Packaged Meals and Clinics - Nutrisystem, Medifast, Jenny Craig, EtcFor support and questions about diet meal delivery programs, or weight loss clinics that offer prepackaged meals and products.
I've tried a few of them in the past year but not because I wanted to lose weight, just the food seemed good. And actually yeah it's pretty decent and it has no preservatives.
I was thinking about getting on NutriSystem but from what I've read people say it's almost the same, at my local target I can get LC for $1.50 when they're in sale so it seems like it will be cheaper.
Any ladies out there that have used LC as their main food source when trying to lose weight? Of course I do not intend on ONLY eating LC for weeks/months but I'd rather eat that than run out to buy some fast food when I'm in a hurry
I love lean cuisines. I don't see a problem with their occasional use. I personally have a stash I go to when I don't feel like cooking. be weary of the sodium content. They are fine as an occasional substitute, but try to veer away from using them every day.
Lean Cuisine has to be the best tasting frozen meals I've found. I've been doing the Simple Diet by Dr. Anderson (there's a forum on it over in the General Diet Plans and Questions section of the board) which is similar to the NutriSystem diet I think. It's basically a meal replacement plan that uses shakes and frozen entrées. It's also not expensive at all. I think I spent $58 at Walmart for about a five day supply.
As mentioned above, a lot of people are concerned about the sodium content. I'm not entirely sure how much sodium you're supposed to have, but according to the one day that I logged everything on the My Fitness Pal app, it says I had less than 2000 and that the daily recommended was 2500. So yes, it might be greater than it could be, but the diet itself helps with portion control as well as convenience if you're on the go and/or don't have time to cook.
I will warn that on the Lean Cuisine front, you can't use all of the meals on this diet as they have to have less than 300 calories 9g of fat and several of the meals are over 300 calories (though not by much).
My favorite LC meal is the BBQ Pizza, It was sooo yummy for being diet food, Im gonna buy more then one of the BBQ Pizza on Sunday when I go shopping again
I normally eat the Smart ones but eat some of the LC items too. I pretty must eat 6 dinners a week from Smart ones or LC. I stay within my recommended Sodium. I find they help me with portions and are yummy! My hubby will go get himself Pizza and I will pop a LC pizza in the microwave and also have pizza but with no guilt!
People say you should not eat them all the time, blah blah but really it comes down to what works for you. I lost 60 lbs 2 years ago eating them everyday. It was not because I stopped eating them that I gained the weight but rather I temporarily gave in to the temptations of my hubby's food temporarily, as in 8 months to a year of his food and here I am battling it again.
I would have NO chance of losing weight if I did not eat these meals. They are easy and fast and I do not have to plan, I just pop them in when I get home and in 5 minutes am eating.
I'm also using the Simple Diet like essbee. I will ocassionally eat a dinner that exceeds the 300 calorie limit, but when I do, I make sure that my two entrees do not exceed 600 calories. So if I have a 200 calorie lunch entree, my dinner entree could (in theory) have up to 400 calories.
In practice, my entrees have been averaging about 250 calories each. My highest calorie dinner entree contained 350 calories, but my lunch entree that day had only 190 calories.
I've been on nutrisystem several times, and I can vouch for the Simple Diet being quite similar (except the food is much better tasting, much cheaper, and you have tons more choices).
If budget is an issue (and even if it's not), it pays to check out several stores frozen dinner prices and selections. So far, in my area, Walmart carries the most variety and the best price average, but many stores have better sales (Walmart will price match if you take in the sales flyer), and every store carries a different selection.
I have a wheat sensitivity (I can tolerate traces of wheat, such as in soy sauce, but pasta or bread will trigger an itchy breakout), and finding no- or low wheat dinners can be a bit tricky, but it's getting easier and easier.
One of my favorite meals is LC ranchero beef, poured over a small sweet potato. On the Simple Diet black beans, potato and sweet potato do count as veggies, but you're told to be very careful with the high cal fruits and veggies and to stick to the lower cal choices most often, so I consider it a bit of a splurge.
I like the LC french bread pizza.
I also like the WW mini pizzas.
The WW cheeseburger sliders and mini chicken sandwiches are tasty, but small. When I make those, I have to grill a bunch of veggies with it.
Trader Joe's has the best mac & cheese (I get the "reduced guilt" one)
I just joined "I Love This Diet" which uses Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, and Smart Ones, along with other things. It's very easy to use and cheap but let's see what I say next month because I really need to lose weight and I'm a terrible dieter--already did WW and Nutrisystem and wasn't able to stick it out.
I do really like the Healthy Choice Asian-style stuff and a bunch of the Lean Cuisines. Also this diet has a lot of great snacks that are under 100 calories. That's really important to me because I'm one of those people who can't seem to stop stuffing her face!
If anyone else here is using I Love This Diet.com, please post here, hopefully with something encouraging like the special tricks that you found to lose 56 pounds in a week so that I can be suddenly skinny and go back to guzzling pizzas!
I saw your post about I love this Diet and I wanted to comment because I am on that plan.
I tried Weight Watchers and LA weight loss and most of those plans recommend using lean cuisines and smart ones, basiclly smart ones is a weight watchers product, and then you have to pay membership fees just for them to tell you what to buy. I came across I love this Diet about a year ago and it looked just like other plans I had used but way cheaper so I joined up and I have lost about 70 lbs give or take.
The meals are so great and with the way the plan works you can add vegetables to them and really do them up so its just a great satisfying meal. I was also concerned about sodium when I first started, my aunt said that's why she wouldn't do it with me, but after a few weeks I really learned how to work with the plan and sodium is not really a concern for me anymore. It's really easy to control for the daily amount by making a little better choices on breakfast and snack items.
I have recommended this plan to almost everyone I know, even my aunt took an interest after I had lost 50 lbs.
I like lean cuisine myself, but I've always used it as an (i don't feel like cooking) substitute. The sodium intake on most pre-cooked meals are generally pretty high, but eating these on occassion shouldn't do any harm. ;-)
I normally eat the Smart ones but eat some of the LC items too. I pretty must eat 6 dinners a week from Smart ones or LC. I stay within my recommended Sodium. I find they help me with portions and are yummy! My hubby will go get himself Pizza and I will pop a LC pizza in the microwave and also have pizza but with no guilt!
People say you should not eat them all the time, blah blah but really it comes down to what works for you. I lost 60 lbs 2 years ago eating them everyday. It was not because I stopped eating them that I gained the weight but rather I temporarily gave in to the temptations of my hubby's food temporarily, as in 8 months to a year of his food and here I am battling it again.
I would have NO chance of losing weight if I did not eat these meals. They are easy and fast and I do not have to plan, I just pop them in when I get home and in 5 minutes am eating.
FLIPPING THANK YOU!!!!! I have been using frozen meals for all of my meals. I am out of my 280s and am 5 pounds away from being in my 250s and it has been less than two months since I started. I am not a cook, not even a little. I realized the problems in the past came from me trying to cook up my own meals. Uhm, didn't work! I hate to think of all of the time and money I used up trying to be Miss Chef knowing my as* can't do it! I finally gave up after trying months and months of cooking and still being the same weight. I went to Walmart and got some frozen meals. I was there more than an hour picking out things that I liked and that I knew I would eat. Smart ones, Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice. I added some fiber bars, Special K bars, plenty of water, steamable veggies and I was on my way. I sat down and formulated a plan on my calories, proteins and such. I didn't have to cook and it worked out well. I just pop my meals in the microwave and eat them. I wanted to be in my 250s so bad. I refer to my 250s as being in The Promised Land as I have not been in my 250s since my early 30s and I am almost 40. Just five more pounds and I am there, all thanks to my frozen meals. I used to try to cook, burn it, become upset and eat junk. Now I grab a meal and eat it. I already know what I feel like eating. Smart Ones have barbeque chicken breast that I can feast on when I am in the mood. I can also have steak and even meatloaf from all of them. I love it. I wish I had came to this realization sooner but better late than never!
The Simple Diet also uses frozen dinners (shakes, soups, and bars too - plus fruits and veggies too).
I like to cook, but the last several months have been rough (health issues, long story), and I just don't have the time I used to.
Frozen dinners used to be pretty bad in flavor, selection and nutrition - bland, despite tons of salt and almost no vegetables (except corn and potatoes).
You can't say that any more. The variety can be mind-boggling, especially in bigger stores. They're often still a bit skimpy on veggies, but that can be easily remedied with frozen veggie blends or salad in a bag.
The best part... no leftovers.
I'm a sucker for leftovers, especially of "healthy" dishes. Unless I divide a dish immediately into meal-portioned freezer containers, I end up picking at leftovers all evening.
I have been eating lasagna and spaghetti lately. Love Smart Ones brand! Previously all of the lasagna eaten was very high calorie and fattening. I add my own additional vegetables and drink water and buy my own fruit. Loving it.
I am on day 15 of my fake-nutrisystem diet. I eat yogurt for breakfast, carrots and catalina for snack, an heb prepackaged organic salad for lunch, yogurt and carrots for snack, and a lean cuisine steamer for dinner at 5, and if im still hungry, another salad. Some days I do the Lean Cuisine at lunch and a Lean Cuisine and salad at dinner. I ballooned up to past 360. I know this because my scale said ERR when I got on, and it goes to 360. Like I said, I am on day 15 and I am down to 341. I am using the link and balance method while on this plan. It is in the book The Insulin Resitance Diet. I am so full that some days I have to force myself to eat. Every week I buy my weekly allotment of food. So far, Its amazing. I hope to get to my goal weight, then slowly move back to eating with the family. I will probably stick with the yogurt and veggie snacks and salads, and just eat dinner with them.
Lean Cuisine?
temporarily, as in 8 months to a year of his food and here I am battling it again.
I Love Pre-Packaged Meals :)
