Maintenance - How Much Menu Variance Do We Need?

Once we're through losing weight how much variation in our diets is necessary for good health?

Here's the background for my question:

I'm 2.6 years post-VSG. Have done great -- lost 100 pounds and kept it off like a champ the last 14 months.

I average 1700/1750 calories a day. I average 80 grams of protein, 5 veggies/fruits, whole grains, 2-3 servings of dairy, and 300-400 calories of treat foods.

I take my vitamins/minerals/supplements religiously. So far, my blood panels (3 since VSG) have all been great.

But when we're home and not traveling I eat very similarly day to day. Usually the same breakfast. Usually the same lunch. Same treats (3-5 ounces of wine, dark chocolate, a biscotti). Dinner varies more, but from week to week I choose from the same 7-10 menus.

Longer-term -- can the sameness of my daily menus bite me in the nutritional butt?

(BTW, this isn't purely a question for VSGers. But I'm posting it here, since the Diet and Nutrition Forum lately doesn't look very active.)

Sounds like it's working for you - and if your reaching your goals, I wouldn't think that would change just due to sameness. You have done great - congrats!

I have a ways to go before maintenance but wanted to congratulate you on your success!!! You're doing awesome.

Thank you, Soho!

Excellent point re looking more carefully at the specific foods I am eating. Will report in here if I learn anything's out of kilter there.

I'm also doing some research on this topic via other sources and will report that, too.

I would think variety would be great. You'd have a better chance of getting all the nutrients you need. I tend to eat a lot of re-runs, too, though. For example, I eat Greek yogurt with berries every freakin' morning for breakfast. I do try to get a couple of fruits and a couple of vegetables in every day, though. And I eat as nutritiously as possible (snacks are things like hummus & baby carrots, for example).

I'm also in maintenance and holding steady by eating c. 1500 kcal/day. Hopefully I can increase that a bit - your 1700/1750 sounds even better! This whole idea of trying to maintain my weight is a completely foreign idea to me. My whole adult life I've either been trying to *lose* weight, or I'm feeling completely out of control. Never have I actively tried to stay the same. This whole thing is such a balancing act....

Isn't it crazy? This is the first time in my life (seriously -- my whole life!) that I've maintained a weight loss for anywhere close to this length of time.

And when I say "maintained" I mean my Monday morning weekly weigh-ins are just getting steadier and steadier.

BTW, I'm a huge tracker. I should say "planner and tracker."

The research I've done today already suggests that I do need to shake things up a bit. I did do this afternoon what @computercat suggested I do -- look at all the things I'm eating regularly to see if I'm getting too much of something that could hurt me. I didn't find anything like that -- so that's good.

I did learn that I'm getting a little too much sodium on average (2865 mg. vs. 2300 recommended). But I have low blood pressure, so that doesn't freak me out.

Long story short -- I've decided to come up with 3 very different breakfasts and 3 very different lunches and cycle through those instead of sticking with a single one of each.

I'm already working to eat 7 veggies/fruits a day during 2017 instead of the 5 I aimed for in 2016. After all, it's plant foods that give us those trace nutrients we all want and need.

Final thought -- I haven't been eating any nuts and seeds at all because they're so high-calorie. But I will throw in some walnuts and hemp seeds 3 days a week with some overnight oatmeal breakfast jars I'm adding to the breakfast rotation.

And thus, the science experiment continues!

P.S. Catwoman 7 -- you have lost a huge amount of weight! That's so wonderful. You must be going through so many head changes right now.

I've almost a year farther out than you, and I'm still feeling up my collarbones!

I love my "new" collarbones! I feel mine up all the time, too!