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How many Weight Watchers points in ... ?-PLEASE USE MAIN STICKY THREAD

Suzywuzy

Hey everyone !!!

As suggested by "litup" in the food diary thread, I'm starting this thread so everyone can check and confirm how many weight watchers points are in different foods, drinks, etc ... feel free to add to the list !!!

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Suzywuzy

Ok, not sure of the exact ingredients in this but there's Chicken Divan on in the canteen today and it hasn't been on in weeks and it's one of my favourite dishes. Just wondering does anyone have any rough idea how many points might be in a medium portion of it with a medium portion of brown rice ???

Was good this morning and just had two Mc Cambridges toast ... yummy ... so hoping I can afford to have this !!!

Ms Sunshine

Medium portion of brown rice - 3 points, in saying that, what constitutes a medium portion, i'd imagine the canteen would be dishing out LARGE portions so ask for a little bit smaller than they normally give. A chicken breast is 2.5 points and i assume (i've never heard of the dish) that the sauce will be at least 4 points, probably more if its a creamy sauce!!:eek:

Suzywuzy

http://southernfood.about.com/od/chickencasseroles/r/bln569.htm

There's a link for just one of the variations of the recipe. My Mum makes a similar dish at home but just calls it "Chicken and Brocolli" and it's very like the one in the canteen. Here's a rough list of the ingredients in hers and what I guessed the points calculations would be ...

A whole chicken, cut into bite size pieces
1 tin of Cambells Cream of Mushroom Soup (2 points, according to the WW Shopping Book)
Curry Powder (0)
2 tbsp Mayo (2)
Brocolli (0)
Medium sized carton of cream, not sure how many ml's exactly ???

The dish is pretty heavy so most servings along with the rice are usually fairly small anyway.

Any further ideas ??? :cool:

SarahSassy

Ms Sunshine wrote: »

Medium portion of brown rice - 3 points, in saying that, what constitutes a medium portion, i'd imagine the canteen would be dishing out LARGE portions so ask for a little bit smaller than they normally give. A chicken breast is 2.5 points and i assume (i've never heard of the dish) that the sauce will be at least 4 points, probably more if its a creamy sauce!!:eek:

I think the large Uncle Ben's bag of wholemeal rice is 6.5 points and that feeds 2 people..

SarahSassy

Depression.... I have been SO good this week foodwise and was carrying a lot of extra points but I only lost 1 point... So disappointed. I didnt do much exercise though.. Had lost 5 lbs the week before.

DizzyDieter

Hi All

I'm new to this, anyhoo's I took the step to join WW last Weds..... I have my dreaded 1st weigh in tonight I have been really good and am praying I lose at least 1lb if not I think I'm gonna be seriously disheartened !!!!!
How long are you all on WW? Have ye lost much so far?? Hope u don't mind me sticking my nose in but it seems like this is the only thread with ppl on WW!

SarahSassy

Hi

How did you get on tonight?? 6lbs in 2 weeks...

Hope it went well for you.

SS

SarahSassy

Hi All

Am going for a chinese on Fri night. Which are the best options for keeping the WW points down?

SS

DizzyDieter

Hey SS,

WooHoo I lost 3lb...... I'm well chuffed with that seen as I had prepared myself to have not lost anything

it has given me the determination to continue with it now.......Well at least til next Weds, not looking 4ward to the long weekend as Paddy's Weekend usually involves alotta drinkin'

6lb in two weeks that is brill I wouldn't mind that myself!! Congrats. How are you finding the diet yourself are you doing the core plan or points plan?

Faith

Let's try and keep all the WW questions to this thread now.

DizzyDieter

With regards to your question about Chinese we got a book at the meeting this week about take aways and the lowest in points in the Chinese was Singapore Noodles @ 5-1/2 points also I think a Chicken Chow Mein is only 7 1/2 points I know a portion of Bioled Rice on its own is 5 1/2 points so I think you would be better off sticking to a noodle dish if you like them! Oh and a Chicken Kung Po is 5 1/2 points and if your going for a starter go for a soup like Chicken and Sweetcorn soup as its made mainly from water and is quite tasty

Hope this helps!!

rubadub

DizzyDieter wrote: »

With regards to your question about Chinese we got a book at the meeting this week about take aways and the lowest in points in the Chinese was Singapore Noodles @ 5-1/2 points also I think a Chicken Chow Mein is only 7 1/2 points I know a portion of Bioled Rice on its own is 5 1/2 points

It is not as simple as that unfortunately. All depends on the recipie and the portion size. If I got a WW frozen chicken curry it could be 400kcal (I dunno about points), now in my local chinese I would guess my chicken curry with boiled rice would be around 1500kcal, no joking, possibly 2000kcal the portions are MASSIVE compared to a WW meal portion and more calorie dense. It is teeming with oil in the chinese too. I know in my chinese the singapore noodles would have more or less the same calories as the chicken chow mein.

SarahSassy- Do you know the chinese restaurant you are going to? maybe they have a menu online. Rice & noodles pack a lot of calories, best try and get some steamed or stir fried veg instead. Sometimes dishes automatically come with rice/noodles, you could always try asking for a small portion of veg in place of it. Duck will be very fatty, I would stick to chicken breast/fillet meat, without sauce- i.e. spiced. Prawns are a good choice too, low in fat etc, but also expensive so you will not get a massive portion.

I think WW seems to work well for people, but I always felt the points system was too simplified. Somebody might read that book and pick some meal with "low points", find a chinese that gives a massive portion with 3 times those points in their version. Then they start eating it all the time, fooling themselves, consciously or not. I knew a girl who did this with chocolate bars, underestimating the points, calling all bars the same. I prefer calorie counting, most packs have the calories on them these days, it is the same concept.

DizzyDieter

Yeah Rubadub I agree that curry sauce is laden with calores and not to mention the MSG's that they pile into it aswell cannot be healthy that is why I suggested she go for a light sauce such as Kung Po as it is a tomato based sauce with chicken and veg! Plus it is up to the person themselves to judge what they deem to be an appropriate portion size restaurants will always hand out bigger portions! People easily talk themselves into eating everything on the plate but thats where discipline and willpower comes into the equation if I'm starting to feel full when I'm out I put my napkin over whats left on the plate and that deters me from eating anymore because I know I don't need it!
I dunno I suppose we all have our own little ways of stopping us from going off the rails some of us take the whole mathematical route calculating every calorie and morsel of food that passes our lips while others like to take a more relaxed route as they don't want to feel like eating healthy is a chore it should be a way of life something that is incorporated into your everyday life without you having to feel deprived.

So SS on that note I hope you have a lovely meal on Friday night and enjoy it as you have done really well the past 2 weeks in losing 6lbs.... that in itself deserves a treat (but not too big of one though

)

angeldelight

This site is a godsend for anyone doing WW and eating out - it's a UK based thing though so some of the stuff doesn't translate. The points for Chinese etc seem to be pretty good as I've been doing WW for 6 months almost and using this for pointing take aways has never stopped me having a loss

http://www.freewebs.com/noreenblackett

And to whoever asked how long people have been on WW.. 6 months in 2 weeks and 3 stone gone

rubadub

DizzyDieter wrote: »

Kung Po as it is a tomato based sauce with chicken and veg!

In my local chinese I used to get Kung Po because of the cashews in it. I would guess there were 50g of cashews in each portion, so about 300kcal from them alone. Dunno if this calculator is accurate, but that comes out at 8 points for the nuts in the meal alone. Then comes the massive portion of rice and chicken and oil it is all fryed in. A 5 1/2 point estimate for my Kung Po is way off, from that calculator I would be guessing it would be close to 30.

Here is a thread about other takeaways food calories

Next time you get a chinese just weigh out the tubs before eating, then weigh the empties. My meal in that thread was over 1070g which is over 3 times the wieght of a typical WW ready meal. The chicken balls, curry sauce & chips I used to get looks to be around 60 WW points, yes sixty, maybe 70.

Another calculator here seems in agreement too. http://www.weight-watcher-recipe.com/latest/weight-watchers-point-calculator.html

angeldelight wrote: »

This site is a godsend for anyone doing WW and eating out - it's a UK based thing though so some of the stuff doesn't translate.
http://www.freewebs.com/noreenblackett

The best ones you can look at should be fixed stuff, like branded products or places with fixed portions, like a big mac. On that site a big mac is 9.5, a quick search on google shows many list a big mac as 13 or 14 though. This is why I do not like points too- room for human error in calculating them, most calories shown on packs tend to be correct.

Mc Donalds give all the info.
The second calculator I gave is better as it doesnt round automatically. From McDonalds own info a big mac is 12.6 points.

If mcdonalds chips have the same nutritional value as the ones in my chinese, then a single portion of chips in my chinese has over 40 points. The UK site had a portion of chipper chips as 9.5points, dunno if she is weighing stuff at all, it is essential, maybe she does get small portions.

angeldelight

If you go to the Mcdonalds UK site (sticking with the Big Mac example) the calories are 495 and the sat fat is 9g... I am a WW online user and so have an online points calculator.. I just plugged in those values and got 9.5 points - calculated by the WW site.

Also Mcdonalds chips don't have the same nut value as chips you'd get from the chipper or chinese, they're thinner and so absorb more grease than thick cut chips. That website is great, she does weigh things and it's the holy grail of the WW online community. In the 6 months I have been using the online community I have never seen anyone complain about being put astray by it. The amount of work and effort she has put into it is amazing

rubadub

angeldelight wrote: »

If you go to the Mcdonalds UK site (sticking with the Big Mac example) the calories are 495 and the sat fat is 9g... I am a WW online user and so have an online points calculator.. I just plugged in those values and got 9.5 points - calculated by the WW site.

Have you a link to that calculator or do you have to pay?

I went onto the UK site and got 495 kcal and 24g total fat, 9g of which saturates. Seems the big macs are bigger in the US, I always thought they made a point of having equal sized burgers, especially the big mac, as some other people use it as a guide to pricing in various countries, the Big Mac Index.

The first calulcator I posted just has "fat" so I presumed all fat. The second specifically states total fat.

So I get 11.1 points.

If my chips (which were sodden with grease BTW) were mccain oven chips it would have been 20.7points per portion, or 18.3points if you are only supposed to enter sat fats. I am not so certain about the McDs having less than most chipper chips, they are usually different from ones you make yourself,- double fried, first in low temp oil which does make them absorb a lot. I accept the nutritional values might be different I will try and get a better estimate, that is why I did mention "if they did have"

So it seems the either both my calculators are wrong, and should have asked for saturated fat. Or you should have entered in the total fat into yours. The point is human error easily happened somewhere, both of us thought we were right, which just further illustrates my issue with the points.

EDIT: I see now it is sat fat in the EU NZ and australia!, and total fat outside there!, leading to even more confusion if you are checking stuff online. So I presume if you are in the US on holidays you will have to recalculated all your points, and Irish people should have a lower points allowance the US? do they?

Found a UK calculator http://points.ogo.ms/ and a UK big mac is 9.5 alright

I have studied mathematics to degree level, and am using formulas all day long in work, but that stuff wrecks my head! don't know how you guys deal with that stuff. Bizarre that they only focus on sat fats, when some would say it is better to fry in some sat fats, than veg oil, and that frying in sat fat can lead to more fat loss than low sat fat oil.

[Deleted User]

Rubadub you can make mistakes and be lazy with any method.
Anyone who has ever been to ww or read the literature knows that they mean saturated fat.
Its great that you like calorie counting so much but there is more than one way to skin a flea.

rubadub

Moonbaby wrote: »

Rubadub you can make mistakes and be lazy with any method.
Anyone who has ever been to ww or read the literature knows that they mean saturated fat.
Its great that you like calorie counting so much but there is more than one way to skin a flea.

Did you know points in the US were different? I expect a few WW followers went to the US at some stage and saw packets with the points value on them and didn't realise they were different. People could be buying US books online, or buy a US calculator online or something.

This is not just about WW, calorie counting would have the EXACT same problems, there are many sites quoting calories of chinese meals too, which could be way off what is served in a typical Irish chinese takeway. If you need ONE tool to help you, let it please be a digital scale. Protion sizes are most peoples problem.

seaner

healthdiscovery.net is a good place to find out the point value in things.
i think its an american site, but i used it all of last year when I was at WW and i lost 17lbs following recipes from it. So if they are different then they are only slightly different.

litup

The US and the UK (which is what is used in Ireland) WW systems are completely different. Different way of calculating points, different point allowances.

Anyone who has read the WW literature thouroghly should know this.

angeldelight

I pay for that calculator, I do all my WW stuff online not through meetings but it works the same way that points calculator does for people who buy through their leader. To be honest, anyone who has an interest in WW knows how to calculate the points - it's always saturated fat. And yes maybe some fats are better than others for frying in but why waste precious points on oil at all? I don't use it.

I did know that the points in the US are different - they're also different in France and Germany where fruit is pointed differently. I don't buy that much stuff that has the points on the packet, I make most stuff from scratch so it wouldn't affect me that much and even if i buy a Tesco Lighter Choices item here that has points on it I always check it with my online tracker just to be sure, and a lot of others probably do the same so it's not an issue. If you don't do WW and don't agree with it, why are you posting in the thread?

Anyway this thread has been a bit hijacked, back to actual WW points values and stuff... is there anything in particular anyone finds a good filling snack that's low in points? I love home made 0 point soup with 5 Carrs water biscuits for 1pt, yummy and really filling lunch

rubadub

angeldelight wrote: »

If you don't do WW and don't agree with it, why are you posting in the thread?

A kung po was said to have 5.5points, some take this as fact. That is my problem, whether it be WW points, calories whatever unit you want to measure things in.

I have gotten Kung Po with boiled rice in numerous takeaways, it is one of my favourite dishes. If I do my UK calcuations with ZERO sat fat, my points would be over 20 every time.

I have seen friends fool themselves like this in the past, most here seem to know what they are on about. Just dont want people to legitimately make mistakes, and then be left wondering what went wrong.

angeldelight

Actually according to WW's official points guide Kung Po Chicken is 7.5 points, with plain boiled rice gives you a full tray of each for 14... you have already shown your calculations not to be accurate in fairness. If you were to go out to a Chinese restaurant obviously these values would have to be taken with a pinch of salt as you won't necessarily get the same size portion as you would for take away but it's a good starting point, you can gauge if it's roughly 1.5 times the size etc. Honestly that site has never done me wrong and I check anything I buy that's on it that has the nut values on it and never had a complaint - yes they're averages but the points are given for the average long tray from a chinese, if you're eating a different portion size it's up to you to estimate how different in size it is

rubadub

angeldelight wrote: »

you have already shown your calculations not to be accurate in fairness.

Mine were correct for US points. I expect many people follow WW "guidelines" without ever going to a meeting. My mother and sister have never gone to a WW meeting, yet speak in "points" all the time, so does a male friend whos wife went to WW, I dunno how clued up he is. Maybe some of my posts have proven beneficial to some people like this, who might have been ignorant of the variety in the points system. People might be more wary of checking online estimates, i.e. make sure it is not a US site, most probably are.

Anyway this thread has been a bit hijacked, back to actual WW points values and stuff...

Right, presuming 0 sat fat in my chicken balls, curry sauce and chips, I would estimate it had a minimum of 36 UK points. That was the Jumbo takeaway in stillorgan, and I always find there portion sizes very consistent.

seaner

litup wrote: »

The US and the UK (which is what is used in Ireland) WW systems are completely different. Different way of calculating points, different point allowances.

Anyone who has read the WW literature thouroghly should know this.

in none of my weight watchers books does it say anything about differing from US WW.
I started when they brought in the new system (i.e. Full choice or No Count)....or as the lady in my group always called it...NO CHOICE.:D

anyway if you go to a chinese with the thinking that a portion of whatever is 5.5 points then you eat the whole meal, nearly feel like your pants are bursting and don't think to question the 5.5 points then you're kidding yourself.

WW is a great way to track what your eating - but you have to have some sort of common sense when it comes to judging things. There's no way in hell i'd think a portion of anything from my local chinese is 5.5 points.

I got down to my goal weight and i've managed to stay within 5 lbs of this for over 6 months now! But like I said it was paramount and IS paramount that i exercise to keep my weight steady. Simple as that. WW is more like an eye opening experience...like when you track you actually realise how much you eat!
:pac:

SarahSassy

Hi All,

Am still getting used to counting the points so maybe you can help me... Was out for dinner tonight and had the following

Grilled fillet steak - max 8 oz - no sauce
Roast root veg with some basil oil on them - prob 1/2 a carrot and 1/4 parsnip
1/2 bottle of wine
1.5 glass of prosecco - sparking wine
1.5 scoops of sorbet

Im thinking 19 points - is that realistic?

angeldelight

8oz steak is 5.5 , 0 points for veg, basil oil - how much? teaspoon is 1. half bottle of wine 3.5, glass of champagne is 2 so I assume it's similar for prosecco, sorbet only about 2-2.5 it's much much better than ice-cream. so 13-13.5 then add in the oil... well done you made great choices!!

kashmir

Hello All,

I am brand new here, usually lurk on boards, but I am back at WW after about 10 years and think the new switch plans, points and core are only fantastic, I've lost half a stone in 2 weeks. All I'd like to say is - what is your problem Rubadub? have you been gravely wounded by the WW organisation or someone who promotes it? Why the bitterness? Anyone who goes to WW and understands the points system knows that its all about efficient use of calories ie: not too much from fat, more from fibre etc. Problem with the US is that in place like McDonalds they produce their food to suit the american palette so there maybe more sat fat and calories than the European equivalent. The same goes for bread, wine etc - much more sugar. Doesn't everyone know this? It really isn't rocket science. Well done to everyone doing so well on WW. Go away to the begrudgers or at least get educated.:eek:

g'em

If you're a lurker on boards kashmir you'll know that that kind of attitude isn't regarded very highly here. rubadub is merely pointing out some potential flaws within the WW system, and while he could probably do with being a little less forceful in his views, signing up to the board with the specific intention of personally attacking another poster isn't on.

Please be more courteous in future, and attack the post, not the poster.