I started OMAD, then moved to two on, one off, two on, two off, now I've just started four days fasting, three days eating. The transition was slow, over a period of years, with occasional relapses into binge eating. I am a food addict after all.
I am in a calorie deficit and I eat very low carb high fat, when I do eat, so your mileage may vary.
I feel physically a fair bit weaker, but only when I exercise, and mentally much stronger. I feel energetic and focused and balanced and very calm, collected and... just... saner.
I don't lift heavy weights or do athletics for a living but I do have to live in my mind.
It got my diabetes completely under control, and my weight down (which was the original purpose of the diet), and most of my other health complaints resolved themselves, including skin issues. I used to get cysts and pimples here and there, and although it was a minor problem it was irritating, but just life right?, but my skin does get bad again when I eat a bunch of carbs around the holidays. Also, when I eat carbs I feel much hungrier the next day, when I stay in ketosis I stay pretty satisfied.
When I was trying to eat six tiny meals a day, I was food obsessed and felt starving all the time. When I fast now, even for multiple days, I am OK. I "could eat" if it was in front of me, and I wasn't committed to my fast. Occasionally I do feel a little hungry for five or ten minutes but it's not the ravenous, crazy, overwhelming hangry like I felt when I was trying to eat itty-bitty meals all day. This diet is so much easier than any other one I've tried, and I tried dozens, including plant based. I just had to ease into fasting. My first few full day fasts were kind of tough, but now I guess I'm acclimated.
So overall it's a worthwhile trade-off for me, and the biggest pluses I never expected are the mental clarity and emotional stability.
