Yay congrats and welcome.
I started with a similar amount of daily points in the beginning and struggled initially getting all my points in.
I found the "Suggested daily PointsPlus Targets breakdown by meal" (page 56 in the Meet PointsPlus 2012 booklet that comes with the newest starting materials) very helpful. It's completely optional and you can create your own if maybe you have different schedule/appetite needs, but having something like that is a great way to keep an eye on *roughly* what you should aim for at a meal. If you try to meet each meal, one by one, it's much less overwhelming than just winging it and getting to the end of the day, having 8 points and feeling like you need another meal to get them in.
For example, they have a column for 44 pp broken down as:
Breakfast - 7
Lunch - 12
Dinner - 16
Snack 1 - 5
Snack 2 - 4
So you would just pick 2 points to shave off wherever you wanted to make that a 42 pp total, and there's your rough per-meal guideline. Much easier to think hey what is a good 4 pp snack, than argh 22 points to go for the day what do I doooooo. The more you get used to it, the more ideas you'll have in your head for 12 point lunches or whatever (or you can just ask here if you need more inspiration!)
Higher fat dairy - milk, cheese, yogurt, etc - is a great way to add points without adding bulk. Like a Fage (greek yogurt thingy) 0% Cherry Pomegranate is 3 pp, Fage 2% Cherry is 4 pp, but a full fat cherry is 6 pp. Same amount of food, but one choice is double the points of the lowest pp choice.
Also nuts, great healthy fat, but add up in points fast so you can throw some in for something that isn't too bulky. I keep almonds, pecans, walnuts, etc in the pantry and throw them into various things. Slivered almonds with steamed green beans, walnuts mixed in with a cherry greek yogurt is good or sprinkled over a salad, etc. Also along those lines, nut butter. Runs an average of 5 pp a 2 Tbsp serving for the real deal but not too filling at all.
Hope your first week is going great!
