I hate eating during the day. I feel like eating makes me very tired and unmotivated. I have been doing OMAD for about 6 months. It's the best I've felt for years. I fast for 22-23 hours and then eat 3500-4000 calories in that hour. I know that will sound a disgusting amount of food in one sitting but you do eventually adjust to it. Especially after a 22-23 hour fast and a busy day. This for me is a surplus. The issue is.. I just don't grow. I love this eating style but if I'm not growing then it's just a waste.
If you are eating that and you aren't gaining weight then it is not a surplus.
Has anyone done a similar eating style and managed to add mass?
I doubt you'll find many with such an extreme being successful for gaining much muscle, but also if it doesn't seem to be working for you then I don't think anecdotes of it working for others matters much.
Would 2 meals be enough to grow? Fast for 16 hours and then have a protein rich meal and then a meal at the end of the night?
2 would be better than one, but again if you aren't gaining then it will come down to just eating more.
3 is also probably better than 2, but after that it probably starts to become much more a matter of diminishing returns. I feel 3-5 is ideal in most people's situations when looking to gain.
I've tried different meals and all seem to make me tired. High carb/High protein. High protein/High fat/Low carbs etc. All make me lethargic. I work a hard paced job and I can't afford to be sluggish. I don't mind eating so much at night as even if I do get tired I can just go to bed.
I think there are just some things you are going to have to take a hard look at and decide with as far as what matters most.
Time restricted feeding already seems potentially limiting for maximizing gains the greater we increase that restriction (I don't want to sound to overly negative though as we make our way through the minutiae) and add on top of that if you are working an extremely active job it really just sounds like you are shooting yourself in the foot.
This would make it seem like you must be going to work and being super active all day, then trying to workout fasted at some point, then only eating to finish your day. I tend to be one who hates to be too over dramatic and hyperbolic, but this is one of those situations where I feel you are literally burning your gains away during the day with this approach. At the very minimum some sort of meal (even if it is liquid/fast digesting) pre-workout would be highly advisable if you don't want to move past the one nightly meal.
There could also just be other factors at play though if you aren't growing. I'll admit even without knowing them I'd consider OMAD probably being your primary issue, but there could always be other factors as well.
You've mentioned being overworked in the past and you could still be over-trained or under recovering if dealing with issues of burnout.
You could also just be at that point where you are close to your genetic limit. If you've been training a long time it may just be you've reached that point.
I don't want this to sound negative and I know it is pretty long already. I don't think EAA are really going to be that big of a help. If I was to offer an actual path I'd say:
1) At least get a pre workout meal in (now we'd be at 2 protein feedings).
2) Next I'd maybe try at a minimum "pulsing" some protein meals (shakes) earlier in the day and see how that makes you feel. It would increase exposures to protein feedings and then if it doesn't cause you fatigue/sluggishness you could try slowly adding things to those shakes/feedings to see how that effects you.
From there you could still suit it to your needs, but again if you have a highly active job you may just need to find a way to balance that with your goals (which I fully understand may be tough if dealing with feedings causing you to not feel ideal for your work).
Good luck.
