To fast track losing my apron belly by holding myself accountable by posting embarrassing before pictures (and some people may say “after” pictures too!)

Starting and completing the last 90-days has really opened my eyes to a nutritional strategy that is simple to follow and importantly EFFECTIVE.

What is it? Simple, it's intermittent fasting.

I am writing the final part of my 90-day fat belly challenge whilst on my second 40-hour fast.

How did I get on? Did I lose any significant weight, and what's the plan going forward? Let's start with why I wanted to even do this first.

90-days intermittent fasting front

Quick Background to the Fat Belly Challenge

The fact is the last few years, I have been putting on weight each year, and attempts to get into shape have failed. The challenge for me is by having chronic fatigue syndrome makes exercising a more difficult option, although not impossible.

Ultimately, there is no excuse, though. I mean, who else has been stuffing my face with cakes, sugary drinks, fatty, and high-cholesterol local food (roti canai for example – Malaysian food is amazing) the last few years. But as I get older, it’s getting more difficult to keep the weight off. A cliché that’s so true!

The fact I had quit drinking alcohol made following an intermittent fasting meal timing schedule easier. Friends have been more surprised at this than anything else, just goes to show the importance alcohol is eh?

It’s really not been difficult, either. I have been out socializing too, and this has been no trouble either. It’s much easier to say you have stopped drinking than by saying you’re reducing your alcohol intake.

Often people will ask have stopped for good or how long. In all honesty, I don’t know the answer to this. For the time being, I am fine not drinking alcohol. It also makes intermittent fasting easier as drinking means I would be consuming calories late into the evening, which messes up the scheduling of meals the next day.

The other thing is, I NEVER get hangovers and boy is this a great feeling. When I wake up now, I may be tired but no sore head and groggy feeling you experience after a night out on the sauce.

Links to the previous posts on my fat belly challenge:

My Results

Here comes the crunch time, what was the outcome of my 90-day fat belly challenge?

I have lost just over 4 kilograms in total weight and around a 1.5-2% decrease in my body fat percentage from intermittent fasting without any significant change in activity levels.

There has been a noticeable change that had lost 4 kilograms. You can see from the before and after picture below that I have lost some, but not all, of my fat belly. My trousers and shorts certainly fit much better now, although I still want to get a flatter stomach to fit into some of the t-shirts and shirts I bought a couple of years ago.

Before and after 90-days intermittent fasting

So, the moobs are still there and more prominent than I would like!

For those very observant readers who noticed my tattoo appears to have gone, I reversed the before image so the images were easier to compare – my bad there, I should have taken a better picture!

I don't think any is denying the pictures aren't me though 😉

If I was going to use photoshop or another person I would have least had a six-pack and toned chest.

Weight loss plateau with Intermittent Fasting

After two-months, I experienced a weight loss plateau where my total body weight was staying the same. I expected this as you don’t continually lose bodyweight unless you mix things up a bit, whether with your diet or being more active.

Considering my activity levels remained fairly similar throughout the 3-months then it stands to reason why my body weight leveled out.

In fact, I noticed that I put a little bit of weight back on again (around 1 lb / 450 grams). It wasn’t a lot, and only really noticeable because now I regularly weigh myself.

The modest weight gain was almost certainly from indulging in junk food, a common problem when intermittent fasting as it’s easy to justify eating rubbish when you are limited total calories.

Researching more about intermittent fasting (article coming soon chaps), it seems this is a common experience. Weight loss can become stagnant after a prolonged time following the same feeding period, and so it’s suggested to mix it up a bit.

Weight loss can become stagnant after a prolonged time following the same feeding period, and so it’s suggested to mix it up a bit.

Only during the last 2-3 weeks did I start experimenting with changing my meal timings.

I introduced 24-hour fasting periods once per week and even did my first two-day fast – you wouldn’t think so, but this was an amazing experience – I really recommend it!

It sounds daunting not eating for a day, especially when we’re so used to consuming three and sometimes more meals per day. The experience I found empowering as there is nothing like sitting at the dinner table (okay so local restaurant for the readers who know me!) feeding your kids when you haven’t eaten for 24 hours!

I sometimes believe that I eat more out of habit than hunger. It also is a great excuse to stop working and have a break eh?


Want to know more about Intermittent Fasting?

Complete guide to fasting bookThere is a lot of information out there on Intermittent Fasting and so it can be easy to overcomplicate it. The rules of what to eat, when and how much, is confusing as everyone seems to have their view on it.

My friend the other day said he fasted every day, then I found out he drank apple cider vinegar with lemon in the morning – which certainly breaks your fast!

I am no fasting expert but simply follow the practice of only drinking water and black coffee for 18-hours each day.

If you want to read an excellent book giving you a complete guide to fasting has been recommended to me (I haven't read it yet).

Check out this book on Amazon – The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal Your Body Through Intermittent, Alternate-Day, and Extended Fasting by Dr Jason Fung.


What didn’t go well?

Ultimately, looking at purely the metrics I failed the challenge. I didn’t achieve the goal of losing a total of 6 kilograms of body weight and decreasing body fat percentage from 27.5% to under 24%.

I know have a working strategy that’s straight forward, no gimmicks, no messing about with calorie counting, and yet works to decrease and stabilise body weight.

However, and this isn’t just massaging my ego here (well okay maybe a little!), I feel like the fat belly challenge was successful from what I experienced and importantly learned. I lost weight and to be honest it was really fairly easy to do.

I know have a working strategy that’s straightforward, no gimmicks, no messing about with calorie counting, and yet works to decrease and stabilize body weight.

My observations

Intermittent fasting is a solution for decreasing weight and keeping my weight in check. It’s easy to follow at home or if away on holiday or business.

I didn’t need to count calories but also made me aware of what I was eating. Days when I ate more junk food than usual, I found the next day or two that I naturally gravitated towards healthier choices.

Follow a set intermittent fasting pattern regularly, like the 18/6 meal timing schedule I adopted, meant it was easy to stick to a routine. This took the guesswork out of what I could and where I could eat. Other diet plans restricted food choices making eating out really difficult for me and my family (well not so much my family but certainly for me).

Key Takeaways (not takeaway food!)

Here are the key things I learn't during the 90-day fat belly challenge:

  • Intermittent fasting works
  • Can be a longer-term solution for reducing and stabilising body weight
  • Easy to follow, no counting calories
  • Helps productivity and decisions on food choice
  • Stops me snacking in the evening

What's Next?

Adam Toned 2020?Could this be the new Adam in 2020?

Let's be realistic here, this isn't going to happen but I will certainly be looking to get a flat stomach and to lose my moobs!

It's typical to revert back to bad eating habits after following any change in diet, and the reason why dieting in general never normally works. The caveat is when big lifestyle changes are made too.

The intermittent fasting schedule works for me and I intend to continue using it as part of my nutritional strategy for health and maintaining a healthy weight. I still have some way to go as I wish to reduce body fat percentage into the “healthy” range.

Going forward I am going to see the impact of weekly 24-hour fasts and monthly two-days fasts on my weight during the rest of 2019. The best case is that my weight continues to drop but otherwise it's a great way to stop putting on more weight!

Although the New Year will trigger many people to push towards getting fit and healthy, I prefer to make the “New Year goals” just before the start of the year. So, next year will see me getting down to 60-62 kilograms and body fat percentage under 20 percent. Don't believe me? Then watch this space.

This is the second update for my 90-day fat belly challenge where I am looking to implement long-standing changes to my lifestyle.

Why?

Mostly this is to turnaround my sedentary lifestyle that was not just making me fatter but less active.

I am using an intermittent fasting meal timing schedule as it seemed like the best diet plan strategy that can be used long-term.

To track activity levels through step count and to monitor my sleep I use an Oura ring.

I am now just over 60-days into my fat belly 90-day challenge where I am committed to reducing body fat and increasing my activity levels. So, have I lost any further weight, and what else has changed in my lifestyle?

What Did I Learn in the Last 30-days?

This is the second update and last month I gave my feedback on my progress after 30-days of the fat belly challenge.

The biggest takeaway from last month is that sleep is critical to keeping on track with a healthy and productive lifestyle.

More precisely, it's the QUALITY OF SLEEP that is important.

I strived to keep an average of 7 hours of sleep per night. Checking over the average night’s sleep for August I averaged 6 hours 45 minutes hours per night. According to most research the recommended daily sleep for adults is between 7 – 9 (Sleep Foundation), so I am not quite getting enough sleep at the moment.

Although I can get by on the amount of sleep per night it's not optimal and I can feel the accumulative effects of some 6 hour nights after a few days.

It's a no-brainer – I need MORE SLEEP.

I strived to keep an average of 7 hours of sleep per night. Checking over the average night’s sleep for August I averaged 6 hours 45 minutes hours per night.

Keeping on an intermittent fasting pattern of eating still works for me. I find it easy to fast for 18-19 hours per day and eat within a 5-6 hour window.

This ensures I don’t snack during the evening, which was becoming a habit before I started intermittent fasting. I also have quit drinking alcohol too, which not only helps with reducing excess calories but the sore head next morning.

Here are my positive and negative observations from the challenge so far.

Positives

  • My nutrition plan is easy to follow, healthy and includes my healthy super green drink
  • I don’t miss drinking alcohol
  • Following an intermittent fasting plan is fairly easy for me

Negatives

  • A few sleepless nights side-track the next day or two
  • Activity levels still need to be higher to make a difference for fitness and fat loss
  • I need to be more vigilant with my sleep schedule to ensure I get to bed earlier

Did I Lose Weight During the Last 30-days?

It's been nice this month that friends and family have noticed that I have lost weight. Even without prompting and mentioning my fat belly challenge!

That said, I didn't lose as much weight as I hoped.

It’s crunch time, what do the numbers say?

Good news, overall my body weight has dropped 3.2kg (just over 7lbs) with body fat reducing to 25.6% (a drop of 1.9%).

My PiCooc weighing scales show the same “body score” as the end of last month of 6.8 out of 10.

My visceral score is still on the high side at “8” so I have still work to do on this. The fact is my body fat percentage is still too high and needs to be under 24%!

September 3rd, 2019 Measurements

Fat Belly challenge statistics month two

Measurement Summary:

  • Body Weight: 66.6kg
  • Body Fat: 25.6%
  • Visceral Fat Index: 8
  • Body Score: 6.6

The next results will be recorded on the 1st of October and updated when I write the last part of the 90-day fat belly challenge.

Related: How to lose 20 pounds

Sleep Efficiency During the Last 30-days

Using some cool tech within my Oura ring, I can monitor my sleep and a bunch of other measures when sleeping, such as body temperature and resting/recovery heart rate.

The data measured by the Oura ring is then used to calculate a readiness score which can give you feedback on how much to push yourself (or not) during the day.

I will be taking a closer eye on the sleep efficiency and total time asleep as this has a great impact on the readiness score.

Comparing my average daily sleep time with last month and it's the same literally within one minute!

According to my Oura readings, my overall “readiness score” was 80 in August, so a drop of one point as during July I averaged 81.

I will be taking a closer eye on sleep efficiency and total time asleep as this greatly impacts the readiness score.

During the last 30-days average time asleep was 6 hours 45 minutes

Activity Levels the Last 30-days

As I have already outlined, my daily activity levels are low, and since moving to Malaysia have decreased as I drive more compared to the days of walking about in London.

So, I strived to do an average of 10,000 steps each month.

Most days, I managed to do it, mostly by being mindful of my activity levels and if I fell short would take a long walk home to make up the shortfall in steps.

Some days I didn’t make it through, either because of family commitments or the feedback from my Oura ring was to take it easy (I know!).

My average daily step counts was 10,056 per day.

Last Month of the 90-day Challenge

I have 30-days left of my fat belly challenge – will I reach my goals?

I believe I may struggle to lose the next 2-3 kg to reach my target of losing 6kg in 90-days. I say this because it’s certainly getting harder to lose more kgs after the initial few kilos.

I believe I may struggle to lose the next 2-3 kg to reach my target of losing 6kg in 90-days.

This was to be expected, and with any weight loss regime, initial results are quick as you do lose some water weight.

So, what is my plan for the last 30-days to try and achieve my target?

I need to focus on getting a better and more structured sleep schedule. This will allow me to push myself more during the days to increase my step count.

We know most successful fat loss strategies are done from the kitchen, so I am going to look at shifting my macro composition to favor a higher protein intake and lower carbs.

I have done this before with good results. Although this may not be a long-term strategy it could help me to get where I want to weight wise.

The intermittent fasting strategy is perfect for maintaining weight and for initial weight loss. I will go into the other benefits of intermittent fasting in an article later this month.

Quick Summary

The month started slowly, and for the first week didn’t think I would see much if any, weight loss. This changed in weeks 3 and 4 when I managed to lose 1 kilo.

Why I am not quite sure, to be honest. But, I can see that my apron belly is getting smaller!

I need to tweak my sleep schedule and aim to get 7+ hours of good-quality sleep per night. This will improve my “readiness” for the next day and ensure I am rested to keep active.

My food choices over the next 30-days will be the key to keeping on track and being able to reach my goal of 64kg. So, I will be knuckling down and will update you next month.

After 30-days of being on the intermittent fasting meal plan and monitoring my sleep with the Oura ring, have I lost weight and body fat?

I am just over 30-days into my fat belly 90-day challenge where I committed to losing weight and lead a more active and healthier lifestyle. you can check out why I started this challenge and what I am trying to achieve in the link above.

To recap;

  • Follow an intermittent fasting meal timing plan where I only eat for 6 hours each day, fasting for 18 hours.
  • Increasing my daily activity levels primarily through walking to get more steps
  • Improving sleep patterns and ensuring good quality sleep

Looking back at my one-year health goals I can see that in October 2018 I was 67kg. When I started the challenge last month, I weighed 69.8kg with 27.5% body fat percentage – weight gain of nearly 3kg in 9 months!

So, how have I got on?

I am very happy to report I have lost weight and made improvements with my body fat percentage; I will go into the figures below. But first, let's start with how I have felt during the last 30-days.

What Did I Learn in the Last 30-days?

From the outset, I was looking to make lifestyle changes that last. Not a quick fix but a solution for maintaining a healthy active lifestyle that allows me to keep in reasonable shape.

This is why I chose to make the challenge 90-days to give time to make the changes a habit and to ensure I kept them.

The fact is there is no escaping the numbers, either I lost weight and body fat, or I didn’t. More on the numbers a bit later on, here I want to reflect on what I learned during the last 30-days.

Here are my positive and negative observations.

Positives

  • I was away for one-week last month and didn’t put on weight – activity levels much higher than usual (twice in fact)
  • I know that just relying on intermittent fasting without a keen eye on food intake during the 6-7 hour eating period is not enough for fat loss
  • I can maintain an intermittent fasting plan easily

Negatives

  • I lost weight but not much body fat
  • Normal life doesn't include anywhere enough activity
  • Sleep schedule needs some work – consistency is not as good as it could be

Did I Lose Weight During the Last 30-days?

It’s crunch time, what do the numbers say?

I was a couple of dates late recording my data as I was on a family holiday. As soon as I got back, I jumped onto my Bluetooth PiCooc weighing scales and took a screenshot of the results.

Good news, overall my body weight has dropped 1.8kg (nearly 4lbs) with body fat reducing to 26.4% (a drop of 1.1%).

PiCooc also showed by “body score” had improved from 5.1 to 6.4 due to the positive changes.

August 5th, 2019 Measurements

Adam body measurements August 2019

Measurement Summary:

  • Body Weight: 68.0kg
  • Body Fat: 26.4%
  • Visceral Fat Index: 9
  • Body Score:6.4

There have been positive changes from my original baseline measures recorded on the 1st of July 2019.

I took a picture of my fat belly to see if there was any visible change. Unfortunately, not the best selfie was taken but I believe shows a slight decrease in the one-pack!

Speaking with my mother-in-law at the weekend about losing the weight she remarked it's not gone from the belly but from my face – charming eh?

The words of encouragement from my mother-in-law aside, I can feel the difference in my trousers, which is great.

Adam before and after one-month

What do you think, is the fat belly smaller?

Sleep Efficiency the Last 30-days

I track my sleep efficiency each night using the Oura ring. This is a fancy piece of technology that is worn on your finger every day and with sensors inside monitors the time in each sleep stage (REM, Deep, etc), body temperature, sleeping heart rate, and variation in heart rate between beats.

Using this data Oura calculates a readiness score which can give you feedback on how much to push yourself (or not) during the day.

Checking over the data for my sleep efficiency and score for July 2019 it's pretty good.

Sleep Measurements:

  • Sleep Score: 78 / 100
  • Sleep Efficiency: 90% (a score of over 85% is considered good)

Delving further into the data though it's clear I am not sleeping long enough as my average total sleep time was 6 hours 44 minutes, less than the recommended 7-9 hours suggested by Oura to adults to perform well and stay healthy.

I wanted to understand why this is, so I investigated more and discovered my average bedtime was 23:37 pm – this is late, especially considering that I have two kids that often wake me up at 6:30 am!

The obvious takeaway here is that I need to get to sleep earlier. So, it's clear I need to get to bed earlier each night to consistently try and get 8 hours of sleep per night.

Activity Levels the Last 30-days

Since moving to Malaysia my activity levels have been getting worse. It's hot living here and so the tendency is to drive everywhere and to seldom walk apart from inside air-conditioned shopping malls.

Checking my Oura ring for the average daily steps in July 2019 I am reaching my target of 10,000 steps per day.

The last week of July though I was on a family holiday and we walked a lot, it was tiring at times with the kids too! So, I am aware that the last week of 15-20k daily steps pushed up the average daily steps.

This is something for me to keep an eye on in August!

Oura Ring daily steps for July 2019

The Next 30-days

I am already into the second month of my challenge and know that weight loss tends to level off after a while. So, this month is going to be challenging if I wish to maintain the momentum and lose 2kg per month along with losing body fat too!

Although I find it difficult to consistently exercise I will be looking to increase my average daily steps to 10k plus. This will partly be done with walking to my co-working space from my kid's school and going to the gym – even if it means walking a few km.

Nutrition-wise, I am still taking my Super Greens powder supplement each day and being mindful of the daily calorie intake without going so far as counting and measuring each gram.

There is still some way to go for me to reach my goal of 64kg and a healthy body fat percentage of 17-23%. I have two more months to go! The next update will be early next month, stay tuned.

* A small disclaimer here as I want to clearly state that the information in this article is exactly that, purely informational content and is NOT medical advice. Whilst I am following the practices mentioned above it may not be suitable for you. So, if you’re interested in following along I would suggest checking with your medical doctor first.

As you can see from the picture in the header image above, I am sporting a rather fetching one-pack with matching moobs.

Now, I never used to be like as years ago I was a competitive triathlete until things went wrong and I over-trained and made myself ill (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome – CFS).

Since then, I have been inactive and slowly gaining weight as I get older. Not an uncommon situation, as it’s a common pattern that many of us succumb to.

Here is the kicker though, since relocating to Malaysia as an expat my weight gain has accelerated.

A combination of now using a car for transport versus walking when in London, and really getting used to the relative ease of life here, has meant I have put on 6kg in just 12 months – with no sign of this stopping!

With my waist size going from 30 inches to now 34 and the problem of being mid-way between size S and M making shopping more difficult (that’s another post right there!), I really need to turn things around.

As this blog’s aim is to tackle aspects of my life I wish to change, then I have decided to hold myself accountable and kick-start a 90-day fat belly challenge. Importantly this is going to have pictures, which in all honesty, I am NOT looking forward to.

Adams one-pack belly

90-day Transformation Challenge

The details of the challenge are really easy and straightforward.

I started on the 1st of July, and the challenge is to lose 6kg in 90-days – easy, eh?

But, I am not just focused on losing total weight as I want to lose fat, so I will monitor my fat percentage. I would like to reduce my fat percentage to be within the “average” range (18-24%) – currently, I am in the “obese” category!

This can easily be seen when checking out my apron belly (I like this phrase!).

You can see my starting measurements below, but for illustration purposes, you can see where I stand (literally) in this line up of body fat percentage in men.

If you have read many articles on weight loss, then losing 6kg in 90-days may not sound difficult at all. Heck, it's only 2kg per month!

The challenge is also to keep this weight off; I will be keeping track of this for the rest of the year (most likely longer).

Now, this is just the start to kick-start the change in lifestyle required to maintain this long-term. I am trying to form healthier activities and dietary habits.

Taking this approach will mean it’s more likely to make longer-term changes to my health and avoid the classic yo-yo weight loss and gain approach I have followed for the last 10 years.

Body fat percentage in men

Strategy for Losing Weight

I have used a few diets before when attempting to shed pounds before. Recently I followed a friend of mine's 28-day Detox Diet Plan, which really works well for quickly cutting weight safely in a healthy way – I lost 5 kg in one month!

For many years I also followed Tim Ferriss's slow-carb diet and found this very effective for losing weight albeit a little harder to follow than the 28-day detox diet.

These diet plans worked for me, but they weren’t long-term solutions. So, I soon found the weight coming on as I returned to my “old lifestyle” ways.

Whilst these diet plans really worked for me I found they weren’t long-term solutions.

I want a strategy for being able to both lose and manage my weight.

Now before the diet brands jump in here and push the latest fat burner or keto pill, popping a pill isn’t going to do the trick either… if it did we would ALL be slim and beach body ready 😉

That said, supplements can certainly help and I am a keen advocate of taking them to act as nutritional insurance and I get all my veggies every day. This is the reason I spent 8-months developing SuperGreen Tonik, a super greens supplement that I take every day.

Healthy Lifestyle Solutions

Like many of you I bet, I have tried many ways to lose weight only to discover within months you pile it on again. The typical crash diet and yo-yo back (or even more) is soul-destroying and can often result in giving up.

Now that I am in my mid-forties I believe it's crucial to turn it around and take control of my body weight. It's only getting harder as I get older – I already feel it now, so what will it be like in my fifties?

The days of swimming, cycling, and running nearly every day (like I used to do many years ago – see below) are most likely gone for me, although I do hope to return to training one day.

In the meantime, I am looking for a healthy nutritional solution that is sustainable and doesn't involve confusing and inconvenient meal planning. This is why I decided to try intermittent fasting as it’s a powerful weight loss and management tool that’s pretty healthy too.

What I also like about intermittent fasting is the simplicity and most sustainable option I have found so far.

Competing in Triathlon Competition

When I competed in Triathlons I was just 50kg and 6-7% body fat percentage.

Starting Intermittent Fasting

Any mention of dieting at the moment soon turns to intermittent fasting (IM) and the possible weight loss and health benefits linked to this method of eating.

In short, the idea is simple you only eat within a short time frame and then in-between just drink water and black coffee (if you’re a coffee drinker). During the fasting periods, your body will turn to fats as a fuel source as glucose levels reduce potentially helping fat loss.

During the fasting periods your body will turn to fats as a fuel source as glucose levels reduce potentially helping fat loss.

One quick point to mention here is that IM is not a diet per se, but a meal timing plan.

There are a number of other health benefits linked to intermittent fasting too, such as…

  • Fat loss
  • Increasing muscle tone
  • Improved vascular function that can help you skin, hair and nails
  • Mental benefits such as improved focus
  • Cellular benefits

Check out Healthline for more information on the 8 benefits of fasting.

As my article suggests I am primarily interested in the fat loss aspect but it’s hard to ignore the potential other benefits.

I will create an article looking into the benefits of IM as I find this subject really interesting from what I have read so far. If you're looking for an excellent guide to intermittent fasting I recommend this one by heathline.

My Intermittent Fasting Method

There are a number of ways to follow intermittent fasting, which revolves around the meal timings and the fasting period in-between.

The most popular intermittent fasting method is 16/8 and is the easiest in my opinion me to follow. Essentially you skip breakfast and only drink water and black coffee until lunchtime.

My Intermittent Fasting Schedule

I actually have a meal window between 12 pm and 6 pm and so fast for 18 hours per day.

Most days I have no problem fasting in the morning but on an odd day, I am hungry mid-morning and really look forward to lunch.

In terms of the choice of diet, I try to eat good quality food that contains macros, but I avoid counting calories.

Sometimes I will eat the odd cake or egg tart (one of my favorites) but I try to keep this balanced and not overindulge in sugary snacks. I need to be careful though that I do not derail weight-loss success by overeating during my feeding periods. This would then of course counteract most of the benefits from fasting.

I need to be careful that I do not derail weight-loss success by overeating during my feeding periods.

24-Hour Fasting

I have done a few 24-hour fasts in the past and found them surprisingly straightforward to follow. Yes, you get a little hungry by the afternoon but boy do you enjoy your first meal in 24-hours!

Looking into the available information online on 24-hour fasts I will look to include some of these into my diet strategy. Most likely on a Monday, I will fast, and so Sunday at 6 pm would be my last meal for 24-hours until the following Monday evening.

A weekly 24-hour fast may not work well with intermittent fasting for the remaining 6-days, and so I will give it a try and see how I get on.

Technology I am Using to Monitor Results

To help provide feedback on my progress over the next 90-days and beyond I am will be using two pieces of technology.

Instead of just tracking overall body weight I need to know if I am losing fat. To do this I am going to use the Picooc Bluetooth weighing scales. I also need to know how active I have been and for this I am going to use a sleep and activity tracker called Oura ring.


PiCooc

picooc weighing-scales
The typical set of weighing scales won’t be sufficient for the data I am looking to get.

I am using Picooc Bluetooth weighing scales that connect to an App called PiCooc.

These cool bit of tech measure lots of metrics such as; body fat, muscle, body water, bone mass, skeletal muscle, body weight, visceral fat index, and MBR.

Using this data the App produces a body score out of 10 and also calculates your metabolic age. There are some questions about the reliability of scales that calculate the fat percentage, but considering I will be using the same scales at the same time of the day this should be at least consistent.

Check out Picooc Bluetooth Smart Body Fat Scale from Amazon.com

Oura Ring

My Oura RingI noticed a number of people using a cool bit of tech called the Oura ring to measure the effectiveness of their sleep and activity levels.

Initially, I thought my iPhone would be fine to measure my daily steps but having tried the Oura ring for the last 3 weeks I can see a big difference. Of course, whereas I wear the Oura ring all the time, I often leave my phone on my desk and so will under-measure my steps.

The Oura ring is really great for measuring the stages of sleep, body temperature at night, resting heart rate and heart rate variability (variation among the heart rate intervals – see here)

Wearing the ring every day gives you three measures; sleep score, activity score, and readiness score. The sleep and activity score help to provide your readiness score, which is an indicator of how rested you are and prepared for the day ahead.

I am using the Oura ring to measure daily steps and to track my sleep. I am going to write about hacking my sleep in another post very soon.

Check out Oura sleep and activity tracker from Oura.com

My Baseline Measurements

I jumped onto my Picooc weighing scales as soon as I wake up and went to the toilet every time to ensure a consistent time. The picture below is a screenshot of the image shown from the Picooc App on my phone.

As you can see the rather worrying figures have been highlighted, all of these I am looking to significantly change over the next 90-days.

The resulting data combined Picooc calculates my body score as 5.1 out of 10 – not an excellent body score. And as shown by the rather chubby man next to the score highlights, I am currently covertly fat, nice!

At the very bottom there shows my “metabolic age” at 47 years old, considering that I am now 45 this is not a good sign.

July 1st, 2019 Measurements

picooc measurement 1 july 2019

Measurement Summary:

  • Body Weight: 69.8kg
  • Body Fat: 27.5%
  • Visceral Fat Index: 9
  • Body Score: 5.1

The next results will be recorded on the 1st of August and updated when I write part two of the 90-day fat belly challenge.

My Progress So Far

As the more eagle-eyed readers will have spotted we’re nearly at the end of July and so I should have made some progress already 😉

The good news is I have and can already report some fat loss and positive changes to my lifestyle.

The challenge didn’t start well though as I experienced an upset stomach for the first 7-days of the month. Whilst this did help me lose 1/2 kg it completely throughout any attempts of modifying my lifestyle!

Bottom Line – Being Accountable!

The point of this post is to make sure I am held accountable, it's that simple.

If after 90-days I have made a few changes or lost little fat then everyone here will see my failure. Of course, I am hoping to trigger change for myself and anyone else in a similar position.

To spur me along I will be doing a write-up each month on my progress. This will include up-to-date measurements and a report on what I am doing to fuel what I hope to be the fat loss I am looking to achieve.

I will be taking action in three ways:

  1. Increase my activity level – Will be aiming for an average 10,000 daily steps
  2. Be more rested by improving and getting a more consistent sleep pattern – 7-9 hours each night and a sleep score of 85% + with the Oura Ring
  3. Following a 18/6 intermittent fasting programme – Mindful of eating good quality nutrition during the feeding period

Taking action as above is completely achievable and importantly sustainable longer-term – let's see how I get on with the first update in a few weeks' time!

Anyone inspired to join me on this challenge? You’re more than welcome, just comment below and let’s start making a real positive change for good today.

* A small disclaimer here as I want to clearly state that the information in this article is exactly that, purely informational content and is NOT medical advice. Whilst I am following the practices mentioned above it may not be suitable for you. So, if you're interested in following along I would suggest checking with your medical doctor first.

When mentioning this challenge to friends of mine over a coffee I immediately got one of the following two questions:

  1. Why would I do that?
  2. You have a problem with porn?

Often these questions were asked with a quizzical look on their face.

I have no doubt that you’re reading this thinking the same and with the same look on your face 😉

To very quickly explain, I don’t have a problem with either masturbation or porn (well I believe I don’t). So why abstain and why write about it?

Guy in bed masturbating

Well I remember reading a few years ago about this challenge and the benefits of abstinence and decided to give it a go.

Hopefully you know by now, this blog is all about experimenting with my routine and making what I hope to be lifelong productive worthwhile changes. I’ve never tried abstaining before, so I thought what the heck let’s give it a try!

To admit publicly that I regularly watch porn and masturbate, is a little tough though (sorry wife, sorry mum).

Good mates of mine of course won’t be surprised and my female friends I would imagine don’t ever think of it (and I mean EVER!).

There is still a taboo around porn and masturbation, even today, even though many people enjoy both.

Before starting this challenge, I was really curious about the daily and weekly as well as the physical and mental affects. There was a little niggling thought that it was possible I was addicted to masturbation and didn’t even realise it! Did I need to do it to relieve stress? or was it healthy for me? Was it mostly a time filler? Or just a habit?

If you don’t want to read all the article (maybe you’re checking this out between porn?), you can check out the results at the end or click here.

NobNOM, NoFap, NOBNOMGOM – what?

As with everything that gets a little attention these days, a number of variations appear fairly quickly all with their unique approach to a problem. This is no different!

The abstinence challenge has been linked to a number of levels, with each taking a somewhat bizarre acronym.

Tim Ferriss first coined the phrase NOBNOM, which means simply “No Booze, No Masturbation”. These go hand in hand (pun intended) as having a few drinks makes it a lot easier to have a little fumble. Of course, there is a limit, drink too much and you’re struggle to even find it!

It was from reading Tim’s blog that I first came across this challenge. When I first thought of giving it a try I wondered if it would help with my drive on improving focus.

It’s worth letting you know that one of the reasons Tim started this challenge is most likely to help promote a company he was working with at the time, “Lift” a motivational self-help app. His challenge recommended using the Lift app to monitor your progress – I won’t say anymore other than Tim is a marketing genius 😉

The NOBNOMGOM community takes this to another level in that as well as abstaining from alcohol and masturbation you’re to add “going out” and “meditating”. The thinking is instead of just wallowing at home sober and being frustrated you get out and be sociable.

For me I enjoy going out and spending time on my own, so this isn’t really important for me. Just ask the wife, no one needs to persuade me to go out!

The NoFAP community is a little different in that they provide services and help with porn addiction. The community is massive, with over 360,000 members in their subreddit. Clearly this is an issue that resonates with many people.

If you’re struggling with porn or any sexual addiction then this is a service that is well worth checking out.

What is my 30-day challenge?

Very simple really, I am to abstain from looking at any porn in any form and any masturbation for 30-days. Now I say simple, but as it’s been a habit for many years now this is certainly going to be a challenge.

I should make clear that the challenge doesn’t mean I can’t have sex – this would be too harsh on the wife I suspect.

Only kidding, but seriously sex is allowed and as a consequence of this challenge should be even better according to reports by previous participants.

I often go for a few weeks without drinking alcohol, so I wasn’t too concerned about this one. Instead I focused on the NOM part of the NOMBOM for my challenge.

I started the challenge on the 1st October 2018 and therefore the end date the 30th so abstinence stops on Halloween good timing.

Benefits of Abstaining from Porn and Masturbation

I’ve briefly mentioned the benefits but haven’t discussed these in any real depth. So, what are the benefits of stopping porn and masturbation?

The main benefits of having a masturbation-free month is better energy, focus, and productivity.

Include some medical research here there must be something out there maybe even include benefits of knocking one out as well.

On a final note, I have noticed that over the years my will power has decreased significantly. Following through with this challenge has helped me regain not only some discipline, but strangely a better sense of perspective, which is a big win in my book.

If I can manage to refrain from masturbating for 30-days, then what else can I achieve?

The first week!

The first few days were very easy as I was travelled back from the UK to Malaysia with my mum. So not only was there little opportunity (I just didn’t feel the urge at 30,000 feet –) but I was incredibly tired from the jet lag.

After the 3-4 days though it got a little tougher. Why then? Well I got more and more time to myself, and more importantly solitary laptop time.

I found that there was a real temptation to open up private browsing – a side note does any guy every use this for buying presents for their wives? There is an incredibly funny sketch from Dara o’ Briain on the use of Private Browser.

“My favourite member of the army core, Private Browsing” – Dara o’ Briain

Nevertheless, I successfully refrained from visiting bigbouncyboobygirls dot com (not a real website!) in the first week.

After the first week, what was immediately obvious to me was just how much more productive my screen time was. Which thinking about it really demonstrates middle class problems, if I had to work in an office like most people, then I’m pretty sure things would be different!

Towards the end of the week I did notice my mood changed and I became more frustrated and I felt more stressed. Now this coincided will feeling tired, very mild cold and overall a little run down – the kids were particularly troublesome over the weekend which certainly didn’t help.

Week two experience

I found that being busier than usual really helped to distract me. What with my mum visiting, a poorly son for a few days and writing up this blog, I had less time than I would normally.

A real interesting and somewhat unexpected, consequence of no porn and no spanking the monkey has been a very noticeably reduction in night and morning boners.

A real bonus has been sex has been even better – a definite noticeable change, so much so, the wife commented on this too.

There were a couple of days when I nearly broke the challenge, but I did resist and got on with work some of which is documented on other pages.

Week three experience

Week three was really interesting, it was going so well, but the wife went away on holiday and I was left alone, and I wasn’t able to resist the temptations of knocking one out.. I can’t blame the wife but Rome wasn’t built in a day and breaking a 25 year habit is tough. Of course, I’m not blaming the wife here..

There was one little gain I didn’t fail completely because on the plus side, there was no porn involved at all, just good old imagination. Nevertheless, was I was disappointed with myself afterwards as I’d broken the 30-day challenge after 16 days. But I am back on track again and will look to be stronger for the remaining 14 days.

After a few days reflecting why I had broken my challenge, I do wonder if it was more boredom than stress or simply the urge?

Week four experience

On the final stretch now of the challenge. It’s not been easy that’s for sure but really trying to hold out for the next 7 days.

Was left to my own devices this week after mum going home, it does seem that much more difficulty if the opportunity arises. That said, I managed to refrain from choking the chicken.

What was the Outcome?

Going at it like rabbits

Was 30 days without porn and masturbation worth it?

Having a masturbation free month was certainly challenging for me. One that I managed much easier for the first 3 weeks than I initially expected albeit one slip up. This was mainly because I was having much less time alone and was busy sight-seeing with family.

Interestingly I found that reading about other guys experience in this challenge didn’t really help me to fully prepare myself. For a start, I never read anyone else having regular morning wood issues for a start!

Remember those questions in my head before starting this challenge?

I didn’t expect to get boundless energy from not taming the one-eyed snake for 30-days, maybe I even lost some forearm resistance strength (damn maybe I should have measured that one?) 😉

There have been two biggest pluses for me; better sex and more time during the week!

I have never counted the number of hours each month spent devoted to porn or masturbation, but it must add up. The last 30-days this has been time spent in pursuit of other tasks, that I would like to think most or at least some was productively spent. For one, writing this article!

On the negative side, I believe that my mood was affected initially as I most likely use masturbation as a stress reliever. As the month went on though this was replaced by having more, and better sex.

Here are my observations from this little experiment:

  • Clearly alone laptop time were the hardest (sorry) times
  • Having a goal i.e. the Challenge helped big time
  • I have more discipline then I first thought
  • Stopping masturbation initially may have affected my mood
  • Better sex
  • More time

Will I be continuing the “no porn, no masturbation” challenge?

Yes and no!

I certainly will be reducing this habit for the primary reasons of having more and better sex – as well as simply more time.

This challenge may not be tough for some guys (many I am sure will be less than honest about their habit in the first place), but me being possibly more transparent than some enjoyed being open about this on here.

Now the question is do I share this on social media 😉

Have you ever tried stopping masturbation for 30-days or maybe longer? Let me know your experiences in the comments below.

Adam Author

About the LifeHacker Guy

Hi, I'm Adam the founder of the LifeHacker Guy.

I have a First Class Honours degree in Sports Science from Brighton University, specialising in exercise physiology and nutrition. In my youth I was a competitive Triathlete and long-distance runner placing top 10 in most triathlon races I completed.

Since suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, I moved into web development, after a couple of years I then moved onto developing a number of online businesses. I've recently taken a sabbatical and I'm now looking to make big changes in my life, hopefully this may resonate with you - join me in my journey!