First off I've gotta share the most awesome feature that we've just added to Simple Nourished Living - Weight Watchers Recipe Search. It's a search engine specifically for Weight Watchers recipes with points plus 🙂 How cool is that? We have my awesome brother, Peter, to thank.
One of the biggest challenges for Weight Watchers is figuring out the points plus values of the food they're eating and cooking. It gets easier with time and practice, but it's not intuitive. It takes work, like learning a new language or foreign currency system.
Of course, you can always run your recipe(s) through the WW recipe builder, but that takes a lot of time that many of us don't have. I prefer to use recipes with the nutritional information and Weight Watchers points plus already calculated for me. It make life easier.
And I don't know about you but I can lose a ridiculous amount of time surfing and searching around the internet to find Weight Watchers friendly recipes with points information.
This Weight Watchers Recipe Search feature solves all that. It brings back only the recipes from all my hand-picked and personally approved Weight Watchers websites (where I have confidence that the points values are reliable).
Please try the Weight Watchers Recipe Search feature and let me know what you think!
Okay, back to our regularly scheduled Saturday meal plan programming…
I'm not following my typical approach to meal planning. Since I've had lots of emails telling me how much you appreciate these weekly meal plans I'm continuing to provide a plan for what I would do if not for this experiment. I hope it helps.
Every Saturday I share my Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plans with Points here on Simple Nourished Living. It includes what I'm planning to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well a few snack and dessert ideas.
Taking the time to think about what I'm cooking and eating ahead of time makes meal times all week so much easier. With the shopping done and recipes at the ready I can just walk into the kitchen and get cooking. I don't stick to it one hundred percent - life happens, but it helps to have a rough guide. And prevents me from reaching into the cookie jar or bag of chips too often. Whoever said that failing to plan was planning to fail was spot on!
To keep things simple I tend to rotate between the same one or two breakfasts and lunches the days I eat at home. And because we are a family of two most recipes I make result in leftovers that we are happy to eat again. So, I usually only cook from scratch three or four times a week. We like to eat out a couple of times, usually during the weekend.
If I end up with more food than we can eat, I portion it out, package it up and pop it in the freezer for future quick and easy lunches and dinners.
I hope these posts make it easier for you to stay on track with your weight loss and/or healthy eating goals too.
And remember, there's a Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plans Section on the blog so you can get inspiration from all of the previous weekly meal plans too. Enjoy!
Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plans with Points (Week #35)
Daily temperature highs here in Phoenix are predicted to range from 109 - 111 for the coming week. I don't know about you, but cooking is the last thing on my mind when it gets this hot. I crave fresh, light cooling foods, which is one of the reasons I think summer is the BEST time of year to lose weight, especially if you live in a hot climate. If it weren't for my love of ice cream, summer weight loss would be guaranteed 🙂 This week's menu reflects a goal to keep time in the kitchen to an absolute minimum.
Breakfast
This week I'm going to begin the day with a large mug of decaf coffee (0PP) and either:
1. Chocolate Protein Shake (6PP) - Rod and I have been enjoying a chocolate protein shake for breakfast most mornings. It's sweet, chocolaty, cold and creamy. And keeps me satisfied for hours, I'll get it posted as soon as I can. For 1 serving place in the blender (affiliate link): ½ cup cottage cheese, ½ tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, 3 tablespoons chocolate whey protein powder with about 35 calories per tablespoon, ½ frozen banana, ½ cup water, 1 cup ice in a high powered blender (affiliate link) and blend until creamy.
2. Whole Wheat English Muffin (3PP) with 1 tablespoon peanut butter (3PP) and sliced banana (0PP)
Lunch
I like to keep lunch quick and easy. Limiting my choices makes weight loss/maintenance easier. (Here's research that supports this idea.) I usually eat lunch out a couple days a week, which prevents me from getting to bored.
1. Leftovers from dinner
2. Veggie Burger Wrap - Cooked veggie burger (2PP) sliced and placed in a big lettuce leaf with mustard (0PP) sliced cucumber (0PP) and roasted red pepper strips (0PP) with a handful of grapes (0PP)
Dinner
Because we are a family of two most recipes result in leftovers, so, I only cook from scratch three or four times a week. (We eat out once or twice.)
1. Easy Cobb Salad (8PP) - I love salad and could eat it most everyday, especially during the summer. To make this Easy Cobb Salad top a bed of lettuce (0PP) with chopped hard boiled egg (2PP), halved cherry tomatoes (0PP), sliced cucumbers (0PP), sliced turkey (2PP), shredded low fat cheddar cheese (2PP) and your favorite low fat dressing (2PP)
2. Crockin' Girls Healthy Mess (5PP) - The slow cooker is a great summer kitchen tool. Just toss everything into the slow cooker early in the day and let it cook away on the counter unattended. It sure beats standing over a hot grill or turning on the oven. This dish isn't the prettiest. But it is light, healthy and tasty.
3. Slow Cooker Pasta Primavera (9PP) and a simple salad of sliced tomatoes with a sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese (1PP) and drizzle of balsamic vinegar (1PP)
4. Shrimp Cocktail (6PP) and a simple green salad (0PP) with olive oil (1 PP-1 teaspoon) and balsamic vinegar (0PP) - Shrimp cocktail is one of my favorite things. Each 3 oz serving has just 2 WWPP. And it's a lot less expensive when you make it at home. Follow the link for several WW friendly cocktail sauce options.
5. Leftovers
Snacks
1. Triscuits (3PP) with a wedge of laughing cow cheese (1PP) and apple (0PP)
2.Grape tomatoes (0PP) and mozzarella cheese stick (2PP)
Dessert
1. No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (3PP) - perfect for summer because you don't have to turn on the oven. I love these old fashioned cookies from my childhood.
2. Watermelon (0PP)
If you make one of our recipes, we would love for you to a picture and share it on Instagram. Use the hashtag #simplenourishedliving. We want to see what you are making and would love for you to follow us on Instagram.
And remember, there's a Weight Watchers Meal Plans with Points Section on the blog so you can get inspiration from all of the previous weekly meal plans too.
Have a wonderful week!
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or Craftsy links, I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thanks for your purchase!
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Bhupendra
I agree with this diet plan. But word diet itself sounds like restrictions which bound us not to do something. I fails many a time on this part. I lost 11 pound recently following a diet plan made for man and for those who are not vegan. I liked the diet cheats it has in its plan.