Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plan #73 {SmartPoints}

Welcome to Weight Watchers Weekly Meal Plan #73 {SmartPoints}

What to eat? What to eat? What to eat this week?

Do you ever struggle with this question? I sure do!

So, on Saturdays I share samples/examples of my Weight Watchers Meal Plans, which provide a rough outline of what I'm planning. I hope they help you reach your goals! Bon Appétit!

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 (and others you love) is a supremely nourishing act of kindness. But, it doesn't mean I'm always in the mood to do it! And the older I get the less time I'm willing to spend in the kitchen.

MY OVERALL WEIGHT WATCHERS MEAL PLAN STRATEGY

Getting dinner on the table is so much easier when I’ve planned 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 🙂

(If you are looking for Healthy Meal Planning Solution with lots of options including low carb and vegetarian diets with complete nutritional information and Weight Watchers SmartPoints, my  WW friend Kristen, from Slender Kitchen has a really good one.)

As far as I'm concerned the Slow Cooker is the best invention ever for folks trying to eat healthy and lose weight without losing their minds. I use mine at least once a week, sometimes more. I'm absolutely, positively convinced that cooking with my crockpot is directly linked to the success I've had keeping my weight off!

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 on 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. The lower numbered ones all have PointsPlus values for those not making the switch to SmartPoints. Enjoy!

WEIGHT WATCHERS MEAL PLAN #73

I was up a couple of pounds when I weighed in last week, which is all fine, given the amount of celebrating and eating out we've done over the past month. So, I'll be lightening things up and bumping up my exercise a bit for the next couple of weeks to get back on track! Thank goodness for the accountability that my monthly weigh-ins provide.

Breakfast

I'm a creature of habit, especially where it comes to breakfast. I tend to alternate between these choices at the moment:

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

1. My Favorite Protein Shake of the Moment (5SP): In the blender (affiliate link) I combine the following and blend till smooth: ½ cup Cottage Cheese (2SP), 1 scoop Chocolate Protein Powder (2SP), 2 tablespoons PB2 (affiliate link) Peanut Butter Flour (affiliate link) (1SP), ½ Frozen Banana (0SP), ½ cup Water (I don't count the banana and don't need any extra sweetener because the Protein Powder I use has stevia in it. Add sweetener to taste and adjust you points accordingly.)

2. Cottage Cheese (1 cup - 5SP) and Fruit (0SP): One of my favorite quick and easy summertime choices for breakfast and/or lunch.

3. Whole Grain Toast (2SP) with 1 tablespoon Peanut Butter (3SP) and ½ banana (0SP)

4. Whole Grain Toast (2SP) with ¼ Avocado (2SP) and Fried Egg (2SP)

5. Skinny Make Ahead Western Omelet Muffins (3SP) and Fruit (0SP)

Click Here for More Weight Watchers Friendly Breakfast Ideas with SmartPoints

Lunch

Again, I tend to rotate between the same few lunch choices on days I don't eat lunch out. Here are some of my favorite quick and easy lunches right now:

1. Leftovers

2. Crunchy Tuna Salad (3SP) on a bed of Mixed Greens (0SP) with Tomatoes (0SP) and Cucumber (0SP) and Garden Vegetable Soup (0SP)

3. Greek Turkey Feta Mason Jar Salad (7SP) and Garden Vegetable Soup (0SP)

4. Baked Potato with Cottage Cheese and Salsa (7SP)

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. Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli (3SP) and Baked Potato (1 med - 5SP) topped with Plain Nonfat Greek Yogurt (2 tablespoons - 0SP) and Sliced Tomatoes (0SP)

2. Skinny Slow Cooker Creole White Beans & Chicken (4SP) on Cauliflower Rice (0SP)

3. Leftovers

4. Easy Cheese Tortellini with Broccoli and Red Peppers (9SP) and Weight Watchers Italian Arugula Salad (3SP)

5. Leftovers

Click Here for More Easy Healthy Dinner Ideas

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  try to 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 for good reason! Here are some of my favorite go-to snacks at the moment:

1. Sliced Apple or Pear (0SP) with a String Cheese (2SP) and Almonds (7 - 1SP)

2. Hard Boiled Egg (2SP) and Grape Tomatoes (0SP)

3. Triscuits (6 - 3SP) and Laughing Cow Cheese (1SP)

4. Guacamole (¼ cup - 3SP) and Baby Carrots (0SP)

Click Here for More Healthy Snack Ideas

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 🙂  Through the years I’ve convinced myself not to waste my valuable points on ho-hum sweet treats. But it's still an ongoing practice! Here are some of my go-to sweet treats at the moment:

1. Sliced Banana and Strawberries (0SP) drizzled with Chocolate Syrup (2 t. - 2SP) and a dollop of canned Reddi Wip whipped topping (2T - 1SP)

2. Pineapple Whip (2SP) - Blend together ½ cup Fat Free Cottage Cheese (2SP) and ½ cup Frozen Pineapple (0SP) and Sweetener of Choice until the consistency of soft serve ice cream. You may need just 1-2 tablespoons of water or skim milk too. (Any fruit will work. I frozen mixed berries and frozen mango too.)

3. Creamy Chocolate Greek Yogurt (1SP) - plain nonfat Greek yogurt, cocoa powder and sweetener of choice is a cold and creamy way to satisfy a chocolate craving. I want to try this with a little PB2 (affiliate link) (peanut butter flour (affiliate link)) too.

4. Microwave Baked Apple with Cranberries and Maple Syrup (2SP)

5. Skinny Baked S'mores (3SP)

6. Sliced Apple "Cookies" (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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