Eat a Few Go-To Meals on Repeat to Lose Weight, Study Finds

The research, published in Health Psychology, found that people who stuck to routine eating patterns — including repeating meals and maintaining a steady calorie intake — lost more weight during a 12-week weight-loss program than those who ate a more varied diet.

“Repeating meals helps with habit formation, which can be helpful in weight loss phases because the person gets used to eating meals that are designed to support weight loss, such as lower energy options and foods high in protein and dietary fiber,” says registered dietitian-nutritionist Sibylle Kranz, PhD, RDN, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Obesity Society. Dr. Kranz was not involved with the study.

Repetition vs. Variety

Researchers recruited 112 adults who were overweight or had obesity to participate in a behavioral weight loss program.

The program asked participants to track everything they ate each day via a mobile app and weigh in daily using a wireless scale.

Focusing on the first 12 weeks of the program, researchers examined whether the following patterns predicted weight loss:

• Caloric stability, measured as fluctuations in daily total calories counts and weekday versus weekend calories
• Dietary repetition, measured as the percentage of unique and repeated foods tracked

The results showed that people who ate mostly repeat meals lost an average of 5.9 percent of their starting body weight, while those who ate the largest variety of meals lost less, or about 4.3 percent.

Researchers also found that when people had significant ups and downs in how many total calories they ate day to day, weight loss decreased: Specifically, for every 100-calorie increase in variability, weight loss went down by 0.6 percent.

However, study authors were surprised to find that people who ate more calories on the weekend tended to lose more weight than people who ate about the same number of calories all week long.

The Study Had Some Limitations

One limitation of the research is that participants logged their own food, which could be inaccurate or incomplete, potentially introducing bias. However, the authors said they made “significant efforts” to reduce bias.

Participants may also have logged foods only on days when they adhered to their healthy eating plan, possibly leading to misleading caloric stability and dietary repetition scores.

Because the study was observational, it doesn’t prove that you can lose more weight by eating the same things over and over or keeping your total calorie intake consistent. Instead, the findings show a link.

However, Kranz says, “It stands to reason that if a person consumed the same meals repeatedly over several months — and those meals resulted in lower energy intake — weight loss was better than when either a higher variety of meals or higher variety in daily energy intake occurred.”

Why Is Repeating Meals a Good Weight Loss Strategy?

Repeating meals may be helpful for people with limited capacity or resources for cooking, Kranz says. They may prepare a larger batch of a meal to eat for several days (meal prepping).

This could help people stay on a weight loss plan “because no additional thought needs to be put towards developing or searching for lower energy options that include the ingredients the person likes,” Kranz says.

Additionally, establishing a routine that includes the time of eating and the meal to be consumed can help reduce food noise — intrusive thoughts about when and what you will eat next — which research shows can be a serious impediment to weight-loss efforts, Kranz says.

What if You Crave Variety in Your Meals?

Eating the same few meals consistently isn’t for everyone, Kranz adds. Some people prefer a diet with more variety.

“Having an individualized plan with meals that fit the desired energy and nutrient profile can be very helpful,” she says. “Repeating meals makes it easier to plan and can lead to higher satisfaction and feeling full after the meal.”