Weight Watchers is a program that inspires healthy habits. This includes plans for weight loss, maintenance, fitness and mindset tips. Weight Watchers’s goal is to promote a healthy lifestyle that also helps you lose weight.
With thousands of Weight Watchers recipes available to you, Weight Watchers meal prep is a great option to start making these healthier lifestyle choices a part of your weekly routine.
Looking to lose some weight and opt in for healthier cooking? Weight Watchers meal prep is perfect for you.
How does Weight Watchers work?
Weight Watchers uses a system called SmartPoints. Calories establish a baseline for the number of SmartPoints that is in every food and drink. Protein will lower this number and sugar and saturated fats will increase this number.
The daily number of SmartPoints Weight Watchers allows you to have comes from your age, sex, height, and weight. Then you are assigned a specific color that corresponds with an eating style, which ensures you are getting the correct number of points needed for your weight loss goals.
You are able to track your SmartPoints and ZeroPoints in the Weight Watchers app, making it easy to keep tabs on everything you eat throughout the day. Weight Watchers meal prep can be especially helpful when keeping track of your points.
When you reach your weight loss goal, you are able to change your setting on the app from “Lose weight” to “Healthy habits.” This ensures you are staying on track to maintain the healthy lifestyle you’ve formed. You can read more about maintaining your weight here.
Your first three months are free, and then you can opt into different plans. The digital plan is the cheapest, at $3.22 per week. This includes access to the Weight Watchers app. The next option includes virtual workshops and digital for $6.92 a week. They also have personal coaching along with digital for $12.69 a week.
Check out the Weight Watchers website for more information and to find an option that best suits your lifestyle. Their website is a great resource for your weight loss journey.
What are some benefits of Weight Watchers?
There are many benefits that come with using Weight Watchers. The diet is nutritionally balanced and does not exclude any major food groups, which can be less strict than other diets.
Another benefit is that it works great for those with busy lifestyles. Having access to Weight Watchers is easy, and there are lots of quick recipes to use with this program. It is not as time intensive as other diets because Weight Watchers has lots of foods readily available to you.
Lastly, the support you get from Weight Watchers is significant. Whether you choose to just do the digital option, or have personal coaching and digital, you will find a community within either of those options.
After all this information, you might be thinking to yourself: does Weight Watchers actually work?
The answer is yes. According to WebMD, Weight Watchers is one of the most well-researched weight loss programs out there. There are many studies out there that show this program can help you lose weight and keep it off.
The U.S. News & World Report ranked Weight Watchers first for “Best Weight Loss Diet” and “Best Commercial Diet Plan” back in 2019. A study from the American Journal of Medicine also showed that people doing Weight Watchers lost more weight than those trying to lose weight on their own.
Overall, Weight Watchers does work. It gives you a personalized program, and it gives you a community of support. It focuses on building healthy habits and wellness both of which can be elevated by Weight Watchers meal prep.
When it comes to Weight Watchers meal prep, it can seem difficult like a difficult task. To help you stay motivated, ThinkFit has posted some of our favorite meal prep quotes that you can check out here.
Now that you have all your Weight Watchers questions answered, let’s get to what you are really here for: Weight Watchers meal prep tips, grocery lists, and recipes.
Top 5 Tips for Weight Watchers meal prep:
- Plan for the week ahead. When preparing for Weight Watchers meal prep, it is important to have recipes that meet your point requirements. Make sure to have something in mind for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- Create a grocery list. A list will help you stay on track while you are at the grocery store. Knowing exactly what you need beforehand will save you time when you make your trip to the store.
- Invest in durable meal prep containers. ThinkFit has containers perfect for Weight Watchers meal prep available on our website. Our meal prep lunch bag set works great for work lunches.
- Pack snacks to enjoy throughout your day. Healthy snack can be a great way to curb your sugar cravings and help prevent you from overeating. Nuts, fruit, seeds, hard-boiled eggs, greek yogurt, and hummus all make for some quick and delicious snacks.
- Finally, prep your ingredients for meal prep. Sometimes you might feel like you let food go to waste because it sits in the refrigerator for too long. To prevent this from happening, cut up some fruits and vegetables ahead of time, so they are readily available.
7 Easy Recipes:
This first recipe works great for Weight Watchers meal prep breakfast. It’s a veggie ham and cheese egg bake from Skinnytaste. This low-calorie breakfast bakes in a 9x13 pan, which leaves plenty of servings for the week ahead. Weight Watchers points are included in the recipe.
This next recipe is also for breakfast. WW Oat Banana Nut Muffins from Food.com. These muffins make for the perfect to go option in the morning. They do not take long to make and they will last you for the whole week.
What can I eat for lunch on Weight Watchers?
Here are a couple of lunch recipes that work great for Weight Watchers meal prep.
This first recipe is Weight Watchers burrito bowls from Recipe Diaries. These bowls are only three SmartPoints and are packed with 25 grams of protein. To meal prep this recipe, store the chicken, rice, beans, corn, and salsa together. Keep the toppings, like avocado and cheese, in a separate container until you are ready to serve.
This next lunch recipe is from simple nourished living. It’s a Weight Watchers chickpea and feta salad recipe. It is made as a side dish but adding a bed of greens, like spinach or romaine lettuce, makes it a great option for lunch. This Mediterranean inspired dish will leave you feeling satisfied.
Overall, when deciding what to eat for lunch on Weight Watchers you might want to look for options that are high in protein while also having a low SmartPoints value. Protein will keep you feeling full, so you can save some of those points for a hearty dinner.
Let’s wrap up with a few Weight Watchers meal prep dinner recipes.
This first dinner recipe is a Weight Watchers Tuscan Chicken Pasta from My Crazy Good Life. This recipe is easy and can be made three ways, using an instant pot, slow cooker, and stovetop. It is full of protein and flavor.
This next dinner recipe comes from Emily Bites. It’s a Teriyaki Chicken and Rice Casserole. This recipe yields 8 filling servings, which will last you a week and then some. This is another recipe high in protein. SmartPoints are included.
These quinoa unstuffed peppers from Taste of Home make for a third dinner recipe that is also Weight Watcher friendly. It is freezer-friendly, making it an easy option to reheat for the following nights. Quinoa is also another great source of protein.
Since we’ve given you some recipes to get started on your Weight Watchers meal prep journey, we also want to provide you with a grocery list that aligns with those recipes:
Breakfast:
-Seasonings: salt, pepper -Olive oil
-Scallions -Shiitake mushrooms
-Red bell pepper -Lean ham steak
-Tomatoes -Broccoli florets
-Eggs (whites) -Fat free milk
-Bananas -Honey
-Vegetable oil -Walnuts
-Baking soda -Baking powder
-Rolled oats -Whole wheat flour
-Reduced fat shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Lunch:
-Ground chicken -Black beans
-Corn -Roma tomatoes
-Scallions -Fat free salsa
-Fat free cheddar cheese -Rice
-Greek yogurt (optional) -Chickpeas
-Cucumbers -Red bell pepper
-Black or green olives -Greens
-Feta cheese -Olive oil
-Lemon juice -Garlic cloves
-Lemon zest (optional)
-Seasonings: salt, pepper and taco seasoning
Dinner:
-Chicken broth -Tomatoes
-Minced garlic -Chicken breast
-Whole wheat pasta -Spinach
-Plain Greek yogurt -Cottage cheese
-Parmesan -Brown sugar
-Honey -Olive oil
-Ground ginger -Cornstarch
-Frozen mixed vegetables -Canned pineapple
-Brown rice -Quinoa
-Vegetable stock -Sweet Onion
-Low sodium soy sauce
-Red and green bell peppers
-Italian turkey sausage links (no casings)
-Seasonings: fresh basil, pepper, garam masala, and salt
Weight Watchers has become increasingly popular since it originated in 1963. 4.6 million people were on Weight Watchers back in 2018, and this number continues to grow. Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Jennifer Hudson have helped make this program popular.
Like Weight Watchers, ThinkFit wants to provide you with a community that is centered around your fitness and lifestyle goals. We also want to be a support system for you. Having a strong community is important when reaching and maintaining your goals.
Before we wrap this blog up, we want to provide you with three additional resources that will help with your Weight Watchers meal prep journey.
This first one is a cookbook: The myWW Program Cookbook. This cookbook comes straight from Weight Watchers. It is equipped with 130 easy recipes and gives tips about meal planning. It’s something for every meal, including snacks and desserts.
Another great resource is the Skinnytaste Weight Watcher Smart Points website. This page includes over 2,000 Weight Watcher friendly recipes. Yes, 2,000. Including recipes from breakfast to dessert, this website will not disappoint. The number of SmartPoints is also included in each recipe, so you know how much you should be tracking.
Finally, follow #weightwatchers on Instagram for some inspiration! This page features anything from weight loss stories to snack recipes. Don’t forget to tag us @thinkfitproducts either. We want to see all of your glorious Weight Watchers meal prep creations you come up with!
