[P31Mom]

Just wanted to tell everyone on here who are struggling with finances about an alternative to NS....and it tastes a heck of a lot better in my opinion!

I signed up on the Lean Cuisine website for their tools just to see what they had. You pick your meal "type" first. Here are the choices they give.

• Active Lifestyle: Low fat diet with increased carbs and protein for those individuals with higher energy needs
• Carb Conscious: Low Carb diet
• Convenience Lifestyle: Manage your calories with Lean Cuisine meals combined with fruits, vegetables and salads.
• Healthy Living Lifestyle: Low fat diet with fruits, vegetables and lean protein sources
• Vegetarian: Meatless but includes milk and egg products with a balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates

I chose Convenience Lifestyle. The next step is to choose your calorie needs. They recommend 1800 calories for my needs (based on weight and activity level) but you can choose from 1200 calories to 3400 calories. You also pick how long you want your menu, 1 week, 2 weeks or a month at a time.

I chose the 1500 calorie plan for 1 week. You then have preplanned meals, that you can check off when you have eaten a particular food item. You can also change the food listed if you do not like it. Here is a sample of the menu they gave me, for one day.

Breakfast:
1 fruit (2-7/8" dia) Oranges, raw, navels Edit

1 muffin English Muffins, toastedSubstituteEdit

1 slice Low Fat Muenster Cheese Edit

1 cup Low Fat Milk (1% fat), protein fortified and vitamin A Edit
Total = 59.5g Carbohydrate, 403.8 Calories,
9.1g Fat, 23.2g Protein, 4.5g Dietary Fiber

Snack:
Addtab_snack1 1 small (6" to 6-7/8" long) Bananas, rawSubstituteEdit
Total = 23.1g Carbohydrate, 89.9 Calories,
0.3g Fat, 1.1g Protein, 2.6g Dietary Fiber

Lunch:
Addtab_lunch 1 1/2 cup Tossed Salad, without dressing Edit

1 serving (8 1/8 oz.) LEAN CUISINE Chicken Marsala Edit

1 small (2-1/2" dia) (approx 4 per lb) Apples, raw, with skinSubstituteEdit

1 tablespoon Ranch Dressing, reduced fat Edit
Total = 35.7g Carbohydrate, 261.1 Calories,
6.9g Fat, 17g Protein, 5.7g Dietary Fiber

Snack:
Addtab_snack2 8 medium Carrots, baby, raw Edit

1/8 cup Peanuts, dry-roasted, without salt Edit
Total = 10.5g Carbohydrate, 134.8 Calories,
9.2g Fat, 4.8g Protein, 2.9g Dietary Fiber

Dinner:
Addtab_dinner 1 serving Spinach Salad Edit

1 serving (8 1/2 oz.) LEAN CUISINE Cheese Ravioli Edit

1 cup Low Fat Milk (1% fat), with added vitamin ASubstituteEdit

1 small (2-1/4" dia) Tangerines, (mandarin oranges), rawSubstituteEdit
Total = 64.7g Carbohydrate, 480.6 Calories,
15.5g Fat, 23.1g Protein, 6.9g Dietary Fiber

Snack:
Addtab_snack3 1/8 cup Soybeans, dry roasted Edit
Total = 7g Carbohydrate, 97 Calories,
4.6g Fat, 8.5g Protein, 1.7g Dietary Fiber

[hacamila]

Michelle, thanks for posting this. It's very helpful.

Previously I did DTG for a few weeks and lost fairly well. It was getting too expensive for me at the moment and I think your suggestions will be a good alternative!

[P31Mom]

After exploring a little more, I found that you can make "custom menus" also! I think this is really cool....especially to be free to use.

I wish I had found this before I bought 3 months worth of nasty, expensive Nutrisystem food, lol. Oh well, I live and learn.

[oseybaby]

thank you so much for posting that site. very very useful

[janellody]

This looks awesome!! Thanks for posting.. I am in love with DTG but we just bought our first home so I actually have a MORTGAGE now and can't continue DTG unfortunately.. I am going to try this out.. THANKS!!

[Maui1]

Hmmm.... I'm new here but NOT to dieting. NutriSystem works for me in theory but I too cannot justify the ongoing expense. But I already pick up some L.C. foods here and there, so this might work for me. (And we have a big chest freezer with room in it--yay!)

Thanks for posting this. This looks fairly brainless (which is why I did like NS). Brainless, I can handle right now.

[Maui1]

Oops, forgot to say... Hello! Great to have found this site!

[P31Mom]

Nutrisystem worked for me as long as I DIDN'T follow it strictly ( I think my body would go into starvation mode after a while and quit losing....going off the system for the weekend would kickstart my metabolism).

What didn't work for me is the taste...and the excitment wore off the nastiness of the food really got to me.

Any how this is cheaper and I think completely doable...quite comparable to NS.

I never tried Diets to Go because it was too expensive....in fact NS was too expensive for me also. I have 4 birth children, just adopted 3 more kids, so I'm feeding 7 kids (including 2 teen boys).

I'm excited about this!

[Maui1]

P31Mom (and others in this thread),

I'm game for holding each other accountable in a supportive way, right here, if that works, or in the support forum.

Small bummer for me here -- although I already have a few LC meals in my freezer, I'm leaving town Monday-Wednesday to go to a family funeral (distant relative) and won't be able to start till Wednesday evening! Oh well, two more days, right?

[auntbunny]

Thanks for posting this, I was already thinking of doing my own nutrisystem type plan by using Lean Cuisines, Progresso low cal soups etc... this will be a great help.

[kiki100]

Just a little tip for anyone considering doing this (which btw looks like a great alternative)...add fibre!! Take a fibre supplement 'cause NS foods have been fortified with fibre and protein which as I'm sure we all know fill us up and keep us full longer. The plan looks pretty good for the protein part but looks like it could use a fibre boost. I did NS for 6 mos. and it worked well for me...I think this could be a great alternative!

[2muchbackend]

I'm going to give this a try. Seems like something I'd be able to do.

[auntbunny]

I've been doing this since monday with the help of light frozen entrees and soups and have so far lost 5 lbs. Yippee!

I would like to find some tasty low-sodium (and low-cal) frozen entrees though, anyone know of some?

[FattyFatFat]

Originally Posted by P31Mom

Just wanted to tell everyone on here who are struggling with finances about an alternative to NS....and it tastes a heck of a lot better in my opinion!

I signed up on the Lean Cuisine website for their tools just to see what they had. You pick your meal "type" first. Here are the choices they give.

What is the URL for this site?

[terryb99]

leancuisine.com/index/index.aspx