Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plan #66 {SmartPoints}

Welcome to Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plan #66 {SmartPoints}

This week marks the return of weekly Weight Watchers Meal Plans. I received a ton of feedback about how much help they were and how much you missed them. So, I'm happy to bring them back! I want to do all that we can to support you in reaching your goals!!

THE BENEFITS OF COOKING AT HOME MORE

Since I like to cook I may be biased, but I’ve always believed that the food you cook for yourself is essentially good for you. Taking the time to cook for yourself is a supremely nourishing act of kindness…

And mindfulness. When I step into the kitchen and begin to cook I lose myself in the process, becoming completely focused in the simple acts of chopping, mixing, stirring, smelling and tasting. It gives me pleasure and keeps me grounded and connected to myself, my family and the world.

MY OVERALL WEIGHT WATCHERS MEAL PLAN STRATEGY

Meal times so much easier when I’ve taken the time to think about what I’m cooking and eating ahead of time. With the shopping done and weight watchers recipes at the ready I can just walk into the kitchen and get cooking.

I don’t always stick to my plan 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!

My approach to meal planning is simpler than most.  Just reading many of the meal plan programs out there suggesting a different breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day are enough to make me run from the kitchen screaming. Are you kidding me? Who cooks like that? Not me or anyone I know.

I’ve experimented with many of the sophisticated meal planning programs out there, but I’ve never been able to make them work for me. Yellow sticky notes and iPhone lists are more my speed 🙂

As a creature of habit, I tend to rotate between the same one or two breakfasts and lunches the days I eat at home each week. And because we are a family of two most recipes result in leftovers that we are happy to eat again or transform somehow. So, I usually only cook from scratch three or four times a week, at most. We like to eat out a couple of times, usually during the weekend.

If we 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 MEAL PLAN #66

I will be focusing on soups through the seasons in 2016. As I have mentioned time and time again, soup is my go to food when I need to get my eating back into balance. There are lots of studies that show the magical ability of soup to help with weight loss. It can fill you up and help you feel satisfied on fewer calories. So, every week I'll include at least one soup recipe. Have a wonderful week and remember to take the time to cook something healthy and delicious for yourselves, dear friends!

Breakfast

A large mug of Decaf Coffee (0SP) and:

1. Cottage Cheese (3SP) with Fruit (0PP) – After stepping on the scale and discovering I'm up a couple of pounds, I'm lightening things up around here this week! Plus I love cottage cheese and fruit and have been craving it recently. I like it with canned pineapple, pears, mandarin oranges, berries, sliced bananas, unsweetened applesauce, etc.

2. English Muffin (4SP) with Almond Butter (1 T - 3PP) and ½ Banana (0PP)

Click Here for More Weight Watchers Friendly Breakfast Ideas with SmartPoints

Lunch

1. Easy Healthy Slow Cooker Cajun Soup (3SP) with Triscuits (6 - 3SP) and Laughing Cow Cheese (1SP)

2. Apple Cranberry Cheddar Salad (5SP) with chicken or turkey (3oz - 2SP)

3. Leftovers

Click Here for More Weight Watchers Friendly Soup Ideas and Healthy Lunch ideas

Dinner

Because we are a family of two most recipes I make result in leftovers that we are happy to eat again on another night or that I re-purpose somehow. This means that I usually only cook from scratch 3 or 4 times a week  (We usually eat out 1 – 2 times a week.)

1. Skinny Southwestern Goulash (5SP) with Simple Tossed Green Salad (0SP) with Low Fat Dressing (1SP) and/or Steamed Green Beans (0SP)

2. Broiled Salmon (4 SP) brushed with Honey Mustard (1SP)  and Parmesan Roasted Asparagus (2SP)

3. Pasta with Italian Chicken Sausage and Kale (9SP) and Tossed Green Salad with Olive Oil (1t. - 1SP) and Vinegar (0SP)

4. Crock Pot Pepper Steak (4SP) with Brown Rice (½ cup- 3SP) Enjoy a Simple Green Salad (0PP) tossed with Olive Oil (1PP) and Balsamic Vinegar (0PP) alongside.

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. I only snack when I'm hungry enough to eat an apple. To prevent snacking while I’m making dinner, I often chew gum. A former Cheez-Its junkie, I’ve pretty much given up on processed, packaged snack-y foods that I can never seem to get enough of once I begin. Weight Watchers calls them Trigger Foods, I call them EVIL and have expelled them from my house 🙂

1. Fruit (Apple, Orange, or Pear) (0SP) with a String Cheese (2SP) OR nuts (¼ cup – 4SP)

2. Celery (0PP) stuffed with 1 wedge Laughing Cow Garlic Herb cheese (1SP)

3. Carrots (0PP) and Hummus (2 T - 2SP)

Dessert

With the new SmartPoints plan sweet treats are a lot more “expensive” than they were with Points Plus. I usually try to limit dessert to once or twice a week.  Other times if I feel like I want a "little something" after dinner, I've been opting for a cup of decaf or herb tea instead, which can be surprisingly satisfying.

I don’t keep many sweets around the house. You can’t eat what you don’t have 🙂  And I usually save my points plus for homemade sweet stuff, which is more work, but always tastes so much better. Through the years I’ve convinced myself not to waste my valuable points on ho-hum sweet treats. And with the most recent changes, I’m having fun exploring new fruit-focused desserts.

1. 3-Ingredient Nonfat Strawberry Frozen Yogurt (3SP)

Have a wonderful week!

PS...If you make one of our weight watchers recipes, we would love for you to take 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.

PPS...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.

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