New to Weight Watchers, I am looking for a few of your favourite low points recipes please!

[OddBodd]

Hi, I started Weight Watchers online a weeks and a half ago. I lost 4lbs in the first week so I am convinced this can work.

The only problem is I am struggling for low points, easy family recipes. I have been living off jacket potatoes, salad, or the weight watchers ready meals and other ww products with are pricey and means I don't get to eat the same as the rest of our family.

I am looking for your favourite staple recipes that would suit me DH, DS1 age 5 and DS2 age 18 months. All are good eaters but not overweight. Does this mean I have to eat differently to them or can I cook us all the same without them wasting away?

I have 5 stone to lose .

[pinkypants]

Depends on how low on points you want to go! Weight watchers meals are pretty dire for the points, you only live once so you might as well live well!!

You could make for yourself and hubby:
veggie/meat chilli -

1 or 2 peppers - 0 points
1 onion
Mushrooms (optional!) - 0 points
Garlic
Fry Light
Fresh tomatos - 0 points
Chilli seasoning
1 can of mixed beans - 10 points
(I'm usually naughty and add 1/4 can of refried beans to it :D 3pp :P)

You can make the chilli as low points as you like and have them in a large tortilla wrap (4pp), or mini one (Old El Paso do them) pp per tortilla.

One spoon of guacamole 30g is pp, Cathedral city sliced cheese comes in at 2pp per slice I believe!

Total:

2.5pp for chilli
2/4pp for wrap
1pp for guac
2pp 20g cheese 2pp

Total - 7.5 - 9.5pp per wrap. You could bulk it up serving with plenty of salad :D

Other stuff I cook -

Creamed sweetcorn soup (you could add chicken in but I'm veggie!)

0pp - spring onions
0pp - soy sauce
6pp - 180g sweetcorn (half blitzed in the food processor to cream the soup up, half added to the soup later)
1pp - vegetable stock / chicken stock
0pp - ginger
1pp - 2 egg whites (may need more to thicken it up :) - I'm not fussed on eggs, so i just add some cornflour instead to thicken it

If you add 200g chicken 5pp - it equals just over 4pp per person!

Vegetable soup
0pp - Mixed veg
1pp - 1 Veg stock
0pp - Ginger

Blitzed into a nice smooth soup - you add add cream/milk in if you want. Less than 1pp per person.

Mini veg grill:

6pp - Halloumi Light
0pp - Red Onions, peppers, mushrooms- sliced
5pp - 1 large sweet potato - sliced into chips
6pp - 300g Salad potatoes - halved
200g marinated chicken - 5pp (optional) - will need to be cooked in oven first until cooked before being added to veg

Pre boil sweet potato chips and halved salad potatoes until mostly cooked. Place ingredients onto tray, spray with fry light and add seasoning (I use cajun / fajita - whatever you like really). Cook in the oven for 10 minutes at 180c- keep an eye on halloumi to make sure it doesn't burn, keep in oven until halloumi has cooked to the way you like. Works out at just over 4 pp per person, just under 6 with chicken. You can serve it with salad, coleslaw etc.

Loads of recipes found here:
www.weightwatchers.co.uk/food/

Best of luck!

[STIDW]

I lost 10st and ate mainly family meals, although I would have a smaller portion and cut down on the carbs. Things like Pasta Bolognese, grilled chicken with potato wedges (8pts), homemade turkey burgers, omelette with ham, mushrooms and cheese, chicken fajita with cheese (7pts) and pancakes filled with spinach and feta. I served them with plenty of salad or veg. Rather than buy prepared ready meals which are very expensive I would spend a bit more for lean meats and half fat food e.g. M&S butter and brie. Also I bought things like raisin bread or made meringues instead of cakes.

Tonight I had roast fish with a parmesan crust which our son really enjoys. You just place cod fillets on a non stick baking tray sprayed with 2-3 sprays cook oil. Then top with tomato slices and a mix of teaspoon white breadcrumbs, 10g parmesan, a teaspoon fresh parsley and seasoning. Roast for 20 minutes and serve on a bed of wilted spinach and new potatoes with 1/2 tsp half fat butter.

There's a WW recipe for herb potato wedges but it's basically tossing wedges of potatoes in a few sprays of cooking oil, wholegrain mustard, herbs and seasoning and roasting for 20 minutes. You can do the same with sweet potatoes or a mixture of butternut squash, carrots and onions.

[SandyChick]

Ahh this is exactly where im struggling. I'm thinking about joining WW but the main reason I haven't/struggling to lose weight is trying to make meals to suit everyone.

I've done ww in the past pre children but just to lose half a stone. Now post children I have 2.5 stone to lose.

I have a 16 month old and a 6 year old. They both eat well and lots of variety but I struggle to think of something we can all have that isn't 'diet' food or that I won't feel like I'm missing out on. Those suggestions above are great. I've never thought about making savoury pancakes!

Hope more people add some recipes/ideas.

Feeling inspired

[Clipbo4rd]

I don't have any recipes to add at the mo, sorry, but I did want to let you know that WW will work - after many attempts at various diets (slimming world, Atkins, cabbage soup one etc) I finally joined WW and reached my goal of losing 4 and a half stone post-children.
Four years later, and eating 'normally', enjoying the food my family eat, meals out, cakes, chocolate and, wine etc i am going to pop back as my weight has crept up from my goal weight, but only by 7 pounds.
I had a very good group leader and as you are following it on-line I'll pass on the best piece of advice ever - on my first week she told us to "be aware of your sabateurs" - those people who for reasons only known to themselves want to sabotage your efforts. This could be a mum/friend who needs to lose weight and is jealous, so they'll undermine by saying things like 'oh you'll just put it on again/ you're no fun now you don't drink/ all you talk about is dieting' or it could be a partner who means well by buying you a choccy bar/cake or making something for you so you end up eating it cos you feel too guilty not to! It might be a work colleague who passes the biccies round and talks you into having one 'cos one won't hurt'.
This advice really struck a chord with me - my mum was a great one for not eating when we met for a coffee, unless I did so I'd get the whole 'well if you're not having a cake I won't' followed by a sad face and I'd invariably end up eating a cake to keep her happy! Once I heard this advice I realised that some people will undermine our effort and realising this meant i was prepared to be firm and tell people that my weight loss was important to me, and 'just one' would hurt, or with a partner buying or making something I felt it was ok to say 'thanks, but no thanks. I'm not bring ungrateful, please help me by not buying/making me things I can't have'.
Lots of people would 'treat' themselves to a choccy bar/chips etc if they lost weight but my group leader suggested that instead we 'treat' ourselves by putting the £1 or £2 away and saving up til we could get a new, smaller pair of knickers or similar to celebrate our losses!
Sorry, didnt mean to go on about me, I just want you to know that it will work, you will lose the weight and it will stay off! Good luck, it's an amazing thing you're doing x

[Darkesteyes]

Im hoping to start at WW tonight. I did Slimming Worlds Green plan in 2002/2003 and lost ten stone but gained back 4 stone SW does not seem to work as well now What worked at 29 doesnt seem to want to work at 40 I just hope WW works for me.

[Darkesteyes]

Well i started WW this evening and i weigh more than i thought 16 stone 8 pounds. I just cant afford to buy deluxe starter packs and loads of paraphernalia but i did buy a pro points calculator and am struggling with it i worked out ribena immunity support is 0 points but i tried to work out a mullerlight yoghurt and because the ingredients are based on 100 grams and the portion is 165 grams i just cant make the adjustment in my head to work out the differences in carbs protein etc. My mathematical ability just isnt up to it It shouudnt have to be this hard surely.

[Darkesteyes]

Looked at some old kitchen scales i have Cant make head nor tail of it Its in ouncses and pounds I need it in grams.

[STIDW]

I wouldn't worry about buying the paraphernalia or ready meals and snacks, most of it isn't necessary. As long as you have the means to track your points and weigh food that's all you need.

Clipbo4rd, that's a bit of good advice. Wittingly or unwittingly other people can easily sabotage your efforts. The last time when I had almost reached my goal a number of people started saying I shouldn't lose any more because I was looking too thin and looked better a few pounds heavier!

[Darkesteyes]

Im trying to track my points but am finding it a bit of a faff. Ive been given 34 points a day but am struggling to get it up that high.

[STIDW]

Yes I found it difficult to eat all the points initially but as you lose weight the points reduce. If you aren't loosing 1-2lbs a week on average you can reduce the points by 2 or 3.

[tabulahrasa]

The family meals thing - you do the portions differently, if you're having something like Bolognaise or chilli, where the sauce is low points, you get more sauce to pasta or rice than people who aren't needing to lose weight and you give them cheese to put on top where you're having none. You have loads of salad where they're having bigger portions and less salad. If you make soup, you skip or lower your bread portion.

Also it's handy to do things like make more and freeze portions for you to have when they're having something it's just not worth you having.

[spottymoo]

I eat exactly the same as all the family we have swapped mince to less than 5 % fat sausages to low fat sausages etc

We still eat roasts I fill up on entry of veggies and fry light roast potatoes roast joints as normal.

Menu this week is
Tuesday roast pork dinner
Wednesday chicken breasts with carrots green beans new pots Yorkshire pudding.
Thursday gammon new pots salad
Friday cooked breakfast sausage bacon mushrooms egg tinned tons
Saturday chicken wraps
Sunday sausage mash veg onion gravy
Monday soup n bread

You can make it work eating the same as all the family