Weight Watchers is a for-profit organization that helps people lose weight and learn to eat more nutritiously. Participants can join weight watchers for a fee. In turn they get access to nutritional counseling and support groups. People who join weight watchers are urged to follow a point system. Points are allotted each week for factors such as initial weight, height, age and gender. Many counselors suggest that participants make home cooked meals rather than eat out to fully control their calorie consumption. Cooking following weight watchers principles is not difficult.
Instructions
1. Learn the point values for all items that you are planning to cook. All foods are assigned a Weight Watchers point value. Points can range from zero for water to dozens of points for some very rich dishes that contain items such as butter. People who join weight watchers are given material that contains point values for common foods. You can also look up point values online, buy foods produced by Weight Watchers and use reference books that indicate more specific point values.
2. Decide what you want to cook. People who follow Weight Watchers are pushed to menu plan at least a day or two in advance. Menu planning helps participants avoid excess calorie consumption and create well balanced meals that are filled with the right nutrition. A good Weight Watchers meal should include a combination of protein, fats and carbohydrates.
3. Look up the point value for each item that you are cooking. You can also think about making meals from one of the many Weight Watchers cookbooks available on the market. A Weight Watchers cookbook should have a list of each item as well as the final point totals for the entire dish.
4. Measure out the quantities of the food items you are planning to prepare. Have a calibrated scale at hand so you can see exactly how much food is going into each dish. The scale should indicate values up to the half-ounce. Clean the top of the scale after you weigh each item, or set messy foods on waxed paper or put them in a pre-weighed bowl to keep the scale clean.
5. Consider which preparation methods you wish to use to prepare items. Weight Watchers counselors prefer that people use healthier methods to cook whenever possible such as steaming, baking or quick sautéing.
6. Use necessary oils. The Weight Watchers philosophy is based around slow and effective weight loss. Participants are exhorted to eat all the calories they are supposed to eat each day to keep the body from going into starvation mode. Calories include the consumption of healthy oils, such as olive oils. Use them with your food.
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