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 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!
I think we all know that cooking at home as much as we can is better for us. I recently ran across this study linking home cooking with a healthier diet. Basically, the study confirmed that people who cook at home more frequently ate fewer calories and less sugar than those who cooked at home less.
And there's more good news: When these people did eat out, the home cooks tended to consume fewer calories out of the home as well. I think the process of cooking gives home cooks better awareness of the ingredients and associated calories involved in preparing various dishes so we have the understanding to make better choices when we eat out.
We are all really busy, so the key to successful home cooking is 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. It's a process that gets easier with practice.
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 Plan (Week #41)
Stay cool and have a wonderful week!
Breakfast
This week I'm going to begin the day with a skinny latte (2PP) and either:
1. Cottage Cheese (½ cup - 2PP) with fruit (1 cup - 0PP)
2. Easy Egg Salad (3PP) on an English Muffin (3PP) with Sliced Tomatoes (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 too bored.
1. Skinny Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad (7PP) - Shredded coleslaw mix, romaine, carrots, scallions, cooked chicken and edamame tossed in a light ginger dressing. One of my favorite salads.
2. Leftovers from dinner
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. Slow Cooker Ratatouille (2PP) - I love to make this simple and delicious vegetable stew during the summer when vegetables taste best. You can eat a lot of it for very few points plus too. Serve it over Whole Wheat Pasta (4PP) with a simple Tossed Green Salad (0PP) with Low Calorie Vinaigrette (2PP) on the side.
2. Broiled or Grilled Fish (4PP) topped with Simple Mango Salsa (0PP) with Grilled Zucchini (0PP) and Brown Rice (4PP)
3. Slow Cooker Caribbean Jerk Chicken (5PP) Incredibly easy and tasty Serve with Baked Sweet Potato (4PP) and Steamed Broccoli (0PP)
4. Weight Watchers Beef & Broccoli (6PP) with Brown Rice (4PP)
5. Leftovers
Snacks
I try to limit my snacks to one in the late afternoon which keeps me from being overly hungry when I'm getting dinner. To prevent snacking while I'm making dinner, I often chew gum.
1. Popcorn (2 cups - 2PP) and a Peach (0PP)
2. Banana (0PP) with Peanut Butter (2 teaspoons - 2PP)
Dessert
I usually limit dessert to once or twice a week. At this time of year, I crave cold and creamy sweet treats like sorbet, frozen yogurt and ice cream. If portion control is a problem, there are lots of novelty treats to choose from in the freezer case of most grocery stores. Or head to your favorite ice cream/frozen yogurt shop for a small cup 🙂
1. 1-Ingredient Banana Ice Cream (2PP) (I count the points with this because it's so easy to abuse, but it's your choice.)
2. Cherries (0PP) and Dark Chocolate (1 ounce - 4PP)
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 PointsPlus 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!
Subscribe to Get: Top 10 Reader Favorite Recipes
The Top 10 Most Popular Recipes (PDF) on Simple Nourished Living + Weekly Support Emails with Tips & Easy Healthy Recipes Not Found Anywhere Else!
Leave a Reply