Weight Watchers is definitely the best "diet" plan that I have found. It has taught me how to eat what I already eat but do it in moderation. I like being able to eat what my family is eating. I don't want to have a separate menu every day for me. Even when I did make up my own menus, it was food that my family was already eating. I didn't make up some weird rice paper wrap stuff that I had to choke down every night. I ate what I liked!!There are several ways to do Weight Watchers. There are meetings that you attend once a week. There is an online version. I used the online version for a month (got a free trial) and loved it. It let me type in my own recipes (which was great for me because I cook a lot of casseroles) and then it would give me the point value per serving. As much as I liked it, I couldn't justify the expense just as I couldn't justify the time and expense of the meetings. So I just purchased the books and the calculator and have done the program on my own. I bought mine directly from Weight Watchers when I had the free trial. I don't know if you can purchase directly from them if you are not a member, BUT you can get just about any of their stuff on EBAY for about the same price.
My friend bought a starter kit on EBAY and the lady she bought it from actually sent a detailed list of instructions on how to use the program, calculate points, calculate the point value of exercise...I actually copied her instructions because I was just kind of winging it! The most basic started kit I could find on EBAY also included a recipe book and a 1 month food journal. The kit I purchased from WW also came with these two items but I have never used them. But I have found that it is cheaper to buy the starter kit than to buy the two books I actually use and the calculator.
The calculator makes it so I can get the point value of any food that I have nutrition information. Unfortunately, meats and fresh fruits and vegetables don't come with preprinted nutrition information. This is where the books (or the cool food scale that I have) come in handy. I don't think I have come across a food yet that isn't listed in the books.
The books obviously don't list casseroles but I just find the point values for each of my ingredients, add them together and then divide by the number of servings. It is a pain to do this the first time around but then I write the point values (and number of servings used to calculate those points) on the recipe and then I always have the point value.
The Dining Out Companion is so-so. It has a lot of restaurants that I have never heard of and doesn't list a lot of my favorites. The restaurants it does have don't have a complete menu listing but I can use it to get an idea of what the point values of some places are. I have found that most national chains will have their nutrition information posted online so I go online before I go out and figure out the point values using my handy dandy calculator. This also helps me make better choices when ordering if I know that I will use up my daily allotment of points eating one six dollar burger!
Using this program has been a real eye opener for me. We still eat our favorite foods but some of them we have switched to only eating on special occasions now that we really know what we are eating!! I would highly recommend Weight Watchers even if you don't have the money to invest in their monthly options. If you purchase from EBAY, make sure you are getting a calculator with your kit. Some have them, some don't. I have found that most complete starter kits are around $60 right now.
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