Is your diet boring?

cerise_noir

Nope, because chocolate.

ilex70

Boring food isn't a requirement.

I'm just lazy and generally don't care that much.

-does it taste alright?
-does it fit my calories?
-does it keep me satisfied for awhile?
-is it easy?

Hit all the above and I'm in. I do tend to go in phases though. I might eat basically the same thing for a certain meal or snack for months and then finally get worn out with it and switch to something else.

BTW, you can have basically the same thing and just make it a little different by using a different protein/seasoning/sauce/etc.

kwtilbury

I eat the same things almost every day because it's convenient, predictable, meets my nutrition goals and tastes good. When I travel I'll mix things up and eat something different.

amusedmonkey

If you think about it, most people eat the same things and rotate them with the occasional different meal, be it on a diet or off a diet. You just feel it more when you are on a diet because you focus on food more when you are on a diet. Trying to eat out of character for you might also contribute to the boredom because many of your favorite foods are off the table.

I try to make effort not to let my diet veer too far from how I used to eat before. Of course modifications need to be made because my previous diet had too many calories which wouldn't work for weight loss, so I control that by altering the quantity or the frequency of higher calorie foods.

I totally understand what you mean when you say you look for recipes then just end up going back to the same dishes. I love trying new foods and recipes. I have tens of cookbooks and thousands of recipes and I don't mind cooking. After trying a couple of recipes I find myself going back to my good old routine of some kind of grain with some kind of vegetables or beans with sauce, the same old variations and flavors rotated, then I catch the recipe bug again and try a couple of other new recipes, repeat.

I don't think of it as boring, it's just how I always tend to eat. Realizing that, coupled with not changing my diet drastically, helped me stop trying too hard not to get bored. I just needed to relax and eat whatever I felt like eating, even if it was weetabix for dinner for the 6th day in a row. If it's what I want it's what I want, I don't need to bend over backwards and turn my diet into a pinterest board.

jenilla1

I eat whatever I want as long as it fits my calories and macros. Not bored at all. Been maintaining since 2011. I eat a variety of different things and like to try new stuff, too, when it comes to making dinner. But for other meals it's just easier (more convenient) to stay with some of my old standbys for breakfast and lunch. So for those meals you'd see a lot of repetitive, "boring" eating. But I definitely switch it up and have fun with dinner. Maybe that's what you're seeing when you say your fit friends are eating the same boring stuff over and over?

SlavaZone

Some of the snacks can get repetitive, but each week I try to buy different things to keep my diet varied. There are thousands of fruits and vegetables and grains and legumes and nuts and herbs and spices offered at the grocery store, and there's millions of recipes out there, so healthy definitely doesn't have to be boring!

Follow as many healthy food blogs as possible, or sign up for meal plans. The Happy Herbivore does weekly meal plans that always vary, and Joe Cross (guy from Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead) has free meal plans; Forks Over Knives always has recipes; etc. There are so many to follow out there. Another thing you could do is go to the produce section of the grocery store and try things you've never eaten before. Or pick a theme for the week, like Asian or Hispanic food, and find as many recipes as possible under that theme, so you can re-use similar bulk groceries but still have varying flavor profiles. Just a few seconds of research will reveal that cultural food is much more broad than traditionally thought! :P Or use Pinterest, it's my favorite resource! I can pin all the recipes I find to go back to. While there are a few favorites that the hubby and I occasionally repeat, and snacks sometimes are repeated, main meals are always different!

I definitely occasionally miss less healthy options, but those are just cravings which can easily be curbed with healthier alternatives (banana nice cream or smoothies in replacement of ice cream; popcorn lightly oiled/buttered and salted instead of chips/crackers/theater popcorn; peaches or nectarines heated in the microwave with cinnamon instead of pie/candy/sweets; baked potato in the microwave w/ organic ketchup instead of chips or fries; etc.). And "cheating" occasionally isn't a bad thing as long as you don't eat enough to make your stomach hurt. :P

In summary, if you find your diet boring, turn to the internet and healthy food blogs for inspiration!

jessef593

I fill the majority of my diet with whole single ingredient foods then with the remainder, generally 100-400 calories I fill with whatever I feel like, be it a bowl of Icecream, cereal, or a muffin. Can't force yourself to eat something you don't enjoy

bioklutz

I shop at Costco so I do tend to rotate a lot of the same foods - because I have a lot of it! I don't find it boring though. I enjoy what I eat. It can taste a little different with a few changes (spices, cheese, sauces).

CrabNebula

Not really. This is my Sept meal plan:

9/8: Broiled turkey sandwiches
9/9: Steak Pizza
9/10: Goat cheese, lentil, bulgur rolls
9/11: Goat cheese, lentil, bulgur rolls
9/12: Ribollita w/ciabatta
9/13: Ribollita w/ciabatta
9/14: Chana masala w/naan
9/15: Moroccan spiced chickpea and sweet potato stew w/bulgur
9/16: Steak Pizza
9/17: Zucchini lasagna w/ciabatta
9/18: Zucchini lasagna w/ciabatta
9/19: Zucchini lasagna w/ciabatta
9/20: Vegetarian chili w/cornbread
9/21: Vegetarian chili w/cornbread
9/22: Broiled turkey sandwiches
9/23: Chicken fingers w/oven baked sweet potato fries
9/24: Grape tomato/romano/basil panini
9/25: Shepherd’s Pie w/horseradish mashed potatoes
9/26: Moroccan spiced chickpea and sweet potato stew w/bulgur
9/27: Falafel w/pita bread
9/28: Russischer Hackfleischtopf w/bulgur
9/29: Chana masala w/naan
9/30: Fish tacos
10/01: Baked cod w/spinach and baked potato
10/02: Black bean and bulgur burgers w/chips
10/03: Ribollita w/ciabatta
10/04: Lentil Bolognese w/ciabatta
10/05: Vegetarian chili w/cornbread

jemhh

My diet might be boring to others but I like to eat simply. Lots of grilled meat and raw veggies/fruits and eggs. Very easy to prepare.

juliebowman4

Hubby and I were just commenting that when we are more health conscious and focused on what it going in our mouths.....our meals seem WAY more varied, coulorful and exciting.
I buy all kinds of veg, I search for lower cal items to replace a typical snack of Doritos
Our diets now are the furthest thing from boring

queenliz99

bioklutz wrote: »

I shop at Costco so I do tend to rotate a lot of the same foods - because I have a lot of it! I don't find it boring though. I enjoy what I eat. It can taste a little different with a few changes (spices, cheese, sauces).

High five!

arditarose

Mine is kind of boring because I hate logging a crap ton of ingredients and I prefer volume so I just eat a lot of veg and protein.

DEBOO7

I don't think about it too much.. just eat what I eat. Basically the same just prepared differently. Far too lazy to spend a lot of time on prep lol

rsleighty

Lentil, swiss chard and sweet potato curry. Tandoori quinoa. Jambalaya. Swedish meatballs. Cowboy beans and cornbread. I wouldn't call my diet boring. I adjust the recipes to lower the saturated fat and sodium levels. Other than that, if it fits and I like it...I eat it!

Machka9

Is your diet boring?

Not at all. I eat a wider variety of food now than I did before I started with MFP.

When I started with MFP, I made the decision that I would eat only foods I liked ... I would not waste my calories on anything I didn't like.

I also explored markets and grocery stores and so on all over the place to find foods that I might like and would fit within my calorie limit ... and I discovered all sorts of options I hadn't noticed before.



And ... I tend to be more of a 'food is fuel' sort of person anyway, so as long as it is the right texture, and as long was what little bit of flavour I detect is OK, I'm good.

Lounmoun

Not boring to me. I like to cook. I like food. I'm not going to eat chicken breast and broccoli every day.
I eat all kinds of foods in appropriate portions sizes for me. The trick is learning what those portion sizes are. Logging helps.

vegmebuff

My 'food world' really opened up when I started getting into spices and herbs- game changer - even using teas as rubs. One can change the same food and change it into whatever your mood.

Oh and then there are salts too! There are so many kinds and are so amazing.

sgt1372

What I eat isn't "boring" to me but others might think otherwise.

I have the same protein drink for breakfast everyday. Usually have another protein drink w/turkey or chicken breast and fresh fruit for lunch. Dinner is the "creative" meal, something different everyday. Sometimes simple and sonetimes complex but basically it includes meat/fish, veg, fruit and sometimes pasta or rice.

Thing is, I just consider food, food. It's not comfort or entertainment. It's something I need to eat to maintain my health and strength. Wouldn't matter to me if I had to eat the same thing all the time as long as my health and nutrition was maintained.

So, while some food may be more attractive and tasty than others, no food is really "boring" to me.

feisty_bucket

I have a couple of different friends who are both in amazing shape and spend a lot of time on their overall health but I see them eating the same things all the time.

I've read elsewhere that this is pretty common with maintainers. I do it too, generally, for the same reasons everybody else is saying: it's easier than variety and you've already figured out the stats.

So I have my standard, default food. I've gradually improved parts of it (ie:"iterated") over time as I get better at cooking or whatever, so I think it's really good at this point.

But if I were into cooking as a big hobby or something, I'd probably be bored with it. And then would put in the effort to mix it up more. But I'm not, so I don't.

girlinahat

not boring.

yes, most weekday mornings I have the same oatmeal with mixed with greek yoghurt, cottage cheese and fruit but that's about the only thing I regularly have. Weekends I might cook a fry up or buy some sourdough from the artisan bakery down the road.

I like to cook, but have limited time to do so as my evenings are taken up with various activities. I tend to cook/create a batch of salad for my lunch during the week, this is usually a vegetarian-based dish, could be a rice salad (Ottolenghi cookbooks are good for getting flavours) but this week is a mix of udon noodles, beetroot, radish, apples, cucumber, tomatoes, a soy marinade and baked tofu. I ran out so made a spicy salsa for tomorrow lunch with avocado and feta.

dinners tend to be quick - I have a few 'fast and easy' type cookbooks. Nigel Slater and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are great for focussing on quick delicious combinations. You can get a lot of flavour with few ingredients. At weekends I might roast a chicken (leftovers to have with my salad) or go all out and do a persian lamb dish or something.

I'm a big fan of Persian flavours, which means you can have delicious foods that are incredibly healthy, plenty of beans and pulses but a bit of meat thrown in now and then (meat tends to be a side dish for me).

I do start thinking about what I'm going to throw together some time in the afternoon and on my drive home from work. It means I get excited about what to have that evening rather than just grabbing something. I hate the 'food is fuel' idea - no, for me, food should be tasty and delicious and something I want to enjoy sitting down to, rather than just necessary

clicketykeys

I think the issue is less the caloric density of the food, and more a question of how much effort someone wants to put into finding and/or creating a wider variety of foods in their diet. You can just as easily have a "boring" diet if you eat the same high-calorie foods all the time.

kommodevaran

clicketykeys wrote: »

I think the issue is less the caloric density of the food, and more a question of how much effort someone wants to put into finding and/or creating a wider variety of foods in their diet. You can just as easily have a "boring" diet if you eat the same high-calorie foods all the time.

I have wondered about this too. Is a diet made up on junk food and candy more "exciting" than one based on cooking from scratch? I actually find real food more "exciting" than junk food now - junk tastes "more", as in more intense, but real food has "more" diversity and subtle nuances - more difficult to pick up, but more rewarding and satisfies for longer. I sound like a gourmet and an idiot guru, and maybe that's what I've become

girlinahat wrote: »

not boring.

yes, most weekday mornings I have the same oatmeal with mixed with greek yoghurt, cottage cheese and fruit but that's about the only thing I regularly have. Weekends I might cook a fry up or buy some sourdough from the artisan bakery down the road.

I like to cook, but have limited time to do so as my evenings are taken up with various activities. I tend to cook/create a batch of salad for my lunch during the week, this is usually a vegetarian-based dish, could be a rice salad (Ottolenghi cookbooks are good for getting flavours) but this week is a mix of udon noodles, beetroot, radish, apples, cucumber, tomatoes, a soy marinade and baked tofu. I ran out so made a spicy salsa for tomorrow lunch with avocado and feta.

dinners tend to be quick - I have a few 'fast and easy' type cookbooks. Nigel Slater and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall are great for focussing on quick delicious combinations. You can get a lot of flavour with few ingredients. At weekends I might roast a chicken (leftovers to have with my salad) or go all out and do a persian lamb dish or something.

I do start thinking about what I'm going to throw together some time in the afternoon and on my drive home from work. It means I get excited about what to have that evening rather than just grabbing something. I hate the 'food is fuel' idea - no, for me, food should be tasty and delicious and something I want to enjoy sitting down to, rather than just necessary

I too love to cook, and I have plenty of time, and I don't aim to use as little time as possible planning, cooking and eating; but I'm lazy - I like to achieve what I want for the least possible effort. This means that my meals are simple. But it doesn't mean that I don't get excited, and I love to plan my meals, I am careful while picking ingredients and preparing them. Food is fuel AND enjoyment to me. (I used to seperate those two when I was fat so I know that's not going to work for me.)

zbobbsemple

You need to take the things you loved and make them healthier. For instance, I love pizza and burgers with a passion. Therefore, I make them at home. Pizza I use whole wheat 100 cal. flat bread with pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni, mushrooms, fat free cheddar, diced onions and green peppers. I can have the whole pizza for a little over 200 calories and not feel guilty. The burgers I usually by the Butterball frozen turkey burger (seasoned is my fav) and couple it with a whole wheat bun or lettuce bun with mustard, fat free cheese, pickles. All this for less than 300 calories. If you love mash potatoes make cauliflower mash potatoes with cheese and bacon pieces. If the cauliflower isn't your thing mix it with a little instant potato flakes. Top it with spray butter and chives. Enjoy.