Weight Watchers Ideas

[VanessainWonderland]

I was on Weight Watchers a few years ago (before the husband and baby!)and lost 12 lbs easily. I know all about the program and how it works. I am trying to follow the plan once again without actually having sign up or go to meetings. I have a husband and a 2 year old to feed as well, and want to cook only once, so this is going to be tricky.

I was just wondering if anyone had some creative meal ideas or creative ways to save on points.

Let's see if we can keep this thread going!

 

[semo233]

OMG!! You have to check out this website:

skinnytaste.com

ALL WW recipes with points!

 

[yooperfamily]

i love ww too, subbing!

i need to lose some weight as well - was on ww before i had my first son & lost 15 lbs easily! thanks for the website, gonna check out recipes for my family too!

 

[Luv Bunnies]

My DH and I are both counting our points right now which makes cooking easier (the kids are picky but that's another story). I've dieted plenty of times on my own and it's not too difficult to feed everyone while staying within my points. If you make a basic meal like chicken, rice and veggies, you can measure out your portions while your DH eats as much as he'd like. If your family likes cheese sauce on their veggies, you can make it for them but skip it on your portion. If you make a casserole, lasagna or other mixed dish, it's not too hard to figure out the points per serving. You just count the points for each ingredient you put in and then divide by the number of servings. If the whole dish comes out to be 48 points, you can make it into 8 servings at 6 points each (or 6 servings at 8 points each, etc.). Again, your DH can eat the amount he wants but you can control your portion and know how many points to count.

When I buy items like cheese, tortillas, lunchmeat, bread, etc. I check the labels and get the ones with the lowest points. It's good for everyone in the household to watch their calorie and fat intake somewhat and it leaves me with things I can eat without racking up the points. I've gotten my husband hooked on Boca Burgers and we often have those for lunch on a low-calorie bun. Even if you're making regular burgers for the family, you can cook up a
Boca for yourself easily enough (or eat the regular burger if you have the points). It does take a little extra planning to figure out what you can eat and stay within your points allowance, but it gets a lot easier after a few weeks. Good luck!

 

[disneyluvnmom]

I just recently lost 37 lbs on WW and I am now a lifetime member. Here are some things I got in the habit of eating and still eat...

Thomas Thin Sliced Bagels- 1 pt
w/ WW cream cheese- 1 pt
Sandwich Thins- 1 pt/ bun
w/ 6 slices of Oscar Mayer thin sliced turkey- 1 pt
w/ pizza sauce, WW Cheese, and turkey pepperoni- 4 pts
w/ turkey bacon and lite mayo- 1 pt per slice of bacon
w/ chicken salad (can chicken, lite mayo, dill relish, onion/garlic pwd)- 2-3pts
Fiber One yogurt- 0 pts
WW String Cheese- 1 pt
PopCorn- pts vary but all generally pretty low 1-4 pts
Smart Ones and Lean Cuisnes
Salad w/ spray dressing, deli sliced turkey meat, WW cheese
100 calorie snack packs- 2 pts
Fiber One/ Fiber Plus Bars- 2 pts
Low Fat Crackers and Salsa (its actually pretty yummy) my favorite cracker are the Fiber One Garlic and Herb and the Special K crackers.

get a points calculator to help decide what to buy at the store. Good luck and remember your portion control!

 

[VanessainWonderland]

WOW this is exactly what I was looking for. I never thought about dividing a cooked meal's points into servings, and then watch my serving.

Thanks so much for taking the time to post. Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!!

Keep 'em coming!

 

[travelitis]

Love this thread! My friend taught me about the WW points system. Sure appreciate the snack ideas and the website!

 

[malibuconlee]

My husband bought me 4 WW cookbooks with points listed. LOVE IT!

I just fix the family meals from those. My daughter is picky, then again she's only 2, but she's eaten several of the items and if not, her favorites don't take long to make.

My husband will eat anything, but he really likes the dishes I've made so far.

The 100 calorie light popcorn are only 1 point and make a great filling snack!

 

[LaLinda]

subbing!

 

[dzaharchuk]

I am doing ww too, been on since June and have lost 12 lbs- 8 lbs and about 8 weeks til DIS...

We have switched to whole grain pasta, and like the Ronzoni. Ragu light is also good for sauce. Use turkey sausage and basil instead of mballs

I like these snack options:
Rita's 1pt
carrots and hummus 1 pt
quaker quakes - love these, nice sub for chips/salty snacks
ww bars- love the choc rasp 2pts and straw. yogurt bar 1pt
smart pop 1 pt
fiber one bars- lifesaver!!

I am always on the lookout for more ideas too! Good luck!

 

[KATODAYO]

I just started ww last week and lost 4lbs my first week. I am trying to stay away from the ww meals, they don't seem to be very satisfying. Some of the things I have been eating:

* green grapes
* strawberries with Special K Almond Cereal and 1/2 c skim milk - 4 pts only
* egg substitute with one egg mixed in and lots of veggies - green pepper, onion and tomato.
* thomas bagel thins
* salads - one with dinner every night and I cannot stand ff dressing so I use one called Bolthouse Farms, it's yogurt based and low points.
* popcorn
* WW Fudge Bars - they are really big and only one point and delicious!

Good luck
Katie

 

[merekc]

Not totally on topic, but...
I am working on losing weight (for the 2nd time) using WW without ever once having attended a meeting. The first time I did it while my sister was attending meetings, I bought the kit (books, calculator) and ended up losing around 50 lbs. After having another kid and enjoying life, I am doing it by myself again. I have lost 26 lbs since I started in June. There are benefits to attending the meetings as I'm sure many WW people will point out, but I just wanted to give you encouragement that it can be done on your own with a little will power.

My new favorite find is the Special K, Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Bar. It is almost like having a Watchamacallit candy bar. I can't gag down lots of protein bars, but this one isn't bad for 3 pts and 10 g of Protein.

 

[merekc]

One meal tip. I do this with chicken but could probably do it with other meats. When I grill/cook chicken breasts I always cut them into strips. You get more surface covered with marinade, they cook quicker and......we always eat less. I've noticed over the years that if I serve a breast of chicken, everyone eats the entire breast. If I cut it into strips, what would normally be gone usually leaves enough for at least one and sometimes two lunches.

 

[Donnask8pro]

I would love everyones quick easy meals they make for themselves. I have a huge problem with getting it in gear to do this and I have so much to lose.. But (fingers crossed) If I read what others are eating I maybe able to mock the snacks and meals. Thank you everyone for this thread.

 

[HeatherC]

A favorite snack of mine....

Take two low fat chocolate Graham crackers and cover one with fat free cool whip. Put second cracker on top to make a sandwich. Freeze. Tastes just like an ice cream sandwich.

 

[semo233]

One meal tip. I do this with chicken but could probably do it with other meats. When I grill/cook chicken breasts I always cut them into strips. You get more surface covered with marinade, they cook quicker and......we always eat less. I've noticed over the years that if I serve a breast of chicken, everyone eats the entire breast. If I cut it into strips, what would normally be gone usually leaves enough for at least one and sometimes two lunches.

I've noticed the same thing with steak and other meats. When I serve steak at a party, I pre slice it and arrange on a platter. People eat WAY less. If I served the steak whole, they would take 1/2 a steak!

 

[Tinkertude]

Check out a site called Health Discovery it is a ww support site. There is a
50+ list that has a whole section of great ww recipes. 0 - 1 point servings of soup. And another section of all kinds of recipes. It is different from the recipes listed at the top of the home page. And ofcourse Dotties Weight loss zone for restraunts points Good luck I just reached my life time goal last week again. I finally figured out that I know how to lose the weight but really never learned to maintain. That is my ultimate goal

 

[book_junkie]

Heya-
It's been a while since I've done WW but trying again... Am I figuring my points right (from my book) or has it changed?
From the book I have:

Are you:
Female?—–2pts
Male?——-8pts
A Nursing Mom*?—–12pts

How Old Are You?
17*-26———4pts
27-37———3pts
38-47———2pts
48-58———1pts
Over 58——-0pts

What do you weigh?
Enter the first two digits of your weight in pounds. For example, if you weigh 175, enter 17. If you weigh less than 100 pounds, enter the first digit of your weight in pounds. i.e. for 98, enter 9.

How tall are you?
Under 5′1″—-0pts
5′1″-5′10″—-1pts
Over 5′10″—-2pts

Do you spend most of your day:
Sitting down?——————0pts
(e.g. as a receptionist, bus driver, cab driver)
Occasionally sitting, but mainly standing?—2pts
(e.g. sales person, housewife, cook, teacher)
Walking most of the time?——-4pts
(e.g. waiter, mailman)
Doing physically hard work most of the time?—6pts
(e.g. nurse, gardener, construction worker)

The total is your daily points target.

*Nursing moms and young people under 17 should talk with a WW leader before beginning the program.

**If your total is less than 18, your daily points target is 18; if your total is more than 44, your daily points target is 44.

***Retake the quiz as your weight goes down, as you get older or if you change the way you spend you day.

Remember that you have 35 allowance points each week as well. You can save them to eat out once a week, or however you choose. You don’t even have to use them if you don’t want to. Keep in mind that they start over each week.

You also earn more points when you exercise. You have to have a points calculator to help determine how many points you’ve earned.

 

[VanessainWonderland]

I am so happy that this thread is still going. There are so many great ideas on here that I would have never otherwise thought of!! The Special K bars, Thoma's thin bagels, The yogurt based salad dressing, the graham cracker cool whip sandwich.....these are all great ideas.

I will definitely be trying them! Let's see what other good ideas we can get on here.

 

[kato0627]

Just joining in. Great thread