Can I eat the same thing every day for a semester?

mariposasdeclaudia

Hey guys. I've been inactive here for a looong time ever since I started college.

This has been (strictly) my diet for a long time:

Breakfast:

1. 1 low fat strawberry pop tart

Snack in between classes/keep me awake: 80z coffee with cream and Splenda

2. Lunch: Microwaveable Chefboyardee ( the ones that label themselves as Snacks but they fill me up too much to be considered snacks)

3. Perhaps another coffee if I have Lab ( 3 hour labs) or a test later.

I come home and usually do this:

a. Eating 1 cameo, maybe an oreo too and a 2 or 3 ritz.
b. Dinner: 5 Tyson nuggets ( the ones from costco) with maybe a mozarrella stick.
c. Night snack ( this is around 11pm) : half slice of bread ( Holsum), a handful of cereal ( Fruitty pebbles), and maybe a bite out of another poptart and a bit out of a Fiber one brownie. ( as you can see, I can never decide what to eat)


Stats: I've been maintaining weight for quite some times, with only slight variations depending on how stressed I am

Height: 5 foot 6
Weight: almost 50kg
Age: 18


I'm literally eating this every day...is this bad?

webutmirrortheworld

It's not bad to eat the same thing every day, but it looks like the food you are eating may not be meeting your nutritional needs. The foods that you are eating are all highly processed (unless I am missing something), and you probably need more fruits and veggies, and natural forms of fiber.

Apocalypz

Aside from it being rather unhealthy, there's nothing wrong with being a creature of habit and eating a repetitive diet. Only thing you probably want to change is to get more healthy choices in there.

mariposasdeclaudia

So I should vary it more to get more proteins/nutrients, etc.?

I just eat the same thing 'cus I'm on a college budget. lol I live in Puerto Rico and the university I go to here doesn't have those meal plans many US colleges offer. We just have fast foods available, and I'm not spending $5 every day just for lunch..so the chefboyardee's are $1.20.

writergeek313

Other than the chicken nuggets having a little protein, there's pretty much nothing of nutritional value there, both in terms of how much you're eating and what you're eating. You may maintain your weight, but it's likely you're going to feel tired and lousy from not getting enough vitamins and nutrients.

Eating the same things is fine, but in your case variety would be healthy. Try to get away from so much packaged food and get some whole foods into your diet (fruits, vegetables, lean protein, etc.).

And are you sure about the size of that coffee? Because that would be almost 2/3 of a gallon of coffee :noway:

Apocalypz

So I should vary it more to get more proteins/nutrients, etc.?

I just eat the same thing 'cus I'm on a college budget. lol I live in Puerto Rico and the university I go to here doesn't have those meal plans many US colleges offer. We just have fast foods available, and I'm not spending $5 every day just for lunch..so the chefboyardee's are $1.20.

For example, a frozen bag of pre-cooked/pre-sliced chicken breast is ~8 USD and is 7 servings which is less expensive than your tinned spaghetti. Depending on the fruits, some are expensive but some inexpensive. For example, 30 bananas a week is only 11 USD for me. I'd venture a guess that your pop tarts are more than 30 p, are much worse for you and are less filling.

Also, it sounds like the coffee is being used as a meal substitute. Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE a coffee and a cuppa -- but you can't use that as a meal. To help you understand, I eat 1800+ cal/day and still have 8 cups of tea/coffee (skim milk) as well. You get the idea.

Slacker16

Breakfast:

1. 1 low fat strawberry pop tart

Snack in between classes/keep me awake: 80z coffee with cream and Splenda

2. Lunch: Microwaveable Chefboyardee ( the ones that label themselves as Snacks but they fill me up too much to be considered snacks)

3. Perhaps another coffee if I have Lab ( 3 hour labs) or a test later.

I come home and usually do this:

a. Eating 1 cameo, maybe an oreo too and a 2 or 3 ritz.
b. Dinner: 5 Tyson nuggets ( the ones from costco) with maybe a mozarrella stick.
c. Night snack ( this is around 11pm) : half slice of bread ( Holsum), a handful of cereal ( Fruitty pebbles), and maybe a bite out of another poptart and a bit out of a Fiber one brownie. ( as you can see, I can never decide what to eat)

First of all, I would be starving if that's all I ate, and I remember I was even hungrier when I was your age...

Two suggestions in addition to what Apocalypz already said:

- Eggs are cheap almost everywhere and an easy way to add protein. I boil the entire carton after buying it so I can eat them as a snack or quick breakfast with no preparation.

- Don't know if it's widely available in Puerto Rico, but I love vegetable juice. It's cheap (especially if store-brand) and a glass provides all the vitamin C and a lot of the vitamin A you need. You can also dilute it and cook rice in it.

b2kelly

Eating this way will give you scurvy for sure.

mariposasdeclaudia

Other than the chicken nuggets having a little protein, there's pretty much nothing of nutritional value there, both in terms of how much you're eating and what you're eating. You may maintain your weight, but it's likely you're going to feel tired and lousy from not getting enough vitamins and nutrients.

Eating the same things is fine, but in your case variety would be healthy. Try to get away from so much packaged food and get some whole foods into your diet (fruits, vegetables, lean protein, etc.).

And are you sure about the size of that coffee? Because that would be almost 2/3 of a gallon of coffee :noway:

LOL. I meant to type 8oz!

I bought apples the other day..they all went rotten. Didn't get to eat any of them.

mariposasdeclaudia

So I should vary it more to get more proteins/nutrients, etc.?

I just eat the same thing 'cus I'm on a college budget. lol I live in Puerto Rico and the university I go to here doesn't have those meal plans many US colleges offer. We just have fast foods available, and I'm not spending $5 every day just for lunch..so the chefboyardee's are $1.20.

For example, a frozen bag of pre-cooked/pre-sliced chicken breast is ~8 USD and is 7 servings which is less expensive than your tinned spaghetti. Depending on the fruits, some are expensive but some inexpensive. For example, 30 bananas a week is only 11 USD for me. I'd venture a guess that your pop tarts are more than 30 p, are much worse for you and are less filling.

Also, it sounds like the coffee is being used as a meal substitute. Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE a coffee and a cuppa -- but you can't use that as a meal. To help you understand, I eat 1800+ cal/day and still have 8 cups of tea/coffee (skim milk) as well. You get the idea.

30 bannas $11? :O I'd like that price.


My pop tarts are bought by the bunch at costco so that saves me $$ in the long run.
My coffee is to fill up me up a bit and keep me awake in class, or at least semi-alert. The coffee is only 81 cents.

I think my kcal intake varies greatly every day. I summed it up one day and i had consumes around 800 because I was just too busy with studying and assignments...another day, I can consume 1300.



Edit: I am cold almost all the time, though. my fingers are almost always pale or purplish especially when the local temperature drops to 80 F. (I'm accustomed to 88-93F).
Also, every time I eat, I bloat..and it doesn't go away for hours. Let's say I eat the snacks I mentioned in my original post at 12pm. I have to wake up at 5:30am because I have class at 8am. My lower abdomen is still bloated ( protrudes out about 2 inch). It's a noticeable bloat, the upper abdomen is completely flat, by the lower is rigid and jut popping out. It goes away if I skip breakfast but just comes back worse when I try and eat lunch. Could this be because of the diet?

bcc112986

Check out a fresh market.

mariposasdeclaudia

Check out a fresh market.

I did one day! I left with two items because everything was so expensive.

asciident

Eating the same thing every day isn't the issue, but your diet is pretty nutritionally deficient and I wouldn't recommend eating that way for very long. On the other hand, you're 18 and you can abuse your body right now and still bounce back.

But you should still aim to eat more fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. Try learning to cook something on a weekend that is easy to grab throughout the week as leftovers/pre-portioned servings.

Edit: Check out http://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/

Booksandbeaches

You need more fruits and vegetables. You're eating a lot of processed food. Why not get some tropical fruits like bananas, papayas, mangoes, pineapples guava. You could add some avocado, beans, chilies. I'm sure you could find those in Puerto Rico.

yogioats

What about overnight oats, yogurt, or instant oatmeal in the morning? Eggs are a cheap source of protein. You can make a fried egg sandwich or a breakfast burrito quite quickly in the morning. Wrapping it in foil makes it portable. I second the recommendation to cook larger meals and bring leftovers for lunch. It may be slightly more expensive, but are you able to buy 1-2 pieces of fruit at a time? That may cut back on your waste.

If you like pasta you could make a large batch of pasta primavera or veggie lasagna to eat as leftovers. Soups are easy and freeze well. Do you have a slow cooker? That's another way to make meals stretch. If you throw in the ingredients before class, dinner would be done when you get home.

mariposasdeclaudia

I've forgotten that mangoes, papayas, etc. even exist. O.O my bad! I don't like a lot of fruits and I don't eat and/or like any veggies but at least the aforementioned I do.

In response to yogioats...That sounds like a little hassle in the morning. I may be able to do that but with a little more time in my hands.

I just haven't found the perfect quick breakfast that's healthy and well, better than a poptart. To clarify, 1 poptart fills me up more than a bowl of cereal of 4 eggs.

The chefboyardee fills me up more than, let's say , hamburger and fries from Burger King, or a cup of rice with 6 oz of roasted chicken. I don't know why..it just does.

mariposasdeclaudia

As a side comment:

Two weeks ago, when I was busy and stressed out with my Biology test, I didn't eat everything mentioned and i noticed a bit of weight loss (converting it to lbs, I went from 113lbs to 109lbs), in 11 days just because I cut out the chefboyardee..leaving me with the poptart, coffee, nuggets, and snacks. I also did walk around the campus more because of the assignments I had to hand in the the problems I needed to resolve..but I thought I was maintaining my weight pretty well and it came sort of a shock to me.

mariposasdeclaudia

Thanks for the suggestions!

I've tried to vary!

Today:

Breakfast:
Same

---Coffee at 9am before biology

---

Lunch:
Basically no lunch. Too busy. Had a few fries that my friend had bought from BK and then I had to go to some places before Lab.

Dinner:
6 nuggets, 1/2 tilapia breaded fish (costco)

--of course, I had a cameo and an oreo somewhere in between--- can't live without them lol

Snack right now: 5 strawberries..they're soo good, i don't want to eat them them all..gotta savor them.

I did buy bananas but they're still greenish..so I gotta wait.


The fish tasted pretty good

IVMarkIV

I have done such numerous stunts for 4-6 month periods numerous times being a creature of habit or nutritional nazi, but mostly due to being broke, traveling, and crunched for time. The key is, the meal has got to be fairly balanced macronutrient wise and nutrient dense. Use a MVI too

Kale, cabbage, broccoli, olive oil, fresh liver, tuna fish, whole eggs, whey protein...all somewhat cheap and balanced

Apocalypz

Good to see you trying to be more nutritious. With you going to Costco, they'll have loads of other foods which are still more beneficial for your system than pop tarts and will last a while. For example, prunes and dates are sweet and last forever without refrigeration. Leave a couple of bananas out to ripen but put the rest in the fridge to last longer. You mentioned your apples going off early. This will help should you purchase apples again. Costco is also a great place for non-breaded, pre-cooked/sliced chicken breast. You can make the portions as large or small as you like and are in a resealable bag. They also have loads of eggs for cheap or egg-white boxes should you choose. Either way would be as fast as unboxing/unwapping/toasting your non-preferred pop tarts. Sounds like you may just be tending towards the wrong foods while shopping, eh?

deksgrl

I can't believe this is enough for you to maintain your weight. Sounds like 1,000 calories.

mariposasdeclaudia

Good to see you trying to be more nutritious. With you going to Costco, they'll have loads of other foods which are still more beneficial for your system than pop tarts and will last a while. For example, prunes and dates are sweet and last forever without refrigeration. Leave a couple of bananas out to ripen but put the rest in the fridge to last longer. You mentioned your apples going off early. This will help should you purchase apples again. Costco is also a great place for non-breaded, pre-cooked/sliced chicken breast. You can make the portions as large or small as you like and are in a resealable bag. They also have loads of eggs for cheap or egg-white boxes should you choose. Either way would be as fast as unboxing/unwapping/toasting your non-preferred pop tarts. Sounds like you may just be tending towards the wrong foods while shopping, eh?

Thank you! Bought bananas the other day and they're ready to eat now!
I ate Tilapia yesterday night again ( about 9pm). I came home pretty late due to the Ecology Investigation i'm required to do...hadn't eaten breakfast and had scraps for lunch. I just wanted to go to sleep, but the fish was calling my name LOL.

Yeah, that might be it. Poptarts just taste soo good that I can't stop buying them.
This week has been pretty packed and Ive been trying to change my diet even though I inevitably ate less due to the schedule.
I stopped weighing myself a couple months ago, but I did so yesterday. The scale said 110lbs..so I'm maintaining I guess, and I have no intention to lose any.

Oh, I did eat a bit of Pasta the other day!

mariposasdeclaudia

I can't believe this is enough for you to maintain your weight. Sounds like 1,000 calories.

Yet I'm still maintaining, with variations of course. A few weeks back when I was full with tests and works and stuff, I think i had dropped a few because I just felt my clothes ( especially my undergarment) slightly looser..so my guess would be dropping from my initial weight off 111lbs to 108ish. I was under a lot of academic pressure so all I did was eat my poptart in the morning and had the 6 nuggets at night and maybe a slice of bread later. My legs also looked a bit thinner..but now I'm back to where I was.

cwsreddy

Hey guys. I've been inactive here for a looong time ever since I started college.

This has been (strictly) my diet for a long time:

Breakfast:

1. 1 low fat strawberry pop tart

Snack in between classes/keep me awake: 80z coffee with cream and Splenda

2. Lunch: Microwaveable Chefboyardee ( the ones that label themselves as Snacks but they fill me up too much to be considered snacks)

3. Perhaps another coffee if I have Lab ( 3 hour labs) or a test later.

I come home and usually do this:

a. Eating 1 cameo, maybe an oreo too and a 2 or 3 ritz.
b. Dinner: 5 Tyson nuggets ( the ones from costco) with maybe a mozarrella stick.
c. Night snack ( this is around 11pm) : half slice of bread ( Holsum), a handful of cereal ( Fruitty pebbles), and maybe a bite out of another poptart and a bit out of a Fiber one brownie. ( as you can see, I can never decide what to eat)


Stats: I've been maintaining weight for quite some times, with only slight variations depending on how stressed I am

Height: 5 foot 6
Weight: almost 50kg
Age: 18


I'm literally eating this every day...is this bad?

yikes.

1) doubt you're eating enough
2) certain you're not meeting your nutritional needs.

cmriverside

I don't know why I am even posting in here, other than the 113 pound 5'6" girl who has purple fingers and is always cold if the temperature drops below 80. Bloating and abdominal pain are huge red flags, too. I figure she's on self-destruct, but then so was I at her age.


Lots of excuses, but then so had I.

Terrible diet, pretty much void of nutrition. It has to be affecting her ability to concentrate and learn during her classes.

I just hope she wises up before doing irreparable serious damage to her brain and organs.

lemonsnowdrop

Eating the same thing every day is okay. Eating poor choices is not.

I have a baby, am employed, and go to school full time, but I still manage to find time to cook some chicken/fish from time to time. Chicken is relatively cheap, too. Probably 4-5 USD for about three breasts. Certainly cheaper than Pop Tarts.

I feel like time and money are excuses. I use them a lot too, but you can't survive on Pop Tarts and processed ravioli.

cwolfman13

Seems like it would get boring...I sure as **** couldn't do it.

nomeejerome

:huh:

There seems to be a missing part to this story.

PikaKnight

I don't know why I am even posting in here, other than the 113 pound 5'6" girl who has purple fingers and is always cold if the temperature drops below 80. Bloating and abdominal pain are huge red flags, too. I figure she's on self-destruct, but then so was I at her age.


Lots of excuses, but then so had I.

Terrible diet, pretty much void of nutrition. It has to be affecting her ability to concentrate and learn during her classes.

I just hope she wises up before doing irreparable serious damage to her brain and organs.

^Yeah, agreed. There is something not right with this situation.


Ummm...just in case...just going to put this here: http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/find-help-support

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I have no problem with any of the foods you listed; however as a complete diet this sounds deficient in nutrients and calories.

dvisser1

Hey guys. I've been inactive here for a looong time ever since I started college.

This has been (strictly) my diet for a long time:

Breakfast:

1. 1 low fat strawberry pop tart

Snack in between classes/keep me awake: 80z coffee with cream and Splenda

2. Lunch: Microwaveable Chefboyardee ( the ones that label themselves as Snacks but they fill me up too much to be considered snacks)

3. Perhaps another coffee if I have Lab ( 3 hour labs) or a test later.

I come home and usually do this:

a. Eating 1 cameo, maybe an oreo too and a 2 or 3 ritz.
b. Dinner: 5 Tyson nuggets ( the ones from costco) with maybe a mozarrella stick.
c. Night snack ( this is around 11pm) : half slice of bread ( Holsum), a handful of cereal ( Fruitty pebbles), and maybe a bite out of another poptart and a bit out of a Fiber one brownie. ( as you can see, I can never decide what to eat)


Stats: I've been maintaining weight for quite some times, with only slight variations depending on how stressed I am

Height: 5 foot 6
Weight: almost 50kg
Age: 18


I'm literally eating this every day...is this bad?

Yes it's bad. Obviously it's enough calories for you to be maintaining weight and hopefully not running to low on energy. However, everything you list is heavily processed and you make no mention of fruits and vegetables. Raw or lightly cooked fruits and vegetables are packed full of vitamins and minerals your body (everybody's body) needs to function at it's best and be properly healthy. Taking a multivitamin tablet will help, but your body absorbs vitamins and minerals more efficiently from natural foods than in the chemical form packed into a multivitamin. The heavily processed foods you list are generally high in sugar and sodium.

In the short term, you can eat like this with little impact because your body will find a way to compensate. Eating like this over a long period of time is unhealthy and will likely lead to health problems. There is no time like today to make some changes, add in a fresh salad now and then, drop the pop-tart and grab some yogurt and a piece of fruit (apple, banana, etc). Instead of chicken nuggets, cook up a small chicken breast or lean pork chop trimmed of fat. It doesn't take much time or skill in the kitchen to vastly expand your food choices.