Does anyone have any advice on whether it is better to eat the same meals every day versus varied, yet similar calorie, meals?
I'm trying to get back on plan after maintaining my initial 80 lb weight loss (within about 10 lbs) for several years now. I am ready to resume my loss, started back on plan yesterday, but I feel like my safety net is with packaged foods (Weight Watchers/Amy's meals) to help me count calories.
I'm a bit worried that I will not get the healthiest options this way. Thanks!
I personally like a varied diet. I need to not get bored with things. If I eat the same thing every day I could sabotage what I have worked so hard to establish. I eat the prepackaged things on occasion like when I'm really in the mood for pizza, I get the lean cuisine pizza for 350 calories and I eat a large salad with it and my whole dinner is usually less than 400 calories.
I would try to eat more fresh foods and steer away from the prepackaged stuff because they tend to be so high in sodium which can put a damper on my weight loss. But that is just my humble opinion.
Well, calorie wise, it won't matter if they're coming from the same foods, or from a variety of foods. Burn more calories than you take in, and you're going to
Nutrient wise, it's an entirely different story. The human body is made to eat foods from a wide variety of sources...you may get all your servings of veggies in for a day, but if you're eating all broccoli, for example, you're going to get lots of the nutrients in BROCCOLI, but not all of the nutrients you need. Compare that to having a couple servings of a couple of veggies one day, and a couple servings of different veggies the next day...you're going to get a wider variety of nutrients that way.
So if you're going to eat the same things every day, you're going to have to work to make sure those things are as varied as possible. It can be hard to fit that kind of variety in a single day, which is why eating a varied diet across a week or month is going to be better, nutritionally, than eating the same small set of foods daily.
You also have to, with processed foods, watch your sodium and preservatives. It can be hard to keep those in check while eating frozen/processed meals.
Thanks for the replies! I now I eat the exact same thing every day for breakfast and lunch - Smart ones meals.
For breakfast it is the english muffin with egg and cheese
For lunch it is the Three cheese ziti marinara
I eat this every single week day. I do not plan on changing this because it is so convenient, and has become such a habit.
I am worried about dinner though because my first thought was to eat an Amy's meal every day. It seems like this may not be my healthiest option. I was planning on having varied types of Amy's meals, but for the ease of calorie calculation and preparation, that was my thought.
So, sounds like nutritionally I have to plan more carefully. I am also vegetarian.
Are you adding any fresh fruits or veggies to your packaged meals? I would be concerned that a packaged meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day would not be the healthiest choice. It will probably be easy and help you to stay on track with losing the weight, but it's not going to allow you to learn how to prepare low-calorie, healthy meals for the long run (unless you're planning to eat packaged meals forever).
I'm a firm believer in moderation so I'd say that if you are adding a piece of fruit to your breakfast or having fresh fruit mid-morning, and then having a fruit or veggie with your lunch or mid-afternoon, then your 2 packaged meals a day are probably fine. But I would strongly recommend that you try to make your daily dinners something that is not packaged. Keep in mind that you are not getting the best ingredients in the prepackaged meals and they generally have more salt and preservatives than you would make yourself. Learning to prepare a healthy dinner of pasta, beans, veggies, etc. is going to benefit you now and in the long run with maintaining your weight loss for years to come.
I've been juicing for 2 weeks, fruits and vegetables. At first it seemed to help me lose a little weight, but then I increased my portion or juice and I gained a bit. I am still learning how much to juice in a day, but I plan on having some juice a few times per week.
For me, prepackaged meal are a lot of sodium and not much bulk. I do eat a lot of the same things every day (I have 2-3 favorite breakfasts, 2-3 favorite lunches and rotate between 10 usual dinners, although I do try to experiment with new recipes for dinner, my snacks are usually always the same). I focus on fruits, vegetables, lean protein and whole grains though.
It's not that much more complicated to make lunches in advance. I almost always take salad for lunch (but I have about 5 favorite salads I rotate through - spicy BBQ, asian, Greek, beet/feta etc). I make them on Sunday and just grab and go during the week, just as easy as grabbing a packaged meal out of the freezer.
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I tend to eat the same few meals all the time. For me, a big part of it is cost. I can't afford to buy a bunch of different kinds of veggies, salad toppings, etc, every week. What I do instead is just pick one or two veggies for the week, one or two protein sources, one or two fruits, etc and make meals around those till they are gone. At that point, if I want to choose something different, I will, for the next week. Some ingredients last a lot longer, so I get some variety that way, like some things are frozen or canned in oil, and those will last a long time, especially the costco size, so that helps. I don't eat any processed or pre-packaged meals, since I don't want the sodium.
I eat the same thing every day for like 5-6 day runs, pretty much for convenience. Personally I don't mind the monotony, and having to prepare only one meal every 6 days or so makes dieting SO much easier.
Personally I don't think it has had any negative side effect on my weight loss- of course it is always difficult to compare, because I don't have a control subject to base this conclusion upon (which is always the case with anecdotal advice, so keep that in mind).
However, I must add, I DO calorie cycle, but I use snacks to vary my daily calorie intake and my main meals tend to be constant.
I know that juicing is trendy right now, and it's better than eating no freggies (fruits and veggies), but in juicing you're throwing away what may be the "best," healthiest part.
For weight loss, it may not matter, but for health variety really is important. A daily vitamin can plug small holes in a reasonably balanced diet, but can't really compensate for an unbalanced diet.
Most frozen and prepackaged meals, no matter how healthy they try to be, tend to be high in sodium, high in starchy carbohydrates and very low in the non-starchy freggie department. Calcium is also usually under-represented, so you may need to supplement with dairy, fish with bones (in canned sardines or salmon) or calcium supplements.
How much variety is necessary for optimal healthy? Most research suggests the more the better, so do what you can.
One way is to make sure that your freggies come in a wide array of colors. That doesn't mean you have to eat every color every week, and it doesn't mean they have to be fresh. Frozen freggies can be one of the easiest and most economical ways to compensate for the some of the limitations of frozen dinners (or otherwise skewed diets). Walmart for example, has some really good frozen veggie blends. The Walmart brand asparagus stir fry and snap pea stir fry blends are excellent, and only about $1.80 for a lb bag. California blend (cauliflower, broccolli, and carrot) is the cheapest, and can often be found for $1/lb. And the plus side of the frozen veggie or fruit blends, is that they usually contain at least 3 or more colors (Red, orange, yellow, dark green, light green, white, purple). There are a lot of great frozen mixed fruits also (I usually buy fresh though, except for berries and sometimes pineapple).
A couple easy and quick ways I add freggies.
Veggie salad - mix frozen veggies (with optional fresh mix-ins like onions, celery, pepper rings, grape tomatoes or olives) with light salad dressing (store-bought or home made) and allow to thaw in the fridge. Ready to eat when thawed (usually by dinner time, if I make it the evening before).
Veggie soup - V-8 and canned broth (or water and soup base or bouillon) with fresh, frozen, canned veggies of any mix (frozen and canned are quickest of course) This can be made in any quantities, but I often make a small amount using small cans of V-8 (6 to 12 oz) and a half or full can (15 to 16 oz) can of chicken broth.
Sorbet or slushy
In a blender, whiz frozen fruit (I like berries and/or pineapple) and diet beverage (flavored water, club soda, diet Sprite, or even just water). If the fruit isn't very ripe, you may want to sweeten a bit, with the sweetener of your choice - just a little liquid will yield sorbet, more liquid and you get a slush, add milk or yogurt and you have a smoothie.
Just a thought from when I first read your post (and, when you look at my ticker, if you think, what the blank does She Know?, I would quite understand).
You are 2/3 of your way to goal.
You have lost a fantastic amount, many congratulations!
Your post sounds a bit like you're afraid of food.
If not, sorry, if so, I Do understand. Last time I lost weight, I also lost my fear of food big style, and so here I am again.
There has to be a middle place between fear and stuffing your face. So I wondered if it might be a good pre-maintenance thing for you to carry on with your 2 fixed meals a day but take the risk of being more adventurous with the 3rd meal, and add in the fresh fruit and veggies that others have suggested.
KT--when I first began I ate the frozen dinners as my safety net too. It did work but I am so much happier eating whole foods. They are much more filling and I know so much better for me. I also find that when I am eating them I rarely get cravings--so I would say they satiate me as well.
I relied on Lean Cuisines (and still do), but these days I've branched out. I'll cook up a bunch of chicken breast fillets and have them on hand. I used the microwaveable packages of green beans, or I'll cook up a bunch of broccoli or asparagus or spinach or summer squash or potatoes or rice and have that on hand, too. That way it's almost as convenient as a pre-packaged meal, but I can get more bulk.
I don't think there is anything wrong with convenience if it helps you stay on your plan to lose. But I also think variety is important, especially for the lifestyle change part of the program. Even when I was eating a lot more LCs, I would supplement with salads and other vegetables.
If there is something I truly enjoy, and it has a low calorie count, I tend to eat it every day. It just makes shopping and planning that much easier. For example, Laughing Cow Cheese is now a staple in my house! It also saves money.... I can buy a big box of oranges at Costco and eat one every day. Doesn't bother me a bit.
I think that just counting calories in general has made me eat a more nutritious diet than I was before.
I know there are different schools of thought on juicing. I am trying it for a while to see if it makes me feel better, but I am still eating other things - whole fruits and veggies.
I wouldn't say that I am afraid of food - but it is fair to say I am afraid of the calories!
I will keep an eye on the sodium, for sure. I know that will impact the scale loss.
Same Food Every Day?
