I am at a point where I am just a little bit tired of eating the same things all the time. DH always says...if it's not broke, don't fix it. However, I feel like adding some new recipes. Sometimes when I do that - I'll over eat. I guess it's a viscious cycle.

What I do know is that I must keep on doing what I am doing to get where I want to go. Last week - every night I was dreaming about chocolate and pizza. (yes, really). So over the weekend - I had both. It was delicious and it worked out OK. But, it's 'dangerous territory' for me.

It's important to find a way to live happily with food.

Just curious on how it works for you.

I love to cook and try new foods, so for me, it's a MUST to change things up every once in a while. There are some things I like to eat over and over again - lately I've had yogurt and blueberries for breakfast for well over a month and the idea isn't getting old. They're still yummy. But for lunches and dinners, I need variety.

I subscribe to Cooking Light magazine, I pull recipes from the internet, I read a whole bunch of cooking blogs, and so forth. I'll sit down on a Sunday and plan my meals to include new recipes from those sources as well as my old standbys.

.

I stick with the same thing; when I get too varied with my diet it ultimately leads me down the wrong path.

Some days when I'm tired or want to eat off plan it's just 'easier' (in the loosest of terms!) just to stick to plan, to eat the same thing that I ate yesterday and will eat tomorrow and not have to 'think' about it. Treating food for what it is - fuel for my body - is sometimes the only way I can get through the day

(Although today I spent all day dreaming of chocolate flapjack... sigh! Ran this morning and went to the gym this evening instead lol)

I stick with the same things most of the time although I might slightly alter things. Dinners can vary, lunch may vary slightly (very slightly), but pretty much day time foods are the same.

I stick to some staples between meals as snacks. I usually will take carrots, celery, red peppers and/or granola to work with me. As far as meals go, I'll generally rotate out a huge menu of about thirty items I know are within my daily caloric/fat intake limit, but are super yummy! This means that my refrigerator's always stocked, but with nothing that'll really blow my diet.

By the way, pizza is a necessity (try veggie thin crust no extra cheese just to kick the craving), and the occasional chocolate kiss (incorporated into your daily caloric value) is not a sin. The more you tire of the same menu, the more tempting the double fudge chocolate mousse cake! LOL

Good luck!

I actually love pizza but I order it with no cheese and it is awesome

I have a staple of foods that I eat each week. Breakfast is pretty much the same everyday. Now and then I do have pancakes instead of toast. I have certain things I eat for lunch and certain things I eat for dinner. People laugh because they know what we are having for dinner by what day of the week it is. I have always been that way lol. I have so many different things that I eat I have plenty to mix and match.

I get bored if I get in a rut, but it's easy to do.
I do cook the same stuff over and over, but I try to experiment with a couple of new recipes each week. I've found lots of new favorites this way.
nelie, funny I eat the cheese without the pizza!

My breakfasts and snacks are pretty consistent, although my fruits mix up depending what is in season.

Lunches are invariably whatever I had for dinner the night before, so they vary based on what I cook.

Dinners - I vary on what is in season, what I feel like, what is on sale...I probably have 10-15 or so different dinners for each season that I go through, matching the menu to what I can get at my produce stand, what meats are reduced price-wise, etc. I'm a variety-loving girl. I also have several meals of the "meat/starch/veggie" variety, where the veggies and starches rotate around to create unique menus.

I ate pizza and chocolate last week too, which I'm pretty sure is the reason I only lost half a pound this week. But it's a new week, and it worked out okay for me too. I know what you mean about dangerous territory, though.

Anyway, to answer your question: I tend to panic a little if I don't know the exact amount of calories in whatever I'm eating, so I'm scared of new recipes that don't have that information attached to them. I do get kind of bored of my old stand-bys after awhile, though, so this past week I went hunting on SparkRecipes for something new. The recipes come with serving size and calorie count, so I'm alright there.

The thing I do to stop myself from overindulging is to divide the food I make into portions before I even eat any of it. I split it up into tupperware right away so that I know I'm eating one portion instead of 1 1/2 or two or even three. I live alone so I pretty much eat the same thing for lunch and another recipe for dinner every day for a whole week. Then the next week I make new lunches and dinners, but my menu is pretty much the same all week long, if that makes any sense. Breakfast just depends on what time I'm working that day.

I pretty much stick to the same things by season. When I do start getting bored with it, I may change up one meal and/or snack. For instance if it's my breakfast that is bland, I will change a couple brekkys here and there. If it's a lunch, then I'll change up the lunches. I try not to change up too much at once or it will send me into an out-of-control spiral.

As for shaking things up, I'm gonna start a body for life challenge the first of June.

Go to the local Farmer's Market! Or produce stand, or if you can't find one, go to the best produce section you can find each week. You get a chance to vary your diet a LOT by buying what is in season. I buy a ton of veggies every week and then feel compelled to eat them and not let them go back. It makes for a lot of variety and I don't get bored with my lunches and dinners

workday breakfast is coffee v8 and a hard boiled egg
workday snack is oatmeal with milk and fruit either banana or apple
workday lunch is almost always a salad with feta, protein and dressing
workday snack is almost always coffee carrots and hummus
dinner will vary but it will usually be salad, protein a hot veggie and maybe sweet potato or quinoa.
snack is almost always a nsa healthy choice fudge pop or an apple w/peanut butter

weekend breakfast is eggs with veggies

the rest stays the same

i guess i've pretty much eaten the same thing for two years.

I have some items that I keep in the house at all times. But, I keep my menu varied because if I get bored with my food - I find that I will snack on things to fill a "void" that I think that I have. If I keep a variety in my diet - I find that I am pretty much satisfied most of the time and I stay on track that way.

Breakfast is almost always the same because it's what my husband and daughter insist on: bread, butter, jam, cheese and fruit. I'm not a breakfast person, but I know it's important so I have a small breakfast each morning with my family.

Lunch is our main meal and it varies with the season. I love to try new recipes and try to find something that everyone likes. My kids won't eat meat, so we have vegetarian lunches at least twice a week-- the rest of the time, they just have to pick around the meat.

Dinner is often leftovers from lunch or a big salad. Except on Friday nights. Friday night is pizza night-- when I'm at my best it's made with homemade wholewheat crust and lots of veggie toppings, and then other times it's a delicious, double cheese, guilt-inducing fat bomb.