What can you do to simplify your life, lose weight and stay on a budget all at once?

Eat the same basic food on a regular basis – that’s what!!

I know that in a culinary Mecca such as New Orleans the thought of eating the same basic food on a regular basis might be a repulsive and insulting thought, but lets face it – although we would love to constantly partake in our New Orleans’ yummy favorites…it’s not something our wallets or waistline can handle.

Eating the same basic food on a regular basis has three major benefits: It simplifies your life, it’s ideal to maintain or lose weight and it will allow you to stick to a budget (well at least a food related budget).

Simplifies your Life

One of the most common questions in all households is: What’s for dinner?!? Well, if you are eating the same meals/food on a weekly basis than you always know what’s for dinner. There’s a lot of comfort to be gained from this.  No wondering, stressing, and worrying about what you’re going to eat.  Your meals are planned out for the entire week.

It also makes grocery shopping a snap. You can easily be in and out of the grocery store because you know exactly what you’re looking for, where to find it and how much of it you need.  This leads us to how you are able to stick to a budget.

Stick to a Budget

Because you are eating and buying the same foods from week to week – you can budget your weekly grocery bills and stick to it. It might differ by $5 – $15 dollars a week based on the price of meats and some other products but for the most part; you’ll know exactly what you can expect to spend.

Maintain and Lose Weight

To maintain your weight, you must maintain the same calories intake – to lose weight, you must reduce your calorie intake.  Simple.  Even simpler once you have figured out your calories and nutritional recommended daily allowances; the optimal breakdown of calories, Fat, Protein, Carbs, fiber, and vitamins and minerals.  You can then appropriately plan your meals and stick to the same meals; it takes all the guess work out of maintaining and losing weight.

The majority of us don’t want to think about eating as a means of fueling our bodies but that is exactly what eating is…especially healthy eating.  It’s all about ingesting on a constant basis the right nutrients to perform at our best.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t get creative with spices, seasoning and flavoring – as long as it’s with little to no calorie impact spices and seasoning.

Also, you can definitely allow yourself some cheat meals where you do eat out or cook your absolute favorites.

Do you think this is something you could do?  If not, why not?