How to Calculate the Weight Watchers Points Value of Your Favorite Recipe

If you're losing weight using the Weight Watchers plan, you need to calculate the points for every item you eat. This is a simple task when you eat packaged foods because the nutritional counts are noted on every label. When making your own recipes, the task can be a bit more complicated. Don't avoid old family favorites simply because you don't know how many points are in each dish. Calculate the points before you cook to keep yourself on track.

Points Calculation

• The actual numerical formula for the points system is a trade secret with Weight Watchers, but you can figure out the points for any food by inputting the number of grams of fat, fiber, carbohydrates and protein in each serving into a points calculator. The points value of every food is based on these four elements in the Points Plus system. Every member of Weight Watchers has access to a points calculator online, as well as the ability to purchase a personal calculator that fits into a purse or pocket.

Breaking Down Recipes

• Look online or in a nutrition book to find the nutritional data for each ingredient in your recipe. Every food will be calculated by a set serving size, and you will have to multiply serving sizes by the number of servings you add to your recipe. For example, if you find the nutritional data for 1 cup of flour and use 2 1/2 cups in a recipe, multiply the nutritional data by 2 1/2 to get the numbers for all the flour in the entire recipe. Do this for every ingredient you have in the recipe except spices, herbs or water, as these have no nutritional value that counts.

Finding Points Values

• Finding the points values for an entire dish is a matter of inputting the data for every single ingredient, then adding the numbers together. Once you have the total number of points for the entire dish, measure the entire dish and decide how many servings it contains. Divide the total number of points in the dish by the number of servings to get the points value for each individual serving.

Lowering Recipe Points

• If you find that your recipe yields a serving with more points than you want to eat, there are a few things you can do to lower the points total for your dish. Find substitute ingredients for the recipe with lower points totals and use them. For example, use fat free Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese in cheesecake. If you can find no suitable substitutes, cut the dish into smaller servings. One cake can produce eight very large slices or 16 smaller tasting portions, and the second cake has half the points value per serving of the first.