Hi DMickey- Welcome to WISH and WW's.
WW's is wonderful, but I can see how it can be confusing if you haven't been to a meeting.
Remember- Its not a 100% exact science. You will always have the possibility of being slightly over or under on your recipes. Basically its about being pretty darn close. Counting it and moving on. No guilt and no driving yourself crazy about it. Just by using portions and weighing and measuring you are teaching yourself about the proper amount to eat.
Recipes:
If I have a personal recipe that I need to count. I take each ingredient and add all the points together. Then after cooking the meal I take the entire amount and measure it by cups and put it into another bowl. I only do this once when I first make it. Then I record this amount with my recipe and each time in the future I just use the points for 1 cup. If I only want 1/2 cup I just cut the points in half. I bought these great 1/2 cup and 1 cup serving spoons at my WW meetings that make this very easy to do. You can also use regular measuring cups. If I make stuffed cabbage or stuffed peppers, I count the points and divide by how many I make. I figure that even if I make more or less the next time, its a pretty good guestimate as to future times I make the recipe. Remember its not about being precise, its about being pretty close, writing it down and moving on.
If you have a recipe that is for 1/4 of total recipe you can either redo using cups as above (I find I eat a cup of most things I make for dinner). It just makes a good portion. Or you can guestimate. Again, just figure out something to make it easy. I find using serving dishes that are square are easier.
I find that there are a few recipes that I make that have things like low fat cheese, sour cream etc. that its easier for me to use a small pyrex dish and make 2 single serving sizes for myself. One for work and one for dinner. Then I can put exactly how many points I can eat in my portion. Then I make a regular batch for the family. I do this for enchilada's, taco casserole. I find that I like to portion out exact amounts of sour cream and cheese so its just easier to do in single servings than to count the entire thing and divide. it doesn't really work as well do the cup measurement with something like this because its more firm and you are supposed to just cut squares.
You'll find as you do this it will get easier.
I use a palm pilot for my points and it also has a complete points guide and all the restaurants from Dotties Weight Loss zone in it. I can pretty much use this while eating out and figure out the points for anything. I just make sure I don't get too crazy and just guestimate the best I can, write it and move on. So for instance, there are points for sauces so if it has a sauce I just use that and guestimate. Is it 100% accurate all the time, NO-but its close enough and it works because I loose.
Good luck and please don't hesitate if you have questions.
A few good websites are:
www.dwlz.com - Dotties Weight Loss zone-There are restaurants here plus lots of other info. Take some time checking it out. Great website.
The weight watchers website is also a good place to go for learning about the program.
