But... why oatmeal? And why dinner?

There have been plenty of diets in the past that've claimed that flipping breakfast and dinner will make you lose lots of weight. Indeed, many have had success doing so. The problem I and many others have with this practice is that it can be mighty hard to motivate oneself to actually make something dinner-esque in the morning. When most people want to just roll out of bed, into the shower, and onto the bus or car to get to work, adding in an extra hour to half an hour can feel highly onerous. As someone who can function decently around 5.30AM, I like to get up and exercise in the mornings. Adding in "making dinner-breakfast" to the time schedule would make me have to get up at 4, and go to bed at 8PM to get a decent night's sleep. Ew, no thanks.
Adding to that the societal norm that most of us are used to of eating something that isn't a plate of pasta with marinara at 7AM, the whole concept of flipping dinner and breakfast ends up fatally flawed for many.

But Katja, you ask, isn't having oatmeal for dinner and breakfast for breakfast like having two breakfasts in one day? To a certain extent yes, but that's where the "slop" idea comes in. Oatmeal isn't the only slopular option -- which I am hereinafter referring to as a "sloption." Cream of Wheat, polenta, grits, and even brown rice or quinoa if made properly all fit the definition of "slop" but can be gussied up to be sweet or savory or sour or any other food word that starts with an s.

The big bonus about all of these "slop" foods is that they're incredibly inexpensive, available in bulk, and, unless you fill them with cheese and butter, really quite healthy. One can get a big can of Quaker oats for $2, or a huge bag of corn grits for $3. In this craptacular economy, a bag of food that provides the basis nearly a dozen meals for $2 is a pretty sweet deal. Add on to that the fact that oatmeal is proven to reduce cholesterol levels and may help one become less susceptible to adult-onset diabetes, all these sloptions are beginning to look better and better. Check here for a fun look (without any citations, but who am I to doubt Mister Breakfast?) at why oatmeal, in particular, is rad.

That said, after my oatmeal+honey dinner last night, I was down a pound this morning. It's oatmealy magic!

In the future, this blog will include recipes for ways to make slop not entirely boring, focuses on different slop-types, and further weight loss progress from yours truly.

Slop it up!