Weight Watchers--March 2010 AND what's for dinner?

[SundayCrepes]

I'm starting the March thread a couple hours before March because I wanted to get to be the one to do it. I have an idea that I hope everyone will join in on. In addition to normal Weight Watchers conversation, I would love it if we could share menu/recipe ideas. There's a whole thread in the vegetarian forum where everyone just lists what they had/are having for dinner. It's a great way to get menu ideas and if anyone lists something you want a recipe for, you just ask. There are usually several postings a day with so many good ideas. So, I'll start:

Tonight I made spinach and rice soup with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. 3 points per serving. That didn't seem like enough substance so I also made garden burgers. 1 point per burger (I toast them in the toaster oven.) I get par baked rolls at Trader Joe's that we use for buns. 3 points each. A little bbq sauce, not enough to have points, 1/4 avocado 1 point, and a slice of tomato. 9 points and I was stuffed. I also cut up some fresh nectarines. Sunflower has white nectarines that are pretty good for this time of year. I only got a couple slices as our 4 year old ate most of them.

I loved the soup. My husband thought the spinach was a little slimy. He compared it to okra. Maybe it was, but I thought the soup was fantastic and so easy to make.

What did everyone else make?

[jlpumkin]

Great idea! I'm usually a lurker, but haven't been around much lately. Gotta make sure I sub to this one though! I didn't get to the grocery this weekend so I'm a bit behind. I haven't thought beyond our lunch which is grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup.

[bronxmom]

Great idea! I'm not on weight watchers but my partner is and I'm trying to lose weight and do most of the cooking. So it's almost as if I'm on WW but not following the points system. Because I cook all from scratch, I've really had to measure everything out to calculate the points in things, which I think is leading to just a more conscious and healthy approach. E.g., when I sauteed vegetables before I might have just poured olive oil to coat the pan (maybe 3TBS?), but now I brush on a teaspoon, salt the veggies and cover so they sweat and produce liquid so that they can soften and then brown without sticking or burning.

Anyways, my menu suggestions might not be great because my partner has the max points (44) which gives me a lot more leeway. But with smaller portions it seems like it could work.

Dinner last night (which he took for lunch today as he works 11a-11p as a nurse) was: top round steak that I marinated in red wine and a little brown sugar for 1/2 hour, then rubbed with this holy smoke rub, pan broiled in a dry pan (no oil) and finished in the oven. Sliced thin across the grain it was 4 pts per 3oz serving (we each had 6oz). With it were zucchini sauteed in 1tsp olive oil - 1/2 point per serving - and a small baked potato with a pat of butter (he didn't eat that so don't know the points though I'm guessing 3 or 4pts). So if you only had 3 oz you come in around 8pt and you can double the steak for close to 10pts. And it was good. It was supposed to be sweet potatoes but they had gone bad.

My partner's main-stay meal each day is grilled chicken breast with a massive salad. You wouldn't believe how many greens and veggies he puts in there. (Our produce spending has shot up). But it must be fantastic for his health and it really fills him up and makes him feel like he gets to eat a lot which is psychologically helpful.

Will post more meals as we do them.

Oh one more, though, that I'm proud of is my whole wheat rotini with veggies sauce. It's a whole mess of veggies - red onions, tons of bell peppers (different colors), zucchini and squash - sauteed with just a couple teaspoons of olive oil with method above. Oh and tons of roughly chopped garlic. Spices are curry, cumin, crushed red pepper, rosemary and basil. Then put in small can of crushed or diced tomatoes. It should be a lot of sauce - almost like the sauce can be a stew in itself. I also sometimes add fresh basil or some other kind of greens (like swiss chard) roughly chopped to the sauce for greens. Serve that over whole wheat rotini. It ends up being about 3.5 pts per cup because the only thing adding points is the pasta and the small amount of oil and tomatoes. And it has tons of fiber and health and is really tasty.

My other main trick that's been super-helpful is that I've started serving out my serving (and partner's and kids' if they're there) and then packing up the leftovers right off the pat. It makes me much less likely to just go back for more when I've planned what I will eat and would have to take a whole serving out that could have been for a future lunch/dinner or stashed in the freezer for emergency meals.

[RosemaryS-F]

I would like to join, but feel like I need to ask permission because...although I did ww to lose my pregnancy weight, I'm currently just using SparkPeople to track my calories/exercise to lose 4 more lbs. I understand the whole ww lingo and I guess, with my nursing occasionally, I'd get 22 pts/day. But I'm not counting pts. The reason I want to join here is that in the past I have gotten LOTS of support on the MDC WW threads, and have started a thread to lose 1-5lbs by March 15th here, but it doesn't get much traffic. I need more traffic!!

For dinner tonight, I'm roasting a half turkey that I've brined (which insures that it is moist.) I will roast sweet potatoes in wedges along with it, and probably some roasted cabbage and/or spring mix salad.

I have to go out to lunch today with my mom, and I did something unprecedented (though not earth shatteringly brilliant, I'm proud of myself): I looked online at the menu and pre-decided what to get: a turkey sandwich w/ no cheese or mayo, extra veggies, and a side salad.

I hope I can be accepted here!!

[SundayCrepes]

Welcome Rosemary. I say if you're trying to eat healthy and maybe lose some weight, this is the place for you. For me, WW has become more about eating healthy than losing weight.

I find the WW cookbooks really good and really helpful. The food is just so yummy and it's nice to know the points without having to do a lot of calculations. The thing I think is weird is the ones I have cook with white pasta rather than whole wheat pasta. I just subtract a point per serving, but it seems weird to me. Maybe more people eat white pasta. Maybe they should list the nutritional info and points on both types of pasta.

Whatever. The food in the WW cookbooks is good.

[SundayCrepes]

Tonights dinner was so yummy. Essentially a creamy red pepper and basil pasta sauce over whole wheat pasta. 5 points a serving when made with white pasta. I used whole wheat pasta but sprinkled on a little parm cheese so it probably equaled the 5 points. Recipe from: http://www.amazon.com/Weight-Watcher...7494388&sr=8-1

I was going to have a spaghetti squash with italian seasonings and parm cheese, but didn't have enough time to bake the squash. I'll save that for another night. Instead we had corn on the cob and sliced white nectarines. My 4 year old said the pasta was good, but he wanted a mozzarella sandwich (he lives off them.) The 18 month old ate tons of pasta. My husband enjoyed it as well.

Tomorrow will be white bean tostadas on corn tortillas I bake. Recipe from: http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Unche...7494587&sr=1-1 They're really yummy and pretty fast to make. I'll do most of the simple prep work in the afternoon then throw them together and bake when we get home from music class at 6. Points, with avocado are about 4 for 2 tostadas.

[jlpumkin]

The WW meals in minutes book looks wonderful. I may have to add it to my collection. My current favorite WW cookbook is the Comfort Foods one - the recipes are wonderful!

Having said all of that, last night was a super busy night. My hubby cooked dinner (hmm maybe the 3d time in 10 years ) ~ so I didn't dare complain about the fare. Brats & ribs on the grill, potato salad & strawberries. Thank heavens for the 35 weekly points!

Back on track today though. I'm making a beef hash from the last issue of WW magazine with a little extra salsa & veggies to make it a one dish meal.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by jlpumkin

My current favorite WW cookbook is the Comfort Foods one - the recipes are wonderful!

Is this the cookbook you mean? http://www.amazon.com/Watchers-Comfo...7552986&sr=8-1

I was going to ask you about vegetarian recipes in it, but this book costs $40 through amazon and that's too much for me.

[jlpumkin]

Ugh, no :-) $40 for a cookbook is way beyond me as well. I got the Comfort Classics 150 at the meeting place for $10 when it was on sale. Unfortunately it shows on amazon as unavailable but at least you can see it. I think it's pretty veg friendly, though like most cookbooks it has a hefty section of meaty main meals. But even some of those I think you could alter.. the stuffed peppers only has maybe 1/2 pound of meat for like 6 servings. That can't possibly be that altering to the dish to just leave it out. And at the end there is a whole section of wonderful desserts.

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by jlpumkin

Ugh, no :-) $40 for a cookbook is way beyond me as well. I got the Comfort Classics 150 at the meeting place for $10 when it was on sale. Unfortunately it shows on amazon as unavailable but at least you can see it. I think it's pretty veg friendly, though like most cookbooks it has a hefty section of meaty main meals. But even some of those I think you could alter.. the stuffed peppers only has maybe 1/2 pound of meat for like 6 servings. That can't possibly be that altering to the dish to just leave it out. And at the end there is a whole section of wonderful desserts.

Thanks. Your book is available on ebay, but the prices are pretty high there, as well.

We tend towards international style foods. I like comfort foods, my husband does not, but since I'm doing the cooking I get to throw in some comfort foods from time to time. I'd love it if anyone else could recommend a good cookbook with a heavy vegetarian component. There's a new slow cooker book they're selling at the WW office. It's $11. There's one chapter with vegetarian recipes. I haven't been sure if I should get it or not, but I do like the convenience of the crockpot. Maybe I'll get it tomorrow.

I haven't been writing down my points this week. A bunch of traveling and I can't find my tracker. I think I stayed under points most of the week but I don't feel like I lost any weight. Oh well. I'm looking at this as a long-term project. I've already lost 5 pounds, another 15 to go. It's just that $13 a week that is inconvenient.

[bronxmom]

Today I made chicken & chickpea curry. 15oz of boneless skinless chix breasts browned in a teaspoon of olive oil. Meanwhile, slowly sauteed until dark a ton of sliced onions, garlic and ginger. Added curry spices and toasted til fragrant. Added chicken, a few diced tomatoes, 2 cans chickpeas and water til stew-like. Cooked covered in the oven for about an hour. Made 6 generous cups at 4.5 points per cup. Lots of fiber, nice flavor, easy to re-heat/take with you.

Tonight I'm making pork chops browned in tsp of olive oil. Then saute apples and onions, add a little bourbon to make a creamy sauce with no cream. Serving with carrots and orzo made risotto style - it comes out really creamy with minimal butter (1 tsp for 3 or 4 servings). That's probably higher points but I think altogether won't end up being more than 7 or 8 points for a pretty hearty, comforting dinner.

[sarah0404]

For dinner tonight I had 2 eggs (scrambled) and 2 english muffins. I *should* have only had one with a large side salad, because it was 8 points altogether, and now I have no points left for the rest of the evening.

My first week on ww I lost 4lbs, second week 2lbs and last week I put on 2.5lbs!!! Which was extremely unfair as I had worked out 3 times that week and gone on a long walk.

So far this week I have managed to get 4.5 activity points. I am a person who really dislikes exercise. I have no co-ordination, I'm very short, I was always picked last for team sports at school. I'm not at all athletic. But since starting ww I have felt more excited about exercise. While looking around the web at different exercise DVDs and programs I came across before and after photos of people who have used the various exercise programs. People have gotten amazing results. I feel really inspired! I don't have to put up with a stomach I hate, I could totally change my body with exercise! I started the 30 Shred dvd that everyone seems to be talking about. (its hard!) I used it a couple of times this week, mixed in with a few other exercise dvds I have. Hopefully I will be able to keep this up. And *hopefully* I should have lost weight this week. WI day is Friday for me.

[mamachandi]

subbing

[snuggly]

Hi mamas!

Sarah, we're in it together with the 30 day shred... The strong mamas here inspired me. I've been doing it for a week now!

As for meals, I'm not usually a recipe kind of gal (I usually just end up throwing things together) but if anyone is interested in any of my vague meals below let me know and I will try to elaborate! This week's planned dinners:

• Curry with light coconut milk, shrimp, and tons of veggies over quinoa.
• ground turkey tostadas (with black beans, corn tortillas, stir-fryed veggies, spinach, leftover quinoa, and nonfat plain yogurt).
• Veggie quiche (with half egg whites and half whole eggs and tons of veggies)
• Whole wheat crust veggie pizza
• slow cooker stew with buffalo, sweet potato, onion, zuchinni, and any other veggies I still have around.
• baked polenta with tomato sauce and mozzeralla over spinach

for lunch I usually have spinach salad and turkey breast. Or a whole wheat sandwich of some sort... Plus my soy crisps that I can't go without and bites of whatever I feed dd. I'm a serious snacker!

I'll be keeping an eye out here for more tasty ideas!

[SundayCrepes]

I weighed in yesterday and only lost 0.2 pounds, which I suspected. We traveled last week and I didn't track on paper. However, I'm also wondering if I'm just bloated. I just started my first period since we adopted our daughter almost 19 months ago. I'm so tickled by that since I'm adoptive nursing. It's another sign that I made a lot of milk for her. (Okay, that and I only needed a little extra donor milk for a few months.)

Even if the little weight loss is accurate I've really got this idea that it's okay. I lost weight. Not tons like I'd like, but I still lost. And I made so many different healthy and yummy foods during the past week.

I know my problem is I stick bites of food from the kids' stuff into my mouth all day long. I started cutting the crusts off the bread before I make my daughter an almond butter sandwich for breakfast (I used to make the sandwich and eat the crust.) And I take points for the bites of food, but I think I need to start writing down every little bite I eat as a way to try and cutback on those bites.

Tonight will be either a fritata or curried quinao (I saw that in your list snuggly, though I'll do a vegetarian version.)

[Bad Mama Jama]

i weighed in today and was down .8 and i was too thrilled. i had been gone a week for a conference and was totally out of my element. i had snack ready, but all of the food was provided. catch is i am vegetarian, so that really narrowed my selection. i was even able to have a desert everyday because the options were so tight for me. HURRAY!!!!

[SundayCrepes]

Originally Posted by Bad Mama Jama

i weighed in today and was down .8 and i was too thrilled. i had been gone a week for a conference and was totally out of my element. i had snack ready, but all of the food was provided. catch is i am vegetarian, so that really narrowed my selection. i was even able to have a desert everyday because the options were so tight for me.

That's great.

[sarah0404]

I totally fell off the ww wagon! I have been so bad the last couple of days. After feeling so upbeat and inspired too! I've just been through my weight watchers cookbook and planned out a weeks menu. I think I really need to do that, because when I don't have anything in mind for dinner I tend make make poor food choices.

Someone posted this blog on the UK weight watchers forum last week - you might have already seen it: http://msbitchcakes.blogspot.com/ The author is a vegan who is doing weight watchers. She has quite a few useful links at the side to other vegan cookery blogs too. Thought it might be useful for some of you.

[Anna06]

I have not been around much. And I have not even read this whole thread, but I just wanted to thank sarah0404 for the link from the vegan lady. I need to read something that will "kickstart me" LOL (I'm a veggie, so I can hardly wait to read some of her menus!) Thanks again, sarah0404

[Anna06]

subbing....