Eating the same meals each day?
s_rivera_92
Posts: 92 Member
Hello, all! Do any of you eat the same foods/meals daily? Is that a sure why to hit a plateau or is it still effective so long as you are hitting a deficit? When I counted calories in the past (10 years ago when I had a teenager's metabolism), I usually ate the same things at the same time daily and switched it up very rarely. I was considering doing that again for convenience's sake. Thoughts and opinions?
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Fat loss is 100% caused by consistently being in a calorie deficit. It has nothing to do with which specific foods you eat or what time you eat. You can ensure a calorie deficit by weighing and logging all your food.
If you enjoy eating the same meals regularly, you are consistently hitting your calorie goal, and you're getting appropriate nutrition, then you should continue to do that.4 -
There is no reason why the same goods would cause you to plateau if you are in a calorie deficit. When eating the same foods daily, there are two things to consider:
1. Are you getting the proper nutrition? If your daily foods allow you to get a proper and complete nutrition, then there is no issue. But if you miss out on particular important vitamins and minerals, you could be looking at a deficiency if you consistently eat foods devoid of it.
2. Monotony - your body won't plateau with eating the same foods, but will your taste buds? Only you have a good idea if you'll be okay eating the same things every day. I know personally I would find that difficult to stick with, because even foods that I like would get boring and repetitive if I had them every day without changing it up. But if you feel like that will work well for you, you can go for it.
The only other caution I would add is "how well will this prepare you to keep the weight off in the future?" If you only plan to eat like this while "dieting", what skills do you learn to help maintain the weight loss once you've got it. It's (somewhat) easy to lose weight, but harder to keep it off long term.5 -
It should make no difference for weight management, as long as the chosen database entries and quantities are reasonably correct in both cases.
Personally, I'd find it more difficult to hit nutritional goals if I were totally consistent day to day (for example, I'll routinely vary veggies and fruits in the interest of getting more well-rounded macros, vs. eating the same ones all the time; and I tend to compensate for restaurant meals by varying the other meals to make up any macro shortages (I'm vegetarian, so restaurant meals are often protein-sparse)).
I think @pullum's final paragraph is exactly correct.3 -
I tend to eat the same lunch throughout the week. If you stay in a calorie deficit, it doesn't matter if your meals are the same or different. Mine just tend to be similar because it takes me a few days to finish the foods I buy. Example: kale. One bunch makes 3-4 lunches for me, more if I add more veggies to it. If I buy a nice piece of salmon or some rotisserie chicken breasts, those will also stretch through a few days. I might change up the seasoings to break the monotony, but the calories will be very similar. It's also easier to track when you prepare the meals regularly.1
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stefa_roth wrote: »Hello, all! Do any of you eat the same foods/meals daily? Is that a sure why to hit a plateau or is it still effective so long as you are hitting a deficit? When I counted calories in the past (10 years ago when I had a teenager's metabolism), I usually ate the same things at the same time daily and switched it up very rarely. I was considering doing that again for convenience's sake. Thoughts and opinions?
Eating the same things everyday doesn't result in a plateau...it would be really boring though.3 -
As stated above, calories are all that matter for weight loss. However, a variety of foods is more likely to be nutritionally complete.
I’ve found as a diabetic that eating similar meals most of the time makes my blood glucose easier to predict. However, I don’t want to get bored. So what I do is eat the same basic meal but add variety by swapping out add ons. For example my steel cut oats might be cooked with apples and walnuts, then topped with blueberries and peanut butter, or it might be cooked with pears and pecans, and topped with raspberries and almond butter. Taste is very different but the calories are almost identical and so is the effect on blood glucose.4 -
Eating the same thing each day should stop you over eating because you are not snacking. You don’t overeat because it doesn’t taste special on your taste buds0
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Thank you all for your input!
my problem has been primarily eating OMAD for the last... year or longer. Not intentionally. I'm rarely hungry and then once I "remember" that I haven't eaten, I binge. I know I was getting a lot of my calories from beverages as well (2 sodas daily and two cups of coffee with heavy creme). I'd usually wait until my husband got off work and then either cooked a huge meal (not concerned about the calories) around 6pm or we'd go out to a restaurant. Right now, I'm literally having to force myself to eat (about to make lentil soup because I'm sitting at 700 calories and I'm totally full). I've added 5x weekly cardio and 3x strength training in the last two weeks, but my hunger has still been non-existent. It's been a struggle to get up to 1,200+ calories each day, but I'm trying and trying to do so while getting a few portions from each food group. Right now I'm hitting all of my goals except Carbs, Vitamin A, Iron, and Potassium. But I'm trying to tweak it in such a way that I can get all of that in daily. Trial and error for now. (Did get vitamins and supplements, but trying to figure out how to get those from foods while reaching caloric needs.) That's mostly why I'm trying to just do similar meals daily, cause for now it's easier to eat the same things at the same time and know that I'm getting the necessary calories and nutrients. 1 -
I would die from boredom if I ate the same foods every day. Variety really is the spice of life.3
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stefa_roth wrote: »Thank you all for your input! my problem has been primarily eating OMAD for the last... year or longer. Not intentionally. I'm rarely hungry and then once I "remember" that I haven't eaten, I binge. I know I was getting a lot of my calories from beverages as well (2 sodas daily and two cups of coffee with heavy creme). I'd usually wait until my husband got off work and then either cooked a huge meal (not concerned about the calories) around 6pm or we'd go out to a restaurant. Right now, I'm literally having to force myself to eat (about to make lentil soup because I'm sitting at 700 calories and I'm totally full). I've added 5x weekly cardio and 3x strength training in the last two weeks, but my hunger has still been non-existent. It's been a struggle to get up to 1,200+ calories each day, but I'm trying and trying to do so while getting a few portions from each food group. Right now I'm hitting all of my goals except Carbs, Vitamin A, Iron, and Potassium. But I'm trying to tweak it in such a way that I can get all of that in daily. Trial and error for now. (Did get vitamins and supplements, but trying to figure out how to get those from foods while reaching caloric needs.) That's mostly why I'm trying to just do similar meals daily, cause for now it's easier to eat the same things at the same time and know that I'm getting the necessary calories and nutrients.
Make sure you’re weighing portions! Many people who have trouble eating 1200 calories are eating more than they realize. Also remember you need to fuel your exercise, 1200 is the minimum for a sedentary woman.
Also be aware not all labels list vitamin a, iron, or potassium, so you may be getting more than you realize.
Cutting out soda is a game changer for me, it’s much easier to stay within a calorie budget when I’m not eating the equivalent of a whole meal of nothing but liquid sugar.3 -
It should make no difference for weight management, as long as the chosen database entries and quantities are reasonably correct in both cases.
Personally, I'd find it more difficult to hit nutritional goals if I were totally consistent day to day (for example, I'll routinely vary veggies and fruits in the interest of getting more well-rounded macros, vs. eating the same ones all the time; and I tend to compensate for restaurant meals by varying the other meals to make up any macro shortages (I'm vegetarian, so restaurant meals are often protein-sparse)).
I think @pullum's final paragraph is exactly correct.
This.
I eat the same breakfast most days in that I have a 2 egg vegetable omelet with either smoked salmon, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, half an avocado, or other fruit on the side, but as you can see the sides vary, and so do the vegetables in my omelet.
I eat either dinner leftovers or one of a few different other things for lunch most days (right now I'm making soups to bring for lunch much of the time or else beans and rice plus veg, in summers I eat salad with protein on it most days). My dinners vary, but are pretty much based on the same template (protein, starch, and lots of veg of different types). If I'm high on cals from earlier in the day I might skip the starch.
So really basic unchanging patterns most of the time, which makes it easy and simple, but I would get bored if the foods were identical daily, and I do think it's nutritionally more beneficial to vary, especially with fruit and veg.
But none of this should matter for weight loss.2 -
I usually eat only one or two meals per day (of something I love) PLUS a usually decadent dessert w/coffee and cream a few hours after said meal and a late night snack everyday.
I daily drink 2-4 cups of exotic teas
some type of in season fruit and/or berries daily
green and/or blacks olives usually daily with a couple of Laughing Cow cheese wedges or mixed jello (like cherry and lime), something I love as a snack daily (as my late night snacks)
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Thanks again, all! This has all been really informative and helpful!0
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If you're drinking a fair number of calories, you may want to consider adding a protein shake or smoothy at some point in your day to add to your calories without weighing you down.
I frequently find myself with appetite issues and have found that I can usually fill some of my calorie allowance with a protein shake without killing what little appetite I have for "family meal."
It's not as good as real food, but also prevents me from wasting away while I'm trying to sort out some real food options that will work for the way I feel.0 -
ElizabethKalmbach wrote: »If you're drinking a fair number of calories, you may want to consider adding a protein shake or smoothy at some point in your day to add to your calories without weighing you down.
I frequently find myself with appetite issues and have found that I can usually fill some of my calorie allowance with a protein shake without killing what little appetite I have for "family meal."
It's not as good as real food, but also prevents me from wasting away while I'm trying to sort out some real food options that will work for the way I feel.
I haven't had the soda (or energy drinks or juice or creamer) in two weeks today. I did buy protein powder last week and have been considering doing smoothies, cause I've just been adding it to almond milk.
Thanks so much! I'm sure my appetite right now is suppressed due to stress (husband just deployed) and a high consumption of water, but like... I'm at the point of literally setting alarms in my phone as reminders to eat. I'm never hungry and when I am a cup of cereal and a cup of almond milk and a banana is usually enough.
Actively working on it though and being mindful! 3 -
@stefa_roth I've done the phone alarms thing. It makes it easier to get all the needed food in if you spread it out over the day instead of panicking and trying to put down 1200 calories at 8PM.
Seems like you've got a good plan and some fresh ideas to help you out. I hope your stress levels off soon!
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