One of the advantages to working with the Weight Watchers program in your weight loss efforts is the efficient way they have of breaking down the foods you eat into easily calculated point values. By looking up your food selections each day in one of the Weight Watchers published booklets designed for that purpose or doing the calculations yourself on the Weight Watchers slide rule or online Points Tracker, you can build a meal based on the allowable number of points, known as your points target, you have to work with each day.
The first step in this process is determining your daily Weight Watchers point target. This part is really pretty simple. In the Getting Started booklet you will receive at your first Weight Watchers meeting you will find a chart that breaks down the point targets into age ranges, height, body type and gender. Find yourself on this chart and you have a starting point target for yourself. Your counselor will assist you in determining where you fall on the chart. Generally, the more you weigh at the start of the program, the higher your points target will be. As you lose weight and fall into lower weight ranges, your points target will drop a little to accommodate your new, lighter, self.
You may need to tweak this number a bit. If doctor's orders indicate you need to slow down your rate of weight loss, a few points can be added to each day so that you lose weight at a slower rate. If, after a time on the program, you are seeing little or no results, you may be advised by your counselor to drop a couple points from your daily target.
The Weight Watchers program is geared towards slow, steady weight loss, no more than a pound or two each week. The points system is designed to help you reach that goal with a painless, easy to follow way to calculate what you eat.
Once you've identified your daily Weight Watchers point target, it's probably a good idea to determine just how you want to spread those points out over the course of the day. Weight Watchers allows for some bonus points throughout the week that you can add to each day or you can save those up for a special occasion over the weekend.
It's a good idea to count on eating three meals and two snacks over the course of your day. Eating something every three hours or so will keep your blood sugar levels from spiking and keep those manic binge attacks from taking control of your life. Snacks should only use up one or two points. You will probably want to use a small portion of your points for breakfast and divide the remainder between lunch and dinner.
At first the points juggling can seem to take up more time than it's worth, but you'll soon see that, with practice, it becomes second nature. Staying within your daily points target is a lifestyle change that will make the Weight Watchers program work for you long term.