What to eat?

When I first started Weight Watchers I tried eating what I thought I should and usually ended up hungry every night...thinking about what else I could possibly eat, going over my points, and feeling like I was missing out.  We were eating the Smart Ones, the ice cream bars, and all the stuff with the points already on it.  Hubs had 10 more points than me so that didn't help!

Soon I learned I could eat far more if I prepared it myself and looked for alternatives to the things I loved.  I also felt more full when I did this!

Now, I have built on that learning even more by trying to add more protein into my diet.  I have read in Runner's World that eating 60-90 grams of protein (roughly half your body weight in grams-so since I weigh about 150 lbs I should eat about 75 grams of protein) will help your body repair itself better.  Since I want to  eat clean I am aiming to do this through non processed sources as much as possible.  The best sources are eggs, chicken, lean beef, pork, seafood, soy and low-fat dairy (again from Runner's World-December 2011 Issue pg 42).  So I am not eating bars.  I have purchased the EAS shake and the muscle milk shakes but I try to only drink those after longer/harder sessions of lifting or days when I absolutely can't get my protein in due to things out of my control.  They are 17 grams of protein and 3 points and I can't lie that it's nice to chug some chocolate "milk" now and again.  :)  But this is new to me-we just started tracking protein!  So...we'll see how I feel and how it works getting used to it.

I have a few things that are my favorites:

This morning's breakfast was two eggs with salmon. I cooked them sunny side up and just piled the salmon on top and let it all get warm in the pan together.  I ate that with a couple of clementines and some Emergen C to drink.  That gave me 25 grams of protein and was only 7 points. (Oh and I added a 1 tsp of healthy olive oil!)

And here is one of my most favorite snacks.  Vanilla greek yogurt, 1sliced banana, and 1 Tablespoon slivered almonds.  Mix that goodness altogether and it's like a banana cream pie.  It's pretty sweet and satisfying. YUMMMM  3 points and 14 grams of protein.  I also have been known to eat it for breakfast.

I also love to eat popcorn at night just to mindlessly snack in front of the tv-an old comfort habit I'm sure that I should try to break...but baby steps!

I'll do posts in the future of things I find good, filling, and healthy for me and maybe a few on things I don't like too!