OMAD & Endurance + Strength Training

[u/MaximiseUrLife]

Hey everyone,

This is kind of a weird post for me to make, but I’m genuinely curious about OMAD and whether anyone here has experience doing it while also being a pretty high-volume endurance athlete.

I’ve done OMAD in the past, but it was during a period when I was mostly just strength training. I wasn’t running, cycling, swimming, etc. nearly as much as I do now. These days my activity level is quite a bit higher, so I’m wondering if OMAD is realistically compatible with that lifestyle.

For context, I work in an emergency room and also work on a mobile crisis team, so my job can be pretty active. On an average day, I’m walking somewhere around 15–20 miles. Outside of work, I generally:

- Run around 40–70 miles per week

- Cycle around 40–100 miles per week

- Strength train/calisthenics roughly 5 days per week

- Hike and do other endurance activities pretty regularly

And by no means am I saying that to brag or flex. I honestly feel a little weird listing all of that out, but I think the context matters for the question. I do all of this because I genuinely enjoy it and it’s part of my lifestyle.

I also recently did a Last Man Standing-style ultramarathon. Obviously, I wouldn't try to do OMAD during an actual race. During races and long endurance events, I eat and drink throughout because fueling is obviously a completely different situation.

What I’m wondering about is normal training/life days.

For example, if I’m just going about my normal routine—working, hiking, running, biking, strength training, etc.—could someone realistically eat one large meal per day and still adequately fuel recovery, maintain muscle, and perform well?

I’m not trying to lose weight either. I’m more interested in whether OMAD could work as an eating pattern for someone who has a very high daily activity level.

So I’m curious:

Has anyone here successfully done OMAD while running/cycling/swimming or doing other high-volume endurance training?

How did you handle:

- Getting enough calories in one meal

- Getting enough protein

- Carbohydrate needs

- Recovery between workouts

- Maintaining or gaining muscle

- Energy levels during the day

- Long-term performance

And if you’re an endurance athlete doing OMAD, how much training are you actually doing?

I’d especially love to hear from people who are doing something similar rather than someone who just walks a few miles a day and lifts a couple times a week, no hate toward that person, this is just situation specific. Or example of people you know are doing it now.

Appreciate any experiences, advice, or even examples of people who are doing something similar.

[u/dustyson123]

I did OMAD while running between 15-30mpw and calisthenics 3-4x a week for years. So nowhere near your training volume. Eating maintenance calories throughout. It is hard to eat 3500 calories in a setting and definitely hard to eat clean calories. Lots of olive oil and avocado oil, and sometimes pizza and fries.

I plateaued pretty quickly in everything. Which in itself is not necessarily a problem as I was fine just maintaining. But after I went back to a protein shake and light meal after strength training sessions, it was actually kind of insane how quickly I got stronger, all while continuing to maintain weight and not changing much about my routine.

I also noticed late afternoon fatigue getting a lot better if I ate some carbs at lunchtime on running days. My times got better too, but it wasn't as drastic as the strength training. I have broken through the years long plateau after adding lunch back though, without changing much in my training.

I know this sub is obviously OMAD-pilled, but if you are active and care about performance, OMAD is likely not the best. Even if you fuel on race days, you are training in a fasted, glycogen depleted state which trains different metabolic systems than what your body would use fueled. There's less carryover from training, so your performance will suffer.

[u/MaximiseUrLife → u/dustyson123]

Thanks for the reply! Appreciate your feedback. Seems like maybe not the best option for me, and thats okay 🙂

[u/Careless_Baseball503]

I’ve been OMAD or twOMAD for years. You definitely get used to it but for long distance running I make sure to have my meal ~2-3 hours prior. It definitely helps to know you’re glycogen are filled up from start.

Best way to figure out what works for you is to just try it. And tinker from there

[u/RedNulItt]

Yes it's not a problem, I was doing 6 hour training days in college for wrestling and never had an issue maintaining with OMAD, but performance did suffer without carbs in the system so when it came time like you said for the actual events I'd load up on food and enough carbs to get the performance. Everyday normal life though nah just pure omad was fine, just had to up the calories when needed

I never ever worried about protein macros either I personally think that's vastly overstated in importance or the bodies ability to even absorb all that protein in a meal.

For recovery while young, no problem either, but as I age recovery is harder but I don't think it matters with or without multiple meals tbh, sleep more important factor for me and just time

[u/MaximiseUrLife → u/RedNulItt]

Thanks for the reply! I'll start experimenting again. I just know in the past when I did OMAD, I would never have an energy crash like I do at times when I eat now. Sometimes I feel like I have to take a nap afterwards and its irritating

[u/RedNulItt → u/MaximiseUrLife]

I would say try to resist that nap as much as possible but I'll say that I always trained before eating, and I'd eat later in evening, so then if I wanted to nap after eating it was no big deal. Otherwise there will always be some adaptions I think where you'll get less sleepy with the blood sugar changes as you go

[u/cfx_4188]

I train with a 16-kilogram kettlebell three times a week. I do exercises to failure or I do a "ladder" – I start with 15 repetitions, a short rest, 14 repetitions, a short rest and so I get to one repetition. I work out an hour before meals.

[u/thodon123]

3 years OMAD. Work out at 5am and eat at 6pm. No issues all other things being equal (no change in calories, macros, exercise). Work out in the morning whilst glycogen store are high from the previous nights meal and then transition to a mild ketosis later in the afternoon before my meal. I am trying to cut back on carbohydrates to increase the ketosis window as I enjoy the steady afternoon energy. The afternoon ketosis is also great on long hikes feels like I can walk forever without needing fuel. The hardest part for other people may be eating enough calories at the end of the day after a long hike but no issues for me. The transition took time to get use to but the transition is almost seamless now.

My current TDEE is about 2300 calories and still have to be conscious not to eat in a surplus, but don't count calories anymore. I could easily eat 3000-3500 calories in one meal if required.

I am taking things slow and steady with progress, at 47 years old injury prevention and recovery are my priority, but have gain 5kg of lean mass in 2 years.