Can you eat the same, exact, meals everyday?

I can. I can because I love evey meal I make for myself. Narrowing down some of my favorites to 3 or 4 is easy because I make my own meals. Who has time to make something different every single day? By making large amounts of the same foods you can simply pack up a few days worth of portions at the ready, and by making the same meals, you become efficient at preparing your foods quickly.

In the past two years I have strayed away from the "luxury of no choice", as Tim quotes me in the book 4HB. The luxury of no choice is when you preplan your meals in order to take away the descision making in order to focus on other things besides food. I eat the same basic foods everyday, a salad, a soup or stew or chili (in the cold months this is 2 of my 3-4 meals), a smoothie, and some kind of snack. Pnb and veg, nuts and raisins, lentils or farro and raisins, seasonal fruit, etc.

Eating the same basic foods everyday is not eating the same exact foods everyday! After reading 4HB I was reminded of some of my "dieting philosophies" and this particular very important and successful habit. This philosophy applies to 4-5 days out of seven. I have always been a believer in a high calorie day, followed by a low calorie day. The "high calorie" day is also known as the "cheat day", or the binge. I have written about this many times, but will retouch on the subject in another blopost.

Because I don't have a formal job my schedule is all over the place! I have too many choices, and so, like my menu, it changes everyday. It's easy to lose track, or to wait too long to eat, therefore getting too hungry and overeating. Sure, I have food at the ready in my fridge 99% of the time, but it's not preportioned. So when I get too hungry I serve myself bigger portions. Also when I don't have preportioned meals, I'll grab a handful of nuts, dried fruit, crackers, cheese, etc., while waiting to heat something up. Oh, and let's not forget the candy! I'll be honest and tell you that I have a few pieces of my favorite chocolate carmels in the mid-mornings, mostly inbetween a double yoga class (not first thing!), or at bedtime...aren't I spoiled?

So, for the past few weeks I've gone back to eating the same exact meals for at least 1/2 of my day, and now I'm ready to add in a little more structure. Why do I need more structure? Because as I mentioned, I have other things to focus on, and food isn't one of them!

I can tell you right now what my meals M-F will be this week.

cabbage salad (protein and dressing may vary)

spicy beef and veg soup

butternut squash and cottage cheese smoothie

lentils

raisins, or prunes

1 serving of nuts or pnb

1 piece of fresh fruit

1-2 glasses of red wine with dinner

oh....and my morning coffee and cream....and maybe a couple chocolate carmels!

I already have enough prepared and portioned foods for today, so this morning I'll be preparing to restock the rest of the week. I will pressure cook my beef soup, pc my lentils and shred more salad ingredients.

One of the keys to eating the same meals everyday is to chose foods that you love and look forward to eating, and fit within your nutritional and caloric parameters. (I can fit wine and a couple of pieces of candy into my parameters...fyi!)

PS picture above is a meal I had at my WCBFF house, Jen M., in Santa Barbara this past Nov. I taught Jen how to pressure cook pork shoulder (Fawn, my MWBFF, taught me!), and she served these tacos with a beautiful large salad. I could eat this everyday, no problem!

pps wcbff is west coast best friend forever, and mwbff is midwest best friend forever, lol!