Menu Planning

For Christmas I got an awesome book entitled “Managers Of Their Homes” to help me in scheduling my life as a homeschooling mom!  In my reading of the book this morning I found something that I thought would be beneficial to pass along to this group!

The chapter I was reading was on Planning Time In The Kitchen (which is a passion of mine).  It talked about making master grocery lists (which I already do…if you would like for me to share my master wal-mart list with you let me know – I would be glad to do so).  And it talked of menu planning to plan your grocery trips – which is very beneficial…it not only helps you to plan what you will be fixing for meals but it also cuts down on the grocery bill when you stick to a list!

The thing that I thought was really beneficial to pass along was that it mentioned as a time saver in your menu planning is to plan on the same lunch every day of the week.  For example every Monday is sandwich day, every Tuesday is soup day, etc…  You could do the same thing for breakfasts as well.  That way when it comes time for planning your next week of meals that is a gimme!

If you want you could even take it a bit further to your dinners.  Now you might want to fix different meals every night…having the same 6 to 7 meals every week might get old…but you could say “Monday night is pork night” or Wednesday night is “ground turkey night”.

I think I am definitely going to try to do the breakfast and lunch list for the week.  In fact when I get mine figured out I will share with you.

On another note, I am hoping to really get this blog moving along next week once we get past all the holidays.  I will point out right now though that on the right column of the blog I will have a category list.  This post will be in the category of menu planning so that you will be able to access it if you need to refer to it later.

I am wanting to try to do theme posts each day (for example –Monday would be weigh-in).  Once I get that figured out I will probably make a column on the left hand side that will list what theme will be posted each day if you need to refer to that.

I am still very open to any ideas that you may have to make this better for you – this site is for you!  So I need to know what you want to see on this site to help you!

I hope everyone has a very fun and safe New Year’s!!  Let’s have 2010 be a FANTASTIC year as we are “losing weight together!”

Kellie

My Goals for This Blog

I thought I would start out this blog by telling yall my goals for this blog.  I would like this blog to be a place of motivation to help us lose weight together (hence the title of the blog).  I thought that we could share menu ideas, good recipe finds, good snack ideas, eating out strategies, etc. 

I thought we could have a weekly “weigh-in” post.  People who would like to share their weight at the beginning of the week could do so (but it would be strictly voluntary).  You could also use this post to share success stories or lessons learned for the week.

I thought I would periodically make a post where everyone could share their goals and then report on how they are doing on their goals (once again it would be strictly voluntary).

Those are my goals…but this blog is not just for me…it is for you too.  So I am now going to ask you – what would you like to see in this blog?  Leave a comment on this post and let me know (or if you are subscribing to this blog and reading this post in an email then you can just reply to the email).

Speaking of subscribing…in the top of the right hand column is a form to use if you want to subscribe to this blog.  You just simply type in your email address and click the submit button.  A confirm window will pop up.  Once you complete that screen you will receive a confirm email.  All you have to do is click on the link on that email and you will be confirmed.  Then you will receive all blog posts in an email (you will only receive an email once a day, only on days when a post has been made…if multiple posts are made in one day then you will receive one email with all posts).

If you are subscribing to the blog and reply to the email please let me know know if you want your reply shared with the rest of the group.  You have the option of having your reply shared with your name, or anonymously, or not at all (just kept private between you and me). 

So I hope everyone is excited about losing weight together!!  Please be sure to let me know what you would like to see in this blog!  I want this blog to be beneficial for everyone!!

Kellie

How To Calculate Your Daily Points Value

Disclaimer -  I follow the Weight Watchers points program but I am not an official member of the Weight Watchers system.  I have never joined the weight watchers program.  I do not pay dues and I do not attend meetings. 

So information that I share on this blog is from research I have done on the internet mostly, with information I have gained from other friends who have been members of the weight watchers program.  There may be times when what I am doing is not exactly how it should be in the program, but it has worked for me, which is what counts (I have lost 35 pounds in the past 4 months and I am still going).

I found this calculation online.  I cannot verify that it is the official formula for the weight watchers system.  But it has worked for me and that is all that counts – right?!?!  Here is the calculation:

To find your daily points allowance, give yourself the number of points listed next to the option that fits your situation best:

Your sex:
If you are female- score 2 points
If you are male- score 8
If you are nursing- score 12

Your age:
17 to 26- score 4
27 to 37- score 3
38 to 47- score 2
48 to 58- score 1
Over 58- score 0

Your current weight:
Enter the first 2 digits of your weight in pounds. If you are 175 lbs for example, you would enter "17".
Your height:
under 5'1"- score 0
5'1" to 5'10"- score 1
Over 5'10"- score 2

Your activity level on most days of the week, how do you spend your day?:
sitting down- score 0
occasionally sitting, but mostly standing- score 2
walking most of the time- score 4
doing physically hard work most of the time- score 6

Add up all your scored points- that is your daily points target.
As you celebrate your birthday, increase your daily activity, or as you lose weight, you will need to keep retaking this quiz to most accurately figure your points allowance.

How I Use Weight Watcher Points (regarding fiber cap)

Let me start out by saying that I follow the Weight Watchers points program but I am not an official member of the Weight Watchers system.  I have never joined the weight watchers program.  I do not pay dues and I do not attend meetings. 

So information that I share on this blog is from research I have done on the internet mostly, with information I have gained from other friends who have been members of the weight watchers program.  There may be times when what I am doing is not exactly how it should be in the program, but it has worked for me, which is what counts (I have lost 35 pounds in the past 4 months and I am still going).

In my research I have found a lot of information on how the program uses fiber in the point count.  From what I have read there is an old way and a new way on the fiber count.  Originally weight watchers let you calculate up to 10 grams of fiber per serving when calculating the points, but, apparently a large portion of the weight watchers population didn’t realize that there is a limit to how many calories can be wiped out by fiber and started abusing the system by thinking they could eat lots of calories as long as they ate lots of fiber, but they were not losing weight.  So weight watchers decided to modify the point system and only allow 4 grams of fiber to be included in the points count per serving.

I have been following the 10 gram fiber cap and have not had a problem with it…but I only count fiber if the recipe, or the food item contains that much fiber.  I do not add extra fiber to my recipes to lower the point count.  

So in all my recipes on this blog, along with Kellie’s Healthy Recipes, I calculate points according to the 10 gram fiber cap (and frankly it is not that often that there is a recipe that c0ntains that much fiber).   But if you are wanting to use the 4 gram fiber cap I do strive to provide the calories, fat and fiber content per serving so you can recalculate the points if the fiber count is above 4 grams.