is this ok?

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

I only eat like three different foods/recipes on a regular basis. If you're getting proper nutrition and you like to eat the same thing every night there's no problem.

DaniAni19

I make a batch of a main course (protein) each week and portion it out in food storage containers. I'm Vegetarian, so it's mostly a bean and vegetable combination. After eating this meal for dinner every evening, I actually look forward to it. What I have found keeps things interesting is having a different steamed vegetable along with it or a low calorie salad.

Shabadu

Eating the exact same thing, at the exact same time every day, is absolute GOLD for your metabolism.
Of course, normal nutrition rules apply.

Hmmm, can you explain what you mean?

yes, do tell.

I have had a lot of replies asking what I mean.

When I was 22ish, I lost over 100lbs in about 4 months by doing exactly this.
I would eat the same breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner every day, at the same time every day.
The gym trainer gave me the eating plan, and it was just over 1500 calories per day.

Now that I am into my 30's, and heavier than I was back then, I asked the dietitian at work why this worked so effectively.

She said that the 5 small meals each day helped my body to burn the calories, thinking of it like a fire. If you throw 5 small twigs on it, it burns them easily. However if you throw a big log on there, it smothers the fire. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it. The other thing she said is that eating the same thing every single day means your body knows what it has to do, and when. It boosts metabolism as your body is conditioned to accept the exact same amount of energy in the same form at the same time each day, and can burn it so easily.

I am by no means an expert, but it makes sense to me, and it worked.
By the end of 4 months I was so tired of the same old crap that I went off healthy eating completely, however I still managed to keep the weight off for over 3 years. (I gained it all back after a messy breakup but lets not go there)

Anyway, I hope that explains some, perhaps use google for more information as I said I'm certainly no expert.

Sarauk2sf

Eating the exact same thing, at the exact same time every day, is absolute GOLD for your metabolism.
Of course, normal nutrition rules apply.

Hmmm, can you explain what you mean?

yes, do tell.

I have had a lot of replies asking what I mean.

When I was 22ish, I lost over 100lbs in about 4 months by doing exactly this.
I would eat the same breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner every day, at the same time every day.
The gym trainer gave me the eating plan, and it was just over 1500 calories per day.

Now that I am into my 30's, and heavier than I was back then, I asked the dietitian at work why this worked so effectively.

She said that the 5 small meals each day helped my body to burn the calories, thinking of it like a fire. If you throw 5 small twigs on it, it burns them easily. However if you throw a big log on there, it smothers the fire. It makes a lot of sense if you think about it. The other thing she said is that eating the same thing every single day means your body knows what it has to do, and when. It boosts metabolism as your body is conditioned to accept the exact same amount of energy in the same form at the same time each day, and can burn it so easily.

I am by no means an expert, but it makes sense to me, and it worked.
By the end of 4 months I was so tired of the same old crap that I went off healthy eating completely, however I still managed to keep the weight off for over 3 years. (I gained it all back after a messy breakup but lets not go there)

Anyway, I hope that explains some, perhaps use google for more information as I said I'm certainly no expert.

Your trainer was misinformed regarding meal frequency and metabolism.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/820577-meal-frequency-rev-up-that-furnace-lol

Shabadu

Fair enough too. I'm not gonna argue with somebody who has done countless research activities.
(However if we are getting technical, my trainer wasn't the one who mentioned meal frequency, or metabolism. He did however give me an eating plan over 10 years ago, which worked, by the way.)

In which case, what must have worked for me was what I was originally speaking about, which was eating the same thing at the same time every day.

Does that not work also? Or was my 100lbs loss in 4 months a fluke?

All I know is what worked, and I explained what I meant, (answering a question asked by multiple people about what I meant)

Do I recommend either approach? no. Do I say stay away from either approach? no.
Do what you feel like doing, if it's working, enjoy it and keep going.

Sarauk2sf

Fair enough too. I'm not gonna argue with somebody who has done countless research activities.
(However if we are getting technical, my trainer wasn't the one who mentioned meal frequency, or metabolism. He did however give me an eating plan over 10 years ago, which worked, by the way.)

In which case, what must have worked for me was what I was originally speaking about, which was eating the same thing at the same time every day.

Does that not work also? Or was my 100lbs loss in 4 months a fluke?

All I know is what worked, and I explained what I meant, (answering a question asked by multiple people about what I meant)

Do I recommend either approach? no. Do I say stay away from either approach? no.
Do what you feel like doing, if it's working, enjoy it and keep going.

No-one said it would not work - it's just not necessary - as the link with all those studies shows.

ToughTulip

You will hate it after a while

symonspatrick

I have been thinking about doing the same thing with pepperoni pizza just to see how many years it will take me to get sick of it.

JUDDDing

I've never heard that there was a metabolic effect, but there were some studies about the psychological role of variety in diet.

Dietary Variety, Energy Regulation, and Obesity
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul1273325.pdf

This is a more recent one at Cornell, but I don't have access to the full text:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/March12/FoodNumber.html

And there was another one by Jane Connor in 1987, but I can't find that one (just newspaper articles about it).

Here's one on maintenance:
Amount of Food Group Variety Consumed in the Diet and Long-Term Weight Loss Maintenance
http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=kine_fac

The tl;dr seems to be that people seem to eat more when confronted with a wider variety of tasty foods. Which seems about right to me.