Calorie Restriction, Eat Once Every Other Day (EOD Diet)

I'm thinking about doing this.  I'm not sure if I will have the will power to do so.  The EOD Diet will reduce my calorie intake by more than 50%.  My goal is to reduce my epigenetic age.  I am posting this so maybe it will give me motivation and some sort of accountability from this forum.  Just want to know if anyone here has tried it.  I might start off eating once a day first and see how it goes.

Look at this study which claims it can reduce epigenetic age: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6515465/

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    • MAC
    • MAC
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    To be clear, you're going to take your current weight stable calories/day, maintain them, but only eat EOD, INDEFINITELY? You will disappear, won't have much left to even draw blood for epigenetic testing. Or EOD cycling and re-feeding to maintain weight? I do strongly believe diet and fasting protocols do indeed lower epigenetic age. I've done a deep dive on ketones, I believe they are an anti-aging signalling metabolite. And extended fasting has vast amounts of pro-longevity research. I've been strict keto 5 yrs, and OMAD (one meal a day) for last 3 years. OMAD is not easy, would try that first, but having done it for so long, I could see myself reaching to EOD, but would have to double my current one meal bolus of calories on feed day to maintain weight. That's a lot of food to eat in one sitting! And I won't sacrifice muscle whatsoever in my protocol, so I maintain calories and do daily resistance exercise. After my initial rapid weight loss on keto, I've been weight stable (+/- 2-3 lbs) for years, with slight creeping up in weight as I continue to build muscle. To maintain weight, I cut back calories slightly, trading residual body fat lowering for muscle build gains (getting leaner but more muscular). But if you're not doing any resistance exercise, I believe your fasting protocol will likely consume into some of your skeletal muscle. I am 56, so maintaining muscle and preventing frailty is a goal of my overall anti-aging protocol. Building muscle has it's own pro-longevity signalling metabolites; for a separate thread. Have you read about Longo's FMD protocol? Longo is a leading anti-aging/cancer fasting protocol researcher. Or 5 day water only fasts?

    https://johnalexanderblog.com/diy-fmd/

    https://thequantifiedbody.net/fast-mimicking-diet/

    https://prolonfast.com/pages/fasting-mimicking-diet

    https://thequantifiedbody.net/5-day-water-fast-results/

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      • Jimmy
      • Jim_N
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      MAC Good point that I would disappear without anabolic activity from eating foods.  In that case, I suppose I would try and do the EOD diet until my BMI drops to 18.5.  Currently, my BMI is 22 so I'm not too far away.  Once that is achieved I would want to maintain muscle mass and may end up doing the OMAD if it drops below 18.5.  One thing I noticed is that if one intakes apigenin one's muscle mass would sustain.  So I may keep doing that by drinking chamomile tea, which is great because it is zero carbs.  Reducing epigenetic age takes more than 6 months.  So this intense diet would have be sustained to signal epigenetic age reduction.  I would probably have to go as long as 6-9 months and get measured again.  That's a long time, and it may not work.  😂  But, the first step is mental and I would have to find other things to think about besides food.  

      By the way, I don't believe in water fasting.  Most studies that improved health indicators involved CR and not water fasting.  CR works for sure.

      I've read Dr. Longo's book.  And I just ordered a Prolon kit.  However, I do not believe Prolon would work for me because the soup packets contain carbs.  We will see though when it arrives and I test my blood sugar after ingesting it.  I do not want to see my blood sugar spike.

      Anyways, I am thinking about starting OMAD and going from there...still hyping myself up for it. :-)

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    • MAC
    • MAC
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Jimmy, you replied, but for some reason, it didn't populate the forum? I am taking the liberty to post your reply, and then I follow with a reply below.

    ---

    "@MAC Good point that I would disappear without anabolic activity from eating foods.  In that case, I suppose I would try and do the EOD diet until my BMI would be 18.5.  Currently, my BMI is 22 so I'm not too far away.  Once that is achieved I would want to maintain muscle mass and may end up doing the OMAD if it drops below 18.5.  One thing I noticed is that if one intakes apigenin one's muscle mass would sustain.  So I may keep doing that by drinking chamomile tea, which is great because it is zero carbs.  Reducing epigenetic age takes more than 6 months.  So this intense diet would have be sustained to signal epigenetic age reduction.  I would probably have to go as long as 6-9 months and get measured again.  That's a long time, and it may not work.  😂  But, the first step is mental and I would have to find other things to think about besides food.  
    By the way, I don't believe in water fasting.  Most studies that improved health indicators involved CR and not water fasting.  CR works for sure.

    I've read Dr. Longo's book.  And I just ordered a Prolon kit.  However, I do not believe Prolon would work for me because the soup packets contain carbs.  We will see though when it arrives and I test my blood sugar after ingesting it.  I do not want to see my blood sugar spike.

    Anyways, I am thinking about starting OMAD and going from there...still hyping myself up for it. :-)"

    ---

    OK, you are going to go into a negative energy balance until your BMI drops to 18.5, and then what? It won't take long to drop to 18.5 from 22, on EOD, constant calories. Then how are you going to keep generating this "anti-aging" CR signal? Unless you are keto (best at preserving muscle at expense of fat) AND doing some pretty intense total body resistance exercise, you WILL loose skeletal muscle on this journey. Show me the science/paper on taking "apigenin" preserving muscle mass on a negative energy balance diet, that is, on a weight loosing diet? The only way to BUILD muscle is with anabolic resistance exercise...amino acids DO NOT build nor prevent muscle loss on a negative energy balance calorie intake diet, only resistance exercise can (Blagosklonny). To generate your epigenetic anti-aging "CR" signal , you will have to undertake some type of fasting protocol, yet "preserve" your functionality/resilience/anti-frailty. Unless you have some physiology lab at your disposal, I think only a series of total body muscle pictures before/after can assess your skeletal muscle changes as you drop BMI. 

     

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      • Jimmy2
      • Jimmy2
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      MAC This is Jimmy.  My account got flagged for some reason and I can no longer post so I made this new account so I could let you know.  You have valid points, and my plan may be been ill-conceived.  In my post I mentioned the EOD and would transition to the OMAD if the BMI lowers to 18.5.  The OMAD should also signal the anti-aging epigenetic signal, but not as fast.  I've read people who have done OMAD for long periods have a low epigenetic age.

      In Dr. Longo's book, he describes his fasting protocol as one does not lose muscle.  I think it is because of the addition of olive oil, nuts, etc. so the body doesn't signal itself to catabolize it's own muscle.

      Apigenin and muscles: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5667963/

      I'm waiting to get my account back to respond more.

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    • MAC
    • MAC
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Do you have references on OMAD/epigenetic age in humans?

    In regard to OMAD not being "as fast" as say some other more extreme protocol, the key is to maintain the biggest epigenetic signal you can sustain over your lifetime, not just 6 months. Even Longo's FMD, does one have to maintain this INDEFINITELY to do a reset, autophagy, and lowering senescence? What happens if you abandon it after say 1 yr, do you loose the epigenetic gains? I am not sure what I would consider next beyond OMAD as a normal routine. Going EOD, I think I could do it having done OMAD. I could imagine consuming double the meal EOD as current OMAD, but I cannot imagine sleeping that night if current dinner was my meal, unless I took the meal say at lunch.

    I'd like to see Longo's data on true long term calorie deficit and muscle maintenance. His longevity diet specifically recommends higher intake of protein to maintain muscle mass, in an isocaloric maintenance scenario, not calorie deficits you are planning. I disagree that it's the nuts and olive oils (10 grams of nuts he recommends is meagre protein, and olive oil has none)...nuts possess relatively little amino acids needed for complete  muscle protein synthesis. Walnuts have only 15% protein, and it's PLANT protein, typically much lower in the key BCAA's for muscle protein synthesis. In his mediterranean centric diet, one would need legumes and higher protein carbohydrates to maintain muscle outside of animal protein.

    Thank you for sharing the apigenin paper (on mice, not humans). A relevant passage, my highlight.

    "Results of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stains of quadricep cross-sections confirmed that apigenin increased muscle fiber size. The weight of the tibialis anterior, gastrocnemius, and triceps muscle were not altered by apigenin.  Apigenin did not significantly affect total body weight"

    So very muscle specific, and what about the hundreds of other muscles, and translation to HUMAN? And these mice were fed ad libitum on a standard diet, NOT EOD. You are proposing SIGNIFICANT calorie deficit, and you expect this molecule to save your total muscle profile? 

    Would love to follow your n=1 guinea pig experiment on this molecule during your fasting journey, without resistance exercise as done in the paper.

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      • Jimmy2
      • Jimmy2
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      MAC I'm glad you are responding and giving me advice.  Seems like I will have to adjust my experiment if I do it at all.  I got scared when you told me my mass would disappear.

      The only reference I have on OMAD and epigenetic age is one specific Youtuber name Siim Land. He has a video that claims his mydnage.com results was -9 years. He was 25 chronologically and his DNAm age is 16. He has been doing OMAD since his teens. Maybe it's you? Lol.

      Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQJPyMM1gvM

      In the CR paper link in my original post, it states, " Long-lasting effects of severe dietary restriction on epigenetics have also been observed in humans exposed prenatally to famine during the Dutch Hunger Winter in 1944–1945. Remarkably, it was observed that differential methylation persisted even after six decades [51]".  So some sort of effect is long-term whether good or bad.

      Check out this paper, "Dietary protein recommendations and the prevention of sarcopenia". https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19057193/

      I read Longo's book over a year ago so I can't remember all the details, and I gave the book away.  So, my assumption on olive oil and nuts to maintain muscle mass is probably wrong.

      Note that I have been experimenting with various supplements for the past year to reduce my DNAm age.  Nothing works.  I'm still waiting on my Rejuvant 6 month mark when I retest, but supposedly it may take as long as 9 months.  So this CR experiment may be just a desperate attempt on  myself to see some sort of reduction since I have no other ideas. 

      It's too bad my previous account got flagged and I had to resort to creating another account.  I hope the admin gives me permission again, if someone could ping them for me since I have no way to contact them that would be great.

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      • MAC.
      • MAC2
      • 3 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jimmy2 Had to got 2.0 as well. 

      Thanks for sharing the Siim Land links...indeed, a true "mini-me". https://siimland.com

      His teachings, practices and scientific rationals are pretty much exactly why and what I've been doing for the last 5 yrs, but he's doing it at such a young age!

      So KETO-OMAD-SUPER FITNESS is his recipe, so what are you waiting for...it's all free?

      I haven't gone through his entire blog or youtube video series, but I didn't catch any references to pharma interventions?

      On the whole "what amount of protein is needed to maintain/build muscle and prevent sarcopenia", this is hugely misunderstood science. It's not amino acids that are needed to preserve muscle as we age but ANABOLIC RESISTANCE exercise. Senescence as we age drives muscle wasting and sarcopenia, and boosting protein does not reverse this cascade.

      https://www.mikhailblagosklonny.com/blog/how-rapamycin-prevents-muscle-loss-and-sarcopenia-first-draft/

      He's the Rapamycin guru. I've exchanged some emails with him re teachings on Rapamycin, and on amino acids vs resistance exercise as it relates to muscle.

      I've been strict keto, so by definition, approx max 20% calories from protein to stay in nutritional ketosis. At the same time, I've massively increased my daily resistance exercise (from ZERO). I eat max 50-60 net grams of protein/day (puts me at about 0.7 g/kg, when mainstream nutritionists say "0.8g/kg mim", but yet have become VERY muscular without boosting protein?? So very clearly the whole "must have X grams/kg" of protein per day is not definitive muscle science...it's muscle hypertrophy from resistance exercise that's key to preserving/building muscle and preventing sarcopenia as we age, not increasing protein intake.

      On DNA methylation, read a fresh paper by Horvath:

      DNA methylation predicts age and provides insight into exceptional longevity of bats

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7955057/pdf/41467_2021_Article_21900.pdf

      "Longevity-related DNAm change is associated with innate immunity or tumorigenesis genes, suggesting that bat longevity results from augmented immune response and cancer suppression"

      Big surprise?? Reduce/delay cancer incidence and improve your immunity, and your chances of living longer greatly increase! But what lifestyle interventions can induce these longevity signals? KETO-OMAD. I won't post the myriad of papers that support this, but in general, KETO-OMAD supressess cancer promotion, and BOOSTS immunity. And more...greatly reduces neurological disease by boosting/supporting ketogenic fuel in supporting cerebral metabolism during aging, and enhancing cerebral neurogenesis (Ghrelin is a hugely neuro-bioneurogenesis hormone). A plant fat based ketogenic diet (what I do) can also significantly reduce CVD risk via abolishing metabolic syndrome.

      There are hundreds of beneficial pathways to ketogenic-fasting, ancestrally preserved...but modern lifestyle has abandoned; 3+ meals/day, constant glucose/insulin/mTOR signal, sugar/fructose in everything, high animal protein intake, man made dietary inflammatory/atherogenic/carcinogenic molecules, sedentary lifestyle. 

      Btw, exercise has been shown to actually increase or blunt DNA methylation age, which seems like a lifestyle confounder...but when looked at deeper, it GREATLY reduces the the methylation of CANCER promoter genes. It is a scientific fact that being in the highest percentile of cardio respiratory fitness and muscle mass INCREASES human healthspan/lifespan (namely, delays all cause mortality).

      Ultimately, one of cancer, immunity, neurological, CVD is going to get us all one day. KETO-OMAD can delay them all in one combined intervention. If it reduces DNAage along the way, well then biological supporting validation of "delayed aging"

      I think you said you were 41, so you still have lots of runway to change your aging trajectory.

      Like 1
    • Lynne
    • Lynne
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Have you tried fasting one day a week? I stretch it out to over 40 hours. Easy to do.

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    • Teal Bike
    • Teal_Bike
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Many doctors and dieters say that interval fasting does not help the body shed excess fat. Starvation or irregular meals can slow down our metabolism. It reduces the rate of weight loss. Even though you will consume fewer calories, they will not be processed as quickly as if you were eating six meals a day, trust me. However, there is a way to fix this. If you want to stick to interval fasting and only eat once a day: try taking fat burners. I read about the usefulness of fat burners during weight loss and fasting here https://signalscv.com/2021/11/phenq-reviews-2021-the-best-thermogenic-fat-burner-in-the-world/. Of course, you can combine this with not too hard workouts.

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      • Michael
      • Michael.1
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Teal Bike I'm not sure the ingredients listed in that pill are going to do much of anything in terms of fat "burning".  You may want to look at Telmisartan. 

       

      And unfortunately for those of us who enjoy lifting routinely, the OMAD simply isn't sustainable. 

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  • Plenty of well-conducted studies show that fasting reduces fat, and, if combined with resistance training, need not result in muscle loss (or not much – and it can be built back quickly).

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      • Michael
      • Michael.1
      • 2 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      BrianMDelaney You know, I'm just so curious about this running theme. Is there a way you could post what you believe to be the most definitive articles/papers, supporting this? Just a few would be great.

      Thank you!

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