Nutrisystem

Lyndzi23
Lyndzi23 Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
I was wondering people's opinions of Nutrisystem. I haven't ever tried a home delivery service for food but I am thinking I'd like to try. Obviously Nutrisystem is a fairly well-known company but I am open to suggestions for other companies as well. I do need to lose quite a bit of weight and I am looking for a way to do it an eliminate all the counting and such. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Replies

  • tryett
    tryett Posts: 530 Member
    Do you intend to keep having someone else prepare your meals forever? Without counting calories and macros you really don't learn how to sustain the weight loss. I would be concerned about regaining once I met my goal. Plus isn't it kindof expensive?
  • dsalveson
    dsalveson Posts: 306 Member
    It will work if you stick to it, but it would be cheaper, more flexible, and more palatable to just prepare and pre-portion your own food. If you don't want to worry about counting you can look up meal plans and such online. A little preparation goes a long way and you won't have to worry about obsessing over every little thing every day if you do it right.

    If you don't mind me asking, how do you plan on maintaining any weight you'd lose on Nutrisystem if you never learn to count or portion on your own?
  • joyfulhappyheart
    joyfulhappyheart Posts: 63 Member
    I did it for 6 months, lost 10 pounds total. BUt let me explain the lack of significant loss.

    The dry food is not that great. There were a few things I enjoyed, but 80% was not good at all. I'm not a picky person but alot of it just was not that good. The foods are designed so that you combine them with fresh fruits, veggies, etc. to balance out the meal. I will say most of the breafasts were good-- muffins, cookies, etc... Same with the snacks and desserts.

    For an example of what the food is like-- there are entire forums on the nutrisystem message boards on how to enhance the meals to taste better.

    I will say the frozen meals are MUCH better. But the price is much higher.

    The bars are OK but I always found better nutrituion options on bars I could buy elsewhere. (higher fiber, protein, nutrients, etc... lower calories too)

    It was during the middle of this that I discovered an allergy to many of the ingredients in their meals. The non-freezer meals have alot of preservatives and additives. That's why I didn't lose much-- I was so busy trying to figure out what in their meals I was allergic to.

    When I left the program, I had learned NOTHING from nutrisystem. No way to translate it to "normal" life-- portion control, no balance meals...

    I don't have a problem with the program, but after having done it, feel there are better alternatives out there. Not sure ww is a better option, but would not go back to NS.
  • HMonsterX
    HMonsterX Posts: 3,000 Member
    And, being honest....

    If you dont have the desire or dedication to log calories, do you really believe the you have desire and dedication to carry this on for however long it takes?

    I only ask as it took me over 20 years to get that ... clunk in my head, my epiphanical moment...(is that a word?). But when it clunked, it clunked hard.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
    Food systems that prepare and deliver your meals all work.

    They portion control for you. So, that is nice. The only issue is they do not teach you adequate eating habits, which ultimately WILL lead to regaining all the weight back.

    It is definitely a great way to begin a weight loss journey. But, you cannot rely on it to maintain. You must learn to count eventually. After a while, you'll memorize certain measurements and counting becomes second nature.

    For someone with significant weight to lose, I'd say totally fine to use these systems till around the halfway point, from there, they should switch to more traditional exercise + calorie counting.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    The big thing that Nutrisystem does for you is to control your calories. If you use the tools on this site, make sure to weigh and accurately log everything you eat, and be consistent, you can get the same results (or better*) without paying all that money. There is probably nothing really wrong with programs like Nutrisystem, as far as the type of foods or your health, it's just an awfully big expense for something that can be done on your own.


    *I suggest possibly better results, because my understanding is that Nutrisystem and other such programs go quite low on calories. By setting your goals appropriately on this site, and engaging in moderate exercise, you can learn life-long skills that will help you be happy/not feel deprived or overly hungry as you lose the weight, and help you keep it off by not feeling a pressing need to go back to "normal" after you've reached your goal.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    My dad did this. He payed a bunch of money for really crappy tasting food (I tasted a few of them). He lost a few pounds but as soon as he stopped shelling out, he gained it back because it didn't do anything to teach him real portion control. So if you plan on using the system for life, it'll work. If you plan to just use it for losing the weight and then going back to regular food after, beware that you'll have to crash course teach yourself proper portion control, which most people can't do and gain it back.

    Nutrisystem doesn't care, that just means you'll have to rejoin and give them more of your money.
  • willnorton
    willnorton Posts: 995 Member
    i have done it several times... very high sodium...highly processed...tiny portions....buy some Rubbermaid containers adn take a day on the weekend and cook about a weeks worth of meals....

    use clean fresh food....not all those chemicals...

    you dont even have to refridgerate the food....what kind of preservatives in it to make it safe...a bunch...

    make those meals in the portions you want..... fridge some of them and put a few in teh freezer....pop them out... about 2 mins in the microwave and your good to go....

    try to eat whole foods and dont eat all those chemicals.... how can beef or chicken sit on your shelf for MONTHS and still be good...

    think about it...

    good luck
  • mickie_on_my_way
    mickie_on_my_way Posts: 32 Member
    I tried it once using a plan from QVC (very little options for the food I received), and I didn't like it. The food all had a smell, I couldn't eat anything that was supposed to be meat, and there was too much extra food I had to buy and add to the plan. And...I didn't lose anything.

    So...it wasn't a good option for me.
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    Any plan that has you eating at a deficit will work. But there's more to think about then just weight loss. Mfp teaches many things like portion control and these lessons can't be learned by eating from pre packaged boxed foods. It should be about a lifestyle change. Are you planning on ordering from them forever? If not, then your probably better off using the tools that mfp has to learn how to have a sustainable diet for long term success.
  • courtney123180
    courtney123180 Posts: 86 Member
    I did NS several times while I was in the Navy. I always did it right before fitness tests because I would get fat in between the 6 months lol. So every time I did it I lost 10 lbs a month x 3 months, so it always got me to where I needed to be for weigh ins. However, once I went off of it and ate normal food again(even in moderation), it seemed that I always gained the weight back super fast.
  • snowmaniac
    snowmaniac Posts: 600 Member
    I concur with most of the posts here. It simplifies things. If you follow the program, you will lose weight. Very little of the food is actually good tasting, much is basically just edible, and some is downright horrible tasting. Because so little is good tasting, they often run short and will substitute other items you did not request and then put the burden on you to send it back if you are not satisfied. For short term weight loss, it works if you can live with the cons. You could do just as well by figuring out your TDEE and then eating regular food at a calorie deficit with a focus on good macro-nutrient balance.
  • Alluminati
    Alluminati Posts: 6,208 Member
    The food is gross.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    my friend quit that twice. bad food.
  • FireOpalCO
    FireOpalCO Posts: 641 Member
    I would be hesitant to try it unless you can get your hands on a few samples before committing to buying a month's worth of food all at once. If you end up hating it, you're going to be upset about the wasted money.

    Tracking isn't very hard once you get started. Once you have an entry in there once, it's just calling it up and adjusting the portion size if needed. The phone app remembers what foods you usually group together, so you can just place check marks. Items with bar codes you just scan. I've done sites where you had to enter everything from scratch (no bar code shortcut) and it was super annoying.
  • jessetfan
    jessetfan Posts: 373 Member
    I've tried both Nutrisystem (NS) and Personal Trainer Food (PTF), and found Personal Trainer Food to be better, but not worth sticking to in my opinion. The convenience is nice, the food was edible, but not great, and was much better if doctored significantly much of the time (NS). You have to buy a lot of extras on NS that drive up the cost pretty significantly and depending on how you like to eat it can be really boring, especially if you prefer ethnic food like I do. On PTF I liked the food a lot better, but it cut out carbs almost completely, which just didn't work for me. I liked not having to buy anything extra, but I got bored with seasoned chicken breast with no sauce and veggies. While I'm not a big fruit eater I missed having the option to have fruit, and I love dessert, and I couldn't see leaving it out of my life long-term. I didn't finish the month's worth of food from either company, though I really liked the breakfasts from PTF, eggs and sausage are hard not to like, but I can do it myself for less.

    This time, I've purchased some frozen pre-packaged stuff from Trader Joe's in order to have the portion control I need, but I will also work in cooking on my own, eating out, etc. in order to lose the weight. Like others have said, anything that has you eating a calorie deficit will help you lose the weight, but I find that not getting bored by what I eat helps significantly.
  • jessetfan
    jessetfan Posts: 373 Member
    You're still actually encouraged to log on their website as well as weigh in. The food is definitely heavy on the sauces.
  • Lyndzi23
    Lyndzi23 Posts: 5
    Thank you all for the wonderful advice. I will take it all into consideration before making a final decision. All of your opinions matter to me because we are all in the same boat. As far as counting and whatnot, I have been doing it for a while and just was thinking a break from doing it all would help boost my initial weight lost. But, we'll see. Thank you all again!
  • tracydr
    tracydr Posts: 528 Member
    I worked as a nutritionist at NS back in 1987. I felt that it was too low calorie and far too restrictive. I got a certain amount of discounted food a week but I really didn't find it satisfying. If I were to eat it now, after clean eating for years, I would find it gagnastic.
    It does work very well usually. But, it's expensive and not sustainable.

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