Nutrisystem success?

Hates2run

Anyone had any success with this program? Interested in something to streamline meal planning and calorie counting a bit in conjunction with MFP.

seska422

I haven't done Nutrisystem, but I do basically that same thing by planning my meals around frozen foods. That includes frozen dinners and frozen veggies to go with them.

The benefit over Nutrisystem for me is that I have the convenience but with more choices and greater control.

Docbanana2002

I lost over 100 pounds and got started on my weight loss on Nutrisystem in 2013. The positives are that all the planning, meal prep, etc are done and if you follow instructions you wil lose weight with no need to count calories or cook anything or measure everything (just measure add-ins) or monitor nutrition. Helped me better understand portion sizes and get on a eating schedule. Knowing I was investing in the program was motivating. There was a time in my life when I needed as much simplicity as possible so I could focus all my energy in just complying with the program without a lot of extra work. I tried logging on MFP prior to that but it was just overwhelming and felt like too much work.

The downside is that the food was just "okay", it can be an expense (but you can get discounts through health insurance, Costco gift cards, etc.), and eventually you will need to manage your own food prep and shopping and health. This might have changed but when I started, the NS program didn't really offer much to help you transition back to normal life. I created my own transition phase after losing about 30 pounds by delaying my food shipments longer and longer and starting to sub out food I had bought/cooked with the program food whenever I was in the mood to do some research and planning. Slowly weaned myself off and transitioned to using Fitbit and MFP for the remainder of my loss and now my maintenance. Eventually I would like to phase off of here and eat more intuitively but I don't think I'm ready for that just yet. After maintaining for a year and adjusting to my new body I have decided to start losing again since I stopped right at the tippy top of a normal BMI and then regained a few pounds that make me overweight again. Would like to be firmly in the high normal range and cut some body fat, but when that project is done I will make a plan to transition to just using appetite and the bathroom scale to manage things.

RogerToo

Hi
If it will help You decide I lost 220 pounds over a 2 year period on Nutrisystem. I chose it for convenience of Jenny or Weight Watchers.

If You decide to go to NutriSystem be aware that CostCo sells the $100 Nutrisystem® Success Gift Card for $79.99 a savings of $20.01 and they will sell over the Internet to non members for a small extra charge too.
Features: Valid on any Nutrisystem Program or Item.

Also I have seen them Put them on sale for $59.99 for the $100 gift card. If You sign up with one of the Nutrisystem promotions that offer a % discount as well as free shipping You can lower the cost significantly with the 40% off sale cards. My basic math skills indicate to me that with the 20% off and then taking an additional 40% off of the remainder You can end up paying less than 1/2 price. I lost lots of weight on NS. I will say that I made sure to get the Shelf Stable and Frozen plan as that gives the biggest variety to choose from.

Thus if You join NutriSystem buy enough Gift cards to cover the entire amount for maximum savings each month ahead of time, and when They go on sale several times a year Buy ahead to maximize savings. You can also buy the gift cars in most CostCo locations if You are a member.

You will need to add Vegetables, Fruits and some proteins to You planned expenses. I still use their basic ideas and I eat a 12 ounce bag of vegetables every day as well as two servings of fruit, and Greek Yogurt. I have found that many of the Lean Cuisine Entrees are pretty good too as well as Lean Pockets. I buy ahead when they are on sale and stock up my freezer to save as much as I can. I also Use Assorted cereals and the reduced Sugar Quaker Oats for breakfast. I use 1% UHT milk for the dollar store by me at $1 a quart. The Milk usually has unrefrigerated shelf life of 11 months at the time I buy it so I can stick it on the pantry shelf until I need it, then I put it in the refrigerator a day ahead to chill. I am currently using a different cereal every day from a selection of 6 different ones sweetened with sweetener from CostCo for Cost savings. I also Buy my Frozen veges and Fresh Fruits there as the Veges are a good price compared to the Supermarket.

Good Luck
Roger

[Edited by mfp moderator]

RogerToo

Also Most (all?) of the NutriSystem Food items are in the MFP meals database.

MelaniaTrump

This place works a million times better (along with a digital food scale for $20).
- This place is free
- Nutrisystem does not do anything for your future. At least here, you are inclined to cook for yourself and learn.

Docbanana2002

JanetYellen wrote: »

This place works a million times better (along with a digital food scale for $20).
- This place is free
- Nutrisystem does not do anything for your future. At least here, you are inclined to cook for yourself and learn.

I found it helpful to learn those things (cooking for self, learning about nutrition) WHILE on Nutrisystem and slowly phasing off of it. There are a lot of educational components to the program, they don't just send you food and dump you when you lose.

I agree that if you just follow the plan, then go back to your old way of eating after, you will just regain and never learn. True of ANY plan. I really suggest that people use it as a tool to get started if the whole enterprise just seems overwhelming at first. If you are the kind of person that finds MFP really helpful and are losing weight without troubles, than great! If that is a struggle and you've ever said "I don't know how to shop healthy, cook healthy, I don't know how to find the time to do it even if I knew, all my attempts fail after I run out of enthusiasm in 3 days, and I don't know where to begin with exercise since I'm so hopelessly out of shape..... this is just so overwhelming that really what I want is to go away to fat camp where I can just have someone pick a healthy and low calorie lifestyle for me, give me the food, tell me the exercise to do, and let me just get used to doing it.... THEN let me start taking baby steps on learning the hows and whys of taking control of this stuff on my own, after I am on good stable plan".... then NS or Jenny Craig or a really structured program might be for you.