For the past couple of weeks I have been reviewing weight watchers product line. While I am not following the diet I have known several people who have and who have been very successful with it. I was curious how the food tasted relative to how healthy it was. Below is a run down of my pros and cons along with a review of each product I tried.
Pros:
- Taste – I was very pleasantly surprised with how good everything was. It definitely didn’t taste like “diet” food or a frozen dinner.
- I loved the convenience factor of these since I don’t always have time to make food the night before work or the morning of.
- I liked that each dish had a healthy dose of protein – something a lot of people are lacking in their diet, especially women.
Cons
- I thought the serving size was a bit too small and unrealistic for someone trying to lose weight. You never want to feel deprived on a diet so feeling full after a meal is very important.
- I would have liked to have seen more vegetables. While it is easy to add them not many people will and I think that would help with the satiety issue.
- I didn’t recognize some of the ingredients listed on the back, which concerns me. I was also a little uncomfortable about all the waste it was producing. I’m big on being “green” and all of the plastic containers bothered me a bit.
Mac & Cheese
Creamy, delicious and nostalgic – what’s not to like? I felt like a kid again, and I definitely did not feel like I was eating a lesser version, it could have been full fat for all I knew. In actuality it was only 250 calories and packed a whopping 11 grams of protein. I’d say a side of veggies and hummus would make this a go-to meal since I was still a bit hungry afterwards. (6 points)
Chicken Salad
This tasted better than it looked and this time, I was perfectly satisfied with the portion size. I had mine with crackers, veggies and my favorite Neuro Sonic but I think it would be equally as delicious in a wrap with spinach.
Three Cheese Ravioli
It was pretty funny because I had this while Corey made a regular version and the calorie difference was several hundred. Mine was only 310 and Corey’s…well, we won’t go there. Pasta can pack on the cals if you’re not careful so I was shocked to see it was below 400. It also had 3 grams of fiber and an impressive 15 grams of protein. Again, I would have liked to have seen some veggies but all-in-all, it was a great dish. And talk about not feeling deprived! Both of our meals looked the exact same! With one HUGE difference obviously! (6 points)
Baked Ziti
Another pasta dish but this one was only 220 cals and 11 grams of protein. I had to add some of my own parmesan and a dash of salt but it was still pretty tasty. I don’t know if I was just extra hungry that night or if this wasn’t enough for me but I had to have a side of grilled veggies to be fully satisfied.
Meatloaf
Ok, this one isn’t as photogenic as the others but don’t judge a meatloaf by it’s picture – it was awesome! It was one of those comfort-food meals that brings you back to Grandma’s kitchen. This clocked in at 240 cals, 2 grams of fiber and 15 grams of protein. I washed this down with a banana and peanut butter and was full until dinner. (6 points)
Roast Turkey
I may be a little biased on this one because I am a total sucker for Thanksgiving dinner, especially stuffing! Needless to say, this was my favorite, and shocking low on the caloric scale (for what I expected). 250 cals, 1 gram of fiber, 22 grams of protein. I paired mine with a nice fruit salad (kind of an odd combo but it was hot out and that’s all I had in the fridge). (6 points)
Have you ever tried Weight Watchers products? What do you think?
Do you know someone who has tried it? What was the result?
This is definitely interesting. While I don’t need to watch my weight or anything like that…I’d always been curious to see how those meals tasted. I am not a fan of frozen meals or diet meals…but that’s great that they have a good line out on the market!!! And I agree adding veggies would definitely add more volume to the smaller meals!
wow!! what a thorough review!! i never hav done WW and dnt intend to but i love all this detail!
Meh… I have never been a fan of eating pre packed foods. I’d rather see a “diet” with wholesome foods & that teaches you to cook yourself and enjoy life in moderation.
“I thought the serving size was a bit too small and unrealistic for someone trying to loose [sic] weight.” But that’s the point. The 240 calorie meatloaf is a reasonable lunch – but adding a banana (110 cal) and 1 tbsp of peanut butter (100 cal) every day to your lunch adds up to 1470 calories a week, or nearly a third of a pound. When you’re trying to lose, every calorie counts. It sucks, no doubt about it, but weight loss requires calorie deficits. In weight maintenance, these people can eat slightly more – the banana and PB won’t be fatal. In the meantime, though, WWers will wash the frozen meals down with 32-oz. of water and chase it with a run.
I personally don’t think it is realistic for anyone (active or not) to eat a 240 calorie lunch everyday and stick to it – it’s not enough food. If you want to lose weight you have to fuel your body in order to burn calories, if you deprive your body of the necessary calories it will work against you because it will not perform well and it will start hoarding every calorie as it goes into “starvation mode”.
I’m really not either so I was hesitant to review this but I figured for those who do not enjoy cooking this is another option….I agree though, it’s about whole foods, particularly produce and learning how to eat that way that will ultimately lead to the most success
Weight Watchers actually encourages you to make your own meals and use fresh ingredients whenever possible, with focus on whole grains, lean protein, and fruits and veggies. It is not a plan like Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem where you *have* to eat their pre-made meals. You sort of made it sound like frozen/prepared meals are the extent of the WW program, but as a WW member I can tell you that I very rarely eat frozen meals.
I appreciate the clarification. I was simply asked to review their product line as it says in the first sentence of the post, so this is not a review of the diet itself – sorry if that was confusing. That is good to hear that they encourage fresh ingredients though as that was a concern of mine
Interesting review, thanks for sharing! I think these weight loss foods can be good for some people that need help with portion control, but I agree with you–where are the veggies!? I don’t think any nutritionist in the world would think it healthy to eat these packaged foods without adding a ton of fresh fruits and veggies, and like you said, a lot of people just WON’T do that.
Which is sad. But overall weight watchers looks far better than the Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem food I’ve seen my grandparents try!
My mom and grandmother have both lost weight on weight watcher’s-I’ve only tried there ice cream products and they were pretty good.
My grandmother used to do WW and swears by it! I considered it, but it’s so expensive to go to the meetings and everything.
my mom uses WW, but i agree that the portion sizes are completely unreasonable!
I’ve never tried WW products, but my mother-in-law swears by their points plan. She doesn’t eat their prepackaged foods, but she is a big supporter of their points.
My mom lost over 100 lbs on the Weight Watcher’s plan, so I know it really works. I didn’t have a lot of luck with it because I’m not the type of person who can put that much thought/planning into their diet, but I’ve seen the results for somebody who can. I’ve never even seen these pre-packaged meals but your review was very interesting to read and included a lot of helpful information. Thanks for this post, I really liked it!
Wow that is amazing! Good for her!!
Weight Watchers is a wonderful plan that’s super easy to follow. Some of the frozen foods are quite tasty but I usually prefer to make fresh food at home, if possible. On my site I include Weight Watchers POINTS PLUS for all my skinny recipes at, http://www.skinnykitchen.com.
Great thanks! I will definitely check them out! Thanks for stopping by!
I stretad weight watchers recently because my girlfriend wanted to lose weight and she thought I could lose some too (which was a correct statement) but my problem with this diet is that it isnt catered to my lifestyle in that I work out pretty vigorously at the gym for 3-5 times a week for the past 10 years (earning 10-20 points per workout). I havent been losing weight before this because of the pizza, wings, and beer diet I was on (By the way Im a 28 year old male, 6’4 , 250 pounds aiming for a 225 weight). Well I went on weight watchers and it did help me realize that a 3 point chicken wing is less preferable and less filling than a 3 point, 3 ounce piece of lean grilled chicken. I’ll now eat veggies and a baked potato instead of mac’n'cheese and mashed potatoes( loaded with butter and milk). So it has taught me a healthier way of eating because if I use all my points on unhealthy stuff im still hungry afterwards. It forced me to eat healthy in order to not be hungry, which I think is a plus for the program. Long story short, I am losing weight, but was too hungry on the diet and was almost getting too thin.Because Weight watchers doesnt outline anything in detail about fat to muslce ratio I feel this point system is greatly flawed. I stretad eating well over (20-30%) of my alotted daily points of lean protein, whole wheat carbs, and veggies and am still losing 2-3 pounds per week. The middle aged ladies at the meetings cant believe it, but I also cant get across to them that its just healthy food and exercise thats doing it, not their alotted points of cake, mozzarrella string cheese and handfuls of chocolate. It basically took me 2 months to drop 15 pounds of fat (belly is smaller, waist is smalled, 2nd chin is gone) but I am still benching the same weight I was at the beginning of Weight Watchers. Until Weight watchers takes into account the whole fat to muscle ratio, I dont think any active person who exercises regularly should strictly adhere to the program as it will likely do more harm than good. If you’re still hungry and you’re out of points, eat something healthy with protein in it, but never think losing weight without exercising is a good or healthy thing.