Main problem? I hate sweet vegetables yet every bit of advice seems to want me to eat squashes, parsnips, sweet potatoes, swedes and suchlike. My tastes run to things like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach and ordinary potatoes (but good ones). I don't like lamb or pork, sausages or chorizo (especially chorizo) partial to a bit of roast beef, chicken, and lots of fish. Because of my dislikes my diet seems very 'samey' and I can't ring the changes as often as I'd like. I love bread and love sandwiches and I'm tempted down this road far too often when I can't think of a 'proper meal' I'd enjoy. Any ideas?
My diet is boring: Main problem? I hate... - Weight Loss Support
My diet is boring
ANGIEIRISHVisitor
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ANGIEIRISH
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springersruleModeratorHost76kg
Hi Angieirish, to me my diet is boring and samey too. Every breakfast is the same, every lunch is a h/m soup and most of my teas are either a salad or roasted veg with additions. And the salad is made up the same each time as are the roasted veg - very much broccoli and cauliflower heavy. Additions are meats - mainly chicken breast, chicken chipolatas or pepperoni, and occassionally bacon; egg and/or an item of fruit (banana, clementine, apple, sultanas or figs). I do experiment though with what i put in my soups veg wise and spice wise. I also used soft cheese (various flavours, sweet chilli at the moment) instead of mayo in my salads. Then occassionally i make something out of my comfort zone, this weekend i made stuffed Portobello mushrooms which were gorgeous. The next challenge is to make a cabbage dish (i dont like cabbage so this is a biggie for me).
My advise would be to start off with the foods you like and get into a routine. Then start experimenting with flavours. You will find a huge variation of food plans in the daily diaries on this forum so start lurking around them or join in if you can, and see what takes your fancy. If something looks/sounds good give it a go and if there's an item of produce you dont like just swap it for one you do.
To me the secret to my current weight loss (14 weeks so far) and to hopefully keeping it off this time, is to make sure I'm eating things that i like but in the right quantities, and balanced, and low carb. If you dont like something you'll find it really hard to stick to a plan.
Sorry this is a long post but i hope its useful to you. I wish you the best of luck on your journey and if you have questions, ask away. There is lots of support to be had from this group xx
Thanks for the encouragement. I guess I'm just fed-up with the sameness of everything and the slow weight loss. I love my food, mealtimes should be a treat but they are turning into anything but that. I do experiment with flavourings and my herb garden is extensive but then I always have used herbs and seasonings so there's nothing new there. I don't like Mayo but I use a lot of olive oil which I do love. Anyway, just hearing from you is helpful.
slipstickMaintainer2st 7lbs
You're not reading widely enough if every bit of advice you see wants you to eat those things. Have a look at some LCHF dietary advice as recommended by many folks round here. That will have you avoiding all those things in favour of more green vegetables. Of course that will also want you to avoid bread but you can't have everything.
Or just look at the Daily Diaries which contain a huge variety of different menus many of them with little or no root vegetables (or even chorizo).
Believe it or not I have perused the recipes and ideas here but honestly, I just can't enthuse about them. My fault I know, I'm just set in my ways. Thanks for taking the time to reply, it means something to me.
I'm afraid that if you're bored with what you're doing but you're not willing to change what you're doing then you're going to be a hard case to help.
I do wonder if you've actually tried any of the recipes here and in other places or if you've just looked and thought "That's not what I eat". I started here with a firm idea of what I like eating but since then I've tried quite a few things that looked slightly interesting and while some of them were not to my taste others are now on my list of favourites. Unfortunately with recipes you can't tell what they're going to taste like just by looking at the words. Good luck with your search for interesting food.
Yes, I have tried some of the recipes on here but like I said earlier, I accept the fault lies with me. I'll just keep on trying and bit by bit I'll win through. Thanks for your input.
TheAwfulToadVisitor
If the "sameness" of your meals is down to your dislikes, then no amount of advice is going to help 
I don't see anything wrong with making meals only from the things you enjoy eating as long as those things are not fattening - so that basically means not choosing bread/sandwiches as your go-to meal. You're quite right that mealtimes ought to be enjoyable, and it irritates me that the Experts insist that only joyless food is healthy. This isn't true.
Unfortunately it does seem to be an ingrained habit in the UK to just slap everything between two slices of bread - been there myself, and paid the price in excess poundage! If you think in terms of veg rather that starches as the base of your meal, with meat/eggs/dairy to taste, you'll end up with a healthy meal. It's not that there's anything wrong with bread (or starchy vegetables), but you do need to cut right back on these things for a short period in order to correct your appetite for them. Once you feel that you don't need to eat bread all the time, you'll know it's safe to bring it back again (in modest amounts).
Where you go from there is entirely up to you, but inevitably it means looking at lots of recipes and deciding which ones you want to try. Have you checked dietdoctor.com and carbdodging.com? They both have an extensive list of healthy recipes, so you're sure to find something there that you like.
Thanks for helpful reply.
Are you using the new pastas like chick peas pasta or soya ? Why not include something like that it could rock your world! You can use tomatoe sauce or make your own vinaigrette using olive oil balsamic vinegar mustard some spices. Add some feta cucumber celery and shrimp. I use rice crackers but they totally fall apart lol. But I eat it over the darn sink for my sandwich or I make tuna salad snd use rice crackers like a dip.
Thanks for your tips. I've tried chick pea and soya pasta but found the them not to be to my taste. Guess I'll just stick to making everything into a soup and eating my veg with fish (when my local fishmonger gets it in fresh) or chicken when I can get to the farm shop. I'm not an organic only person but I don't eat farmed fish or chicken and this limits my shopping sometimes. I'm lucky that my veg shop delivers twice weekly to me, not a veggie box but my own choice and my fishmonger buys from local fishermen. Against that I don't drive now and with the lockdown ............
I bought the fast 800 recipe book by Clare Bailey for inspiration, lots of delicious recipes that I can adapt. 800 calories aren’t enough for me but I just needed new ideas.
Perfectly understand that it can be boring as we all turn to our go to foods.
Good luck
Thank you. Your reply gives me more hope as you seem to have more understanding of where I am coming from! I've been down the 800 calories diet and then the 1,000 calorie diet and managed for a while, but then there comes that day when you just think "Why"? I've reached a good age and surely I should be able to enjoy what I want! That's the devil's advocate that sits on my shoulder, but I guess you know all about that.
I am with you but I hate being fat, I just like myself slimmer better. I try 5 days of being good and two days of eating what ever I feel like. Often it is 4:3 of being good but it does work for me. I know that if I get Covid I will be in a better place lighter so I try to focus on that. I have reduced bread and pasta but not given them up and it is working, but slowly 😂
I agree, I prefer to wear nice clothes that fit me well and not to have to hide a bulging stomach and hips on a small frame . I haven't thought of a 5:2 diet, might give this a try but like you, I think it might be 4.5:2.5!
I hope you can start finding recipes and healthy meals that you enjoy. Like others have said, this could involve some experimenting and trial and error! Good luck 🙂
Yep, I will. No problems. I'm just letting off steam and that helps.
Tony_SinghVisitor
As yourself whether you genuinely want to loose weight.
I start the day with oatmeal and fruits with yoghurt.
Have my exercise and then after exercise have a vegetarian meal before my evening exercise and evening meal.
My advantage is that I am a vegetarian and hence my body no longer craves fat saturated carverous products.
When I get the urge to binge eat I have some nuts, sultanas and more fruit.
Try roasting parsnips, carrots, butternut squash and make a good lentil Dall heavily infused with tomatos, onions and garlic.
Try saag, ie blended spinach, broccoli,cabbage and sprouts with garlic and Saute onions.
Discipline is not easy however it is worth it.
Remember I speak from experience I have been there and getting there is easy staying there is when it gets tough.
Ask yourself are you mentally there?
Thank you.
I appreciate some of your constraints you have demonstrated considerable constraint to keep your weight within parameters of tolerance.
How do you feel about going for a gentle walk or treating yourself to an elliptical training machine.
I walk every day as much as I can. I have mobility problems so cannot always do what I want, but I manage something every day - and I garden.
You are at a point in you maturing years where you are quite comfortable.
Enjoy your activities and do not worry about many of the fad diets.
Stay as active as you choose however eat as much fruit as you can.
Also the use of multi vitamins helps especially turmeric as it eases the joints.
Sent with kind regards, Tony Singh.
have you tried some light weights ? walking could lose muscle unless your exercising the large muscle groups and then your body will burn more fat at rest or try a few squats, lunges etc best of luck x
Can't do much more than walk due to severe back problems but thanks for the suggestions.
Hi cash56 and welcome to the Weight Loss forum. I see that you are a member of quite a few other forums and was wondering if you're just visiting or would you like to join us.
Whichever way is fine by us.
Not sure if this was meant for me. I'm not cash56 although I do dip in and out of different forums.
No, ANGIEIRISH my reply is for cash56, which is why I've tagged them.
Sorry, it came into my email box so I thought you had maybe misdirected it.
That's ok. You got an email because the original post is yours.
Paulssis2st 7lbs
Hi, I following s.w and don’t mind cooking most days, especially whilst In lockdown and not working. However a lot of healthy eating are boring salads and spicy foods which I am not keen on so I adapt the recipes to suit and find I can eat healthily and am not hungry. For example for b/f today I had fat free natural yoghurt with frozen (defrosted the night before) mixed berries. My lunch was 1 sm slice of whole meal bread with bacon (all visible fat removed) fried egg using dry fry, and small amount of tinned spaghetti in tomato sauce. For my tea it is chicken breast, mix of sweet potato and ordinary potatoes, mashed with small amount of quark and small amount of plain yoghurt ( makes em a bit creamy) broccoli, cabbage and carrots which were made yesterday so only have to warm em up. I am going to make a sugar free jelly and put som frozen berries in ready for tomorrow as I do like something sweet. I struggle on an evening as my hubby eats chocolate and peanuts every evening which is oh so tempting but most days I manage to resist.
Like you I love fish so I do tend to alternate meat one day, fish the next and I do make lots of soup, mushroom being my favourite so can always find some soup in the freezer if I either can’t be bothered or run out of time.
Take care.
I am realising that this site and forum is used by people of a wide cross section of years.
I am from an Asian background and my dietary preferences are significantly different from a Caucasian.
The only real common thread is fruit.
The vegetables I eat are curried and spiced heavily with Chillies and especially Garlic and Tomatoes. I have more of a bond with the mainstream European and certain Middle Eastern diets.
So probably we differ significantly from a dietary perspective.
However what type of exercise do you partake in.
Hi tony, I like garlic but not too strong. And do like Chinese. It’s a good job you not as boring as me. I get told lots of times by my friends I will like something they made and am always willing to try but must be my palate cos I don’t. Fruit I love and I think I could very easily live on fruit.
Exercise , mmm suppose I had better be honest here. The only exercise I doing at present is walking every day and trying my best to do a few more steps each time. Unfortunately at the moment I am struggling with my kidneys so have quite a lot of back pain. But again, being perfectly honest I didn’t exercise much before this. Just plain idle and most of my hobbies involve being sat on my you know what.
Take care
I am sorry to hear about some of your exercise limitations.
The drink I find very useful is Pomegreat Pommegranit Juice.
It is about £1.50 per litre in Tesco and is amazing for a detox and very good at flushing the kidneys and helping urination. It also has high levels of Vitamin C.
As a vegetarian I am blessed to be able to enjoy copious quantities of Garlic and Chillies. These flavour vegetables beautifully.
The other Asian spice that may help you is Tumeric very good for helping with aches and pains especially in the middle years.
It is important to keep the body hydrated as this shall also help flush toxins through the body and cleans the kidneys.
The only other huge piece of advice is not to use alcohol though ultimately it is a matter of choice between healthy practices or activities which are clearly detrimental to one's health.
I trust this is of assistance to you.
Thx for the info, will try it. Luckily I don't drink any alcohol, think the last time I did was about 3 years ago when a friend made me a Pimm's knowing I liked fruit. It's not that I don't like a drink, it's the drink that doesn't like me so easier just not to drink.
It is good to hear that you are one of those decent people who does not use alcohol.
To be honest alcohol is such a waste of money and such a waste of calories when people are trying to manage their weight.
Just try and stay focused where possible and also remember if you get those cravings autumnal root wegetables when roasted with a little olive oil are very filling and very comforting.
People sometimes winge re cheap carbohydrates however steamed new potatoes with mint sauce and a little seasoning and olive oil are also very filling and do not pack on the calories.
Regards Tony.
I use garlic in all my cooking and use the roasted cloves as a spread but I use chillies very sparingly as I prefer that the taste of detoxing agent. I think drinking wine is part of a civilised lifestyle and there's nothing I like more than spending time with my friends in Italy and Spain, eating and drinking healthily. Two of my Italian friends are over 90, make their own wine, drink at both lunch and dinner time and manage to cycle every day.
We all have our dietary preferences and you are in your autumnal phase and you have your preferences regarding food and drink.
The only real input is that enjoy your pleasures and just try and balance up the calories as you deem necessary.
Sent with kind regards, Tony.
ANGIEIRISHVisitor
Your diet looks more calorie heavy than mine is but then I'm short in height so my BSI is given as 8st.7lbs which I haven't been since I was in my thirties and I'm now on the other side of 80! I'm not aiming for that, I don't care what they say. 9st. would be great if I could get there, but although I'm only 7 lbs. off that it's the inches that don't budge on me and that is so depressing. My intake today has been handful of cereal with fresh berries this morning, home made veggie soup for lunch with half a ciabatta roll plus one clementine and for dinner I'm having wild salmon with broccoli, beans, potatoes followed by stewed apples and creme fraiche (my treat and my sweetness). I use honey to sweeten the apples as I hate artificial sweetener taste. I also have a glass or wine with my dinner, sometimes two.
I slice an eating apple and pan fry it in butter with a bit of cinnamon or cloves. I find I don't need any sweetener when I do it that way. I enjoy it with creme fraiche
Now that's a really nice idea, I like the sound of the buttered apple!
Here was one of its outings healthunlocked.com/weight-l...
Lytham3 stone
There'll be lots of idea on The Daily Diary, would you like to join us and post your menu for tomorrow? Here's the link, I hope to see you there x
healthunlocked.com/weight-l...
Thanks for the link but I can never decide what to eat the day before, or even that morning. It depends on what time I get up and if I fancy breakfast or not. Sometimes I'll have breakfast about 9.30 or so, then have my meal at 4.00 or 4.30 and maybe some fruit or other dessert about 9.00 pm. I don't go to bed much before 2.00 a.m. so I need to have something round about 9.00 or so.
That's fine, it might help you plan your day and normally once I've said it out loud it helps me stick to it, you know where we are if you change your mind x
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