Bored....

KristinaEaton

Is anyone else bored with eating the same thing over and over? I basically eat the same thing every day and I am starting to get bored with the foods I eat. I need new recipes that are quick and easy to make as I have 2 small children who keep me busy and recipes that are pretty cheap.

THExNEKOxCHAN

What are you eating?

Skrib69

Yes, I suffer from that too so have several things that I mix up. If you open up your diary I will have a look!

KristinaEaton

Breakfast: Usually oatmeal and a piece of fruit

Lunch: Either tuna sandwich or ham sandwich or salad

Dinner: Grilled chicken with vegetables or salad or sometimes Subway sandwich

Which these are all foods I love but I feel like I am eating too much of them.

bcattoes

I would get absolutely be bored if I ate the same things every day. I usually have leftovers from dinner for the lunch the next day, but other than that I rarely eat the same thing twice in a week. I need variety.

If quick and easy if required, check online for healthy crockpot recipes. There are hundreds out there that require little prep other than tossing food in the crockpot and letting it do it's thing for a few hours. Soups, stew and chilis are are also good options that don't take much prep time.

Skrib69

Take a look at my diary, but typically I would have:

Breakfast - porridge with teaspoon of honey, or apple juice or cinnamon
OR 2 scrambled eggs cooked without butter or milk, on brown toast
OR Toast and marmite x 2
OR 2 pieces of fruit, chopped with yoghurt

Lunch - Sushi
OR Light salad with chicken, crayfish or tuna
OR Fruit
OR Noodles

Dinner - whatever I fancy up to my calorie limit

Hope this helps!!

WBB55

How many calories are you eating? Are you losing weight? Do you have un-satisfied cravings that are getting you down?

I ask because if I HAD to lose weight, I'd put up with a lot of boredom if I'd come across a formula that worked. But if it isn't "working" for some reason (like I obsess about my chocolate craving or have hunger pangs in bed at night) then it might be worth the effort of experimenting with all of the lovely vegies and foods available to you at the grocery store. Things like:

cottage cheese
greek yogurt
eggs
avocado
spaghetti squash
sweet potatoes
seafood

.... things like that

hedwardsb

Periodically I mix up a big batch of whole grain waffles.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/whole-grain-waffles/
The batter keeps well in the fridge. Just give it a good stir before cooking.
It takes a while to mix up, but a double batch makes a lot of breakfasts and/or snacks for me & my 3 kids. I eat mine topped with frozen berries defrosted in the microwave with a spoon of marscapone stirred in or a dollop of plain nonfat Greek yogurt.

KristinaEaton

How many calories are you eating? Are you losing weight? Do you have un-satisfied cravings that are getting you down?

I ask because if I HAD to lose weight, I'd put up with a lot of boredom if I'd come across a formula that worked. But if it isn't "working" for some reason (like I obsess about my chocolate craving or have hunger pangs in bed at night) then it might be worth the effort of experimenting with all of the lovely vegies and foods available to you at the grocery store. Things like:

cottage cheese
greek yogurt
eggs
avocado
spaghetti squash
sweet potatoes
seafood

.... things like that

KristinaEaton

I eat 1200 calories a day. I started Jan 9th and have lost 21 lbs. I crave sweets but try not to eat them often. But on the weekends, I allow myself a cheat day to satisfy those sweet craving and a lot of times my cheat day ends up turning into an entire weekend of cheating.

I've heard a lot about spaghetti squash but I really dont know what exatly it is (I mean I'm sure I've seen it in the store before) but I wouldnt have a clue what to do with it. lol

KristinaEaton

Thanks every one for all the suggestions. I am going grocery shopping this evening and I'm gonna purchase different things and experiment. I'll let you all know how it turns out.

bcattoes

I eat 1200 calories a day. I started Jan 9th and have lost 21 lbs. I crave sweets but try not to eat them often. But on the weekends, I allow myself a cheat day to satisfy those sweet craving and a lot of times my cheat day ends up turning into an entire weekend of cheating.

I've heard a lot about spaghetti squash but I really dont know what exatly it is (I mean I'm sure I've seen it in the store before) but I wouldnt have a clue what to do with it. lol

Stab it a few times and microwave until it starts to soften. Cut in half and remove the seeds. Now take a fork and shred out the 'spaghetti' (you'll see what I mean). You can use it in place of spaghetti in any dish (hot or cold).

Confuzzled4ever

Spaghetti squash is awesome. I put it with tomatoes, peppers, red onion, garlic basil and a bit of oil and some feta.. simply divine. (stab it wtih a knife and bak it for like 45 minutes, cut in half, remove seeds and scoop out spaghetti) Could throw chicken on there too.

I like tuna mixed with avocado and red onion or hard boiled egg mixed with avocado.

I sautee whatever veggies are in the fridge with whatever meat is available.

Beets are really sweet roasted.. Cut them into chunks, put a little oil and pepper on them and stick them in to bake until soft. Sautee the beet greens with onion garlic whatever veggeis and sprinkle with feta. YUM!

Fish tacos.. favorite fish sauteed, then throw tomatos, onion, garlic, cilantro in a pan with it. Microwave a tortiall with a bit of cheese on it.. put everything in the pan on the tortilla and squeeze some lime over it.

Mix spinach, tomato, watermelon, feta and balsamic vinegar together for a yummy different salad.

twoss9112

Breakfast: Usually oatmeal and a piece of fruit

Lunch: Either tuna sandwich or ham sandwich or salad

Dinner: Grilled chicken with vegetables or salad or sometimes Subway sandwich

Which these are all foods I love but I feel like I am eating too much of them.

You have to learn how to change it up. For me, stockpiling a bunch of recipes isn't goign to work because I will have that much bigger of a grocery list, and in turn, bigger grocery bill. Work with what you have, but a few things to change it up, pretty soon you will be keeping the new things on hand along with your staples until the new things also become staples and you won't be running out to load up on all new things every time you want a new recipe.

Here's what I did... I started by eating the same things, but change up what I put on, in and around them.

Oatmeal and a piece of fruit, GREAT! Now, buy some blueberries or raspberries or pomegranate seeds and throw them in the oatmel! Before you know it... "OH WAIT, you know what else I could throw a 1/4 cup of pomegranate seeds into? Some cereal!" and you will keep getting new ideas from there! I bought the pom seeds for oatmel, then I threw some in my Kashi cereal. Sometimes I'll use them in fruit salad. Now they are a staple.

I used to snack on fresh green beans and god BORED. I got some salsa to throw on them and it became a fun snack! (most salsas are about 10 cal per 2 tbsp).

I got tired of plain eggs and egg beaters. I don't always want to add cheese, so I bought some of the garden gourmet herbs (in the produce area, near the bagged salad and bagged veggies). They come in tubes....

http://www.gourmetgarden.com/us/product/view/Cilantro

I threw some of the cilantro in with some scrambles egg whites and egg beaters along with some fresh mushrooms and WHAM, garden omelette! Then the cilantro made me miss having tacos, so I bought Mission Yellow Corn Thin Tortillas (80 calories for 2 taco sized tortillas! - plus corn tortillas are less cals and less carbs than flour, obviously) and did the eggs, cilantro and mushrooms on 2 corn tortillas and had a whole dinner for well under 200 calories.

THEN, the yellow corn tortillas (which I bought because they were thin and had the least cals) made me realize that my favorite is white corn tortillas, so I bought the white corn tortillas to keep at work and brought along some veggies, like baby spinach, arugala, cucumber slices and red bell pepper slices (with some horseradish mustard for flavor) for veggie wraps.

Then I decided I whould have more protien in there so I started adding deli meat like ham or turkey, for a taco/sanwich wrap! I can have two of these sanwich wraps full of goodies for lunch and only be around 250 cals.

Tonight, I plan to take that Gourmet Garden Cilantro and try it in tuna salad (in place of the relish).

I also discovered Silk Almond Vanilla, which has more calcium and less calories than milk (I don't like milk, I needed an alternative source of calcium) and now I use that in cereal. Only 90 calories in 8 oz.

There are so many ways to change things out just by trying a couple new things at a time, then seeing what else you have that you like to eat that might work with some of the new things. I have turned it into a game, of sorts.

I recently tried chobani greek yogurt finally and guess what - something else I can put the pom seeds into!

ldrosophila

No wonder your bored chica. I'd be hella bored too. Lets shake it up some.

Breakfast: Usually oatmeal and a piece of fruit

How about you have an egg here. Turkey bacon is great easy to heat up and quick to make. Why not add something to the oatmeal like vanilla extract, pumpkin pie spice, or some nice nuts almonds and walnuts would be yum! How about some raisins. Wouldnt hurt to maybe add one of those heart smart butter blends. I made a breakfast sandwich the other day. You could do it on the thins if you wanted to save calories. I took turkey bacon, poached and egg, added hot sauce and tomatoes and lettuce. Came out pretty good. What about trying a smoothie here. Greek yogurt is also great. Ham fried up with some egg thats pretty good too. Or try a breakfast casserole you can make those a head of time. Oh a crustless quiche kind of a frittata is always nice. My typical breakfast during the work week is banana, peanut butter, and an egg. Or you could try a different grain with breakfast what about brown rice pudding?

Lunch: Either tuna sandwich or ham sandwich or salad
Lunch is another fun meal to try new things with. Soups make em ahead and throw em in a thermos. I made a huge pot of hot sour soup thats gonna last me two weeks now. Sandwichs what about egg salad or chicken salad. Hummus dip is great. I will bring cottage cheese to work with tomatoes and onions. I also like cucmbers in a yogurt/sour cream sauce or a vinegar sauce. Sliced turkey meat with some mozzarella cheese is great put it on w/ some mustard wrap it in lettuce or cabbage leaf. YUM! I've become recently obsessed with turkey pepperoni. I make pizza. Take sandwich thins a marinara sauce add turkey pepperoni and mozzarella. Roast beef on a sandwich thin heated up w/ some horseradish and worsteshire sauce. Go asian take frozen asian veggies pieces of turkey slices some soy sauce nuke it in a microwave tada! Salad what cant you put on a salad. I experiment with a bunch of different vinegars because I get so bored of the same old dressing. Look up bento box too thats a fun idea.

Dinner: Grilled chicken with vegetables or salad or sometimes Subway sandwich
Try some different meats fish, pork tenderloins, beef tenderloins. Do a baked potato meal thats fun throw all the veggies and some low fat sour cream or full fat just portion it out. Chili is always good. Soups and casseroles. I had beanie weenies the other day, and the day before that we had tilapia with a butter garlic lemon sauce (used the heart balance butter) it was so good. Theres so much you can do.

Get really serious about measuring everything and you can add variety to your diet.

PS-you dont have to buy crazy unusual food either. There are so many options out there.

stephgas

crock pot meals. there are so many and you can just throw them in. i actually used to assemble them raw in a freezer bag and freeze them. then, the night before, i'd thaw them in the fridge and just dump the bag in the crock pot, set the timer, and head to work. if you're on pinterest there are TON of freezer meals.

TimeForMe99

I'll spare you the "1200 calories isn't enough" speech. BUT - if you change your weight loss goal to 1lb per week you can enjoy some different foods and snacks. Pop over to the Recipes board and find some family friendly meals. I'm guessing you're feeding the kids something different; no 5yo I've known would eat grilled chicken every night. Little people should be eating healthy too.

You might also consider holding off on the cheat days. Lots of people can't get back on the wagon after a day off. Use the weekend to plan ahead, and maybe put some meals in the freezer/fridge for busy days during the week.

KristinaEaton

Thank you all so much! You've all given me great and interesting ideas! I bought some yellow squash tonight and I think I will try roasting it along with some onions and seasoning tomorrow as a side for dinner. Hey, it's a start I am ready to start experimenting with different foods and I will def try some of the recipes you guys have given me. Again, Thank you!

schaskes

Check out Skinnytaste.com! There are a ton of really yummy recipes on there. Some of my favorites are lasagna cupcakes and zucchini tots. Spaghetti squash is super-low-calorie and has mostly replaced pasta for me. Last week I made a delicious chicken breast recipe with roasted red peppers, spinach, and cheese. Very easy. It takes more planning ahead and probably more time in cooking, but it's absolutely worth it. Make extra and take leftovers for lunch the next day!

PakiBoom

Also buy few cooking appliances such as slow cooker, indoor grill, pressure cooker and a blender. You can really use the slow cooker for many different kind of foods from all over the world. They have different marinates for the slow cooker, picture this , drop the meat,veges and the marinate.Turn it on slow and go to work , come back and you have fresh meal ready. It also helps in clean eating. I have personaly lost around 49 pounds within a year ! Just by eating different kind of foods, tasting different kind of spices and flovors all over the world.