Welcome to this Week's Weight Watcher's Meal Plan!
Happy first full week of 2016! I don't know about you, but I'm ready to rein in the eating a bit and get back to the basics.
If eating better and losing weight are part of your plan for 2016, I suggest you check out Weight Watchers new Program, Beyond the Scale and SmartPoints. It's their healthiest, most holistic plan yet.
We are working as quickly as we can to run our recipes through the WW Recipe Builder to calculate the new SmartPoints values and load them into this nifty Recipe Search Table for you.
We want to do all that we can to support you in reaching your goals.
Every Saturday I share my Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plans with Points and Recipes 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.
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!
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
Even when you like to cook, it can be the last thing you want to do at the end of a long day. I've found that the key is to keep things simple. 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. 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 Weekly Meal Plan (Week #62)
From here on out I'll be providing SmartPoints (SP) values instead of PointsPlus.
I plan on making January all about soups. 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. Have a wonderful week and remember to take the time to cook something healthy and delicious for yourselves, dear friends!
Breakfast
This week I'm going to begin the day with a homemade cafe au lait. Coffee (0SP) with ½ cup hot Skim Milk (2SP)
1. ¾ cup Oatmeal (4SP) with ½ cup Skim Milk (2SP) and ½ Grapefruit (0SP)
2. 1 scrambled Egg (2SP) with 1 slice Whole Wheat Toast (2SP) and ½ Grapefruit (0SP)
Lunch
I like to keep lunch quick and easy. Limiting my choices makes weight loss/maintenance easier. (Here's research that supports the idea.) I eat lunch out 1 or 2 times a week with my mom and/or girlfriends, something I look forward to. Whenever I can I'll choose soup 🙂
1. Shredded Cabbage Soup (2SP) and Ham Sandwich made with 2 ounces lean deli Ham (2SP), Lettuce (0SP), and Mustard (0SP) on light whole grain Bread (2SP)
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 Ham and Wild Rice Soup (6SP) - serve with a simple side salad (0SP) drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar (0SP) and 1 teaspoon Olive Oil (1SP) and a slice of warm Crusty Bread (2SP)
2. Broiled Chicken Breast (6 ounces - 4SP) Seasoned with Montreal Steak Seasoning (0SP) and drizzled with Balsamic Vinegar (0SP) - with roasted Carrots (0SP) cooked with 1 teaspoon Olive Oil (1SP) and cooked Spinach (0SP)
3. Slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup (5SP) - An easy tasty slow Cooker Stuffed Pepper Soup perfect for stuffed pepper lovers. Serve with Triscuits (6 - 3SP) and Laughing Cow Cheese (2 wedges - 2SP)
4. Easy Baked Fish with Lemon (6 ounces cooked - 2SP) with Slow Cooker Spaghetti Squash (0SP) topped with Tomato Sauce (0S) and shredded Parmesan (2 tablespoons (1SP) and a simple side salad (0SP) drizzled with Low Fat Vinaigrette (2SP)
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. 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. Grape Tomatoes (0SP) and Triscuits (4-2SP) and wedge of Laughing Cow Cheese (1SP)
2. Pear (0SP) and Almonds (⅛ cup - 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. 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 to not waste my valuable points on ho-hum sweet treats. And after all the extra sweets of the holiday season, it's time for a bit of a detox!
Microwave Baked Apple (2SP) - Sweet and satisfying, this microwave (affiliate link) baked apple is an easy, healthy, satisfying alternative to apple pie with just 2 Points.
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.
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!
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Judy
Is it possible to reduce the recipes? Cooking for 1 person and would not enjoy leftovers everyday.
Thank you for letting me know
Martha McKinnon
Hi Judy, Sure most of these recipes can be cut in half. They are yours to do with what you will!! I also like to make entire recipes and then freeze the leftovers in individual portions to be reheated for future lunch and dinners. Hope this helps.