Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 Cookbook By Jan Mayrhofer on Mar 01, 2010 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

If you are one of those unfortunate people (like me) that has trouble controlling their weight, then you probably know what it is to diet. It's not so bad at the beginning, but after a while you get real tired of having to avoid the yummy food that you love to eat. The easy thing is to just give up and tell yourself it's not worth it. But if you are serious about weight loss and/or maintenance, you simply must find strategies that work for you and make these a part of a new lifestyle. There really are ways to diet without feeling deprived and I'm about to tell you about one of them.

HungryGirl.com is a great resource for you for low calorie inspiration. Lisa Lillien says she's not a nutritionist, she's just hungry!

Lisa has written a book called 200 under 200. Here is a fantastic resource for low calorie meals and snacks all at your fingertips in one book. Besides two hundred great recipes, she has compiled a list of favorite products that have helped make her diet journey easier. These include English Muffins in the 100 calorie version and even fat free ice creams.

Also included in this cook book are a few recipes that were co-created with Weight Watchers.

Every recipe has nutrition facts that include calories, fat, sodium, carbohydrates, fiber, sugars, and protein. All this information can definitely help you keep on point whichever diet plan you are using.

There really is no reason in the world why you should have to eat boring food while trying to lose weight. Hungry Girl recipes are fun, easy, and you will find that you'll have your favorites that you will come back to again and again. My son and I like the Hula Scramble a lot. It uses Egg Beaters, (which I thought I didn't like, but they're good!) ham, pineapple, and Laughing Cow cheese spread. (If you haven't heard of it, look for the light version at your grocer - very low cal and yummy).

There are a whole lot of dessert recipes which I haven't gotten into yet, because I don't quite trust myself to eat just one! But they sure look good. You'll find breakfast, sandwich, soup, salad, and beverage recipes as well, all for under 200 calories.

This cook book was a great find for me, and especially appealing to my teen son. It is up-to-date, has a modern outlook, and the recipes are easy to make. He is learning that it doesn't have to be fattening to be good.