[Jensen]

Okay, I've finally got up the nerve to post this...

Is there anyone else out there on Weight Watchers and cooking (and eating) good food?

I've gained 50 lbs since moving to the States five years ago. (Now that might be saying something about the American lifestyle!) I used to joke that it was part of our visa requirements...we had to gain all that weight to fit in.

Well, I finally realised that all this weight wasn't going to go away on its own and so I signed up. I know some here are doing low-carb and the Spouse had been doing it for about a month when I joined WW (and he lost 30 lbs).

Now, to make life easier, we're all eating "Weight Watchers" food. (BTW, if anyone wants to switch from low-carb to WW, it can be done easily. The Spouse continues to lose, just not at the rate as he did on low-carb.)

I read the forums on the Weight Watchers site and I can't believe how some people eat. Blech!

I've been posting some of my cooking adventures on my
food blog.

Please tell me that there are others out there like me...people who like good food and are trying to do Weight Watchers. And wherever you are, talk about what you're cooking. I need more ideas!

[mighty quinn]

just looked at the pics on your blog and you seem to be just fine!! just remember that if it took 5 years to gain that weight, it will take some time to take it off.

[mrsadm]

There is a weight watchers cookbook that has the Culinary Institute of America name on the front cover. I bought it a few years ago and never used it. But you might look for it. Mine is in the garage as I've been doing low-carb and have lost much more weight than I ever did on low fat eating.

[Marlene]

I have been a Lifetime member of WW since 1998, (lost 70 lbs) and I have never used their prepared foods.

I have found these two cookbooks crazy plates and Looney Spoons, both by the same authors to be great resources.

[FL Heat]

I lost 40 pounds on Weight Watchers, then plateaued for a year. I recently took a deep breath and have been giving losing weight a real go again, using the WW basics (but not paying for the meetings) and am down 12 more.

As for what we eat. . .well, gosh, everything. If I see a recipe I like, I'll cut down the amount of oil if need be, or substitute a lower-fat alternative (like low-fat sour cream). I use lots of the no-point foods to bulk up dishes, and make sure to eat plenty of whole grains and low-fat protein. My boyfriend is doing things the South Beach way, and the two work surprisingly well together.

I agree that the way some people eat on WW is. . icky. It seems as though some are simply trying to get as much food as possible into each day, health be damned.

Your food looked good in your blog! Yummy, actually, I like the stuffed squash. . .

(if you want any recipes, send me a private message and I'll be happy to forward some on to you that we've enjoyed)

Diana

[Abra]

I do WW online, and am a personal chef, so I cook and eat great food all the time. I lost 65 lbs over a 14 month period, then have maintained that for about 8 months. Now I'm geared up to start losing more. WW absolutely works for me, because I love fruit, veggies, and whole grains. I've never eaten any sort of packaged WW meal, and dare say I never will.

We could have a little eG WW thread for food ideas and support, if anyone wants to. Support on the WW boards usually does include mostly people who eat horrible gunk every day, so it would be refreshing to have a foodie points-counting club.

[Jensen]

To clarify, I'm definitely not talking about eating WW-packaged food.

Quote

We could have a little eG WW thread for food ideas and support, if anyone wants to.  Support on the WW boards usually does include mostly people who eat horrible gunk every day, so it would be refreshing to have a foodie points-counting club.

This is *exactly* what I was after. Thank you for phrasing it so much better than I did. I've tried to get something going on the WW boards but there just doesn't seem to be many foodie-types there.

Friends from home (Vancouver) are arriving today so we will be having Chinese hot pot for dinner tonight. If no one starts before that, I'll use that to start a WW foodie thread.

[bilrus]

We had talked about the idea of having a Weight Loss forum a while ago, but it kinda fell through under its own weight (no pun intended). I have always thought that eGullet's format would lend itself well to the support that should come from a typical Weight Watchers meeting without the faux rah-rah BS and nasty food suggestions that come from most WW leaders.

Three years ago, I lost a little over 100 pounds on Weight Watchers, but drifted off the program around this time two years ago (before the 2002 elections). I'm back on now (after several starts and stops) and have lost 15 lbs in the first three weeks.

Most of my success was what others have mentioned - trying to lighten up (less oil, or cheese or fatty meats) regular recipes or, if I needed to have the real-deal just better portion control. Or just going for the really good things that are available and aren't bad for you - fresh vegetables, grilled instead of sauteed, etc.

As for specifically developed "light" recipes some of the recipes in teh Weight Watchers / CIA cookbook are pretty good and the points are calculated for you. They mostly come from another CIA book here:

Professional Chef's Techniques of Healthy Cooking

Although I must say that some of the ideas in here can make some not so tasty results.

Cooking Light is also a good resource - I nearly always find a few recipes I want to try out of there.

[jsolomon]

With tomatoes like those you have on your blog, why haven't you done something like roasted/grilled stuffed tomatoes? I've found those to be fabulous, and ought to easily be made into a good WW-type meal.

[hjshorter]

Jensen, I have done WW in the past with great success, and am gearing up for another try. I cannot do an Atkins type low carb diet, but a modified lower carb WW really works.

The meetings around here are pretty useless, and I refuse to pay $60-75 a month just to get weighed, so I will be on my own. A support thread would be very helpful.

I have the WW/CIA cookbook and the few things I've tried have been very good.

[Jensen]

jsolomon, on Aug 9 2004, 09:59 AM, said:

With tomatoes like those you have on your blog, why haven't you done something like roasted/grilled stuffed tomatoes? I've found those to be fabulous, and ought to easily be made into a good WW-type meal.

The only ones of those that I think might be "stuffable" were the two kind of "convoluted" ones in the upper left of the photo. They were the firmest; the others were relatively soft and I'm not sure they would stand up to being stuffed.

I'll have to try that though. When I saw the variety at the market, I just wanted a tomato salad. (It was wonderful too, btw. I think the lime juice really enhanced the flavour experience.)

[Jensen]

hjshorter, on Aug 9 2004, 10:08 AM, said:

The meetings around here are pretty useless, and I refuse to pay $60-75 a month just to get weighed, so I will be on my own. A support thread would be very helpful.

I've never done it before so, if I don't go to the meetings, then I don't know how to do it.

I don't really get a lot of support from the meetings but it's an excuse to get out of the house. I go with a friend (she joined about 16 weeks ago). We have different goals. She's really interested in focusing on portion control and I'm interested in re-learning better eating habits (and portion control).

So far, I've been having fun with the food but I like to share my adventures and there just aren't many foodies on the WW boards.

Quote

I have the WW/CIA cookbook and the few things I've tried have been very good.

I'll have to look into this...

I've got a WW cookbook from a few years back that a friend gave the Spouse but the food in it looks kind of blah.

[LEdlund]

I'm another WW member (and also participated in the discussion Bilrus mentions). I lost 70 pounds in the first 12 months but lately have gained a few back. I need to stop that trend and would love a WW thread on eGullet. Thanks Jensen for bringing this up again.

[Toliver]

I do the bi-monthly digest for Chile Pepper Magazine and there's a regular column by Chef Bill Wavrin of the Miraval Spa who recipes are health-conscious but also sound good to eat. You may want to either check out the magazine at your local news stand or the magazine's website.
Miraval Spa's web site also has a recipe section with some interesting dishes: Clickety

[lala]

I'm using WW, too. I agree, that many of their suggestions, and posts on the board are for unnatural foods (nonfat cool whip? ugghhh), and I prefer to make my own meals, using real food that I would normally use anyway. Not to mention that their boards have some of the bitchiest posts I've ever read, and I just got tired of the negativity. I actually cancelled my online subscription, as I 'get' the idea, didn't like the site, don't care to spend the $$, and find it tedious as all get-out to go online to log everything I eat. However, the plan is working for me, and I'll be doing it for a while.

I'd love to get the EG feedback/suggestions/recipe swap for WW! My breakfasts and lunches are fairly rote, but I have more time to cook dinner, where I usually make stir frys or grilled veggies, etc. Tons of veggies. I also cook brown rice in a big batch and freeze it in portions (cooking one portion at a time, at a 40 minute cooking time doesn't work for me). I've also gotten into whole wheat pasta and Wasa Whole Grain crispbread. Yogurt cheese, tomatoes and basil on the Wasa...mmmmm....

I've lost 9# so far, and seem to be plateau'd. Anyone have suggestions for this?

[jgarner53]

I join the chorus on singing the praises of Cooking Light. I've subscribed to that magazine for wow, over a decade, and always find new, tasty things to try in each issue, and some things that have become favorites. And since portion control is one of those things that is usually difficult for many people, each recipe states the size and number of each portions (such as "one piece chicken, 2 tablespoons sauce"), which helps make sure you're not eating the whole recipe in one sitting.

[lala]

jsolomon, on Aug 9 2004, 09:59 AM, said:

With tomatoes like those you have on your blog, why haven't you done something like roasted/grilled stuffed tomatoes? I've found those to be fabulous, and ought to easily be made into a good WW-type meal.

Oh, oh, oh!!!

Grilled tomato slices (baste with basil vinaigrette), corn on the cob, and grilled salmon...mmmmm...... a great WW summer meal.

[lala]

hjshorter, on Aug 9 2004, 10:08 AM, said:

The meetings around here are pretty useless, and I refuse to pay $60-75 a month just to get weighed, so I will be on my own. A support thread would be very helpful.

You may want to subscribe online to get started. They have a 3 month plan for about $50 (?), that I used to get the jist of the thing, then I cancelled. I found it helpful in figuring out what the plan is, how many points I can eat, and what the portions are. It has the nuts & bolts without the public weigh ins, and rah-rah aspect of the meetings.

[Cusina]

I'm glad to see this thread. Thanks for being brave enough to post it. :)

I joined WW online too, about a month ago. My weight had crept up about 15 lbs. and I was ready to lose a few pounds. I like the journaling aspect of their site, it keeps me honest, and suprisingly, some of the recipes in their searchable archive are not that bad. Their cooking is extremely simple, which I don't mind. I'm really learning a lot about portion sizes and adding flavor to things without whole cream and plugra. *sigh* But, I'm down 5 lbs. in a month, so something must be going right.

I agree with the take on their community forums though. Ack. I refuse to use fat free cool whip, ever. I would love to see a 'healthy living' discussion be a regular feature here.

Cooking Light is a great resource. I'm very much a regular on their community boards and cook from the magazine quite a bit. Their portion sizes tend to be too large for WW weight loss mode though, so they take a bit of doctoring. Cooking Light Forums

[bilrus]

For me, and I would suspect a lot of people here on eGullet who cook, the best feature on Weight Watcher online tools is the "recipe Builder" which allows you to input a recipe and it will calcuate points per serving on the overall finished product. This is better and more accurate than piecing it together using the ingredients.

[FL Heat]

Here's a sample of the boyfriend's lunch, it's pretty much like this but varies a little from day to day. It's not exciting or especially highbrow, but it takes a long time for him to get through it. He's lost about 25 pounds so far.

There's yogurt, then a cucumber/tomato/feta salad, then a green salad (always with some other vegetable & cheese on it), dressing (that day was a raspberry vinaigrette), he gets two whole wheat wraps. . .usually turkey, cheese, mustard, lettuce, a piece of fruit, and then a 2nd breakfast (he's eating 1st breakfast at 5:30 AM or so, then eats again at 8 or 9 AM). It's usually something with eggs or egg whites--that day was eggs with salsa & cheese, topped with canadian bacon. Sometimes I'll do salsa & eggs & cheese in a wrap or a pita. I try to make a few cold salads at the beginning of each week both to pack in his lunch and eat for mine (I work at home).

He's quick to admit that always having tasty stuff in his lunchbox has kept him away from the vending machine better than willpower did.

Diana

[Jensen]

lala, on Aug 9 2004, 10:27 AM, said:

I'm using WW, too. I agree, that many of their suggestions, and posts on the board are for unnatural foods (nonfat cool whip? ugghhh), and I prefer to make my own meals, using real food that I would normally use anyway.

No kidding! When we were shopping yesterday, the Spouse (bandwagon jumper supreme) is trying to convince me that we need to buy fat-free cottage cheese. My response? "Let's not get carried away here."

I steered him towards the partly-skim ricotta and I can't taste the difference (especially when it's all mixed up with squash and veal). He also dragged his heels over the browned butter last night. I dispensed it rather frugally but there was enough that I could taste it in every bite. It was great!

Quote

I've lost 9# so far, and seem to be plateau'd. Anyone have suggestions for this?

I've only been at it for 3.5 weeks but, from what little I've gleaned from the WW boards, these are some things to look at:

* are you drinking all your water?
* are you eating all your points? flex points? APs?

Apparently, if you don't eat all your points, you can put yourself into starvation mode.

[Jeff Campbell]

This would be a great thread to keep going, if we don't ever get a specialized forum. I have lost 40 pounds on WW, and want to lose another 25. I also think that the recipes that you tend to see on their website leave a lot to be desired.

So, I tend to just skim through sources of recipes and ideas that I have always liked, only this time with an eye towards healthy stuff. I rarely talk much during the meetings about food, because I really don't care about Skinny Cows or frozen pizzas; and no one there is going to make pickled eggs or keep salt and ground chilis in their desks.

[momlovestocook]

Weight watchers lifetime member here. I joined in feb 2002 and have lost 100 pounds. I frequent the forums(both Canadian and American) and I shake my head at the way some people are eating to lose weight. They don't want to eat veggies but are willing to stuff 4 skinny cow ice cream bars down a day. Whenever people post their journals I am shocked at the nutritional deficiencies in some of them-hey where's the dairy? Sometimes at least half of the points a junky carbs.
I eat a "healthy" diet now which includes lean meats, healthy fish, lots of veggies and my dairy servings. My snacks are usually yogurt and fruit. I don't need to add a lot of extras to my veggies now-they taste so good in thier natural state that I enjoy them way more now. It's summer, the veggies are fresh, the fruit is ripe and life is great.
I think part of the reason ww worked for me is partly mental. The point of ww is you can eat anything and still lose weight-just count the points. Tell me I can't have something and it's really hard to not want it. I have not had a regular potato chip since starting ww. I buy them sometimes for the kids but have no desire to eat them. Before ww I probably ate a couple of bags a week.
The basics are there in ww to eat healthy-you have to be willing to do the work yourself to figure it out. I don't need to eat overly processed food. There's lots of ways to cook food without adding a lot of fat. We also need our good fats so we should not be afraid to eat some of it.
Sandra

[lala]

Jensen, on Aug 9 2004, 11:49 AM, said:

Quote

I've lost 9# so far, and seem to be plateau'd. Anyone have suggestions for this?

I've only been at it for 3.5 weeks but, from what little I've gleaned from the WW boards, these are some things to look at:

* are you drinking all your water?
* are you eating all your points? flex points? APs?

Apparently, if you don't eat all your points, you can put yourself into starvation mode.

I am eating all my points, and frequently go into flex points (believe me, I am ), and AP points. And I drink as much water as I can choke down (I'll keep an eye on that, and make sure, though). I'm thinking that I may be adding muscle (gym 3x/wk), while I'm losing weight... and since muscle is heavier than fat...? Could be it. They say to go over your must successful weeks to see what you were doing then, and I have, and I'm still eating the same.... maybe I should try eating a little more.

Funny thing is, I did try South Beach, first, but since I naturally eat low carb anyway (my yeast allergy eliminates lots of carb-y foods), nothing happened. I had to eat more carbs to lose weight...

I hate my metabolism.

[cakewench]

Excellent idea! I completely agree re: the typical WW person on those forums. It's been a few years since I've even bothered looking, but I just couldn't relate to the people there and the food they were eating, at all.

A new problem (for me) is that the plan focuses on reeling people in with the promise that they can continue eating at their local TGIRuby-bees, but those are places I didn't even eat at when I lived in the US, much less now. Ditto for brand name pre-made packaged foods. Didn't get them in the US, and CAN'T get them now.

And, of course, I shouldn't have to.

Thanks for bringing up the subject! I'll be happy to participate if it happens...

[Jensen]

cakewench, on Aug 9 2004, 12:42 PM, said:

A new problem (for me) is that the plan focuses on reeling people in with the promise that they can continue eating at their local TGIRuby-bees, but those are places I didn't even eat at when I lived in the US, much less now. Ditto for brand name pre-made packaged foods. Didn't get them in the US, and CAN'T get them now.

Apparently, the programme is changing later this month. There have been some leaks about the new options; if it's correct, they have a core group of foods (fresh fruits and veggies, whole grains, lean proteins, etc.,) that are 0 points *if everything on the plate is from the core group*.

So, if you make a sandwich with whole grain/high-fiber bread, lean meat, fresh tomatoes, and fat-free mayonnaise, then it's 0 points. If you use real mayonnaise or put a slice of real cheese on it, then you must count the points value and apply them against your Flex Points.

I got the impression that, with this "Core" programme, all you get are Flex Points.

The debut date for this new programme is August 22nd...

[therese]

I started WW a couple of weeks ago, the on-line version only---I'm pretty sure I would hate having to go to meetings. I agree that the on-line "community" is generally off-putting and sort of scary (really hard not to post things like "eeew, you eat that?" when somebody describes some horrifying food combination), but so far I do like using the "point tracker" part of the site, as it gives me some structure and I find it easy to use. I've lost four pounds so far, but anticipate the dreaded "plateau" soon, as I'm not technically (according to WW, anyway) overweight but feel better when I'm thinner.

The recipe builder feature is cool. Another source for non-nasty recipes is to go to some of the international sites (there's a link on the US site) where fat-free Cool Whip is not considered a food group. If you read French the French site's got some nice recipes.

I managed to stay on Atkins for about 3 hours (no fruit? no fruit?), and on South Beach for a couple of weeks (without any weight loss). So far WW is much easier and more effective.

The WW prepared foods are generally nasty, and best avoided. The frozen ice cream things are about as good as other commercially available frozen ice cream things.

[therese]

Hmm, so now I get to figure out an entirely different system? I'd seen the flurry on the site about the new program, but hadn't paid too much attention.

Presumably the various items in the core group will only count as 0 points if they do not exceed certain quantities/amount.

[Jensen]

therese, on Aug 9 2004, 01:13 PM, said:

Hmm, so now I get to figure out an entirely different system? I'd seen the flurry on the site about the new program, but hadn't paid too much attention.

Presumably the various items in the core group will only count as 0 points if they do not exceed certain quantities/amount.

I'm hoping that the current programme will continue to be offered in tandem. That's the buzz, at any rate.

Thanks for the tip on the international sites. I can get by in French (am better in German at this point in my life) so will check them out!!!