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People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

theatlantic.com

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Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#151

Post by chrisseaton »

ska wrote: post #146
chrisseaton wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you know if you only ate McDonalds for every meal of every day... you'd be underweight? A burger, medium fries and diet drink is 588 calories apparently. So three of those a day is only 1764 calories! A massive deficit for almost everyone.

Not really. I would file this under misleading-but-true (although when I checked your numbers I came up with 630, not 588, still a bit shy of 2000cal/day so a little low for most people. However, it really relies on two things (three, if you count "no snacks at all or other drinks") 1 - diet drinks only. If you change your diet code to a medium coke you are now at 2500cal/day. So instead of a deficit, you have a surp…

I thought their hamburger as signature item would be what most people would get, but maybe not. I don't actually go to McDonalds myself so I was just going off their website.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#152

Post by jpindar »

DanDeh wrote: post #96
jimhefferon wrote: post #35

One of the enjoyable things about surfing is when you find there are other people like you. Almost every day since the mid-80's, I have what I call a Tarnower lunch: half a can of pineapple chunks, half a can of mandarin oranges, a dollop of cottage cheese and a few walnut pieces, along with a small bran muffin. Tastes fine, not too bad nutritionally, and no congnitive overhead.

... Throw it all in a blender with a can of Albecore tuna, some Vanilla flavored Soy milk and you got yourself decent breakfast or even a pre-workout drink!

Tuna shake, baby!

Tuna shakes were a meme from the old misc.fitness.weights days. I was never sure whether anyone actually drank them regularly, or just said they did because it sounded hardcore.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#153

Post by dragonwriter »

chrisseaton wrote: post #151
ska wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. I would file this under misleading-but-true (although when I checked your numbers I came up with 630, not 588, still a bit shy of 2000cal/day so a little low for most people. However, it really relies on two things (three, if you count "no snacks at all or other drinks") 1 - diet drinks only. If you change your diet code to a medium coke you are now at 2500cal/day. So instead of a deficit, you have a surp…

I thought their hamburger as signature item would be what most people would get, but maybe not. I don't actually go to McDonalds myself so I was just going off their website.

> I thought the hamburger would be their signature item

In the general “hamburger” class (and overall, because hamburgers are their signature category) the Big Mac and Quarterpounder are their signature items.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#154

Post by thrownaway954 »

munificent wrote: post #78

When my daughter was born during the recession, my wife and I went through a stretch where money was pretty tight. One obvious expense to cut was eating out for lunch every weekday. So I switched to bringing in lunch. For several months, I brought the same thing: granola, yogurt, and chopped melon. I love food and love variety, so I was really surprised to discover that I simply didn't get tired of it or resentful. E…

"I found the peacefulness and simplicity of not having to stress out about where to go for lunch"

very often in life, we mistaken boredom for peacefulness. a simple and stress-free life can be just as, if not more, rewarding then the hectic one we leave behind.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#155

Post by Qwertystop »

RobertRoberts wrote: post #98

I lived on the streets for a time as a teen. When I got off and had my first real place to live, I couldn't afford much. I had potatoes, butter (was like heaven) soy sauce and mustard. So that was my dinner for months. My co-workers thought I was crazy when I microwaved a potato and put soy sauce and mustard on it. I simply didn't have anything else. Later I got pickles and cheese (the greatest thing I had ever had u…

I've been lucky enough never to be in a situation like yours (not having the money for food that isn't in the vicinity of the cheapest), but since the first time my college dorm had a kitchen I've been making an effort to keep food costs low (with a more recent additional shift away from meat), and I've come to a similar realization. Even when the option for something more is always there, keeping my standard meals simple (currently, miscellaneous-root-vegetable stew, or rice-and-beans, or half an acorn squash with raisins) means that on when I occasionally have reason to go for something fancier (once a month or so), the thing that would have gotten boring ages ago for some people (a turkey Reuben from a deli) is really good (and still much cheaper than a comparable step-up would be from a higher baseline).

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#156

Post by ska »

chrisseaton wrote: post #128
SyneRyder wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Semi-frequent McDonalds eater here who wears size 30 - 31 jeans here. I agree with the sentiment, but your numbers are somewhat off - a Double Quarter Pounder on its own is 750 calories, and a medium fries is 340 calories. You can get a cheeseburger at 300 calories, but I don't think that would feel filling. If you're having McDonalds regularly, it works better if you just have one main meal a day. So you can have yo…

> your numbers are somewhat off I used the McDonald's calorie calculator on their website. I picked the hamburger 250 calories (it's their main item and I guess most people get it), medium fries 337 calories (so not even picking the smallest items), and Diet Coke 1 calorie (maybe that one is bending over backwards to be low calorie) = just 588 calories. A very light lunch!

   (it's their main item and I guess most people get it),
I suspect this assumption is pretty far off. I'd guess the single burger doesn't even crack the top 10 in sandwich sales for them. Not even close if you exclude sales to kids. At least in the US.

If for arguments sake a more typical lunch was 1/4pounder w/cheese, medium fries, medium (regular coke) you are something like 1100 calories - well into heavy lunch territory.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#157

Post by jperras »

chrisseaton wrote: post #128
SyneRyder wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Semi-frequent McDonalds eater here who wears size 30 - 31 jeans here. I agree with the sentiment, but your numbers are somewhat off - a Double Quarter Pounder on its own is 750 calories, and a medium fries is 340 calories. You can get a cheeseburger at 300 calories, but I don't think that would feel filling. If you're having McDonalds regularly, it works better if you just have one main meal a day. So you can have yo…

> your numbers are somewhat off I used the McDonald's calorie calculator on their website. I picked the hamburger 250 calories (it's their main item and I guess most people get it), medium fries 337 calories (so not even picking the smallest items), and Diet Coke 1 calorie (maybe that one is bending over backwards to be low calorie) = just 588 calories. A very light lunch!

As someone who spent literal years working at a McDonald's as a teenager, the basic hamburger is perhaps only eclipsed by the Filet of Fish sandwich as one of the least ordered regular lunch menu items. The Big Mac probably outsells all other regular lunch sandwiches 3:1, at least.

Of course it's been almost 20 years since I worked there, but I don't imagine it has changed all that much.

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#158

Post by cheesymuffin »

ArrayList wrote: post #134
YUMad wrote: post #48

'Zerocarb' here. I don't insist on eating the exact same thing, but what I eat is quite limited - meat, animal fat, salt and water. I started this because of health issues, but I grew to like the simplicity of it as well. I can eat one large meal and not feel hungry or exhausted the whole day, and I can easily find adequate food without being fussy in most environments. For example, McDonalds burger patties are 100%…

That is insanely bad diet. Hilarious. How are your numbers? Btw, meat causes cancer[0]. 0. https://www.who.int/features/qa/cancer-red-meat/en/

Post body

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#159

Post by WA »

charlesju wrote: post #109

I'm on a low carb diet for both losing weight and better budget. I've tried so many things over the years, but having a consistent routine every day seems to be the easiest for me to follow. I've found that having a "yes" list is WAY easier to manage mentally than having a "no" list. For those interested in my diet plan, I eat the following: 7am 3 cups of water followed by 3 cups of coffee. 10am 1 cup bone broth + 1…

You could buy 20 eggs, boil all at once and keep them in the fridge for weeks. Just a thought ;)

Re: People Who Eat the Same Meal Every Day

#160

Post by viraptor »

ska wrote: post #121
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an aside, I save ~$1300 a year by bringing in lunch, and ~$550 per year in breakfast, in addition to controlling portions and nutrition. If I had been doing that for the past 10 years I could buy a new car by now, or put a pretty decent chunk into retirement. I now find it absolutely bizarre how many people at work go out for lunch.

I wondered the same thing (how do so many people buy lunch daily) but concluded - at the time and the context I was observing it - that there were two main factors. Number 1 was social. People went out for lunch in groups, and it was an "enforced" break in the day. It's a cultural issue that can be hard to replicate for "lunch bringers" in some places. Not so fun to eat alone in a drab lunch room if your friends and…

> Number 1 was social.

This is what I liked while working in HP. We had a canteen where pretty much everybody went. You could buy a number of simple cheaper meals, a fancy expensive meal, or bring your own thing. Everybody could still sit together.

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