The weight loss surgery diet is pretty structured. Your choices are so limited on the liquid diet (a little chicken broth, anyone? Oh, no thanks, maybe I’ll go with beef broth instead for lunch today!) and on the pureed foods diet. Even once you get to semi-solid and solid foods, you don’t have much flexibility since you need to eat your Protein first, your veggies next, and there’s not much room left after that.

So it makes sense that once you find a meal pattern that works, and meals you like, that you stick to them. Soon, it becomes a habit, and maybe a rut. For me, I’m perfectly happy eating Greek yogurt with blueberries every day for Breakfast. Some chicken breast with broccoli makes an easy dinner. A tuna salad makes a quick lunch. For snack? Apples seem to come up quite a bit!

So, I guess you could say I’m in a bit of a food rut. Between lack of time, lack of desire to cook (you could call it laziness, I suppose), and the fact that it basically works and I’m happy with it, I eat pretty much the same things day in and day out.

What are some of your food ruts – either your favorite meals or your regular daily menus? Or are you a little more motivated or more of a foodie, and you switch up your foods all the time?

Well, I drink a protein shake EVERY morning. Mainly because my stomach is so tight in the morning I can't handle food. Trust me I tried two days ago and it didn't go well. I do like to switch it up for lunch and dinner though. I have some main "snack" type foods I eat if I can fit them into my tracker for the day like the kind bar. I try not to eat processed foods to often but I was stuck on the new meat and cheese roll-ups they sale. They are easy to cut up on some shredded lettuce for lunch. So at times I get in food ruts but I usually get sick of whatever it is. I have issues with changing my complete diet up like one week I was just juicing, the next week I was back to "normal" and then I was "vegetarian" for a week and then when I feel like my stomach is being stressed I will switch back to a few days of only protein shakes and a light dinner like today to give my stomach a rest. I'm all over the place but it works.

Here are some things I eat at least 5 days a week:

Breakfast - GNC Lean 25 Protein shake (Swiss Chocolate) and skinny latte (half coffee, half skim milk)

Snack - Dannon Oikos Greek non-fat vanilla yogurt (5.3 ounce container)

Snack - Red Delicious apple

Snack - 1 glass skim milk

I also eat a lot of grilled chicken, grilled salmon, grilled zucchini (getting the theme?).

Protein shakes and Greek Yogurt.

My kids five me a hard time because I literally panic when I am down to 3-4 yogurts in the fridge (my husband also eats one daily so that's only two day worth tops, maybe one!)

I literally have a whole shelf in my fridge devoted to it.

Deli meat (Butterball think sliced turkey) and cheese (sargentos ultra thin cut sharp cheddar) too. A slice of turkey rolled around half a slice of cheese. I do vary the type of mustard and on occasion opt for the Swiss cheese. There is a tupperware box of these in my fridge at all times!

I like being in a food rut! :-) I'm kinda paranoid about allowing myself to look forward to or crave certain flavors again. I work hard to not care about the flavors I'm eating.

I'm never going back to that pre-op lifestyle where food had control over me. I have convinced myself that whether it's Brussel sprouts or pizza, they are equal in how much I like the flavors, so I might as well eat Brussel sprouts. :-)

My favorite goto meals are: roasted pork loin/roasted chicken/eggs and Brussel sprouts/cauliflower/broccoli

Protein bars: OhYeah! Victory bars - chocolate chip cookie dough/cookies and cream

Drinks: Crystal Light lemonade/coffee

I know it sounds kinda dull and boring, but I want it that way. :-)

I eat a LOT of shrimp and seafood salad. I also eat a lot of chicken salad. If it's meat and mayo, I eat it.

cheese. I eat cheese. I love cheese. Add some lunch meat and I have a meal. Ham and gouda, roast beef and provolone, turkey and pepper jack, pepperoni and mozzarella, meat and cheese is where it's at.

Yup.

That's my menu most days.

@@joatsaint, like the meme!

I'm not sure if I'm in a rut. I'm just not connecting to food at all right now. I can't think of things I actually want to eat right now.

I'm definitely in the low-fat Greek yogurt and fruit for breakfast rut, though.

I have Chobani key lime blend yogurt every day for breakfast. I will add in about 6 raspberries or blueberries or cherries etc. to change it up a little. I love, love, love it! For my other meals I mix it up quite a bit.

cheese, cheese , cheese!

I eat cottage cheese every single day. Sometimes for lunch, sometimes for part of my dinner.

For breakfast it is a Protein shake everyday.

I also eat a lot of skinless boneless chicken breasts prepared many different ways so I don't get bored

Fresh vegetables - the farmers market is my favorite place to go every weekend!

For Snacks -,pistachios, more cheese, apple with Peanut Butter and pudding

breakfast is the hardest for me. I avoid carbs like the plague and i absolutely abhor oatmeal. SO what do you do. im not a fruit fan, its a texture thing, sure i like apples and pears. or pretty much any fruit blended into a Protein shake. Yes protein shakes are still my biggest rut food. I have one for lunch at work 5 days a week, as its quick, easy and lets face it zero sugar zero carbs, 30 grams of protein..whatsnot to like, and I actually enjoy the taste.

But breakfast, yes turkey bacon every day pretty much. or a scrambled egg or sometimes a scrambled egg with cheese,,

These are a few of my favorite things.

I like yogurt but even the light and fit yogurts all have at least 6 to 7 grams of sugar, and has carbs that equates to the same as a bowl of cheerios. I like others, am so fearful of sugar and carbs that yogurt scares me too much.

in a quick and easy mood, tuna in a small green salad is my go to for dinner. but normal dinner is chicken usually in some kind of sauce or marinade.

I see this as a strategy for success, rather than a rut. Research has backed the claim that eating the same foods for 1-2 meals helps automate the process of eating after surgery. I posted this research in a separate post titled, "Pick and Stick" as this is the title of the strategy Dr. Oz has given it.

breakfast is the hardest for me. I avoid carbs like the plague and i absolutely abhor oatmeal. SO what do you do. im not a fruit fan, its a texture thing, sure i like apples and pears. or pretty much any fruit blended into a protein shake. Yes protein shakes are still my biggest rut food. I have one for lunch at work 5 days a week, as its quick, easy and lets face it zero sugar zero carbs, 30 grams of protein..whatsnot to like, and I actually enjoy the taste.

But breakfast, yes turkey bacon every day pretty much. or a scrambled egg or sometimes a scrambled egg with cheese,,

These are a few of my favorite things.

I like yogurt but even the light and fit yogurts all have at least 6 to 7 grams of sugar, and has carbs that equates to the same as a bowl of cheerios. I like others, am so fearful of sugar and carbs that yogurt scares me too much.

in a quick and easy mood, tuna in a small green salad is my go to for dinner. but normal dinner is chicken usually in some kind of sauce or marinade.

Actually Cheerios have 22 g of carbs per serving. Quite a bit more than Greek yogurt! And the carbs in no sugar added yogurt are all from lactose, much lower glycemic index than Cheerios.

Regular bacon is also good for you in moderation, I usually eggs in the morning, boiled, over easy, soft, omelettes, etc I Also will add cheese sometimes, dinners vary from grilled chicken to tilapia to a lot of stir fry( I learned to Wok earlier this year) I also found a rainbow Sherbet that is carb friendly, and I utilize several websites for fast food and restaurant carb friendly places, I cheat in moderation lol, one of the most surprising ones to me was Panda Express, they several offerings, my fav is Kung Pao Chicken w/ stir fry veggies, usually I normally average 300-400 cal per day, under 60 carbs, and 60-85g of protein, I used to be at 2500-3000 cal per day, and I average 3oz portions, I'm happy with that!!!!!!

My food ruts are:

Eggs

Grilled chicken

Shrimp

Fish

Cheese

In try to vary things up, but these items are my go to foods.

Premier Protein shake every morning.

Greek yogurt after my workout.

Tuna salad, seafood salad or veggie burger for lunch

Jerky, almonds or cheese sticks for snacks...sometimes fruit

Grilled (name a protein) with a veggie for dinner

I swear this is my menu 90% of the time. Yup, you could say in a rut

I am in a rut too. Lol. I love my click coffee protein shake with milk every morning. I eat string cheese, boiled eggs, tuna salad and my favorite....boca veggie chicken patty with a slice of cheese on top. Those are my favorite go to foods. Today though...I had a in and out cheeseburger protein style wrapped in lettuce and it was so good. Obviously I would never do this on a regular basis but I needed a change. I also found a good meat at Applebee. They have a grilled lemon chicken with quinoa. Its under 540 calories. I just ate the chicken though so it was less. Its nice every once in a while to do something different