Does eating same foods every day help?

FitFunLosAngeles

I like to look at the diaries of people who have maintained their weight, and I notice many of them tend to eat the same thing every day - particularly weekday breakfasts and lunches.
I wonder - does the time-consuming aspect of logging food in MyFitnesspal encourage people to eat the same things, or do people tend to do it because it is just easier?

TR0berts

I haven't logged in quite some time, but I eat nearly the same breakfast everyday - 3 egg sandwich. That's just because I like it and it's easy.

sammyliftsandeats

I eat the same lunch on weekdays because it is easier. I mean, easier to log yes but also because I know exactly what I'm getting calorie wise and macro wise.

Logging is no longer time consuming when you have a good database of frequently used foods in your log - then all you need to do is look it up and change the quantity.

stealthq

I live by myself, so I eat a lot of the same things for days because there's not much I buy that's a single serving. I also shop at Costco, so things I buy in bulk I'll eat for weeks.

Eating the same things all of the time does simplify things and that can be helpful. Be careful to get a varied enough diet to get in proper nutrition, though. Easy to fall in a rut and end up with nutrient shortfalls.

sparklyglitterbomb

I don't find the logging a time constraint, it's now just part of my meal prep. I tend to grab similar things for weekday breakfast because I take the easy way out. Granted, I make my own egg mcmuffins and put them in the freezer so I can grab them, have overnight oats with various things, and yogurt as my main options.

I'm on a salad kick this week, apparently, so this is the second day in a row for that. It sounded good more than anything.

Some people find eating the same things everyday an easier way to meet their goals. I love to cook and east all sorts of things, so I tend to be all over the place food-wise.

cecsav1

I often repeat many meals based on food prep, convenience, or yumminess. Lol. I don't eat the same meals as my kids, so I may have four days worth of tikki masala or grilled asparagus. Tuna with sugar free relish and 1 T mayo is super easy and macro friendly, so that's a real go to for me. Same thing with cottage cheese or Greek yogurt and protein powder. I'm admittedly addicted to coffee, so that's a yummy factor. Logging the same thing over and over again gives me a good idea of *what* to eat though, as well. For example, if I'm way under on fats (which is pretty normal for me), I know I can have a couple pieces of bacon and a whole egg or two. If I'm under on carbs, I may eat some fruit. It helps with being able to hit my numbers without too much thought.

Lisa_Ookoo

My diet is more varied on weekends, but on workdays I like to have the same things (smoothie or overnight oats for breakfast, chicken or salmon for lunch). They're easy to prepare, I know the calories and macros, they taste good and keep me satisfied all day.

RachelElser

I tend to eat the same breakfast because I like it a lot, it's cheap, it's filling- peanut butter toast. Lunch wise I tend to get an entire week's worth of lunches ready to go on Sunday so I can just grab it and head out so each week's lunch is pretty much the same.

LuckyNumbers

I feel like one has affected the other for me. I do a Greek yogurt with toppings for breakfast because I like it, but after I started logging on MFP, I realized it would be really difficult to get a bigger bang for my buck in terms of protein, calories, convenience, and cost. So now I just do it every morning because it's easy, and it's simple to swap out toppings as my preferences change.

I don't think I would be able to do the same breakfast and lunch in perpetuity if I didn't get variety at dinner, which I do. So that helps break up the monotony for me.

cwolfman13

I tend to eat the same breakfast on weekdays...usually a one egg and four egg white omelet with some kind of veg and salsa along with either oats or pinto beans depending on my mood. I do it primarily because it's a solid, high protein breakfast that is easy...I do everything in the microwave. I have never been a big cereal guy and everything else I like to make for breakfast is too tedious for weekdays. I try to get 30 grams of protein at each meal and at least one snack...that puts me at a minimum of about 120 grams per day.

Lunches tend to be similar, but not necessarily the same...again, this is mostly because it's easy and I'm brown bagging it to work 99% of the time. Usually my wife and I will make double whatever protein we're having at dinner so that we have leftovers for lunch...and on Sundays we prep either a bunch of sweet potatoes, potatoes, quinoa, or brown rice to take as a side and then some kind of veg...for me it's usually broccoli because it's easy to steam at work. About once per week I have a sandwich for lunch and I go to Santa Fe for work a couple of times per month usually and will go enjoy a nice lunch out when I do that.

Dinner is the meal that I basically have time to be creative and do something different with.

I've been in maintenance for over three years and I don't log...so there is the added convenience of knowing basically what these thing are going to be calorie and macro wise.

robot_potato

I do it out of convenience. 3 kids (4 if you count my husband) and a fulltime job doesn't leave me with a ton of spare time. I can plan and prep a bigger variety of foods, or I can use my 'me' time to exercise, read, pee alone etc.

LuckyNumbers

@cwolfman13 - If you haven't been already, head to Casa Sena for a nice lunch on the patio. It's (roughly) northeast of the Plaza. Love that place.

upoffthemat

I tend to eat the same meals often because it is easy to prepare, I know I am going to get a healthy meal, I know what kind of calories and nutrition I will get and it will satisfy me.
That isn't to say I don't experiment, I do like to try new things and will do them and repeat them as well.
Another reason is simple economics, I buy eggs, pork, chicken breast, cheese, tomatoes, and soups when it is on sale. I keep a good stock of rice and beans and certain spices as well.
I am not afraid of logging recipes, I don't think it takes that much time. My scale is on my kitchen counter, I have a tablet I can look up things on right in the kitchen if I need to or the computer is a few steps away.

jemhh

FitFunLosAngeles wrote: »

I like to look at the diaries of people who have maintained their weight, and I notice many of them tend to eat the same thing every day - particularly weekday breakfasts and lunches.
I wonder - does the time-consuming aspect of logging food in MyFitnesspal encourage people to eat the same things, or do people tend to do it because it is just easier?

I like it for convenience/structure. I have two breakfasts I tend to use and then 3-4 lunch templates I follow. It makes it easy to get things ready in the morning when I can do them without thinking about it too much. It also makes grocery shopping easier.

skinnyforhi

I eat a lot of the same things at breakfast because I'm not trying to get creative first thing in the morning and I need something fast that I can eat at my desk. Lunches are the same few things if I bring them, and that's more down to my food preparation skills and what I can practically carry to work. I eat lunch out a few days a week, and it's always something different. There's often not nutrition information- I just do my best to guess. Dinners are usually something different most nights of the week (with a repeat or 2 if there are leftovers, but we tend to cook small batches of food). I also eat out 2 or more times a week, and again, it's always something different.

In short, I've dieted where I've eaten the same few things, and I've done it with a lot of variety. The result has been the same as long as I'm logging my calories. Nowadays I prefer the more varied lifestyle- for me, it makes absolutely no difference in my progress. I'll also add that I used to use a food scale until I got good at estimating portions- that probably helps me with all my guesswork. Now I just don't need it (but I respect folks who are advocates of weighing everything - they aren't wrong when they say it works).

Asher_Ethan

I eat a lot of the same stuff during the week because I like it and I'm only cooking for me. On the weekends I try to make food that the rest of my family will like.

FitFunLosAngeles

Thank you all, this is very helpful!

FitPhillygirl

A few months ago I stopped tracking my food altogether since I no longer felt that I needed to after 5 years of maintaining with nothing gained back. That said, I noticed when I was tracking my foods I did tend to eat the same exact things every day unlike now, where everyday is something different than the day before. I even like to eat new foods these days that I never would before. For me, I think I tented to eat the same thing simply because I didn't have to bother figuring out how many calories calories to eat since it was easier to copy & paste the meal I ate the day before.... I'm actually enjoying eating again now that I no longer have to be consumed with the numbers.

fittestpal

Honestly i just use MFP to calculate my food for the week and eat the same thing so i know what I'm eating and it frees up my time

pebble4321

Usually I will eat the same thing (maybe with a few variations) for several days in a row because it's easier to cook/prepare one batch of food. Most of the time I'm cooking for myself as my husband is away for work for four weeks out of five, so I usually prepare 3-5 days of lunches and one or two different things for dinner and eat them till they are all gone or I'm too bored. Breakfasts are usually one of about three options during the week with more variety on weekends.
I do this to make my life easier and meal prep quicker. But, yes, being able to use the copy tool to add yesterdays lunch into today's diary is another reason.

gothchiq

When it comes to lunch, because I work full time and need to quickly prepare something each morning that will be good at noon, I have like 3 or 4 repeating things. When I get tired of one type of sandwich I move to the next. Breakfast is always yogurt and coffee. I'm not a breakfast person but I have to eat something or my blood sugar will crash. Dinner varies considerably because I have time to cook for real then. On the weekends I can be creative.

xmichaelyx

I've spent most of my adult life eating roughly the same things every weekday for months at a time. It makes shopping and cooking easier, and tends to be cheap because I can buy in bulk. It also allows me to cook TONS of food all at once and freeze it in individual containers, saving lots of time overall.

It makes it very easy to control calories with minimal thought whether I'm cutting, bulking, or maintaining.

Kamikazeflutterby

I eat the same breakfast on weekdays. It's easy, fast, boring, and filling. Lunch varies, but will usually be the same thing for 2-5 days in a row. Lunch is repeated more so I can eat up things I make that my family doesn't like or is tired of eating. This week it is a simplified, lower cal version of this asparagus mushroom galette with either eggs or protein powder. I probably won't want to see the galette for another month by Saturday, but for now it is delicious. No matter what I try to keep lunch around 350 calories so I have a lot for dinner. Dinner with the family is where I get my variety and spend the most calories.

dopeysmelly

I eat the same basic thing but with small variations depending on what's seasonal. So breakfast is oatmeal with a tablespoon of ground flaxseed and a few nuts and a pile of fruit - the fruit varies depending on what's available. Lunch is usually whatever soup I've made in a batch at the weekend, with a handful of seeds, some bread and cooked veggies/rice and fruit. Dinner is more varied and depends on what leftovers are in the fridge and how much time I have, but something like pasta with veggies, beans/lentils, tofu etc. is pretty standard.

It means I don't really have to think and I know I'm getting enough iron, calcium etc. and staying more-or-less within calories. Weekends are much less structured, but if I eat too much at the weekend, I might skip a meal to make up.

kommodevaran

I don't eat exactly the same things day after day; variety is key to success for me. I don't track anymore, just log in a spreadsheet, but did the same when I tracked. I have some rough templates for each meal; for me, this is enough to maintain a stable weight.

My dinners have themes for each day of the week, and rotate in 12+1 week cycles, so that most days will have simple protein+carb+veg dinners, one dinner per week is something new/different, I force myself to not follow the plan one week every quarter, and some recipes are used only four times per year. This gives me predictability and stability, as well as variety, and encourages flexibility.

I buy non-perishables in bulk, portion and freeze meat and fish, and buy fresh fruit and vegetables in as small amounts as I can, twice a week, or however long it takes me to eat it up, then I buy something else in the same category. Meal planning, cooking, waste reduction, health, enjoying good food, all go hand in hand.

BillMcKay1

I eat pretty much the same breakfast and lunch and then rotate through a couple dinners both my wife and I like. Mostly for convenience. It is just easy to once a week grill up enough chicken breasts for lunches and a few dinners rather than every morning try and figure out what I want to make for lunch.

A little bit because I am a creature of habit, both good and bad.

kgirlhart

I tend to eat the same things a lot. But I have always done that it doesn't really have anything to do with logging. Although it does make logging easier. I guess I'm just a creature of habit. I especially have a couple of breakfasts and a couple of lunches that I rotate through. Dinner I mix up a little more but I still think we end up eating the same few meals over and over.

feisty_bucket

I eat mostly the same stuff. That's because at some point I sat there looking up food stats, plugging things into my spreadsheet, and experimenting with combos. Which is a PITA, but once done it makes good eating _very_ easy and mindless.

FitFunLosAngeles

fittestpal wrote: »

Honestly i just use MFP to calculate my food for the week and eat the same thing so i know what I'm eating and it frees up my time

The simplicity of this somehow really got through to me. THANK YOU!
Sometimes I make things a lot harder than they need to be!

CrabNebula

Yes, it helps. I may eat the same things for my work breakfast and/or lunch for weeks or months on end. I don't have to worry about missing anything in my calorie counts because I know I didn't eat anything outside the box at work. I save variety for dinner (usually some 15 meal rotation where I know the cals), but even then, we may eat the same thing 2-3 times in a row because we both work full-time and don't feel like making meals from scratch every single night.

Francl27

Yes it would be easier. I'd be tired of it after 2 days though. I'm a foodie. I need variety.