When I first started Weight Watchers, I had a vague concept of how many points were in certain things. Some of the blogs and cooking websites that I read give the point value for their recipes and some pre-packaged items have it printed on the label. So, though I did sort of know, I didn’t really ever think about how to put together an entire day’s worth of food and have it fit into my allotted point value. That’s really what this diet has taught me more than anything. If I go out for lunch, maybe I should skip the rice at dinner. If I have an afternoon snack, maybe I could skip dessert. That’s not to say that there aren’t days that end up being both not either or, but it’s given me a greater understanding of how it works together, if that makes sense.
I get 26 points a day. In addition, I get 49 extra weekly points that I can use throughout the week however I see fit. Everyone gets a different amount of daily points based on what they weigh and also their height, I think, but everyone gets 49 extra points. You can also track activity and get activity points, but honestly, I try not to eat into those and really it’s not hard.
Most days, I actually do go over 26. I’d say on average, I probably eat 28 points a day and then more on the weekends, taking from the extra weekly points. My weigh-in day is Sunday. This is good and bad. Bad because the number on the scale does tend to be a bit higher after a Saturday evening. But good because it allows me to save up my extra points for that bigger Saturday meal. I figure if I’m seeing a downward trend, the actual number doesn’t really matter.
Here’s a day where I did manage to only eat 26 points. I thought it would be interesting (or not) to show what that looks like. There are lots of estimations here. I do use a food scale for a few things – peanut butter, hummus, soy creamer – but with things I’ve cooked, I just estimate. Seems to be working fine.
Green Smoothie (6 points). Fruits and veggies are weird. They are no points if you eat them on their own, but if you figure out the nutritional information for a recipe that’s mostly comprised of fruits and veggies, it calculates the point values from that, giving them points. This smoothie was a little too green. I know people say you can’t taste the green, but I could. It was very earthy.
Coffee with soy creamer (1 point). The point is for the creamer. You can have two servings for one point. I actually do measure this out because it’s very easy to add a lot and you don’t even really need it. Also, this is why I don’t like drinking smoothies in the morning. Hot coffee with a cold smoothie? It just doesn’t jive.
Grapefruit (0 points).
Forks Over Knives Bean Chili (5 points).
The best yogurt EVER (4 points).
Junky snack because the best yogurt EVER was not the most filling yogurt EVER (2 points).
Lemon-djion tofu and potatoes atop a bed of kale (8 points). That’s my latest thing, putting things on top of steamed kale. Volume, people, I need volume.
So that’s what 26 points actually looks like in terms of food and serving size. Sometimes it’s enough, sometimes it’s not, but that’s what it looks like.
This is so interesting! I can’t believe fruit is 0… I’d be shoveling it in!
that yogurt is the best… but they have 5-8g less protein so it’s less filling. Boo.
Where does that yogurt come from? It looks interesting; I’d like to try it. IS it naturally sweetened?
It’s made in Norcross. I actually work in the same office park as them. (It’s much smaller than you’d imagine.) They sell the yogurts at Whole Foods. It’s just sweetened with sugar, I believe.
This was really interesting to me–thanks for sharing.
That’s really interesting about the fruit n’ veg. I remember WW making a change a few years ago (or something like that) about them counting as zero. I never heard why though. Oh well – hurray for grapefruit!
BTW, That’s a great point you make about the “downward trend” being more important than the actual number – very true!
I’m impressed you don’t eat into your activity points. I’ve managed not to do it this week, but I usually do. You really seem to have a good grasp on the program!
I wish I could do smoothies for breakfast but liquids do not fill me up. Fruit in general just does not register with my stomach and I’ll end up eating something else when I’ve already had plenty of calories but still feel like I haven’t eaten anything.
I almost never have a smoothie for breakfast actually. This was the rare, rare day when I did. I usually have eggs.
Were you hungry at the end of the day? I am in maintenance mode in weight watchers now but I found more protein kept me full throughout the day.
Not really, but sometimes I have a hard time distinguishing whether or not I am hungry after dinner vs just wanting to eat more. After dinner is the hardest time for me.
I loved this. I had lots of trouble going to WW after Miles because the points were so different. And when I did do it, I loved those Fiber One bars (I didn’t realize how junky they were) b/c they were 1 point on the old plan. Oh, the stuff that was one point.
Anyway, awesome job, and I’m glad you are seeing success. Also, thanks for the P90X offer – it was incredibly sweet and generous. And scary. I tried the yoga once – oh man. I think I made it 30 minutes!
Did you want to borrow it? If so, just email me your address.
Yeah, those are 2 points and the normal ones (not the 90 calorie ones) are 3. I do eat some processed stuff like this sometimes, but these sort of tasted like cardboard.
Even tho I don’t follow points, I do follow calories in/out via my food log and as I have said before, its extremely eye opening once you start logging your day — which for me has been a great thing. It’s given me the tools I need to eat what I love while sticking to my number religiously. so I’m staying fit but not feeling deprived which is huge for me. So glad this is working for you!
I’m obsessed with Atlanta Fresh yogurt! I just picked some up this afternoon at Whole Foods. So darn good!!
I work in the same office complex as their factory. Not good for my wallet!
Tell me about it! I try to limit myself to 2 or 3 a week, but I could eat that crack everyday.
You know what- I don’t use the recipe builder much. Like, for my oatmeal, I just input 1/2 c. oats, 1 banana, 2 egg whites, 1 T walnuts, etc. I bet that if I went and put it in the recipe builder, it would be higher in points because the fruit would no longer be zero.
Yikes!!!!