Anyone here use Nutrisystem?

You can easily lose weight if you follow the NS plan. I did it years ago and lost weight pretty easily. But you have to stick to the program and follow the NS maintenance plan so you can learn how to eat non-NS food.

rabbitjb wrote: »

stinsonkms wrote: »

I know it works because my mom lost a ton of weight on Nutrisystem. She said the only bad side was that the food tasted bland. Since in my last post a lot of people were all about counting and portioning your food, Nutrisystem is great because it does that for you. Now the only bad side for me is that it costs A LOT of money. It's over $250 for a month. It may not sound like much but as a college student, I'm also trying to save up for a new car and $250 would be half of what I'm saving each month for my new car, and I really need a new car, but I'd also like to lose weight.

What are some of the pros and cons of Nutrisystem?

Waste of money
Waste of time
Where's your learning curve
Spend $250 on fresh food, vegetables
Use free websites like skinnytaste.com to learn how to cook nutritious, calorie accounted recipes
Weigh your food, learn appropriate portion sizes and how to balance your food and set yourself up for long-term success

Meal replacement programmes almost never work long-term

I wish I had read this last year!! Maybe it would have awakened me! I wasted $400 on Medifast last year. 3 days in and I fainted at the gym. I think I was eating something like 600 calories a day, and was still working out 60 minutes a day, burning, I'd say 500-700 calories. Waste of money. Waste of time. Ruined my health. I had such high hopes, too, and then I ended up packing on 30 MORE lbs. :-(

If you are only doing it because they portion everything for you, what will happen when you reach weight and stop? You still need to learn how to portion and count for yourself or you will gain it all back.

emilyesq wrote: »

There's nothing inherently bad about a program like Nutrisystem or that other one that's named after some woman... brain like a steel trap, mine.

Jenny Craig?

Alatariel75 wrote: »

What happens when you stop? That's the biggest problem with these things, you stop using it, and put the weight back on because you go back to old habits. Or you could use something like MFP, have much cheaper food that isn't bland, still lose weight and learn good habits for life.

^^This, exactly.

Also, I don't understand why you would want to pay such an exorbitant amount of money for what you admit is bland food.

atypicalsmith wrote: »

I don't get why people do this instead of exercise self-control. And I have a feeling that people who do it are seriously cheating . . .

I certainly "cheated" on plans where you weren't supposed to have certain foods., but only because fad diets are generally not sustainable.

I just started Nutrisystem about a week ago and love it!!!

Lol....am I going 2 hate it? I havent lost but 5 pounds now after 3 weeks and starting my 2nd week of T25...I figured I would loae more than I have in 3 weeks

NutriSystem is one of the many things I tried in the past. The food is pretty gross. It might not be the optimal route, but if you Google it, you can find plenty of DIY frozen meal plans.

Most fat people have been on every diet known to man and already know about what foods to eat and portion control. The problem will always be making whatever works for you part of your new lifestyle. No, you can't expect the average person to eat pre-packaged food for the rest of their life but most people will not count, log and measure everything for the rest of their life either. I think the key is to find whatever works for you and stop calling it a diet, it's your new life! There are many people that fail at MFP as well as the many eating plans that are out there (HCLF, LCHF, Paleo, Raw, Vegan, Raw Vegan, blah, blah blah). Some folks need help getting started and once they get control over themselves, they transition into doing it themselves. Any progam can work, it's up to YOU to find what works and stick to it for life.

Two years ago I lost 40lbs using MFP. But then I gained it back (for a lot of reasons). I'm using Nutrisystem now and I've lost 35lbs (though I'm about to get to 40lbs again ). I'm using MFP to log all of the Nutrisystem food. I have several thoughts.

Yes, it works. Yes, it's not the best food in the world but its really not that bad. I've been using the basic plan for a few months. The food is all essentially rebranded versions of other foods in the supermarket. And yes, you have to also add in fresh vegetables and fruit. So it does end up costing more than $250/month. But I've found it to be equivalent to the amount of money I would spend on food at the supermarket without using Nutrisystem. The food is like Chef Boyardee, Granola Bars, Cheerios, Oatmeal, chocolaty meal replacement bars, Cheetos Puffs, Chex Mix, Pretzels bits, Chips Ahoy, Grandma's style cookies, personal sized Boboli pizza, Cup-of-Noodles style pasta dishes and Kraft Mac and Cheese. So it's not amazing, but you could easily switch off to supermarket equivalent food if you want to stop Nutrisystem. I wouldn't describe it all as bland. Some of the items are spicy. Some of the food has flavor. It's just that a lot of what you eat is simple food. There's a lot of chocolate, if that's your thing. It's not really mine though.

Why I think it works for me: I despise leftovers. I know its a weird mental block. But I just have an overwhelmingly hard time eating food that I've saved overnight. I don't know where it comes from (maybe working in the food industry, I don't know). I'm also single again and learning to cook for one without leftovers is really difficult. Nutrisystem helps me to keep the portions in check and also to not eat out at restaurants. The eating at restaurants was draining my checkbook more than Nutrisystem is. Also, while I'm sorting out the rest of my life, it's nice to not have to spend so much time and mental energy thinking about food. I know how to eat successfully as I've had success before, but I've realized that there are other factors in my life that are distracting me and keep me from being successful. So I'm sorting those things out now. Being able to grab breakfast, two snacks, lunch and dinner and taking it with me in the morning is quick and easy. The ease is helping me stay away from fast food and drive-thrus. It also helps me to politely say no to invites to restaurants.

When I started Nutrisystem, I told myself to do it for 6 months. 6 months is when I projected to hit my initial goal weight. I'm thinking of it as a boot camp of sorts. After 6 months (the end of May) I plan to start weening myself off it by swapping out meals. From there I'll decide to either keep eating at a deficit until I reach my ideal BMI or if I want to bulk up and pack on muscle.

I think if you think it will work for you, then try it. But I do recommend using MFP with it because I know for me, I need to eat a little bit more than what Nutrisystem suggests each day to hit my goals (even at a 2lbs/week loss). It is convenient though as all of the Nutrisystem food have bar codes which are easy to scan and track. Do I think it's sustainable for a long time? No. Do I think it's a good way to start to a healthier life? Yes. I guess it's a bit of a crutch. But sometimes when things get broken, you need a crutch to heal correctly.

I have used the all frozen plan with much success (the frozen foods are delicious, the shelf foods are nasty.) Yes, it's expensive, but I can afford it. I have a family to cook for with 3 different sport and music schedules so it's perfect for me; I don't have to think about what I'm eating during the busy seasons.

Bottom line, Nutrisystem CAN be used as a motivational and teaching tool to establish the foundation of long term success, and I would never knock anyone for trying something new.