Weight Watchers newbie

[badunnin]

Alright. My mom (Northern Comfort - expect to see her here soon!) started WW today. As I'm the cook in the family, I was flipping through all the little brochures, checking things out, and was dismayed to find that all the little recipes they have are intended for one person. *sigh* Oh, and they all begin with "one boneless, skinless chicken breast", but that's another issue.

Where do you start when cooking for a family? We're not all doing it, but I know that no-one in my family would object to leaner food - we don't eat badly anyways. How do you deal with portion control? Do you start with the measuring cups until you get an idea? I don't really want to get into the WW boards, because from what I've seen, they can be pretty freaky over there and I know yous a lot better!

[Molli526]

I used a scale to measure out portions i.e meat, cheese, other stuff that is weighed. That helped. I also measured out rice, pasta etc. in cups.

[slknight]

Most CL recipes are very points-friendly. Plus, all the nutritional info is listed so you can easily figure out the points. The key really is portion-control. I tend to use a measuring cup frequently to figure out the portion size. It's also helpful to divide the dish into portions ahead before serving. It's much easier to control that way, rather than dishing out as you go along. If it's already portioned out, it's not as easy to just take a little more.

[clairea]

Bethany, I cook for my family pretty much the way I always have. When I started WW I measured pretty much everything, but it didn't take long to get to the point where I can "eyeball" a lot of things. I spot-check periodically to make sure my portions aren't growing. If your family is already eating pretty well, I don't think it should be too hard to accomodate WW for your mom. Most of the things you are used to making can fit within WW (I am assuming that you don't deep-fry everything, use lots of cream or full-fat cheese, etc.) I usually just give DH a larger portion of whatever I am having, and sometimes an extra starch if I am not having any. Do you eat mainly whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole grain bread, etc.?) These things are generally lower in points than their refined counterparts, so using them if you don't already will make it easier for your mom to stay within her points range. One thing that I think makes it easier for me to eat things the rest of my family enjoys for dinner is staying fairly low on points for the rest of the day so that I have quite a few left over for dinner.

Hope that helps.
Claire

I do the same things Susan does, dividing a dish into portions before I begin serving it (and then I dish mine up first, before DH and the kids ignore the divisions I made:D ).

[MKSquared]

Inevitably, I found that people would start with the measuring cups, use them for a while, and eventually phase them out. Eventually, the same people would notice a weight loss stall, and bring out the measuring stuff again, just to double check portion sizes. It's amazing how much 3 oz. can grow into. :)