A 24 hour fast?
You mean you eat junk food once a day?
Well the math is simple - 3000cals is a pound if fat.
So if you’re eating fries and fried chicken or other junk once a day, you’re probably getting about 1000 to 1500 calories depending on what you eat and drink. And maybe, if you’re male, burning 2000 cals and maybe less.
Some studies indicate that metabolic slow down is on average 50 calories per day (although I’ve read others that are more like 90) - not enough to make a significant difference. 50 calories is an apple.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna13543
If the weight isn’t shifting, your calorie intake is simply too high even on OMAD. There’s no silver bullet - I know I can easily eat a day of calories in one meal. Just thinking going to OMAD and eat whatever you want is not going to work.
There are more than a few veggies that are low carb. Do you like any of them? Do you like meat/fish? I found sweets/breads quite addictive. I gave keto a try, and don’t miss them! Carbs in excess take you out of ketosis, add lots of water weight, and IMO just make you want more carbs. Nobody knows WHAT is added to junk food to make you want more of it, but, it would be a money maker for junk food producers.
Here’s the thing that a lot of people don’t realize.
Your eyes, and your stomach are absolutely terrible at guessing or estimating calories.
You might have a damaged metabolism, but even in the most extreme cases, it might amount to only 200 or 300 calories lower than normal.
It’s far more likely that you’re not measuring your food right. That is why you’re only maintaining instead of consistently losing.
Start logging what you eat. Weight it, calculate calories. You might be surprised that ‘insert food here’ is much higher than you think it is. Nuts, cheese, tons of food have excess fat in them. The oil that you use to cook.. Maybe you’re splashing a bit much in that pan.
Fries and fried chicken hold a lot of fat. How many pieces are you eating? What else are you having throughout the day?
I spent the better part of 3ish months weighing food, so I had a better idea of what serving sizes were. I learned the hard way that I was just bad at guessing calories, so I fixed it. I still cut my cheese slices thinner, I still use a bit less oil than I used to. I scoop out a bit less food from the pot. It’s helped me go from gaining weight, to maintaining, and now consistently losing. Just a few pounds a month normally. It’s worth doing.
If i’m hungry at meals, Veggies are super low in calories(usually). It’s amazing how much they can fill you up.
Like, recently. I’m unable to fast due to tons of garden food coming in. It would be wasted because I’d have to either give it away or store it, and I can’t do either. so i’ve been eating it.
A HUGE bowl of Nasturtium, spinach, lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad with a splash of vinagrette amounts to literally 200 calories. It takes me an hour to eat that.
Frying up 2 medium potatoes, about 400g, and 3-4 eggs, and two slices of ham to go with it? Amounts to an enormous amount of food on a plate, and less than 1000 calories for one meal a day. Put the two together and you have a meal that will keep you satiated for the entire day, all while keeping me 2000 calories under maintenance. It’s even better when you add in some onions, mushrooms, green peppers. You can eat till your stomach hurts. It’s delicious too..
Junk food is calorie dense, and that’s what the problem is. Find alternative recipes for it, or cut back. You just need to know your calorie counts to figure this out.
OP, TLDR: I think you should buy some ketone urine test strips.
So I’m fasting 7 days/168 hours right now, and I have been measuring my ketone level using urine test strips. It takes me 61 hours to get into ketosis, this means my body was burning my stored glucose up until then. That also means that the more glucose you eat before a fast, the longer it will take for you to start burning fat.
If I were to “only” fast for 3 days/72 hours, then I would only be burning fat for 11 hours. Let’s say I only fast for 24 hours, then I will just lose water and stored glucose, not any fat.
This is why I think you should buy some test strips. It’s easy to tell when you start burning fat.
How long it will take you to start burning fat, I can’t predict. But ketone test strips have been very useful for me. I use Ketostix, as they are the most affordable in my area.
You could eat whatever you want on rolling 72s and lose weight. I don’t care what matter of garbage you’re eating, unless you’re deliberately trying not to lose weight, there’s no way you’re putting 7500 calories down in one meal.