Anyone tried nutrisystem before?

fergusonjamillah · January 2019

I want to know if this promotiom to lose weight is real before i spend around $300 for it for 4 weeks.
What should i expect?
How was your experiences?

concordancia · January 2019

You should expect very salty meals that get mediocre reviews, at best.

Better to learn to cook yummy food for yourself! Life is better with yummy food and you will be more likely to sustain your weightloss if you can continue to eat the same things.

Even if you are looking for the convenience, look in the frozen section at your local grocery store for Amy's and the other foods surrounding that brand.

LynnJ9 · January 2019

I did the Jenny Craig diet, they are very similar, so I hope my experience helps.

Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem will provide you will prepackaged meals and snacks that total about 1200 calories a day, which is the minimum you should eat, so I lost weight at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds a week. The cost was about $12 a day. The food isn't particularly filling, but isn't too bad tasting. I wanted to stay committed to my first so I did not eat at restaurants, or regular food with my family.

After a month, I took the packages to the grocery store and realized that the meals were identical to lean cuisine and weight watcher meals, along with 100 calorie snacks, but the grocery store items cost only about $7 a day. So I went to buying those instead, however I followed the Jenny Craig meal plan, just used grocery store food. I continued to lose.
Then I realized that I could eat an apple instead of a bag of 100 calorie snack, a salad that I weighed and calculated the calories to be 300 calories instead of a freeze dried meal, and even realized I could make fresh food meals that I would carefully proportion to be about 300 calories. These foods were tastier and more filling, and as long as I kept the total calories around 1200, I continued to lose.

Sometimes I found the convenience of a prepackaged meal to be helpful, but I realized it is all about the calories, not the food.

This realization allowed me to eat at restaurants and enjoy meals with the family.

So, I think that Nutrisystem might be a great way for you to start your dieting journey. It will show you how much food 1200 calories is, and it is convenient.

But, my guess is, as you continue, you will outgrow it and will learn to stay in your diet on your own.

Good Luck!

lalalacroix · January 2019

I never tried the plan but I did try a couple of meals. I personally thought the food was pretty bad tasting along with small servings.

jessetfan · January 2019

I tried it, but I didn't love it. You have to supplement with fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, and grain, along with maybe some protein, so you need to be prepared for the additional grocery bill. The food isn't that great (I tried before they did the frozen stuff, so it may have gotten better), you also have to be prepared for some substitutions (I don't eat seafood, so I was less than pleased to find tuna in my box). I think you can lose weight on your own eating whatever you want as long as you control your portions. You'll know what healthy portion sizes look like at the end, and it will save you money. I can't imagine trying to transition from losing weight on pre-portioned meals to cooking my own meals all at once.

kabrina30 · January 2019

I did a similar program called HMR. Having the pre portioned food was nice and it took a lot of the thinking out of the equation. I did that for about six months and lost 50 pounds so it was a great jumpstart for me. That being said I’ve since lost 40 more pounds by counting calories and increasing movement. I don’t think I could ever return to the way I was eating when I was doing HMR but I can’t deny that I would never have gotten started if it wasn’t for that program so I’m not going to put it down. Now I was able to do it for free through my employer and I feel that overall these programs are highly overpriced and you can do it on your own, so that’s something else to consider. Good luck, whatever method you chose!

namelesshere · January 2019

I think you would be better off saving the money to invest in planning your meals and proportioning your grocery store purchases. You just need to do the work of counting calories and logging according to MFP to lose the weight. It will not come off instantly.

Ddsb11 · January 2019

LynnJ9 wrote: »

I did the Jenny Craig diet, they are very similar, so I hope my experience helps.

Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem will provide you will prepackaged meals and snacks that total about 1200 calories a day, which is the minimum you should eat, so I lost weight at a rate of 1 to 2 pounds a week. The cost was about $12 a day. The food isn't particularly filling, but isn't too bad tasting. I wanted to stay committed to my first so I did not eat at restaurants, or regular food with my family.

After a month, I took the packages to the grocery store and realized that the meals were identical to lean cuisine and weight watcher meals, along with 100 calorie snacks, but the grocery store items cost only about $7 a day. So I went to buying those instead, however I followed the Jenny Craig meal plan, just used grocery store food. I continued to lose.
Then I realized that I could eat an apple instead of a bag of 100 calorie snack, a salad that I weighed and calculated the calories to be 300 calories instead of a freeze dried meal, and even realized I could make fresh food meals that I would carefully proportion to be about 300 calories. These foods were tastier and more filling, and as long as I kept the total calories around 1200, I continued to lose.

Sometimes I found the convenience of a prepackaged meal to be helpful, but I realized it is all about the calories, not the food.

This realization allowed me to eat at restaurants and enjoy meals with the family.

So, I think that Nutrisystem might be a great way for you to start your dieting journey. It will show you how much food 1200 calories is, and it is convenient.

But, my guess is, as you continue, you will outgrow it and will learn to stay in your diet on your own.

Good Luck!

My case exactly. Well said!

Taz6o5 · January 2019

Unless you are planning on eating there food for the rest of your life then go for it .
If not then save your money and buy real food .

JBBond3007 · January 2019

I'm currently doing Nutrisystem and have found foods are good and which ones I don't like. The food I think is pretty good but one commenter is right you can supplement the Nutrisystem with grocery store food once you learn what to look for. I have lost 26 pounds doing that and Nutrisystem was the key to getting started. I'm on nights and weekends off program now and find it great.

Silentpadna · January 2019

I tried it years ago. But I cheated because I was not a fan of the food and always hungry. And I cheated. And I really didn't know how weight loss worked (the real issue). It was a waste of money for me for that last reason.

KStew1209 · January 2019

I did nutrisystem for about 3 months last year and lost close to 20 lbs. At the time I was working long hours, so nutrisystem really helped in not having to worry about every meal, but still lost about 1.5 to 2 lbs per week. Like everyone else has said above, there is some sacrifice with taste and eating outside your house/work. After going off their system, my weight stayed stable for a while with watching my portion size. However, I did gain some weight after our son was born who had some medical issues that required several doctor appointments, which meant eating out quite a bit.

If you're a Costco member, they have gift cards that you can buy for $80 that are worth $100 for nutrisystem purchases. You can buy as many as you like, which means you can save $20 for every $100 spent on nutrisystem. In other words, for the $300 you're looking to spend you could save $60. Sometimes the gift cards from Costco will go on sale, so just look for those periodic sales if you want to stock up on the gift cards.

Good luck!

rcp916 · January 2019

Do Weight Watchers! Learn to eat food you cook yourself, you will be 100x’s more successful and happier! I been on WW for 6 months and lost 65lbs. I started 7/8/2018. Weight watchers has a digital online version so you don’t have to go to workshops/meetings if you choose not to.

Also the key to sustainable weight loss is to change your lifestyle and create sustainable healthy eating habits. You won’t do NutriSystem forever and when you reach a goal what do you do next if you haven’t given yourself the tools to keep you on point?

I plan on doing weight watchers until I reach my goal of lifetime and then stay a member for life at which point it’s free. It will help keep me accountable. I’ve gained and lost 50,60,75,80 numerous times in my life!! This will be the FINAL TIME!
Good luck!

ShayCarver89 · January 2019

Heck no!!!! Any "weight loss" system that requires you to dump money into it is a joke. They're capitalizing on peoples desperation. Weight loss should be a lifestyle change not built on the backbone of diet pills or weight loss shakes or frozen meals. You need to completely relearn everything you know about your food and about your body in a realistic, and sustainable way. That is just a waste of money. Just throwing it away. $300 buys a lot of groceries. A lot of fresh fruits and veggies. A lot of chocolate. A lot of date nights. I'm 1.2 pounds from my goal weight and can tell you what's made me successful is throwing myself out in the real world.

jmarie2105 · January 2019

I tried it, but it wasn't for me. I didn't like some of the food, the portions were small, you have to add your own food, so it's very pricey, and it left me bloated and feeling icky.

yweight2020 · January 2019

Save your momey!

I got a refund from nutrisystem after I received what for a lack of better words was supposed to be food, but it was totally gross they make replacements you don't ask for or don't eat, you still need to supplement with fresh vegetables and fruit and dairy.

You can make your own healthy meals by meals prepping, if you wqnt pre cooked good meals and save lots of money this way.

I tried jenny craig about 15 years ago the food was actually decent, but I couldn't keep up with it because it was to exspensive for my budget. Although I did lose a little weight.

The majority and biggest weight loss using sparkpeople.com 60 lbs and cooking healtjy for myself. And Ive lost 30 plus lbs using myfitness pal and cooking for myself .

Even if your not into big cooking, thats ok you can keep it simple and it will still ne good and healthy. Best of care to you.

margbarco · January 2019

My cousin’s husband had me try a meal years ago (before I understood how calories in/out actually work)... yuck!! This particular meal came dehydrated and I had to reconstitute it with hot water - it tasted awful.

orazia · January 2020

I rapidly lost nearly 40 pounds on Nutrisystem. I lost MORE than the advertised "up to" pounds in both the first and second month. People who saw me didn't recognize me. I went from a size 16 to a size 10 in five months. I hadn't been a size 10 since college.

Some of the food is terrible. Don't get the lasagna or the tortellini. Some of the breakfast bars are laughably small. The best foods for breakfast are frozen cinnamon roll, chocolate muffin, and the baked cinnamon bar. Actually, most of the breakfast foods are good but just really tiny. The black beans and rice is ugly but tastes delicious. I could eat that every day for life. The dinner is repetitive for a vegetarian like me. It's just pizza and pasta over and over. The margarita pizza is great, but it's small.

The program requires you to add your veggies and two healthy snacks per day (100-150 calories and at least 5 grams of protein). Even having to add your veggies, it's really convenient. The system worked for me because I didn't have to think about meal planning. I was working 2 jobs and super busy. Instead of getting busy, tired, and ordering terribly unhealthy delivery on my busy days, I ate what Nutrisystem told me to eat. That's why it works.

I have been gradually gaining the weight back over the last four years. I have been powerless to get back in control of it. I just started back a few days ago, and I've already lost 5 pounds. Yes, it's expensive, but you know what else is expensive? Plus size clothing. Getting diabetes. Weight loss surgery. Etc. Etc.

If you need a simple plan that works (and if you aren't going to cheat), it's well worth the money.

paperpudding · January 2020

Im sure it will work if you stick with it - as, of course, would absolutely any way of eating the created a calorie deficit.

I get that prescribed diets are convenient for some people - likewise pre packaged meals.

They always seem to me to be a very expensive way of doing that though - but I guess value for money is subjective.

ReenieHJ · January 2020

ShayCarver89 wrote: »

Heck no!!!! Any "weight loss" system that requires you to dump money into it is a joke. They're capitalizing on peoples desperation. Weight loss should be a lifestyle change not built on the backbone of diet pills or weight loss shakes or frozen meals. You need to completely relearn everything you know about your food and about your body in a realistic, and sustainable way. That is just a waste of money. Just throwing it away. $300 buys a lot of groceries. A lot of fresh fruits and veggies. A lot of chocolate. A lot of date nights. I'm 1.2 pounds from my goal weight and can tell you what's made me successful is throwing myself out in the real world.

THIS!
I know someone who lost 100 lbs. on Nutrisystem, for her wedding, got married and gained it all back. As someone else said, unless you plan to use it the rest of your life, don't waste your $$$. As this post says think of all the stuff you can buy with that money! My 1st thought was putting it towards real food and exercise equipment, or starting a goal to fund a trip.

Keep reading people's advice on how they've lost and maintained weight, find something(else) that works for you and save your hard-earned $$$. It takes work and effort and it's not an easy fix. Good luck!!!

kristen8000 · January 2020

I believe that these diets WILL get the weight off, but they teach you nothing. Weight loss comes with weight maintenance. What's the point of getting the weight off if you just put it all back on/

I also believe that EVERYONE regardless of age, gender, race, weight, health, etc can lose weight if they properly follow My Fitness Pal and the crazy part, it's Free.

Determine how much you want to lose. This can be a "estimate", only used for how fast you can lose - yes, if you have less to lose, the slower it's going to come off. And that's ok, because it's not a race.

Once you've determined how much you want to lose, enter your stats into MFP. Determine your activity level (be honest). MFP will give you an amount of calories to eat. Eat that EVERY DAY. Consistency and Patience are the big players in this. If you follow this, you will lose weight.

That sounds too simple, right? Eat real food at a certain calorie level (anything I want) and lose weight? Well, eating at a deficient sounds simple, but it's not easy. Trail and error will help with figuring out what foods keep you full and help you achieve your goals.

So, my advice, stop looking for the magic pill and get to work.

aries68mc · January 2020

Yes, I lost 100 lbs using Nutrisystem. Everyone is different. I liked the food I had.

It teaches you portion control. You use their food as your main entree and you add fresh veggies and fruits.

You are not locked in. If you try it for a month and you don't like it, you can cancel (just pay attention to the timing, if you wait until the first month is actually up, they will already have processed/shipped your second month's shipment.

PM me, if you want to discuss further.

Anyone tried nutrisystem before?

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