Carlos Solis
Researchers at Drexel University and the Oregon Research Institute (USA) found convincing evidence that eating the same meals every day helps with weight loss over several months.
Sure, that sounds a little bleak, since people naturally crave variety — especially in their food. Past research has also repeatedly stressed the health benefits of eating a range of nutritious foods.
But new data show that choosing the same meals each day can be helpful, particularly for people trying to lose weight. In fact, a routine, balanced diet may produce more effective weight loss than a flexible, varied plan.
“Maintaining healthy eating in today’s food environment requires constant effort and self-control. Building food habits can reduce that burden and make choosing healthy foods more automatic,” says healthcare psychologist Charlotte Hagerman of the Oregon Research Institute, the study’s lead author.
How eating the same meals every day can help you lose weight
In the study, Dr. Hagerman and her colleagues analyzed food diaries from 112 adults with overweight or obesity. All of them were participating in a structured behavioral weight-loss program.
During the first three months of the program, participants who ate the same meals and snacks every day — and those who kept a consistent eating pattern — typically lost more weight than participants who chose different foods or varied their calorie intake.
In the end, those who ate more monotonously lost an average of 5.9 percent of their body weight, while those who ate more varied meals lost 4.3 percent. A report in the journal Health Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA) described the difference as small. But that gap could become meaningful over the long term if people manage to maintain their weight loss.
The study authors also calculated that for each 100-calorie-per-day reduction in the diet, a participant’s weight decreased by 0.6 percent over the same period.
This is one of the first studies to track in real time how regular consumption of the same meals contributes to weight loss over several months.
The researchers concluded that the day-to-day variety of foods in our environment can interfere with weight-loss programs.
“If we lived in a healthier food environment, we could encourage people to eat as varied a diet as possible. But today’s food environment is too problematic. People might do best with a more monotonous diet that helps them make healthier choices, even if that means sacrificing some variety in nutrients,” Hagerman explained.
