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Do you automate meals/ what's favorite?

try2again
try2again Posts: 3,565 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
When I first heard about automating meals, I thought, "Ugh! Weight loss is hard enough- why would you want to eat the same thing everyday?" That was a few years ago, and guess what? I automate my breakfast now. And I didn't even really set out to do it. I found a nutritious breakfast I really like that I can make minor variations to that keeps me full all morning and I just started having it more and more often. There might be a couple days when I have something else (high fiber cereal and a greek yogurt), but usually this is my automatic breakfast: oatmeal w/a TB of flax meal, a tsp of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries, and 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk. It's about 250 cal and tons of nutrition. And I love it, pretty much every day. The frozen blueberries were a recent addition, and as a nice perk, they cool the boiling hot oatmeal to perfect temp!
So I'm wondering- does anyone else automate 1 or more meals and what is your favorite? Maybe I'll want to add it!

Replies

  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
    Usually have a chocolate chip cookie dough Quest bar with 1 tbsp of PB for breakfast
    A yogurt for a morning snack
    Apple / Banana/ Pineapple for afternoon snack

    The rest changes daily
  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    I have six "standard" meals -- three for lifting days, three for non-lifting days -- that I use for the majority of days, and there are some other days where I use them as starting points.

    I eat a lot of yogurt, eggs, chicken, beef, and salsa.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    My go to breakfast for the past several weeks has been the same almost every work day:

    3 soft boiled eggs
    2 slices toast
    1 serving fruit
    1 cup milk in my coffee or tea

    My lunch template is:

    2-3 servings raw veggies/fruit
    1 cup cottage cheese or 1 Noosa yogurt
    1 Kashi bar
    (may also eat a packet of tuna)

    I like having easy meal templates. It makes my mornings easier (making breakfast, packing lunch) and makes grocery shopping easier.
  • hnm921
    hnm921 Posts: 49 Member
    Most mornings I have toast with PB and Banana and I usually have egg salad for lunch or dinner.

    Your oatmeal sounds yummy.
  • Lexicpt
    Lexicpt Posts: 209 Member
    I have a banana, Greek yogurt and iced coffee with almond milk for breakfast every morning. The only time this changes is if I go out for breakfast, which isn't often.
  • Canwehugnow
    Canwehugnow Posts: 218 Member
    I usually try to make some lunches for the week. It's usually some sort of meat and veggie mix. I do get tired of it something, and I'll throw in a sandwich instead sometimes, but most of the times they do the trick. It's easier to just premake something on the weekends as opposed to every day.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    I didn't do it on purpose but I don't like to cook in the morning so I tend to grab things that don't require preperation for breakfast. Yogurt, fruit, a sandwich, leftovers, granola bar. Yogurt is the most frequent choice.
    For lunch I have a sandwich or leftovers. Not exactly the same food every day but often repeated.
    I have something different for dinner almost every night.
    Snacks tend to be the same things. Popcorn is the most frequent because I like it.
  • McCloud33
    McCloud33 Posts: 959 Member
    I'm extremely boring and have basically two meals that I eat over and over. I'll sprinkle in some other things/mix up my side dishes some, but here they are:

    Breakfast:
    Banana (every morning)
    16oz water

    Meal1:
    8oz of grilled chicken strips, cut up into bite size pieces
    1.25oz of crumbled goat cheese
    2.5-3.5oz of avocado
    douse of balsamic vinegar
    side:
    2 cups (270g) of frozen mixed vegatables
    24oz water

    Meal2:
    (3)Apple/Chicken Sausage links grilled on George Foreman
    1/2 onion & 1/2 red pepper sauteed
    side:
    133g chunked pineapple
    170g cottage cheese
    24oz water

    Snack:
    1-1.5 cups of vanilla ice cream
  • lyrical_melody
    lyrical_melody Posts: 242 Member
    I automate my meals, but just because for lunch and dinner I usually make a large batch of something and I don't want it to go to waste. Plus, I try to make delicious things so I actually look forward to eating it again! Now, if I had to eat something I hated for all week there is no way I could do it! My snacks I usually switch up depending on what I have available in the fridge but it usually fluctuates between yogurt, fruit, cheese, veggies, Kbars and oatmeal. I used to eat oatmeal every morning, but I am finding I have time to make an egg sandwich in the morning so I have been switching to that and its so yum!
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    I kind of do. For breakfast I usually have some kind of egg white scramble. It really depends on what I have in the fridge.

    I make a few one pot dishes every weekend that are typically in the 150-350 calorie range. I portion them as 1 cup for lunches, 1.5 cups for dinners. I have a huge variety to choose from because I just keep cooking, so it's semi automated. For lunch I always grab one, but for dinner I usually save them for the busier/lazy days.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,565 Member
    lyrical_melody wrote: »
    I automate my meals, but just because for lunch and dinner I usually make a large batch of something and I don't want it to go to waste. Plus, I try to make delicious things so I actually look forward to eating it again! Now, if I had to eat something I hated for all week there is no way I could do it! My snacks I usually switch up depending on what I have available in the fridge but it usually fluctuates between yogurt, fruit, cheese, veggies, Kbars and oatmeal. I used to eat oatmeal every morning, but I am finding I have time to make an egg sandwich in the morning so I have been switching to that and its so yum!
    I like eggs but couldn't eat them every morning. Occasionally, we'll have egg wraps for an easy dinner instead. :)
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,565 Member
    Canwehugnow wrote: »
    I usually try to make some lunches for the week. It's usually some sort of meat and veggie mix. I do get tired of it something, and I'll throw in a sandwich instead sometimes, but most of the times they do the trick. It's easier to just premake something on the weekends as opposed to every day.
    I would agree with that, except with a family and a weight lifter husband, I'll make a big batch of something *thinking* I'm cooking ahead, and it will be gone before the weekend's over!
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