At the beginning of this year, I got a bunch of questions from friends and family about what to make for dinner as people were transitioning to joining WW (PS, anyone want a to join & get a free month? Click this link!). I got the idea to post my meal plan for them. This then spiraled into me thinking of those inquiring minds who weren’t necessarily asking for it but found themselves curious or wanting inspiration. I also noticed that in my close circle of friends, we ask “what’s for dinner?” to each other almost daily, so I just know other people have to be asking that question, too.
Since I do take the time to meal plan, it makes so much sense to share it because I get inspiration from other people all the time since I constantly feel like I get stuck in food-ruts. I wanted to share because sharing is caring.
So, although WW’s official stance is that pregnant women are prohibited from participating in the program, and there is no program designed for pregnant women, WW is actually a diet/lifestyle that is entirely sustainable while pregnant. After several conversations with my doctor specifically surrounding my body, my baby, and my health & history, my doctor was entirely supportive of me continuing with WW, while being mindful of the cues that come from my body.
I had previously included the following “disclaimer” on my food-related Instagram posts because I wanted to make it clear that my posts and content is not specifically endorsed or sponsored by WW and that my approach to this pregnancy should not necessarily be taken as gospel or as an example for all women. All bodies are different and everyone has their own specific needs.
✨WW does not have a program available for pregnancy, so I am not following the #myww program, but points are listed/included for those that are following the program! I was previously following the MyWW Blue 💙 program, so those are the #smartpoints values listed.✨
So, what has this looked like for me? I increased my daily points “allowance” from 23 to 30 gradually over the course of my pregnancy thus far. 30 was entirely arbitrary for me; I just kept increasing until I felt like I was eating enough throughout the day. This has also helped me have a healthy, steady weight gain during this pregnancy. That being said, I still go over my points all the time & dip into my weeklies (and still go negative – a lot 😂). But, in general, 30 feels like that healthy medium to account for the slight increase in calories suggested for pregnancy and still gives me the freedom to be responsible and mindful about what gets put in my body while not going completely off the rails.
This Week’s Recipe Bank:
- Shrimp Scampi
- This one is one of those easy dinners that feels sorta fancy at our house, and for a big beautiful plate of creamy dreamy pasta it’s 10sp.
- This recipe is great because it uses shortcut ingredients that I always have on hand, either in my pantry, fridge and/or freezer.
- I usually make garlic bread for The Husband, but it just depends on if I feel like it if I opt into garlic bread with this one. It’s good but I don’t always feel like I need it.
- Teriyaki Salmon, Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Broccoli
- This was so good last week I’m doing it again this week!
- I am obsessed with the Soy Ginger Atlantic Salmon from Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant. It comes with wasabi mashed potatoes and an asian slaw that I sub out for their grilled broccoli. It’s just a thing for me lately and I just can’t get enough of it, so I’m going to try to recreate something similar enough at home to scratch the itch.
- I plan on using G Hughes Sugar Free Teriyaki Sauce/Marinade (0sp) on the salmon (0sp), I’ll make my regular garlic mashed potatoes (4sp) & we will grill our broccoli and zhuzh it up with some spray butter, lemon juice and some S&P.
- Turkey Burgers & Tots
- I’m apparently striving for super easy this week for a theme.
- I FINALLY found the Lewis Bake Shop Healthy Life buns for 2sp each at my groery store this week, so I bumped tacos and swapped in burgers. I am SO excited.
- I’ll use these Butterball Everyday Turkey Burgers (5sp) and some frozen tater tots (7sp for 25). I ended up going with Butterball over Jennie-O because they were one point less, and these are actually really good!
- We’ll just do regular tots & easy burgers instead of trying to fancify them up like I have the last couple of times. Sometimes less is more.
- Chicken & Veggie Stirfry
- I originally planned to have this stirfry last week and it got bumped for chicken & waffles. Things happen. But when I was meal planning this week, it just felt right this week. We went off the rails a bit last weekend, and a bunch of veggies just sounds so good to me!
- I will serve this with white rice (6sp for 1 cup) but could easily decrease the points by eating cauliflower rice or mixing cauliflower rice in with regular white rice.
- Takeout
- FFY (Fend For Yourself)
- Leftovers
Drop a comment down below and let me know what you thought about this!! If you liked it, please share it with your friends & tag me @glimpseatgrace on social media!
