Do you stick to the same go-to meals or variety

The_Pace
The_Pace Posts: 20 Member
edited February 2016 in Food and Nutrition
I know I will get bored and fall off if I stick to the same easy, safe, know how the calories by heart meals everyday so I have been trying to add variety. How do you manage and have any ideas to share?

Instead of a protein shake this morning I sautéed 1/2 of a ham steak with mini red and orange peppers and added one egg+one egg white over a slice of toasted light bread with a 1/4 avocado. Delicious and satisfying.

Share your ideas!
Btw, this is my first time starting a thread so please don't leave me hanging ;-)
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Replies

  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    I tend to stick to the same meals, and yeah it gets boring.
  • suruda
    suruda Posts: 1,233 Member
    I tend to eat the same thing over and over again....I'm that person who would never change my order at Starbucks! I always think we are two different types...those who can repeat, repeat, and repeat and those who need more variety! :smile:

    I also love to wear my favorite clothes every freakin day!
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
    both. i stick to the same and mix it up.
  • Panda_brat
    Panda_brat Posts: 291 Member
    90% it's the same stuff, but i have a large enough reservoir of meals that I do not get bored of them. Plus when i do chicken i have at least 5 different ways of spicing, or marinating it, so it is never the same 2 weeks in a row.
  • Triticum
    Triticum Posts: 3 Member
    Breakfast/Lunch tends to be quite similar, trying to work on 6-700 Cals for them both, before going mad on dinner!

    Toast for breakfast, and possibly lunch too, but usually a sandwich with something along the lines of chicken, lettuce, tomato.

    Dinner is whatever I fancy, pizza, burger, curry, salad, roast dinner. Just portion adjusted to make it sit right. Since MFP i've started eating a lot more things like carrot and tomato to bulk out the meals without adding calories.
  • mandikaysmom
    mandikaysmom Posts: 5 Member
    Panda_brat wrote: »
    90% it's the same stuff, but i have a large enough reservoir of meals that I do not get bored of them. Plus when i do chicken i have at least 5 different ways of spicing, or marinating it, so it is never the same 2 weeks in a row.

    What are your five different sources/marinades? I'm teed of the same chicken recipes.
  • michaela4910
    michaela4910 Posts: 544 Member
    My breakfast is almost always the same. I know how many calories are in it and I'm rushing. Lunch if I'm at work varies slightly but I choose between a few things I know the calories and macros for. (I work in a restaurant) Dinner, I could a wide variety of things.
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  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Variety. Even when I have the same dish, it's rarely the same as the last time I made it. I don't use recipes and tend to just add whatever is on hand or is closest to expiration to any dish I make. Eating this way makes me happy, but I did find it too much hassle to manage a diet like this and log all my food.
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  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I hate eating the same thing more than 3 days in a row. Then typically I don't have it again for weeks.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    I have "pillars" that make a big portion of the rotation but I also bring in different stuff here and there to mix it up.
  • eileen0515
    eileen0515 Posts: 408 Member
    I have my short list of regular meals for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is where I get creative. I will say it's time consuming, seeking out delicious lower cal, recipes. I have several "healthy" cook books I draw from, also Skinnytaste and Cooking light blogs. Pinterest is also a good resource.
  • misty589
    misty589 Posts: 319 Member
    I usually stick to the same things for breakfast and lunch but mix it up at supper with the family
  • berescga
    berescga Posts: 27 Member
    I have the exact same thing for breakfast every morning. I have a few different things I have for lunch. Dinner can be almost anything, and this is where I get my variety. More variety as they say goes on. Except my afternoon snack is always the same.
  • toe1226
    toe1226 Posts: 249 Member
    I cycle. I have the same thing for breakfast every day for a week, then move on to the next thing every day for a week. I try to have similar calorie and protein goals for breakfast. Its kind of the same thing for all my meals- I eat one thing for like, a week, then I mix it up, cycle through. A lot of it for me comes down to affordability/efficiency/reducing food waste.
  • brb_2013
    brb_2013 Posts: 1,197 Member
    I have two work lunches I vary week to week. I do an egg casserole that is usually simple to start then I can have it with toast/ketchup or a tortilla with salsa to change it up. I also have a basic protein+veg+sauce lunch. Proteins are usually pork or chicken left overs, then peas broccoli or brussle sprouts (my favs), and I experiment with basic sauces. I like alfredo, I recently tried a tandoori sauce that is to die for and I am craving it even right now (but today is an egg lunch day). Other sauces could be marinara or sriracha with lemon juice. This gives easy to "guesstimate" calories so I can build my menu for the day, but there's still some room for variety.
  • beemerphile1
    beemerphile1 Posts: 1,710 Member
    You have probably been eating the same meals over and over again your entire life, most people do.

    Ignore all the so-called "diet" foods and just eat what you like. If trying to lose weight, you need to eat less than you have been, not eat different foods.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    i eat what i always have. just less of it.

    my breakfast is the same 90%of the time but everything else differs depending on what im in the mood for...
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
    I tend to stick to the same meals and snacks for breakfast and lunch. Dinner usually varies.

    Part of the reason is to make sticking to calorie goals easy and part is to make grocery shopping easy and less expensive. Once I started eating lots of similar things, my grocery bill got a lot smaller and I started throwing out less food waste.
  • Michael190lbs
    Michael190lbs Posts: 1,510 Member
    I ate chicken parm 8 days in a row last month for lunch never again!! I typically do three or four days for lunch and dinner

    Breakfast is a HUGE sandwich every morning Tuna or Roast beef or Ham or turkey etc to mix it up always warm with a protein shake everyday!!
  • dan_IRL
    dan_IRL Posts: 204 Member
    I find I do much better when I try and stick to a routine. When I have to make decisions, I usually fail so I try and take decision making out of the picture.

    I try to eat the same few things for breakfast and lunch most of the time.
  • MimiOfTheFraserValley
    MimiOfTheFraserValley Posts: 108 Member
    Breakfast is pretty well always the same, with the occasional change. I'm huge on sandwiches for lunch, although I do love having salads in wraps. Supper's almost always the one meal that changes. From reading this thread, I can see that I'm like most others here. :smile:
  • jasmineruth
    jasmineruth Posts: 88 Member
    I love trying new recipes. Then when I find a good one I throw it in the rotation with the same old same old ones. I usually don't eat the same thing twice in a month with the exception of a couple favourites.
  • brb_2013
    brb_2013 Posts: 1,197 Member
    dan_IRL wrote: »
    I find I do much better when I try and stick to a routine. When I have to make decisions, I usually fail so I try and take decision making out of the picture.

    I try to eat the same few things for breakfast and lunch most of the time.

    This is a good point, I certainly make better choices when I preplan versus deciding at the cupboard.
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    edited February 2016
    I prefer planning pretty much the same few breakfasts because I don't have much time and I don't care. For lunches I grab my homemade pre-cooked and frozen meals so I have variety as well as something that fits in my calorie count. For dinner, I have a plan that I make with my family ahead of time so we can grocery shop and/or use up things we have as well as have everyone happy. I don't usually cook high calorie food so it's pretty balanced.
  • noclady1995
    noclady1995 Posts: 452 Member
    I've changed my macros a few times in the last year and tend to stick to the same foods each time. It's just easier to maintain macros when I do that and takes out a lot of the thinking with meal prep.
  • The_Pace
    The_Pace Posts: 20 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    I have "pillars" that make a big portion of the rotation but I also bring in different stuff here and there to mix it up.

    Thanks everyone for the responses. I think I am along the lines of Carlos with some regular go to meals but need to add in a little variety.
  • Gianttiger14
    Gianttiger14 Posts: 2 Member
    I need to have variety, I get recipes from www.epicure.com and Pinterest.
  • C_Stretton
    C_Stretton Posts: 201 Member
    Lately I've found myself bored with my go-to meals. I decided that this month I was going to try at least three new recipes each week. So far, I've made two new good meals and one that promptly went to the trash. What I've noticed is that I'm incorporating more vegetables into my meals. I hadn't realized how much of my mom's meat and potatoes way of cooking seeped into my own. In other words, variety is good. Except that one day...

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