Diet Meal Delivery - Nutrisystem, Medifast, Jenny Craig, Etc - Nutrisystem Buddies 2009

Welcome All! Please fill free to join right in!

Nutrisystem is the popular mail delivery meal program. Based on the low glycemic index it keeps your body balanced while you enjoy tasty food from burgers, chicken and dumplings, pizzas and chocolate cakes!

For those thinking about joining but worried about the cost, first it's probably the cheapest mail delivery meal program right now compared to other ones on the market. But there are also several different ways to purchase the plan. You can buy straight from the official website, but they have also partnered with qvc so you can buy there too, some with payment options. And don't forget to check craigslist etc which you can find sellers needing to get rid of their lot of food for a great discount to you!

Feel free to join if you are on the program or if you are thinking about it, we'd love to hear from you!

I hope you all don't mind that I started a new thread, it's 2009 now :) If you don't mind we'll probably start a new thread each month so that it doesn't get as long as our previous one, so many pages to sift through, lol...

Hurray for 2009!!!!! I'm ready to start fresh and see where this year takes me :)

I do have some great news! I peaked at the scale this morning and I'm down 2.6 lbs! that is for only 3 full days on the program! today is day 4 for me and Im sooooo excited with this plan.

Hope everyone had a great new years and I can't wait until this thread is hopping again!

Hi Spryng (cool name!)
I joined 3chicks a few months ago. I hav a lot of weight to loose, about 50 lb. I've had success with Atkins in the past but it just didn't seem to go well this time. I think I need someting that tells me exactly what to eat so I'm considering one of the package delivery programs. Cost isn't really an issue, my husband is willing to pay whatever it costs to find something that works. So,how do you like the NS food? I'm encourage to see that you lost weight right away.

Welcome Kelly! Yeah I kinda like my name too, most people think it's a screen name but spryng is for real, lol..
yeah I've been on atkins more times than I can count and I tried a low carb diet again a few weeks ago and it made me sick. My body just rebels against any hard diets anymore. That's from years of abusing it.
I have to be honest and tell you I am not a picky eater. So my opinions on the food may not be the best but so far I've liked everything but the cheddar soy chips.. the bbq ones were good though. But I can't tell you how happy I am with this plan. I just find it easier. All I have to think about are the add ins for the meals and everything else is done for me and yes I'm feeling and seeing results already too which is encouraging me!

Evening all! I know eventually this thread will take off so I hope you don't think I'm talking to myself, lol.. I just need somewhere to keep me accountable.

So today is day 4. It has gone perfectly. No cravings at all. Got in all my water and add ins. All the meals have been tasty. Just one day at a time and I will get there :) Too bad I have to work tomorrow, I've been enjoying my day off with the family.
Well I hope all of you had a great first day in 2009 and I'll chat with you all tomorrow!

I'm sure there will be more chatter once next week comes and the holidays are officially over.
Today is grocery buying day for the add ins, but I know that until Monday, it will be hit and miss for me.
I'm like you, not fussy when it comes to food. I like pretty much everything I've tried so far. I hope my next box of NS has the breakfast items I haven't tried yet. Hope they aren't out! I'm not going to get the eggs this time as I really miss toast. I just don't get pleasure out of eating just eggs.

So to anyone who has slipped this holiday season, just post anyways and prepare yourself to get back on the wagon.

Morning ladies!
That's right,now the holidays are over and I am back to the daily routine (thankfully I might add), the New Year celebrations were filled with not so smart choices but I am not even getting on the scale until my official weigh in day next Wednesday, and we'll see what a few days of back-on-plan can do.
My stove broke on Wednesday, and there won't be anyone available to repair it until Monday. I am so glad I am on NS right now he he. I will miss having my veggies cooked, but maybe I will get the grill out or something if I don't want them raw.

Welcome to 2009 and lets all get healthy together!

Happy New Year, Ladies! OMG..have I totally screwed up my diet. LOL..I had a couple of good days at the beginning of the week but all down hill again. I think I've had it with the holidays. Time to get back to real life. haa haa..and get back to working off my last 20 lbs. I'm starting boot camp at the gym on Monday. I work out regularly but this will boost my workouts and get me in high gear. Before we know it spring will be here and we'll be getting ready for bathing suit season! Aaaargghhh!!

Kelly - I totally recommend this diet. The first month, I think I lost 9 or 10 pounds. I still eat a lot of regular food because one of the main reasons I chose this diet was to have some variety while I learn how to cook. With other diets I was so overwhelmed with food and I got so bored with the same old same old. I also think NS food is pretty good. No big complaints about that.

Good luck with whatever decision you make!

Evening all! So good to see everyone today! :)

Staci, it's really hard to get back OP with all the holidays and all that throwing us off for weeks. But you'll get it going again, may take a few good days and bad days but you'll get it :)

Newshinyme, sorry to hear about your stove but it's a good thing ns only needs a microwave :)

Newgie, I'm with you on the eggs. I thought they tasted just like eggs but I don't like eggs by themselves either..

Well today is day 5 for me. Had the cranberry granola bar for breakfast which I thought was good but dry. Had to drink alot of water to get it down. For lunch was fettuccini alfredo, not one of my favorite pasta meals but it was ok. For dinner was the veg lasagna and it was really good. I like that one the best so far, course I have alot more to taste still, lol. I got in 20 min on my treadmill today which I think might have caused my cravings this evening. I was hungrier than normal and even drinking extra water and having my afternoon snack wouldn't curb it. I eventually had to eat dinner early and it went away.. weird. But I forget cardio does that sometimes. Does NS ever let you eat a little more when you are working out more?

Morning all! well I'm down another .6 lbs today, yay! So exciting.. Just wanted to check in and share, hope everyone is having a great OP day! :)

Spryng, depending on how many calories you are burning with exercise
(say maybe 500 plus), it would seem to make sense to eat a bit more. Like maybe a protein and some veggies.
I would definitely ask a counselor about that one!

Today has been a pretty good NS day for me. Really getting back on track. One thing I"m happy about....pms and holidays were at the same time! I don't have to worry about the holidays for quite some time but I'll be on the look out in four weeks for the other. :D

Happy 2009!! I can't believe it but I managed to stay pretty much on plan over the holidays! I had lost 40 lbs as of Dec 19 and my goal was to maintain that until the new year. Well, I lost 3 more lbs since then!! I absolutely LOVE this program!! (REALLY hope nobody sees this as bragging...'cause I'm totally not I'm just so proud of myself!)

I totally AM a picky eater (unless it's junk food...I seem to like all junk!) and have had no real problems with NS food.

I do not like...
ANY of the ravioli's (I find them VERY rubbery)
the chicken patty
anything with mushrooms
the minestrone soup
the plain pretzles (VERY dry and tasteless)

I love the...
bbq beef with black beans and rice
rotini with meatballs
MAC & CHEESE (mmmmmmm...yum! Comfort food!)
spilt pea soup
mashed potatoes
nacho soy chips (dipped in salsa!)

...plus I find them very helpful if they've sent a replacement for when they're out of stock that I don't like they will replace it without me sending the other back. Customer service has been amazing!

The one thing I try really hard to do is only weigh myself once a week. I find since there can be a significant variance in calorie/fat intake between days (for example if I eat the peanut butter and choc bar for lunch with 10 grams of fat instead of the pea soup with 1 or 2 grams and than I eat a pizza with 8 grams of fat for dinner instead of the mac and cheese with 4) that one day I can be down a pound and the next I'm up. BUT at the end of the week I'm always down and if I've only peeked once I none the wiser and all the skinnier! LOL! Once I weighed myself daily and one day was down 3 pounds and at week end I was only down 2. I was bummed. REALLY bummed. I realized if I hadn't peeked early than I would have only been proud of myself for the 2 lbs loss instead of putting myself down for it not being 3lbs! Have I made any sense or am I really rambling? In my head I completely understand what I'm trying to say but sometimes my head gets all mixed up! LOL!!!

Congrats to all those starting...I don't think you'll regret it!
Congrats to all those who met their holiday goals!!
And congrats to all those who might have gotten off track over the holidays but who have the courage to forgive themselves and move on...on track!!

NONE of this is easy and we're doing it! WTG!!

Morning all!

Kiki, you results are very inspiring! How long did it take you to lose 40 lbs? Thank you for listing what you like and don't like from the ns foods, I find that very interesting. It's neat to see how one person loathes one item and the next person cant live without it, lol.. The only thing I really hate is the white cheddar soy chips other than that I didn't care much for the fettuccini alfredo but it wasn't as bad as those chips, lol. I do like the bbq chips though :) Oh and I don't think you are bragging at all! you have done so well on this program you deserve to be proud of yourself! it's amazing results!

Newgie you cracked me up on the holidays and pms being gone for awhile. TOM just left here too so I can stop worrying about that for awhile too :) Oh and I did call a counselor about the exercise... basically you have to be really really working out like crazy in order to eat some more food. But if you are hungry she said to add an extra dairy or protein after the workout. But said it usually applies to people working out more than an hr each day.. which I'm not there yet, just 20 min so far. So I think I'll just time it around lunch or dinner so I can eat right after I'm done and maybe that will help :)

Well yesterday was good for me. I think I already mentioned I'm on the weekends off plan but I did buy food ns food from craigslist so I can still do ns on the weekends as well if I wish. Well yesterday I did ns for breakfast and lunch and then had a girls night out but I did so good! I orderd fish tacos (and only ate one) which was only grilled tilapia, cabbage and some cilantro ranch dressing.. then I had a side order of sauteed mushroom and a tossed salad.. so I did good!!! Course I didn't even eat all the food because the small portions on ns has already shrank my stomach and I was satisfied very quickly which was even better :)
Today is day 7 and tomorrow is my official wi which I don't think I'll see much more of a loss this week, 3.2 is unusual for me on any diet. So I'll take whatever comes :)

Well I'll be back on later to check in, my dh is headed to work so I'm gonna help him get around.

Thanks to you all for the information. DH and I are scared but ready. Our package should be here on the 14th.

I need to put together a shopping list. I'm going to head the Nutrisystem website too. Someone somewhere said there are general rules for each of the categories. Like the dairy....no more than 100 calories, less than 3 grams of fat and at at least 7 grams of protein. Any idea where these are.

Can you tell I'm a researcher? Sorry if this is annoying. I'll settle down once I get on program.

It's definitely not annoying Vickie, lol.. ask away :) I asked a billion questions too, well I still do, I'm still really new :) but yeah check out the nutrisystem boards, they have a TON of info on there including the lists for dairy protein etc

Spryng, I started 15 weeks ago but remember when you have alot to lose you drop it off faster in the beginning. The first few weeks I was seeing 7,4 and 6lb losses...I've averaged off to 1-2lb/week losses now. Slow and steady wins the race right? LOL.

We don't have all the same food choices in Canada as you do in the US so I don't know what the white chedder or BBQ soy chips taste like...we only have nacho cheese. And they weren't one of my fav's in the beginning but with salsa I find them a very filling snack and the taste has grown on me...LOL!

Also we don't have the same website...I might go check out the US site to see what's there and how it compares to the Canadian one.

Good luck Vickie! Glad you're here!!

Evening all! :)

Kiki, yeah I forgot the menus are a little different here and there.. How did your day go today?

Well day 7 is coming to a close. It went really good. Peanut butter granola bar for breakfast, chicken a la king for lunch and the veg fajita (which was soooo good!) for dinner. Been a good day :) Can't wait to get my official weight tomorrow and start week 2.

What do you all eat for your add ons? I need some creative combinations.

DH and I are doing it together. We don't have our food yet but I'm trying to plan. I need variety. We'll each get some extra servings since we both have more than 100 pounds to lose. I think DH also gets extra because he is diabetic.

I'm buying some yogurt. But what might good carb with protein or dairy combinations be?

Hi everyone! I'm Trish, and have been considering for a few weeks starting NutriSystem. I'm planning to start about a week after my new semester starts, so about the 19th or so. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you. Good luck to you!! I'll be back soon to offer up a better introduction.

Trish

Vickie, I think if you have 100 pounds to lose, you get a bread serving. Maybe an english muffin with your NS eggs in the morn...And your husband will get even more to eat.

Grocery items to get on top of NS will be some proteins (like almonds, light or FF cheese, yogurt, FF cottage cheese, skim milk etc), fruits, vegies. As for extras, that all depends on what you like. There are some great recipes featuring NS foods plus your add ins and a bit extra.

Some NS meals that require a bread serving are the fajitas, chicken and hamburger patties. I'll buy small whole wheat tortillas and whole wheat buns for that. Next time I'll purchase a type of bun that freezes well as they come in packs and I only need about one per week or so.

Yesterday I had NS granola mixed into yogurt(protein) for breakfast. NS black bean soup over top of steamed vegies for lunch. Cottage cheese with raisons, splenda, cinnamon and FF cool whip(protein, fruit and extra) mixed in for a snack. Raw carrots and celery, NS entree for supper. Snack at night was olives, NS nacho with salsa and rasberries, bananas with a bit of FF cool whip. (Fat, 2 fruit, extra)

I'm hoping that's all ok on the plan. They don't have ticks for extras and I only heard ppl talk about them after I started. I have no idea how they fit in.

After two weeks of holidays, no exercise at all (my job is fairly active so I burn some calories there) and some bad eating...I gained 2.5 lbs. Not too bad! I usually gain five pounds a week on my holidays. Hmm, I'm going to have to work on that especially when I hit maintenance.

Anyways, it's time to get serious. I haven't really been since I started in November. Next holidays aren't until July, so I think I can really make a great dent in what I have to lose.

Welcome Vickie and Trish!

Vickie:Keep in mind that you don't have to eat your foods in the same order as they are in the booklet (you can move things around to suit your wants as needed i.e. morning fruit at lunch or whatever)

I am one of those people who likes variety too. Yesterday I used one of my veg servings from dinner with tuna (protein from lunch) and the fat from dinner (mayo) with some cucumber and made tuna salad for lunch, you could add one of your carbs (from the extras you get) and have some whole wheat toast or a couple of crackers with it.
My husband likes using peanut butter as his fat serving and spreading it on a slice of bread too. Or a bit of cheese on bread and toasted in the toaster oven.
My usual stand by's for protein are: yogurt, cheese, tuna. Sometimes I do cottage cheese or smoked salmon. I've also baked a turkey breast, divided it into serving size pieces and freeze them into individual portions to pull out as needed. I like adding those (not the yogurt obviously) to my salad, I think it makes it more interesting and sometimes I save my fruit from morning and add it in as well. Oh and I love love an apple with cheese as my PM snack!

I sometimes do one of my fruits with milk and make a smoothie.

You could also cook some WW pasta and add some meat/fish as another combo, toss in a diced tomato and some herbs/spices.

I think once you get more familiar with the plan it will be less intimidating and you'll come up with your own creations.

Newgie: I think only certain people get extras. If they are loosing 100+ lbs and men do (my hubby is doing it with me and his booklet does have ticks for 2 extra carb servings/day) which I don't get.

Spryng: Good luck on staying OP, can't wait to hear how your weigh-in went :)

I am trying to stick to plan now although yesterday I was a bit hungry, which I usually am not. Hopefully today will be a better day.

I lost the X-mas pounds but then gained a couple over new year's so, hopefully I will have that gone by my next weigh-in.....ugh!

Hi All! We are still wating for our food. It probably won't be here until around the 14th. I'll be back as soon as I have my day one. In the meantime, I'm slowly trying to decrease my portions so it won't be such a shock when I start the program.

Thanks for all the wonderful ideas. DH is going to get a lot of food. He's a man....of course....and needs to lose more than 100 pounds AND is diabetic. I'll try not to pout.

Evening all! sorry I didn't get on here yesterday! Swamped with overtime.. but things are going good. My official wi was 3.2 lbs.. which is great for a first week for me :) I'm excited to see what this week brings as well. My qvc ns order came in yesterday so now my shelf is over flowing with options! I love that!
Sorry I can't get too personal.. I'm pooped, just gonna have my ns dessert and enjoy the biggest loser tonight! :)

A good day here. There were treats at work, for the most part it didn't bug me till I noticed the shortbreads. *Sigh* They taunted me! I didn't give in though. Yay me. :)
I love Biggest Loser....takes an episode or so to get a feel for the people. I'll be watching it tomorrow night with hubby. He went off to sleep early, so me and the daughter watched another show together.

Newshinyme, they do have some extras listed like ketchup , mustard, etc. But they don't really say what the total amount of extra calories you can have per day. Well, no where that I have noticed. Even if I'm not really sposed to, oh well, a couple tablespoons of FF cool whip or some ketchup and mustard in the beans and ham lunch are kind of a mini treat and helps me stay away from things like ummmm shortbreads! :)

A good day here. There were treats at work, for the most part it didn't bug me till I noticed the shortbreads. *Sigh* They taunted me! I didn't give in though. Yay me. :)

WTG on saying no to the cookies Newgie!



Newshinyme, they do have some extras listed like ketchup , mustard, etc. But they don't really say what the total amount of extra calories you can have per day. Well, no where that I have noticed. Even if I'm not really sposed to, oh well, a couple tablespoons of FF cool whip or some ketchup and mustard in the beans and ham lunch are kind of a mini treat and helps me stay away from things like ummmm shortbreads! :)

Ohh that's what you meant :o I misunderstood the post oops!

I imagine that ideally we are not supposed to add anything extra than what the booklet says and the allowed add-ins (ketchup and salsa and stuff). But in all honestly, like you say, I don't think a little "treat" on occasion is going to ruin the whole plan. I've done things like that too, like a eat a couple of crackers with my portion of cheese hehe. I sure hope the plan is made to have a little bit of "give" for such indulgences.
It's funny tho, I have noticed that my concept of a treat has changed from having to eat let's say a whole bunch of cookies to eating just one or even splitting it with my DH :D

I have been a bit hungry this past couple of days, but I am hoping it is just me losing more weight and my body protesting the fact that I am getting back on track and eating properly, I will delay my weigh in til Sunday, but I am hoping to see at least a bit of a loss. I can't wait to reach my mini-goal of 20 lbs!

Morning all! Sorry I've been mia, still on plan and going strong just been so swamped with work!

Yeah I have a list of the extras and such, I'll paste it in here later when I get back on after work. I know it's things 20 calories or less and only 3 times a day and not at the same time or they are considered a carb.. but I forget all the rest so I'll post it here for everyone :)

well I promise to be back on tonight and share my day!

Today is the day I give up caffeine tea plus the sugar in it. I love tea! Nice and warm. So I"m trying decaf earl grey with sweetner in it. I think I can handle it. My hubby has pretty much given up diet coke, he was drinking 2L a day or more and now he'll just have a small bottle once a day or two. So I figured I could try and break my caffeine habit.

Another snack I had, which I'm not sure how it rates on the plan but is super yummo....Jello light butterscotch pudding made with skim milk. Slice a banana into it and add some peanut butter. I happened to look on my diary and see that I had two proteins to use up and a fruit. It reminded me of those peanut butter marshmellow squares that come around especially at holiday time.

It was a hungrier day yesterday when I got home from work but I still stayed on plan. I need to go buy some fresh vegies that will stretch out my meals. I especially want to try this Egg foo yung recipe with sprouts for breakfasts as I want something more interesting than just eggs.

I'm still trying to get motivated for some exercise, very challenging. I'll prepare the brain to accept it by monday. Maybe I'll go for a nice winter walk with hubby this weekend, as a starting point.

Morning!
Spryng: I am so sorry! I forgot to comment on your loss of 3.2...WTG!!!

Newgie: You can do it!. When I met my husband I'd always have tea and coffee with sugar in it, and he drank them plain, so I decided to try it his way. At the beginning things tasted really weird, but very soon I got used to it and that was almost 10 years ago.

I am sooo happy to report that I am now officially under my lowest weight from the start of NS. You see, up until Oct 31st I had been doing great, but then I went on vacation all of November, and then the holidays came, and I had been in 2 months of going up and down with the weight without much of a real progress, just losing what I gained. But today, I have broken the 18 lb mark!!!!! in 2 lbs I will have lost 20, it's almost unbelievable since it hasn't felt like much of a sacrifice or anything :D

Newshinyme, congrats on your success! NS is really great at making you feel like you aren't missing out. Everything can be modified in some way to get in a salty or sweet craving using the plan. Being intuitive with yourself, like if you having a hungry day, pick the meals that fill you up the most and have your favorite snacks using protein and fruit, etc.

It's almost the weekend, yay!

Evening all!

Newgie, I've given up diet soda as well. Not because I planned to but for some reason it has started tasting bad, leaving an after taste and such so I just gave it up, lol.. it's a good thing though because I'm drinking my full 8 glasses of water now :) I'm not sure about pudding on this plan.. I'll have to dig on the ns site but that sounded delicious! I had the chocolate peanut butter bar tonight and it was good!

Newshinyme, your words are so encouraging! that even with the holidays and all that you really enjoy ns. I have been too. It's been the easiest diet so far. Not that it's without cravings and the occasional extra hungry day but yeah I really haven't felt deprived at all :)

Well my day today has been great. I am just loving this plan!

Ok I said I'd post those lists, I'm gonna do it in seperate posts since they are long, hope they can help! :)

Here is a suggested list of "free foods" that was provided by NutriSystem counselors and posted by NutriSystem on the Bulletin Boards (although there was nothing about them in the information sent out by NutriSystem).

A "free food" is anything that is 20 calories or less and you can have up to 3 per day (they don't need to be with your meals, you can have them anytime). I use SF Popsicles as a snack before bed. You can eat SF Jello topped with 1 tablespoon Free Cool Whip, which is nice in the afternoon. SF Pancake Syrup is another example (most of which are 20 calories for 1/4 cup...or Walden Farms with 0 calories per serving). Just don't have all 3 at once, that would make it a carb.

FREE FOODS LIST

There are Free Foods that can be used on the NutriSystem plan. The term Free Foods comes from the American Diabetes Association. They are low calorie foods (20 calories or less) that can be added to the meal plan in small amounts. This minimal amount of calories will not affect weight loss, but we do recommend that they be limited to 2 or 3 servings per day if the foods have any calories at all.

FOOD and QUANITY

Drinks:

Coffee/Tea Unlimited
Diet Soda Unlimited
Sodium Free Seltzer Water Unlimited
Sugar Free Tonic Water Unlimited
Club Soda (not tonic or quinine water) Unlimited

Spices/Seasonings:

Artificial Sweeteners Unlimited
Spices (salt-free) Unlimited
Herbs Unlimited
Vinegar Unlimited
Lemon Juice Unlimited
Nonstick Cooking spray Unlimited
A-1 Sauce or Steak Sauce 1 Tbsp
Butter Buds 1 oz
Bouillon or Broth (Dry)- Low Sodium 1 packet, 1 tsp, 1 cube
Bouillon or Broth (Canned)- Low Sodium ¾ cup
Catsup 1 Tbsp
Cocoa, dry unsweetened 1 Tbsp
Coffee Whiteners (Powdered) 1 Tsp
Chili Sauce 1 Tbsp
Chocolate Topping (Reduced Calories) 1 Tbsp
Cool Whip (fat free) 2 Tbsp
Low cal or reduced cal syrup Amount not to Exceed 20 cals/ 0 fat
Dream Whip 1 Tbsp
Sugar-free Jam/Jelly Amount not to exceed 20 cal
Low sugar Jam/Jelly 2 Tsp
Horseradish 1 Tsp
Mustard 1 Tsp
Picante Sauce 1 Tbsp
Relish 1 Tsp
Salad Dressing (Fat Free) 2 Tbsp
Salsa 1 Tbsp
Soy Sauce (Low sodium) 1 Tsp
Taco Sauce 1 Tbsp
Worcestershire Sauce 1 Tsp

Nibbles:

Sugar Free Gelatin/Jello 6oz per serving = 15 cal
Sugar Free Gum 1 stick = 5 cal
Sugar Free Candies 20 cal or less per serving / 0 fat
Dill Pickle 1
Popcorn (light and natural) 1 Cup POPPED

Let me mention on this next list, the carb list is only for those with more than 100 lbs to lose, if you are needing to lose less you cant have it :)

Dairy and Protein Servings
Fat-free Milk or Light Yogurt, 8 oz
Fat-free or Low-fat Cheese, 1 oz
Non-fat or Low-fat Cottage Cheese, 1/4 cup
Parmesan (grated), 2 Tbsp
Chicken or Turkey (without skin), 1 oz
Egg, 1
Egg Whites, 3
Egg Substitute, 1/2 cup
Fish (fresh or frozen, not breaded), 1 oz
Lean Beef (Round, Sirloin, Flank, Tenderloin, Chuck, Rump), 1 oz
Lean Pork (Fresh or Boiled Ham, Canadian Bacon, Tenderloin, Loin Chop), 1 oz
Sandwich Meat (with 2 grams of fat or less per ounce), 1 oz
Sardines, 2
Shellfish (Clams, Crab, Lobster, Scallops, Shrimp), 2 oz
Tuna (canned in water), 1/4 cup
Vegetarian Protein Foods ("Veggie" Burgers, Smart Dogs), 2 oz
Low Glycemic Index Carbohydrate Servings
Barley (cooked), 1/3 cup
Beans (Garbanzo, Pinto, Kidney, White), 1/3 cup
Bread (Whole-wheat, Multi-grain, Pumpernickel, Rye, Sourdough, Oatmeal), 1 slice
Corn, 1/2 cup
Couscous (cooked), 1/3 cup
Crackers (whole-grain), 3/4 oz
Oatmeal (cooked), 1/2 cup
Pasta (cooked al dente), 1/2 cup
Peas (green), 1/2 cup
Peas (split, black-eyed), 1/3 cup
Pita (whole-grain, 6 inch), 1/2
Rice (cooked, brown), 1/3 cup
Roll (whole-grain, small), 1
Sweet Potatoes, Yams, 1/3 cup
Fat Servings
Avocado, 1/8
Mayonnaise, 1 tsp
Nuts Almonds, 6
Peanuts, 10 large
Pecans, 4 halves
Walnuts, 4 halves
Peanut Butter, 1 tsp
Oil (Canola, Olive, Peanut, Corn, Safflower), 1 tsp
Olives, 5 large
Salad Dressings (regular), 1 Tbsp
Salad Dressings (reduced-fat), 2 Tbsp
Seeds (Sesame, Pumpkin, Sunflower), 1 Tbsp
Fruit Servings
Apple, 1 small
Applesauce, 1/2 cup
Apricots, 1/2 cup
Banana, 1/2
Blueberries, 3/4 cup
Cantaloupe, 1/3
Cherries, 12
Cranberries, dried 2 Tbsp.
Grapes, 15
Grapefruit, 1/2
Honeydew melon, 1/8
Kiwi, 1 large
Mandarin Oranges, 1/2 c. canned
Nectarine, 1 med.
Orange, 1 med.
Pear, 1 small
Peach, 1 med.
Pineapple, 1/3 c. canned
Pineapple, 3/4 cup fresh
Plums, 2
Pomegranate, 1/2 med.
Prunes, 3
Raisins, 2 Tbsp.
Raspberries, 1 cup
Strawberries, whole, 11/4 cup
Tangerines, 2 small
Fruit Juices (may replace fruit)
Apple Juice, 1/2 cup
Cranberry Juice Cocktail, 1/3 cup
Grapefruit Juice, 1/2 cup
Grape Juice, 1/3 cup
Orange Juice, 1/2 cup
Pineapple Juice, 1/2 cup
Salad Vegetable Servings

These raw vegetables may be eaten in unlimited amounts as part of your daily salad servings.
Alfalfa Sprouts
Cabbage
Chicory
Cucumbers
Celery
Escarole
Green Onions
Hot Peppers
Lettuce (all types)
Parsley
Radishes
Spinach
Watercress
Zucchini
Vegetable Servings

Serving size is 1/2 cup cooked or 1 cup raw unless otherwise noted.
Artichoke, 1/2 large
Asparagus
Beets
Bell Peppers
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Carrots
Cauliflower
Collard Greens
Eggplant
Green Beans
Kale
Mushrooms
Mustard Greens
Snow Pea Pods
Spinach
Tomato, 1 med
Tomato Juice
Vegetable Juice
Zucchini
The follow condiments and beverages may be eaten in the amounts listed.

Unlimited
Artificial sweeteners
Herbs
Lemon juice
Spices (salt-free)
Vinegar
Limited to 1 tsp. per day:
Flavoring extracts
Horseradish
Low-sodium soy sauce
Mustard
Relish
Worcestershire sauce
Limited to 1 Tbsp. per day:
Catsup
Salsa
Picante sauce
Taco sauce
These beverages may be consumed in unlimited amounts:
Coffee or tea
Diet soda
Sodium-free seltzer water
Sugar-free tonic water

Thanks, Spryng.

I'm having a hard time finding cracker that meat the nutritional requirements for the low gi carb serving. We each get extras from being over 100 pounds to lose.

Vickie, I know melba toast fit the bill, our walmart is carrying them now so you should be able to find some somewhere, they taste pretty good too :)

Oh I used to love those. They'll go good with my cottage cheese or a string cheese. Thanks Spryng.

I appreciate all your patience with my newbie questions.

well...I am pretty sure that I am going to do Nutrisystem. I started low-cal Jan 1st but have only lost 4 pounds and keep using my calorie allotment on bad foods instead of healthy. I think I will do one month of Nutrisystem to discipline myself. I LOVE the fact that I dont have to count, measure, tally or keep track of anything. I need a break from stressing over what I eat and how much. On NS, I can go to someone else's house and say "no thanks, i'm on Nutrisystem" instead of "One little piece wont hurt..i'll just subtract it from my calorie total for the day".

So I am selling some stuff on Ebay today and am already up to 50 bucks so far....I will throw in the rest to buy a 28 day supply of Nutrisystem from Ebay (I cant afford the $300+ through the official website)

My only concern is that I dont know what I can have for veggies and extras....I dont want to guess. Is there a list of acceptable veggies? No bread right? (I want to lose at least 40 pounds) If Nutrisystem is really working well then I will probably do a second month. After that, a regular low cal eating plan should be easy to transition to.

I did Medifast for 6 weeks and lost 13 pounds....along with a good portion of my hair!!!! I followed the plan to a tee! I think once I spend a lot of money, I have the extra motivation/determination not to waste the opportunity. I know NS works if you dont cheat so half the battle is already won for me because I have to lose this weight...I have lower back and joint problems and I am really struggling with pain issues. 20 pounds will go a long way to ease the stress I am putting on my joints....30 even better...40 pounds will give me a new lease on life!

anyhow.......I dont know how much I will post...just wanted to show my face and say that i'm on board as soon as my food comes. :)

I just ordered Nutrisystem. Just need a plan that tells be exactly what to eat since my eating is out of control. As I approach 40, all I want to do is eat, lol. Can't wait until it gets here.


Kay

Down 3.5 lbs this week. Got rid of the extra holiday weight plus 1. :) Mini goal is 10 more pounds, which is where I was in March of last year. Then the real serious work starts.

Thanks Spryng. That Free foods list is awesome :D. One thing I really like is popcorn, so seeing it there on the list telling me I can have some just made my day :D

valley: The lists that Spryng posted have the fruit/veggie amounts you were asking about

kay: Welcome to NS! I am sure you'll find it a breeze

Newgie: 3.5 lbs is awesome, good job :hug:

Thanks Spryng. That Free foods list is awesome :D. One thing I really like is popcorn, so seeing it there on the list telling me I can have some just made my day :D

valley: The lists that Spryng posted have the fruit/veggie amounts you were asking aboutohhhh....I see now. I thought the second list was only for people needing to lose 100 pounds or more so I didnt read through it! I see now that she was talking about a small potion of the list (the carbs, duh) and not the whole thing. My mistake..thanks for clarifying. :)

Dairy and Protein Servings



One more question (sorry:^: )...Do you know how many servings you are allowed to have a day in each category, in addition to your NS meals? Is it 1 serving of dairy, 1 fat, 1 fruit...or something like that? :)

A typical day looks like this: (for women losing under 100 lbs. on the regular plan)

Breakfast: 1 NS breakfast, 1 fruit, 1 dairy/protein
Lunch: 1 NS lunch, salad, FF dressing, 1 dairy/protein
PM snack: 1 fruit, 1 dairy/protein
Dinner: 1 NS entree, 2 vegetables, 1 salad OR fruit, 1 fat serving
Dessert: 1 NS dessert

You can move your servings around to serve your particular needs.

A typical day looks like this: (for women losing under 100 lbs. on the regular plan)

Breakfast: 1 NS breakfast, 1 fruit, 1 dairy/protein
Lunch: 1 NS lunch, salad, FF dressing, 1 dairy/protein
PM snack: 1 fruit, 1 dairy/protein
Dinner: 1 NS entree, 2 vegetables, 1 salad OR fruit, 1 fat serving
Dessert: 1 NS dessert

You can move your servings around to serve your particular needs.
Thank you so much! Thats just what I needed to know! :)

I am sooo excited now...I just got an amazing deal on Ebay. I bought 194 meals for $200.00 + $15 shipping! 55 dinners, 46 lunches, 38 breakfasts and 55 desserts/snacks! I had sold some items already and had $75 stored up at Paypal so all I paid out of pocket was $140. :carrot:

Today is day one for me and the DH! We are so excited and scared at the same time.

DH had scrambled eggs this morning which I cooked in the frying pan for him. He said they were great. I had the bran flakes with my own blueberries and a piece of string cheese. I've been up since 6:00 and I'm already getting hungry again. I guess it's almost snack time. I need to finish my coffee and get some water in.

Anyhow....just wanted you all to know that we started. So far, so good......

Hi Ladies, looks like everyone is doing well and sticking to plan. So great to see so many new people! Good luck everyone.

I, on the other hand, am not doing so good. I was shocked last week to get weighed before I started boot camp at the gym and I was 8 pounds more than than last weigh-in (day before christmas eve). As of last Friday most of that weight was gone. I'll see how it goes this Friday. Boot camp is killing me but such a good workout now I just have to get my eating under control.

Thank you, thank you, thank all - especially Spryng! I am a newbie and had trouble navigating the site - and someone helped me find it on another thread, even though I am all registered and everything.

I ordred Nutristystm this week and it should be arriving any day now! I have 50 POUNDS to lose and hope to achieve it. With the combination of being through menopause, fiftysomething, and with several health and medication-weight-gaining-issues, I am very hopeful and positive I can achieve my goal.

I am sure this forum will help me! I ordered online with Nutrisystem and picked my own meals, but of course do not know yet what they taste like. I am looking forward to the exploration aspect and ability to change it up. Please feel free to make suggestions. Will they send me info about buying the fresh foods?

Are there any freebies I can make like vegy soup or anything? I would love to hear from all of you and am so glad to have found you!

Yours Truly in this positive Journey,

Cindy (wannagefit)

Vickie: So glad your food finally came, keep us posted on your progress :)

Staci: Good to see you back, I can sympathize with all those holiday pounds, good thing they're gone now. Are you enjoying the bootcamp? I am such a wimp, don't think I'd be up for anything like that hehe.

Cindy: I was very confused with the forum at the beginning too, but you'll get familiar with it and it will get easier for you to navigate it. I think you will really enjoy NS (and the part of not having to cook is always a bonus).
The best way to know which foods you like is to try them. I have tried everything at least once and I now know which items I like and which ones I don't (there's a couple I can't stand), but everybody is different, some things I don't like others really do and same the other way around.
With your food, they will send you a welcome package. It has all the information you need to get you started (it even has a workout DVD), and a food diary, which is a booklet that indicates your daily servings of everything and you have to do is mark them down as you eat them...super easy!
You will probably find that you are pretty satisfied most of the time with the food indicated in the plan (my secret is to eat a gigantic salad at lunch hehe), but they've told me that if I am hungry in between I can always have some more of the salad vegetables (the list of which those are will be in your booklet).
We are here to help you and support you on your journey, so whatever you need, just ask!

Valley, when you start to run out of breakie there are quite a few grocery store items that are pretty close in nutritional value to the NS ones. Some low fat granolas, cereals, vita muffins, egg beaters, WW english muffins...to name a few. Sounds like you got a great deal!!

So nice to see more of us around!! I originally started NS saying I'd do it for one one to give my self a kick start and now I'm about to order my 4th month. I've ordered a la carte once (over the holidays) because I was eating out more but staying to a low cal plan so I thought I'd save some money. Now that I'm running low on my NS food I know I'm going to commit to another 2 months! I'm nearing a 50lbs loss and I love the plan...it works! I guess I feel why mess with it?!

Welcome to our newbies and "hi!" to the seasoned NS gals!! :D My weigh in is Sunday and I REALLY hope I can say I'm down 50lbs! (I was at 46 last sunday but I've been very well behaved and am pushing for that 4lb loss this week!

Can't wait to hear of more losses this week!!

Oh! Forgot to add my new fav is now the tacos!! I add a little dollap of FF sour cream and they are so good!!

What do you all love?

Kiki, hope you get your 50 pounds! how exciting :) I hear you about the kickstart, I thought two months, maybe three but I can see myself sticking on it for longer than that.
I don't really have a favorite yet, still trying new things. I pretty much like every dinner so far, except the chicken patty, hehe. I have tacos in my cupboard and I'll try it out this weekend!
I sure wish they would add the pancake mix to Canadian orders, boy do I want to try the Mcgriddle looking recipe remix I've seen, looks yummo.
I really think they could use a few more breakfast items. Think I'd rather do an egg and english muffin instead of eating their egg mix, which is tasty enough but I miss the bread.
Does everyone like the cheese tortellini lunch? I thought it was too acidic,its been the only thing I've tossed(oops, forgot about the patty). I heard some addition of splenda makes it better, so that made me think that maybe I should give it another chance.

Thank you Newshinyme! Your words of information were encouraging to me. I look forward to trying the meals and reading all they have to say. I love soup, so I hope I can make some kind of vegy soup out of what is allowed. My package is due to arrive tomorrow, which means I will shop this weekend and start Monday.

Can you give me some samples of your favorite foods and those you "can't stand"? A friend of mine is on it, (he has lost 50 pounds in 5 months) and he warned me to stay away from their pizzas. So I did. I picked out my own foods online. I am not a picky eater, but I like foods to taste "real". So any suggestions would be great - thank you! I am so sick of these extra 50 pounds and can't wait to start letting them go. I pray this works!

I have family in Vancouver, Canada: a small town named Abbotsford actually. I also have a cousin in Alberta (Edmond), family in Toronto, my parents met in Montreal, and I was born in Windsor. Oh Canada - eh? Hubby and I plan a road trip in our new T@DA little camper pulled by our new Jeep, trip to Alaska (son and daughter-in-law and 3 grandkids just moved there to Anchorage last July), and we will travel through Canada of course (got our passports), and will spend July, August, and September traveling and visiting!

So I guess I just keep looking around to find if there is "new mail". I'll keep reading and learning. Thank you for extending your words of kindness to me! Your weight chart and weigth loss has been impressive - congratulations!

Cindy

Good morning!

I just finished my first week on NS and I've only lost 2.5 lbs. I expected more but I turn 52 on Monday; haven't been good about drinking my water. And I'm not a veggie fan, although I do like romaine salads. The good news is that I've been working out with a PT(when I find the time!) and my muscle tone has improved. (of course, when one starts @ 0 muscle tone, anythiong is an improvement!! LOL)

The first time I tried NS was back a few years, I lost 35 lbs but gained it all back since my MIL moved in. (I need to blame SOMEONE, right!?? ;)

to re-introduce myself, I have at least 70 lbs to lose, I have 2 sons (6 and 15) and am married to my HS sweetheart. He is very supportive in my weightloss.

Do you think my losses will improve if I drink more water? I see some that have lost 10 lbs in the first week and I'm mucho jealous. I need to sit down and work on my scale & avatar.I need to work on my signature, it's not up to date.

Have a WONDERFUL day!:carrot:

Cindy, I always put my lunch meals over top of vegies and call that soup. But I'm sure you can make yourself some veggy soup out of what you are allowed no problem.
About the pizza, I personally thought it was so so at first until I piled some mushrooms and assorted vegies on top. Think I'll make a spicy one next time with some jalepenos and use a protein and add some chicken on, maybe reconstitute some sundried tomatos in water and put that on. Add a small dash of spicy sauce. People recommend putting it in the oven instead of the microwave. I'll be trying that next time. I save my pizza, burgers and tacos for the weekend.

Karen, you should make sure to drink the water, especially when you work out. Building muscle also slows the scale but will show inches lost since muscle is heavier than fat. Great loss though. :) I lost 2 lbs the first week.

It's slower going for me, especially starting before the holidays and only sticking to the plan 90%. But I'm pleased enough for a slow loss until I feel like I'm plateauing and then I will kick things into higher gear. Meaning exercise and sticking to plan better. My job is fairly active but not to where you get your heart rate up for too long. But I'm dragging my heels when it comes to exercise.

Have a great nutriday. :)

I lost 7lbs my first week BUT I weighed over 300...the more you weigh the more you lose at first. Karen, water REALLY makes the difference, if I don't drink it I don't see the loss I'm looking for that week guarenteed. 2.5 is good...give yourself a pat on the back but drink your water and you'll likely see even more. (My second week was only a 4lb loss but my third was 6 so don't get discouraged the plan will work for you if you stick to it!!) Good luck, keep us posted!!

I like the pizza...but I cook it in the toaster oven, I imagine all soggy from the micro would be less than pleasant. :)

Oh, and no...I don't like the tortellini lunch...ick. ;) I love the soups you add the water to (I always add more water so I feel like I'm eating more! LOL!)

Morning!

Kiki: Thanks for the tips on the breakies, I delayed my next shipment by a few weeks because over the holidays I wasn't eating too many dinners so a have a zillion of them and I need to make room in the cupboard before I get more food, but I will run out of breakfasts, so I will have to supplement with grocery store stuff.

I can't wait to see that you made the 50 lb. mark!


I actually like the tortellini!, quite a bit in fact LOL, but then again, I used to add lime juice to half my meals when I was younger, so I obviously like my food on the acidic side. Somebody mentioned the same (too acidic) about the chicken cacciatore, do you guys find that too acidic as well?

The pizza is good if you make it in the oven and add a few veggies on top (mushrooms, onions, peppers)

Cindy: I have made a big pot of vegetable soup to eat as my daily vegetable serving, and I don't see why you should not be allowed to do that, it's just vegetables, so go ahead. I am always experimenting with different ways of preparing the vegetables to keep things interesting.

Some of the things I can't stand are: Black beans and rice, black bean tortilla soup for lunch. Dinner: Chicken with almonds, green pepper steak, teriyaki sauce w/ rice and beef. Dessert: Nacho crisps

My faves: Granola for breakfast, Minestrone soup, split pea soup, the beef patty for dinner, lemon butter sauce w/ chicken, 3 cheese pasta.

I should mention that funny enough, sometimes I find some item very tasty, sometimes I think it's just OK, so don't go by my recommendations only :dizzy:.
And as you can read with all the previous posts, we all have different opinions as to what our favourites are.

This plan WILL work for you, they make it so easy for you to follow, that all you have to do is be prepared, make sure you always, always have fruits, vegetables, salad and healthy proteins on hand. I also made sure to either get rid of the junk or hide it where it's not going to be tempting me.

That trip up to Alaska sounds like fun!

ryzmom: 2.5 lbs is great! but just like everyone says, drink your water :). I think NS is a bit higher in sodium, so it's important to drink our water to keep things moving along. As for the veggies, maybe try different things? you never know when you are going to find something you'll like. So great that you have a PT to work with you, I bet your body will start looking very different in no time.

Newgie: I save my burgers and tacos for the weekend too!, it makes me feel like I am indulging :D

I weighed today, and I haven't lost anything for the week, bummer!, I wasn't very good with the water on the first half of the week, and I changed up my exercise, so I am hoping maybe it's all muscle and water retention and not a plateau!!

Have a great OP day everyone!

Valley, when you start to run out of breakie there are quite a few grocery store items that are pretty close in nutritional value to the NS ones. Some low fat granolas, cereals, vita muffins, egg beaters, WW english muffins...to name a few. Sounds like you got a great deal!!

Thanks! Thats good to know. :) My food came today so I am starting in the morning. I'm totally psyched! :carrot:

I dont know if this has already been posted or not but Big Lots sells Nutrisystem Nourish (the old program). I went yesterday and bought 8 lunch bucket meals, some nacho crisps, BBQ crisps and sliced ham! Nothing was expired. 2 of the lunch microwaveable buckets were 50 cents! The rest were a dollar each except for the sliced ham, which was $2.00 (but you get 3 servings in it) If anyone lives near a Big Lots store...check it out in their food section!

Thanks Newshinyme! I just got my box today! Hubby was laughing at me as I lined everything up per meal department to see all that I have. I am on the "flex" program, where I get 20 of everything (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert). So all is new to me and I will have to be a taster tester for awhile. I am reading through the grocery section and plan to do that tomorrow.

A few questions: Does it HAVE to be skim milk. or can it be 1% lowfat? I am a "sweets" person for breakfast. Have you tried the pastries? I'll try the oatmeal first.

How do I get those cool weight charts you all have? They are encouraging and I would like to get one. I really hope this works for me. I hope my medication situation will not make this impossible. I am at my all time high and hate the way I look and feel - which affects so many areas of life, as all of us know.

I have everything lined up in my pantry and am excited to get started. I hope it works! Best to all!

Oh, and one more thing - can you drink wine on the program? Thanks!

Cindy

Cindy, I use a purefilter type of milk that makes skim taste like 1%. I think it's slightly more money but I thought why not until I adjust. So far I have no problems whatsoever with skim milk. In the amounts you have, I don't think 1% will be too much of a problem, but maybe if you want the occasional wine you might want to skim some calories where possible ;P
To get maximum rewards from this program, you should follow it exactly how they want you to. Skim milk and no alcohol.
I enjoy some light beers each weekend, which slows down my losses for the week.

To get the cool weight charts, you have to be registered to this site for thirty days and post thirty times....something like that. I'm getting close :)

I kind of like the orange cranberry pastries but only with some peanut butter and banana on it. I like peanut butter in other things, like on some of the cookies. The pastries seem to make me feel not as good, so I"m watching out for that. I don't think I ordered any this time because they had sent alot the last time. I haven't ordered the eggs anymore but was thinking of having a replacement meal every couple weeks of some egg beaters or a real egg on WW english muffins. Eating eggs by themselves without any bread is unsatisfying to me.

Today has been great for me so far. This is what I have eaten so far:

8:00 am Breakfast:
NS Eggs w/ cheese (did not like these but ate them anyways)
1 large egg, scrambled into the NS eggs
1 TBL onions sauted in water, added to the eggs
2 clementine oranges

1:00 pm Lunch:
NS Vegetable beef soup (OMGoodness...this was so delicious..reminds me of Dinty Moore stew, lol)
1 salad
1 TBL SF FF Italian dressing mixed w/ 1 TBL DaVinci SF raspberry syrup

3:00 pm- I ate the yogurt from my lunch dairy choice

6:00 pm Dinner:
NS thin crust pizza with cheese (added 1 TBL diced onion & 1 TBL diced red pepper, garlic powder, pepper & italian dipping spices)
1 salad with 2 TBL SF/FF raspberry vinaigrette
1 cup cooked beets w/ vinegar

I still have an NS dessert to eat, as well as a dairy/protein and a piece of fruit from todays snack allotment that I didnt use up.

I am totally satisfied and have not experience any hunger so far today. I'm really happy that my first day has gone so smoothly and that I have a few things for tonight. Nighttime snacking has always been a problems for me so I have 3 things set aside to munch on! :)

Great job Valley! I don't like the eggs with cheese or the veggie sausage ones but the plain ones are okay to me...but I always make them into omelettes and add stuff.

I'm pretty nervous to check the scale today...we had a big party for my dad last night and while I didn't go crazy with the food I did go off plan and some of it was late night snacking...that always seems to show on the scale the next day for me. BUT my girlfriend slept over and she's a personal trainer...for some dumb reason I agreed to work out with her in the morning...I think she may kill me today. ;)

Have a great day everyone!!!

Morning all! Sorry I've been mia.. things have been really crazy here this past week.. not to get all into it but basically had to leave my house and get a restraining order against a family member strung out on meth and threatening my family.. so needless to say I left abruptly and didn't take any ns with me (wish I was thinking) so I've been off ns for a week now! I'm sure I've undone all my good work. But things have settled down now so I can come home. I plan on being back OP 100% as of today so please forgive my absence.
It's so nice to see more new members though! Welcome all!!! I'm so glad to see you all really loving ns! My favorite meal so far is probably the cheesy potatoes or and ham and bean soup, yum! my least favorite was the minestrone soup and the white cheddar soy chips.. but everything else so far I'm loving :)

Well I promise to get back on tonight and get more personal. Just wanted to pop in and say hey! :)

Spryng, wow, stressful situation for sure.
Kiki, did you end up working out with your personal trainer friend?

I had NS tacos last night. I like them! The flavor reminds me of the fajita mix somewhat. The taco shells taste nice and fresh and crisp. I added cooked mushrooms and onions to mine. Plus a bit of salsa, FF sour cream and salad. It was quite the meal. I'll be ordering more of those.

I'm down one pound this week. :)

Have a great nutriday all.

Heylo guys! Sorry I've been MIA since the last post from the 2008 buddies.. I've been trying to get back on this thing but its so hard.. so with the new shipment incoming, I'm back to it strict as can be. I'm so glad all you ladies are having results with it... keep going strong!

-Nora

No, we didn't actually...she's such a dear friend she helped me clean up from my dad's party instead. 40(ish) people in your house can make such a mess!! But she did give me a great exercise to work my flabby arms. I'm SO happy with my weight loss to date but it's left me VERY self conscious about my arms. Hopefully it will work!!

Spryng...glad you're home! Hope it is all over for you and you can move past this.

Welcome back Nora! I have been off and on with an a la carte order and alot of my own foods and today I placed my next full order...so it's time to get serious with NS again!!

Have a great night folks! I'm off to bed!

Hi All!

Your insights are all so helpful. I am only my 2nd day of NS, but it is surprisingly good! I like all the food I have tried to far, am not hungry, and it actually seems to be like a lot of food. But it helps to keep track and "re-learn" how to eat properly.

I have a hefty 50 pound loss goal, so I imagine that will take at least 6 months. I am eating a lot of the "unlimited" vegys in stir-frys and stuff. I discovered keeping one of my dairy allowances at night as hot milk with Splenda in it really helps me to settle at night. (I miss my nightly wine and that is the hardest thing for me to get used to, but so far so good).

I hope all is well with you. I am encouraged with the plan thus far and also appreciate all the info and support out there!

Cindy

Oh Spryng :hug: sorry you had to go through all that, I can't even imagine how stressful that must be. Glad to hear you are OK, and hopefully things will be easier for you now.

Nora: Good to see you back! Can't wait to hear about your good results now that you're back at it :)

Kiki: I hear you about the arms....Mine have always been quite thick, even as a child, and right now they are going through a "looking very strange" phase where they are getting a bit smaller, but not evenly....strange indeed.

Cindy: Glad to hear you are liking it, let us know how you do.

Looks like I avoided the plateau I was fearing which is good, but I won't know for sure until the weekend...I am staying away from the scale until then. I can't wait to reach my mini-goal of 20 lbs. lost.

Newshinyme, I don't know how you can resist the scale! Think my best at resisting is not going on it more than twice in one week.

I'm happy to say that I worked out yesterday for an hour on the treadmill, bike and the step type thing. Today I did wii fit for 51 mins and then 45 mins of treadmill, bike and row machine. Hope I don't get tired out at work today! It sure makes me hungrier though. But I shall resist!

Exciting finds of the day.......
Way back in the top cupboard, 3 NS breakfast items! I thought I just had 3 eggs left and after 2 days of eggs, well.....
I found granola, orange cranberry pastry and a peanutbutter granola bar! yay! I had the bar, yummo. :)

Cindy.. you can do the 50 lbs and it'll seem like no time.. especially since time seems to go by faster every year.

Newshinyme.. way to go on skipping over the plateau!

Great find Newgie! I like eggs, just not in a row! Granola.. yummy!

Does anyone else have a hard time eating the orange cranberry pastry without drinking water after every bite?

Hey Luvto...cut the pastry in half and toast it than if you have any Becel spray (no fat and tastes like butter!!) give'er a couple of spritzes!! I find it SO much better when I do that!! :)

KiKi- what is this flabby arm exercise you speak of? heh

I am going to second kiki on the toasting thing, that's the only way I eat the pastry now. Haven't tried the becel spritzer, but I find that toasting does make a big difference.
Newgie: Don't know if I can resist the scale but I will try LOL

I don't really like the eggs, I have one portion stashed in there in case I feel like it, but I would much rather eat any of the other breakfasts, but the granola is my favourite by far.

Went out for lunch with hubby today..so now I have to undo all the damage done, will have to be very very good for the rest of the week...sigh...

Hey all i decided to try nutrisystem so i ordered the 4 wk plan with weekends off from qvc. Kinda scared and anxious since ive seen so many mixed reviews about the food being bad, being good, being edible....Im gonna try very hard to stick to it, even if i dont liek the food i will stay with it figure out what i liek and choose from there.

My sister is getting married on july 12 and im made of honor. I need to lose the weight i dont want to get to the wedding looking like this. about 2 yrs ago i stuck to a diet for about 9 months and lost 40lbs just from walking and doing ww points i got down to 207...i cried...thats the lightest ive been since freshman yr of hs...and im only 24. since then ive gained all the weight back and thenn some...almsot 100lbs more. as i would gain i would think ok as long as i dont go above 210 im ok, then 220, then 230 and so on......i need to do this and i know i need support. So i will update my progress and hopefully not failers as i go.

Feb 1st.....day 1

Wilted.. Welcome! Every day is progress if you lose a pound or gain.. its about changing your lifestyle to be a healthier individual. I do have to say that I couldn't stand the food on the Nourish program, but the new advanced program is pretty tasty. Just remember to drink all, or as much as you can, of water. I see my weight loss increase greatly if I drink the water that week than not. The first week was the hardest for me! My tummy was used to having much more in it.. but it helped me consume the water because I'd fill up on h2o. Soon you'll be saying "Woo 230, 220, 210, GOAL!!"

-Nora

Newshinyme-have you tried making an omelette with the eggs? I find when I can add stuff (lean turkey lunch meat, asparagus, ff cheese slice and Frank's hot sauce) that it's really good!! BUT I hear you on the granola! It's yuuuuummmmyyy!!! And I can't find a low fat store brand that compares! I mix it with a ff yogurt and rasperries for a REALLY tasty breakie!!! (Strawberries make a close second since raspberries are scarce or WAY to expensive right now!)

Nora, I'll try to describe it! LOL! Put a kitchen chair against a wall (so it won't slide out from under you) and sit on the edge. Slide your bottom off and hold yourself up with your arms. Bend at the elbow (keeping your bum as close to the chair as possible) and lower yourself up and down. Do as many as you can up to 15 reps, sit/rest, and than repeat. You'll TOTALLY feel it in your arm flab!! LOL!!!

Hey wilted, welcome and good luck!! We're here to cheer each other on...and you can do this!!

Wilted, welcome! I find the food pretty good.

Nora, I usually slice mine lengthwise and spread peanut butter and top with banana. I heard others use sugar free jam on theirs. Some use egg beaters and make french toast out of it and use SF syrup. I decided not to order any this time around since my new PB habit is to spread some on the cookies or add it to the pudding to get my fix. I love PB! I might have to order some of that PB 2 so I can have a bigger serving.

Kiki, I do add to the eggs to make an omelette and even plain I don't mind the taste at all. I just really miss having bread with it, so I'm usually unsatisfied. I'm going to replace a NS egg breakfast every once in awhile with egg beaters and an english muffin.
I really like the granola too! And realized just this week that I've been eating 4oz of yogurt instead of the 8oz of it you are allowed. Plus I was replacing the milk you are told to have on it with yogurt but counting that as protein/dairy selection instead of part of the meal. I just need to find a better yogurt with the right stats. I've been eating Activia and not the low fat kind.
When it's time for the move from NS to my own program, I'm definitely going to look for items that are comparable for the transition and to eat for the rest of my life. I LOVE eating healthy.

luvtolose: That cranberry pastry is the only thing so far that I DON'T like. And I ordered 3, so I have to get them down! So I break it up in a bowl, add 4 oz. of LF milk, let it soak, and eat it like a cold cereal. Not too bad, but I will certainly NOT order it again. Just a suggestion! - Cindy/wannabefit

HHi there- New to the NS program. Started last week. Hoping for good things. Have 70 pounds to lose and really want to do it this time. Enjoy reading the thread. Especially ideas to help make the food seem more attractive.

Thanks Cindy.. ever suggestion sounds yummy

Welcome Mazco! Good luck on your journey.

Has anyone seen/heard about the Nutrisystem Select program? I'm on the advanced.. anyone see how to switch over? Is there a price difference? Says icecream, so how will they ship in and leave it on the door step?

by the way kiki.. those exercises are killer! my arm flab has never been worked like that!

Hi everyone!

I am so excited to finally join in as I have been reading this thread while waiting for my first shipment to arrive. I ordered the weekends off plan through the Shopping Channel and it took forever. I was actually quite surprised that it arrived today since they never let me know it had shipped.

I will be unpacking tonight and starting tomorrow. I really hope that it tastes ok. People here seem to be enjoying the food so that is a good sign.

Vicki

Welcome Vicki! Wish you success on the program... Make sure to tell us how your first day went :)

-Nora

Oh Wow, so much activity today. Glad to see that :D

Hey all i decided to try nutrisystem so i ordered the 4 wk plan with weekends off from qvc.


Welcome! You can do this, and we are here to cheer you on. I think you'll like the food (probably not everything, but most things at least.

Newshinyme-have you tried making an omelette with the eggs?


I tried, and it did help, but still not my thing. I've never been a really big fan of eggs anyway so it's not that surprising, I barely tolerate egg beaters as it is hehe.

luvtolose: That cranberry pastry is the only thing so far that I DON'T like.

Have you tried toasting it? I also found out that it grew on me as I ate it more and more.

HHi there- New to the NS program. .

Welcome! Keep us posted on how you do



Has anyone seen/heard about the Nutrisystem Select program?

That sounds interesting...It'll probably be available in the US first and maybe we'll get it in Canada one of these years LOL



I am so excited to finally join in...

Vicki

Welcome Vicki! Glad to see you here too

Oh man...that scale is taunting me :devil: But I shall resist...I want it to be a nice surprise on the weekend if I have finally reached the 20 lb. mark.

I shall give those arm exercises a try too, right now I am working the triceps with free weights, but am finding them a bit light for those muscles, so I have to find something else to compliment them.

See you all tomorrow!

Welcome Mazco and Vicki!

To all those who haven't exercised for awhile! Proceed with caution, start out slow! lol My legs are killing me today. Plus 4 hours of sleep caused me to give up the workout for the day :(
I sooooo wanted comfort food. Being tired, sore and cranky gets me craving. But I was good! The only trouble I ran into was I didn't let my burger sit enough in the water and I should of nuked it a bit to get it hotter. So that was disappointing. My vegies were blah. I usually pour my NS lunch or dinner over top of them to flavor but since I had the burger, well.... I had to stave off bad craving somehow and it's hard when you have had disappointing food. I decided to just use a tablespoon of cheddar cheese soup from a can on them. It was better, not yummo but enough to help stop me from cheating. Well, that was a cheat but it could have been worse.
One good thing today was that my husband bought me some Silhouette vanilla fat free yogurt. It fits the stats great! I can have a cup!
Tomorrow I go into work 3 hours early so that I can finish 3 hours early to be able to go to a sleep clinic appointment. It's going to be weird to try to fall asleep in a strange place especially since I have a hard time with sleep as it is. It's got to be dark, the right temperature, not much movement from hubby, no noises, fan in the background, etc.
Anyways, the point of that rambling was to say I guess I won't be exercising tomorrow. But I plan on doing something on Friday.

Take things one day at a time :)

OH a tip that could be helpful. If you are having a bad craving day and must give in, remember to keep some low fat options around the house that don't quite fit in the plan but won't hurt if you give in occasionally. I have jello light pudding(instant powder mix) and 100 calorie popcorn bags.

luvtolose: when I signed up for the advanced program, the NS guy on the phone told me that the Select program gave you more choices as frozen foods, like dinner meals and ice creams and desserts - and that those products would be delivered by the Schwan's (sp?) truck. Hope that helps.

Congratulations and welcome! I am on the "flex" program - weekends off, also. They give you recipes to choose from to make on weekends that will keep you with your weight loss goal.

You will be surprised how good the food is. I am only on day 4, but have stuck to it. It is a lot more work than I anticipated though, with getting your own fresh fruits, vegys, dairy, etc. I am forced to be creative. I make a vegy soup out of the "unlimited vegys" and eat that when I am not quite satisfied.

My main problem is my sweet tooth at night. I wish I could come up with some way to make zucchini (one of the unlimited vegys) into some kind of a baked crunchy sweet snack (with Splenda) that I could munch away at without guilt. I will probably experiment.

You can do it! My goal is to lose 50 pounds, so I imagine I will be on this for several months (6 months or so I figure). I hope I can stick to it. The other thing I miss is wine. I used to drink one glass of wine each evening (I have chronic pain problems and it helps me).

Let us know how you like it. - Cindy

Ooops, I meant this last message addressed to "fatboman". Welcome to Nutrisystem!

Cindy

I'm going to start going to the gym again since the resolution rush has died down. The boyfriend made me a weight lifting chart to do after my cardio with pictures explaining each type.. if you want a copy, just let me know and I can email you the document.

-Nora

Thanks for all of the warm welcomes. You all have been doing so well that you are very inspiring. I can't wait to hear if you reached your 20lb mark newshinyme. Glad to hear that your first 4 days have gone well Cindy.

So far so good for day one. I played it safe with the bran flakes cereal this morning and then had the fettucini alfredo for lunch and then pot roast for dinner. Everything was fine, not amazing but not disgusting. Tomorrow I am going to brave the black beans and rice that people don't seem fond of. I figured I should get it out of the way.

They sent me a lot more salty snacks than I would have expected. Plus after taking so long to ship it looks like another box is coming immediately so I am going to be overstocked. Or maybe I will just look at it as variety...

Vicki

They sent me a lot more salty snacks than I would have expected. Plus after taking so long to ship it looks like another box is coming immediately so I am going to be overstocked. Or maybe I will just look at it as variety...

Vicki

Or you can always delay your next shipment. I've done it a couple of times and it's no biggie. The first time I could do it through the website, the second time I had to give them a call. Remember to take into consideration the delivery time so that you don't run out of food. All the way to Vancouver it takes 7 days from the day it ships, to Ottawa I would assume it would take much less.

As for tracking your shipment, I am not sure how it works when you order through the Shopping Channel, but with mine (I am on the regular 28 day meal plan), I had to set up an online profile and there I can see all my orders and when I click on them, I get the tracking number for my package so I know when to expect it.

Let me know how you like that beans and rice thing :p

hey fatboman i bought the same thing....mines due to come on the 28th.....let me know how it is...is the selection in it good? i didnt see on the site whats actualyl in it

The selection is ok although there are several items that have 3 and then only one of others. The beans and rice were fine but I might try adding broth to them after the are cooked next time to thin it out.

I feel pretty full this evening and yet I still need to have 2 more vegetables and my fat. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Hi,

I have been lurking for a while. I just started Nutrisystem last week. I bought a package from QVC of breakfasts, lunches and snacks. I've been eating healthy dinners (usually chicken and vegetables). I've been on and off on the weekends-eating tons of salad! I just wanted to see how everyone was doing, and if anyone has any advice for me! I look forward to a system of support on here while I work toward reaching my weight loss goal.

Okay, it's official!!! I weighed in today and I'm down 50lbs!!! Yeah!!! I joined the biggest loser challenge in the 100lb club and in 12 weeks I hoped to lose 20lbs. It's been 4 (I think) and I've lost 9!! Size 16 here I come!! (We're going to Florida the end of March and it was my goal to wear a 16 there...and buy some new clothes since I haven't been in a 16 since university and I have nothing!) Yep, I'm excited.

:D

Congrats Kiki!!! That is fantastic!

Thats just great Kiki!!!!! Congrats!

Welcome Lizzz!
Great job on your first day Fatboman.

Congrats KiKi! You must be a biggest loser fan, we watch it every Tuesday!
I weigh in tomorrow.. I swear I have nightmares every Sunday night!

Congratulations Kiki!!!! you are awesome :)
Welcome Lizzz

Hi everyone! I'm new (sort of). I used NutriSystem back in 1989 and lost 35 lbs. I was a goddess. :D Anyway, one divorce, major move, new marriage, life in general, and now I weigh over 200 lbs. (But not for much longer!) I started back on NutriSystem a week or so ago. I just had nose/sinus surgery, so I haven't been eating much, just picking at stuff here and there. Yesterday was the first day I really followed the plan and ate three meals.

I had to laugh...I see that the nacho chips are available in Canada but not here in the US. Back when I was first on the plan, the nacho chips came in a large, three serving bag. I LOVED those things! I couldn't wait for weigh in day (back then it was done in a clinic setting) so I get my next 'fix'. Trust me, the chips didn't last three days!

I'm glad I found this board. Lots of great info and great people. This board is both informational and inspirational.

Keep up the good work, all.
Peace.

Welcome Janaya!
I like those nacho chips/crisps also!

After a week of sore muscles, lack of sleep and having a friend visit, all of which slowed my progress some....I still ended up losing a pound.
Guess if I want to lose a bit faster, I should stay on plan for the whole week, not just six days out of seven. :p

well today was day 1 for me and i stuck to it pretty good...i could NOT eat the lunch though...i had the "cheesy mashed potatos" and it was just too gross...does anyone else like this? i had the chicken pasta parm for dinner which as actually pretty good. Gonna do some wii fit in a bit i'll keep yall updated on my progress

Love the cheesy potatoes! dropped 2 lbs this week!
Yaay!

Love the cheesy potatoes! dropped 2 lbs this week!
Yaay!



Do u do anything to it or do u eat it the way it says? and congrats on the 2lbs

Grats Lizzz!
Wilted, I love the cheesy potatoes the way they are. Others like to add some NF sour cream, a bit of grated cheese and bacon bits. If everything is counted right... Some make it into a creamy potato soup.
The Nutrisystem boards have ideas to fix up some meals people don't like. For every person that hates a particular food, there are many that like it. Everyone has their own tastes. Also, the longer you are on here, the tastier some things seem to get.
I don't like the cheese tortellini, but perhaps had I read the boards and found a fix( splenda and broth) that would make it taste better, I might still be ordering it.
If you have potatoes left, it would be worth looking up different fixes for them and giving one a try before you decide to send it back, sell it or whatever.

Welcome back Janaya! I tried the Nacho chips last night and they are SOOO good. Best thing I had so far.

Wiltedflower, if you had the cranberry loaf thing for breakfast we would have had the identical food day. The loaf was ok but kind of sticks to your teeth. The potatoes where really thick so I will likely add more water next time but were otherwise good. The chicken parm pasta was pretty good but I added a spoon of parmesan and some red chili flakes to give it more kick.

Sorry for the delayed congrats Kiki! thats awesome that you have lost that much weight!

I love the cheesy mashed potatoes... and i do add sour cream to it as well.

Welcome Janaya!

And congrats to lizz on your two pound loss this week!

Thanks for the support and congrats on the losses this week!

I love the mashed potatos also but I do add more water to make it more soup like. (and shhhhh...but I add a little more salt too which it has plenty of but it makes them taste better! ;) )

I find with my food so bland that I to through mexican chilli powder very quickly. Also I notice a change in my bathroom habits which is not for the better.

Been on program for two weeks, and I have lost 5lbs so am willing to put up with some bad side effects. However as a long term solution I will need to revert back to normal healthy real food.

The bathroom habits are likely due to the high fibre content but with more time you will likely find that it actually regulates and is no longer a problem. I suffered from IBS before the program and about a month after starting it was no longer a problem.

Chili powder is a great solution!

Welcome Janaya!. We're the same height and your starting weight is very close to where I started!

Add me to the mashed potatoes team :), sometimes I add some protein to them to change things up (really good with some canned tuna). My hubby hates them though, probably because the first time he tried them, he didn't stir very well and ended up all lumpy and not well mixed.

On the other hand, nacho crisps...not so good IMO.

Lizz and Newgie: congrats on your losses.

Mazco: Like kiki said, the bathroom issues are going to get better, I wasn't used to all of those fruits and veggies and the first couple of weeks I was so bloated, it was not funny (or pretty), by now, I don't notice anything anymore.
The food can feel a bit bland, and you can mod it if you need to. Which kind of chili are you using? (I love the one that has salt and lime in it)

Its so inspiring to hear about each person's weight loss. It's nice to share the experience with others. I have a question for anyone who may have some more experience with the program than I. What are appropriate meals to substitute for a nutrisystem meal? For example- a light english muffin for breakfast? Would that be acceptable? Or a fiber one bar as a dessert? How about dinners? Any advice or ideas that has worked for anyone else is appreciated.
Thanks and lets keep losing!

Sometimes when I feel like something different I've subbed a WW frozen entree for a dinner or if we're eating something as a family that is low fat I'll eat it (small bbq chick breast, 1/2 cup rice, LOTS of veggies), breakfast I've subbed low fat granola, cereals (check nutritional values and pick those that closely match the NS options) and yes, I've subbed a Fibre ONe bar for a snack 'cause I love those bad boys and they are very close nutritionally to NS snacks. I did sub a WW eng muffin for a breakfast entree (and I subbed my protein to have a light cream cheese) and still had my fruit but I saved that as a mid morning snack. Although to be honest I don't remember checking how close the muffin was to an entree.

Personally I think switching it up a bit keeps me from getting bored and if I'm switching with healthy options than I'm still on the right track. So far it seems to be working for me.

HTH!

Tomorrow starts week 2 for me and I am looking forward to the "official" weigh in. Ya I have checked everyday but tomorrow will be the one that counts. It should keep me OP tonight.

Anyone else stuck in a snow storm?

Oh ya...snow storm here! I got up early and did my Biggest Loser DVD and than I pushed a stroller through the dang snow to and from school and proceeded to shovel the driveway! I'm a glutton for punishment!! When I told my DD she had to walk to school with me to pick her brother up at 3:30 she had a meltdown!! :D

Can't wait to see how you did Batboman! I have set a goal for myself this week to NOT look at the scale until my weigh in on Sunday. I have been borderline obsessive about it and I just had to walk away! LOL...Sunday should show a loss though (fingers crossed!!!) so I'm looking forward to it!!

Anyone know if i use egg white substitue in the morning, how much i can have?

Half a cup of egg substitute, one egg or 3 egg whites count as a protein.
When I get in a mood for eggs, I'm going to have eggs on an english muffin. I don't order the eggs any more because I miss bread. I read on the NS boards that people substitute an english muffin with the correct portion of egg for NS eggs.

What are appropriate meals to substitute for a nutrisystem meal?

I try to not substitute meals too often, I figure I have all that food already, so might as well eat it. Mind you, I am buying the 28 day meal plan and I do auto ship, so that's a lot of food (and it feels like I am always racing against the next delivery). What I do to keep me from getting bored, is I have a variety of fruits, vegetables, dairy and protein at hand to mix and match everyday and this way, no meals are exactly the same. Another thing I've done (after a couple of months of following the plan perfectly), is giving myself a "freebie" every once in a while, when I'd actually eat out but still picking the best option from the menu.

fatboman: Keep us posted on your loss!

Newgie: Is the addition of the english muffin to make up for the lack of carbs in the eggs (or egg substitute)? I have no idea how many calories are in an english muffin since I haven't had one of those in probably a couple of years. Does it work out at about the same as if you were having the NS eggs?

Kiki: What BL DVD do you do?, I am doing the Bootcamp right now

NS eggs are 120 calories with 10 carb, 3 fat and 14g of protein.

whole egg - 70 cal, 6 protein, 1 carb, 5g of fat(looks like too much)
3 egg whites - 57 cal, 12 protein, 1 carb
egg beaters(1/2 cup) - 60 cal, 12g protein, 2 carb

Hmm, yikes, looks like if you go with egg whites, you need to look for a 70 calorie english muffin with 9 carbs.

Ooops work time, will talk about this later.

Kiki: What BL DVD do you do?, I am doing the Bootcamp right now

I'm doing the bootcamp right now also. :D

So I am down 4 pounds this week. I figure that after this week I will likely only lose 1-2 pounds per week. It is definitely nice to see the numbers on the scale going down:)

With the discussion on the egg sandwich, what if you use an egg as your protein and figure out to have maybe an English muffin and slice of light cheese to make up for an NS entree. I am technically on the Flex plan and am suppose to be planning my own weekends but have just been eating NS food this past week. The book says that weekend breakfasts are a carb, dairy/protein, and a fruit.

So im down 7lbs so far. im so happy. So far i like the foods except the lunches.....anyone know what thread the fixes to the foods are? i searched but i wasnt able to find it

Yay Wilted Flower! That's great. I have seen a lot of food fixes on the Nutrisystem US site. There is a board devoted to food talk.

Congrats Fatboman! I'm sure that every once in awhile an english muffin with cheese and egg(added protein) won't hurt for a substitute to the NS eggs.

Congrats Wilted!

Most of the add water lunches, I pour on top of vegies to make a bigger soup. This month I'm trying out some of the ready made items. The pasta with beef, I added in some splenda and hot sauce. It was pretty good that way.
Today I'll be trying the vegetable beef but just bringing vegies to throw in with it since I'll be at work and won't have anything with me to fix it up besides a little pepper.

Things are going alright eating wise but I expect to stay the same on the scale(monday weigh in) since it should be ToM any day now. I usually stay the same or gain up to three, depending if I'm watching my calories or not.

Ooooh, I love the vegeeable beef soup!!

My mom just signed up for NS!! She has less to lose than I do but she is a diabetic with high blood pressure who could stand to lose 60lbs so I'm super excited she's gonna get healthy! She's been a huge support for me on this journey!

So i weighed in today, 10 days from my original start.. again.. its just so hard between two jobs and school to stay on track. however, good news is i'm down from 243 and now am 236!

That's great news Kiki about your mom! Is she going to be joining us here on 3fc?

Congrats fatboman and wiltedflower and luvtolose! Keep going :D

Wilted: The ideas for modifying the foods are in the US Nutrisystem site I believe, not on here. I would help you a bit more, but the site will not let me sign up for it for some strange reason (maybe because I'm in Canada?). Personally, I've found that some of the foods grew on me anyway. I actually have more issues with not liking some of the dinners.

Kiki: I did the BL bootcamp, level 2 for the first time yesterday, and I really thought it was going to kill me! I am so sore today LOL. Good for your mom on joining you on becoming healthier too.

Oh ya...level 2 is killer!! But I need all the help on my arm wings so I try to suffer through it! LOL! I find I do what Heba is doing most of the time because it's a bit easier. :p

I don't think my mom will join us here luvto, she's not really into MB's.

Newshinyme - That's weird that you could not sign up for the US site. I am from Canada and have an account on there and I have seen other Canadians. It is great for food ideas.

Luvtolose - That is fantastic! What a great start.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Friday night!

Hey Newshinyme, I had trouble signing up but tried the next day and could get on. I thought maybe it takes a day or two to process? I'd try again...it might work.

Its awfully quiet here this weekend:) I just wanted to wish everyone luck for the Super Bowl parties. You can resist!!

fatboman, I was thinking the same thing regarding the superbowl!
We had a Friday "superbowl" breakfast at work. I was anti-social by not attending, but saved myself on being tempted on plenty of unhealtthy choices.

I've had a horrible head cold all weekend and haven't been able to work out, I am feeling extremely guilty, esp. b/c I am weighing in Monday morning...
I'm hoping to reach the 10 lb mark this week...without the additional cardio heres hoping I do!

How is everyone else doing? How are you resisting temptations this afternoon/tonight?

I resisted almost all evening. :p BUT at half time when the goodies came out again I did have a chicken wing and a couple of spring rolls. BUT didn't have any of the chocolate brownie cake so hopefully I did alright. There was a chili cookoff so I made extra lean ground chicken and navy bean "chili" and brought my own salad. For dinner I was EXTREMELY good. Damn halftime. :D

It sounds like everyone is not doing too badly over Superbowl weekend. :)
As for me, I'm not into football, so I don't have to worry about parties/food and the like.
I still worry about weigh day because I have cheat Saturdays with my light beer and this time had some frozen thin crust spinach restaurante pizza afterwards. It's also ToM and my rings on my finger can feel the extra water. I could have used an hour more sleep but today is weigh in day and I hadn't weighed myself since Wednesday, where I was .5 down. I woke up and kept thinking about the scale. I was very much expecting to stay the same or be up a pound and hoping it wasn't worse.
Well...
I'm down 1.5 lbs. :)
Goals for this week....to have splenda in some of my teas instead of white sugar. Exercise 2 or 3 times.

http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/bar-retro3/slider-but2/lb/180.5/135/168.5/.png (http://www.3fatchicks.com/)

And how exciting, I have a ticker!

Well, I wasn't bothered about the whole pb recall thing but checking this website...
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2009/20090130e.shtml

Canadian peanut butter granola bars are on the list. I have 3 and I've eaten one already with no problems. But I suppose I should give them a call to have them replaced.

Just a heads up for the Canadians here.

Morning all!
Hope you all had a good weekend. I did well, no Super Bowl party for me, but I did watch the game hehe.

lizzz and kiki: glad to hear you did well on resisting temptation :)

I finally managed to cross the 20 lb threshold! I wanted to get it done in January, and I actually did it on Jan. 31 LOL. Next goal...30 lbs, hopefully the losses will pick up some speed soon, cause I have been losing 0.6 lbs at a time and that is a bit too slow for my liking hehe.

I had a bit of a slip up on Friday, went out with friends and had some chinese food. Didn't eat too much, but it definitely was not weight loss friendly. I ended up having a gall bladder attack after that, so I totally learned my lesson.

Thanks for the heads up Newgie. I received an e-mail from Nutrisystem last night as well. I had already eaten one of the bars, but I really don't think there will be any issues.

Haven't exercised since Thursday, so I have to find time for it today. I hate how it's so easy for me to skip workouts and then that becoming a pattern where I skip exercise for days and days and days :(

I totally hear you on the making skipping exercise a pattern! If I don't get up and do it one morning...it's like I've given myself permission to miss more! I did get up this morning to exercise but I only had time for the first level bootcamp. I figure I better start the week out right and at least get one done.

Congrats on the losses...even in small amounts (although I completely understand the frustration!) is better than a gain! I don't want to know what damage I did yesterday so I vow to not look at the scale again until Sunday. It's SO hard not to look!!

:D

Well it doesn't sound like there were any blaring Super Bowl slip ups so congrats everyone! We are only human and obviously love food.

Congrats to Newgie and Newshinyme for your shedded pounds this week.

I am totally guilty of quickly dropping out of the workout routine. I have been having a heck of a time getting to my gym 3 times a week. Its getting better though.

Well, after nightmares Sunday evening I lost about 2 lbs.. I was hoping for 3 but I can't be greedy. That puts my total at 10 all together... a little less than halfway to my goal..

I've had less motivation working out lately too... my foot has been bothering me so I haven't been hitting the cardio like I should...any suggestions?

Nice job on resisting so much of the yummy food over the weekend...just keep thinking..beach and bathing suit.. or in my case bridesmaid dress.. :)

Liz... have you tried wrapping it with an ace bandage? Not sure what you do for cardio, but maybe switch to a low/non impact exercise also. Congrats on the loss!

Congrats lizzz!
Is there any type of workout you can do that doesn't bother your foot? Perhaps the exercise bike at the gym or swimming at a pool? Working out with weights or yoga till your foot is better? I have a heel problem myself for the last almost year. One part of me doesn't want to exercise to bother the foot, the other part knows I need to build stronger muscles in the legs to fully heal the ...heel. :D

I hear you all about it being easy to derail oneself from exercise. It's hard to get motivated once off track! But one thing to remember, as long as we keep to the proper food, we should be alright. I think motivation will come for me as more weight drops off. The happier I become and I'll start craving a faster drop in pounds plus start toning the bod underneath the fat so when it comes off I'll look fab.

Bathing suit or bridesmaid dress, hmmmmm....I suppose I should have a focus other than finally getting to my goal this year. It was supposed to be by 30 and then each year after, then finally at 40. Well, I hope 43 will be it finally. I'll imagine tossing out all the clothes that has fit me through 30 lbs of up and down changes. Finally having a wardrobe with all up to date items. No more hand me downs or 10+ year old clothes!

I've been doing low impact cardio but I feel guilty.. I feel like its not a "good enough" workout. I could do a bike- I don't belong to a gym though- I own a treadmill I usually run on-until the dying pain in my achilles tendon.

I guess low impact and weight training will have to do until its feeling a little better...

You could always walk on the treadmill at a faster, higher inclined pace maybe?

That ends up being more painful than running...

I'll just have to pop the Aleeve and deal with it ;)

Dont' overdo it! Wouldn't be too terrific to injure it more where you are forced to be off it for weeks.
ON the NS site, there is a woman who did well on NS and she's in a wheelchair. Sooo, there is no bad workout pretty much. Even concentrate on some upper body workouts with weights maybe.
With the bike, you can change what part of your foot and leg you press on the pedal. Maybe that will help.
I worked out on the treadmill, bike and rowing machine today. I listened to music on my phone while working out today. That made the time pass faster.
Well, I've been hungry all day! But I"m happy that I still have 2 fruit, a protein, a fat and an NS dessert. Time for snacking and tv watching. :)

I know you hate to not work out... but killing the pain with pills and continuing to work out is going to make the injury worse.

Sounds like a great workout Newgie.. I never learned how to do the whole music thing on the phone though.. thankfully I have an ipod

Nora(luvtolose),
Hubby programmed the phone and had it all set up for me, just had to press a button to start playing the music, lol. I'm getting better with my phone, I just got it a couple weeks ago. I've never handled a cellphone before then.

I'm hoping to exercise in about two hours time. I need to as I don't want a repeat of really sore muscles that threw me out of the exercise loop before I even got into one.

Lizz: Have you had that tendon looked at by a doctor? Is it something that needs more attention or will it just heal in time? Maybe you need some physio to help you along.
As for cardio, you can always try bringing up the intensity with your arms while keeping it low impact on the legs, like marching in place while moving your arms. If your heart rate is getting to target, you are having a good workout.

Good news for me: I got back to exercising yesterday, it was hard and I could not do it to the same intensity as I had been doing the past few weeks, but I figured that was better than nothing :)

Have a good OP day everyone!

Newshinyme, I don't think I congratulated you on your 20lb mark. That is soooo fantastic!!!
Each pound is great but that 20lbs feels like such a great accomplishment. Plus that's when the loss becomes so noticeable on the body and face.

I'm so looking forward to that number that I predict I become more strict on myself as I get closer.

Congrats on the exercise as well.

I got in 25 mins of treadmill and 25 mins of bike today at the gym. I didn't go as far in km but I had raised my level. If there is a repeat of two weeks ago, I should have really sore muscles tomorrow but I hope not! But even if I do I'll try and force myself to the gym anyways. I'd like to get in a circuit of weight training, upper body in.

Have a great Nutriday everyone!

guys are so useful for electronic things! lol

Congrats to all those who exercised!

Congrats on the weight loss Liz and you definitely need to be careful working out with an injury. You should try to see a sports med doctor if it doesn't get better on its own. Maybe you can do power yoga or pilates in the meantime.

My week 2 weigh in is tomorrow so wish me luck. I have had some not so good plan days. I am nervous since I have a 3 week business trip coming up. Its overseas so I can't really bring all my food with me but I will pack the breakfast bars and some of the snacks.

Good luck on the weigh in Fatboman!
I've heard people take all their NS food on a trip or ship it up previously. Just watch some items like the lunch cups, they will open up on a trip. Use ziplocs wisely :)
I'm sure you can eat out successfully if you keep in mind that 2 thirds of your plate should be veggies and one third protein and a carb. Well, I'm not sure if that's accurate but it seemed like a good guide to go by.
Think of it as a test to eat a new way, no matter where you are. We all don't need to go back to those bad foods.

Three days of exercise this week so far for me and totally on plan. Well, can't say if I've overdone the free foods as I have sugar in my tea and when I have FF cool whip, I don't really measure. I'm going to forgo my light beer and cheat food this weekend to see what that will do to the scale.
Tomorrow I'll be making pancakes with an alternate recipe to the NS ones since they are not orderable on the Canadian NS plan. I haven't had pancakes in about 3 months so this will be a nice treat. Could start a weekend trend of pancakes or different cake/muffin recipes I've seen on the NS site.

Have a good nutriday all! I'll probably post again if I've exercised today. :)

Hi All! I can't believe how many new members are in this forum now. At the end of last year, I think only myself and Newshinyme were the only people left! LOL..So nice to see everyone. Congratulations to everyone!

I had to skim quickly through 8 pages of posts but I noticed Kiki mentioned the tacos being her favourite. I agree totally. Last year Lori suggested putting it on salad with a little ff sour cream. Yumm..a taco salad..everytime I eat it I feel like I'm having a treat!

I ran out of my cheesy pototoes - my favourite lunch..boo hoo...I have so many dinner entrees left that I don't want to do another order just yet.

Chocolate crunch bars..I'm really trying to ration those..love them.

About the pizza..I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this yet but slicing up some turkey bites gives the pizza a little more umphh...along with some veggies..delicious.

I've lost four more pounds since my last post. I feel like the weight is coming off so slow now. I have 16 more pounds to go and I think it's going to take a really long time. aarrghhh...

Newshinyme - bootcamp is going great. It's such a good workout. It's only been a few weeks but already I feel like I'm in such better shape. I have to stop focusing on the scale so much. I was measured at the gym a while ago and I lost a total of 11 inches since August - including 3 on my stomach and two on my hips! Woo hoo! I might've mentioned that on this forum already but I've very proud so I'll mention it again..haa haaa...

I can do the eliptical machine 30 minutes now, no problem. I should probably move up to 40 minutes now but I'm lazy. I'll give it a bit. I remember last summer when 15 minutes on the eliptical was pure hell.

I'm not eating much NS food these days but I started the diet in August so I can definitely try to help anyone with questions. I still follow the NS principles though. I make sure I have all the servings and watch portion sizes etc. I still think NS is the most convenient diet out there right now - believe me, I've tried them all.

Staci

Staci, how about an a la carte order if you're looking for some of your fav's but don't want a whole 28 day order? I did that when I had so many dinner left (lots of eating out the month of December) but had depleted my breakies and lunches. I have lots of grocery store breakies that are similar to NS in nutritional value but find lunch and snacks harder to replace. I ordered a bunch of lunchs and snacks and even with shipping it cost less than half of a full order. Just a thought. :)

Tomorrow is my weigh in and I have exercised every morning Mon-Fri (VERY proud of myself for this!!) and I'm hoping to have pushed myself past the 1-2 lb loss that seems to be normal for me lately. 3 more lbs and I'll hit 55lb loss and that is my halfway mark!! It will be a happy day...and I have a friend who is a great photographer coming over on the 16th who I have asked to do my halfway pictures. I'm so excited to look at the difference!!

Hope everyone has a great OP day!!

i'm having a really hard time losing weight. I follow my plan accordingly but I can't manage to lose anything, and sometimes gain, then fall back down to the previous weight...just not going any further. any ideas? I want to go to the gym, but my schedule doesn't really permit for it. Do you think the gym would make that big of a deal to get over my hump?

Keep with it, things will move in the down direction. If you give up on it, you will risk going up and being back where you started or worse.
Make sure you have 8 cups of water a day. I don't think more is necessary unless you have sweated a great deal in the day.
Maybe a few days of the week, switch lunches and dinners. Make sure you are eating everything you should on the plan.
Try the NS walking DVD and see what that does for you.

How long have you been at the same weight for?

I stopped NS in November and picked it back up a couple of weeks ago. I thought I was doing good because the scale said I had lost 9 pounds. I went to weigh yesterday and I was back up to 242, only a pound less then what I started. I stopped in November for the same reason.. I just got frustrated.. definitely not stopping. I've been drinking most of the water, but I'll really push to drink all of it. Thanks you guys!

luvto...I would try adding a little exercise to your regime. Can you get up and do a DVD in the morning? I never did try my walking DVD from NS but I love my BL Bootcamp DVD.

Can I share my progress without sounding like bragging? I hope so 'cause it's not bragging...I'm just so proud of me for breaking my 1-2 lb/week record! I lost 4lbs this week! I haven't seen results like that since the early days of this journey and I owe it all to Bob! LOL! I got up every morning this week to Bob and the BL crew and did my bootcamp DVD and apparently exercise works! I was also very sure to add at least 8 glasses of water a day (this can be difficult for me!) and so....I'm doing a happy dance!! Yeah!!

I'm over halfway there! From now on whatever losses I have I will see less to go on my ticker than I have already lost!! 56 down...54 more to go!! Time for some progress pics I think!! :D

Congrats Michelle! 4lbs, that's an awesome loss!
I'm tempted to get that DVD but I have a gym right next door and a membership, so I better just keep kicking my butt to get over there.
I gave up my weekly beers and my occasional bad meal this weekend. But I had so much time at night up, that I ate an extra protein (2 turkey bites) and 2 servings of SF instant jello pudding with NF cool whip. Oh well, I'm just not good at being 100%NS.

Nora, you will get back down to the low number you saw on the scale in not too much time. Just keep at it. As for the exercise, just tell yourself this week you will do it once. Then next week try twice and go from there. Or you will do half of an exercise DVD. Start off slow.

Hey Newgie, I am not very good at being 100% on the NS plan either but I try to keep my "cheats" to better choices like FF/SF jello pudding. (One night last week I made it and divided it into 4 cups. Than later in the evening...I ate 3 of them. :0 ) I opted out of my dessert entree that night. LOL.

We are all only human, and we didn't get overweight making good food choices. So we can't all of a sudden abandon those old habits and go healthy cold turkey (mmmm....turkey...LOL). I think we need to give ourself more credit. I'm so glad to have you all to do this with...it's nice to have people going through the same changes to lean on.

Starting NS tomorrow... I'm pretty excited because I have tried almost every diet in the book and have had results but not results that last after I get off of the diet; and I have heard that NS actually works and lasts. DH is doing it with me so I will have moral support at home. We went and got the add ins today so we are all set for tomorrow. I hope that everyone has a good week.

Hi Staci, congrats for doing well on your own. I plan on doing weekends on my own eventually. Not sure when I"ll change. We'll see how it goes.

Welcome Newlywed! This really is a good program. Soooooo much better than Slimfast or the cabbage soup diet!

Today is weigh in day for me and I'm down a pound! I guess it would have been a no loss had I kept in my weekly beer. This was probably my best week on plan to date also because of the three days of exercise. I'm going to try for four or five days of exercise this week. I'm happy about one pound but was hoping for just a bit more. Oh well! :)

Have a good nutriday!


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kiki- thats not bragging! You should be proud of your accomplishment! Brag away! I lost 3 this week, which I didn't expect because I haven't worked out as much as weeks before. I'm going away for a few days-Atlantic City-leaving Weds. morning... I hope I can continue the loss while I am away and not just maintain... I'll have to work out twice as hard for the few glasses of wine I'll consume while there. I plan on taking my NS breakfasts and a lunch bar or 2 with my NS snacks to help keep me on track... wish me luck!

Congrats to everyone else's weight loss too!
We're all doing great!

Good luck with the trip Lizzz! I'm sure you will be ok if you make the best choices if eating out. I really crave a steak and mushrooms from time to time.

I worked out today at the gym, yay me! I pushed myself too while on the treadmill and bike. Got up to 170 bpm heartrate and then said, hmmm, maybe I shouldnt' push that hard for too long. :) I'm happy with 45 min workouts for now. Oh yah, I guess I can add 12 mins of Wii fit yoga before I went to the gym....

congrats on all the weight loss!

I'm going to start doing the walk dvd and see where that takes me.. what is the boot camp dvd you guys all do? what does it entail?

I don't know if you guys read any magazines.. but Glamour had an article relating sleep to weight gain/loss. Here is a link to the article if your interested... http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2009/02/lose-weight-while-you-sleep

Make sure you get your ZzZZz's!

Worked out today at the gym. Treadmill, eliptical and bike. I was feeling blah and tired but made myself go anyways. Only because I said I wanted to get in four or five days of exercise this week. So I had better make good on that deal :)

woot newgie! sounds like training for a triathalon... minus the swimming...

LOL lovetolose. Speaking of swimming, I may do that soon. There's a heated swimming pool at the gym. I'm thinking of doing the weight machine circuit tomorrow, followed by a swim.
I'm getting a craving.....a craving to get into the 150s! (That's still 8 pounds away but I can dream!)
The boot camp DVD, I think is the biggest loser one. Tempting to get! I could use another form of exercise and maybe this has an ab workout? My abs need help, lol.

So I am at the end of day 2. Everything is going well so far, really starting to crave all of the delicious foods that I am not allowed to have. But luckily we gave all of our non NS food that would go bad to my sister and the rest of it isn't really that good. I did mess up today and yesterday, I thought that I was allowed to have a morning snack so I had an apple both days, and well I'm not cause I am not over 60. Oops, but how much harm is having 2 apples really going to do?

Well, I noticed you want to lose 100+ pounds.. you get an extra something.. not sure, and if you didn't have it, you probably filled the spot with those apples. It'll get easier the more you stick to it and the longer your on it. Try not to think about a type of food.. but maybe just filling your belly by drinking water and trying to get down the required amount.

Yes, call a counsellor to find out exactly (I think it's an extra carb but I'm not sure if it's at all meals or just 2, etc.) I want to lose 110lbs but nobody at NS asked me what my goals were and consequently I was never told about the extra carb thing.

I think adding an apple a day was a great choice! Sounds like you're doing great!!

Yeah it is an extra carb for breakfast and dinner and an extra fruit for lunch.

Just back from the weight circuit and swim at the gym. Was good to do something different. Perhaps I'll try to do this routine twice a week.

Breakfast today was granola with yogurt instead of the milk. The usual tea.
Lunch is fish, spinach and NS cheesey potatoes. I still have my mid morning snack of a protein and fruit,so I'll probably have FF cottage cheese, cinnamon, brown sugar splenda,raisons and FF cool whip mixed together. That is sooo yum.

Have a good nutriday all. :)

Hi all!
Been having computer problems so I am using an old laptop that was my BIL's and I still can't get used to it, that's why I haven't been around much.
I will try to do as much catching up as I can.

First of all, welcome Newlywed! I am so glad you decided to join us over here. The cravings will lessen as you get used to the food, and it will become easier over time, giving your other food away was a good move though. Make sure you are eating all your food so that you don't get insanely hungry or below your calories for the day.

Newgie: you are doing so great with the exercise! Congratulations! I am sure you will see the 150's sooner than you think.

Kiki: Are you still tryin to lose over 100 lbs? If so, you might want to add all those extras that you never did. I just got my first delivery for 2009, and they changed the little booklet (way prettier haha). Now the canadian version actually has info for people wanting to lose more than 100 lbs., it says to add a carb for breakfast and dinner and a fruit at lunch.

I was PMSing last week and had a not-so-on-plan week, I gained a little weight, but I am sure a lot of it was water weight. With the new delivery, I am fully stocked now and already managed to do 2 days fully on plan again, I am starting to dream of the 170's....

Oh, and I think it was lizz asking about the bootcamp? It is the biggest loser bootcamp DVD Kiki and I were discussing, speaking of, I need to get back into it, even if Bob kills me LOL. I am committing to working out for 3 days straight to make up for lost time.

Oh and Staci: Glad to see you back, it is certainly much nicer with more people posting, isn't it?

Ok so I totally messed up tonight with dinner. I had some teriyaki chicken with brown rice and a salad, I know its not that bad. But it is still bad, DH and I decided that on sat in stead of having an off day we will eat the ns meal for dinner. Cause we are just going to spend v-day at home watching movies cause he just got laid off, so we have to be frugal till he gets a new job.

Good to see you back Newshinyme! Laptops drive me crazy because I really miss using a mouse. PMS can be awful. Those dumb hormones! The cravings, the bloating, etc.
What's great about NS is that is such a good system, its easy to get back in the swing of things. You'll be fine! :)

Newlywed, your dinner doesn't seem bad at all. Even so, I think it's probably important to keep with your plans of changing your off day to NS. Whatever works for you! Sorry to hear about your DH being laid off. I hope something comes up for him quickly.

Thanks Newgie, you made me feel alot better. Yeah I hope that he finds something soon, we can't really afford for him to go to long with out a job. Especially cause the dr thinks that I have pcos and we have just now started doing all of the testing and we only have till the end of the month to figure it out before our insurance runs out, hopefully my ultrasound shows something. Sadly I want it to be pcos cause then I'll know what is wrong with me, its been since nov since I had my period.... Sorry didn't mean to go into all that detail.

Newshinyme, I have 54 more pounds to lose and I'm used to the plan without the extras now but I don't feel as bad about the occasional off plan Fibre 1 bar anymore!! :D Thanks!

Hi everyone,

Kiki - good idea about the a la carte. Not sure why I didn't think of that myself..LOL..I guess that's why we're here, right? And congrats on the loss!

There's something else I forgot to suggest last time that i learned on this thread. They're a staple for me now. Morningstar veggie sausage patties...doesn't sound very appetizing but they are delicious and I love my meat - not tofu substitutes for me. Unfortunately they are only available in the U.S..luckily I live in a border city. I have one for breakfast as my protein. So good.

Keep at it everyone!

I'm heading to Buffalo today slac! Thanks for the suggestion!!

Good morning!
It's great to see some sunshine today:) (Maybe it's the coffee that has made my hyper LOL)

I had to sneak a peek in the scale this AM and I was really happy to see that not only I dropped all the pounds I put on last week, I have even lost a bit more. I am not posting yet since my official WI won't be til Sunday and I want to see what else I can accomplish by then :dance:

Newgie: I know have the laptop set up with our regular keyboard and mouse so I am not getting all annoyed at it anymore and I can type all I want.

Newlywed: Don't beat yourself up over a slip up. I am sure all of us have had them. What I've learned from this site is to just get up and get back on plan for your next meal. And like Newgie said, it was not even that bad of a choice. I actually give myself permission every once in a while to have an off dinner where I eat something that is not NS (still trying to make the healthiest choice available if possible). I make sure I enjoy every single bite of it, and then right back on plan. You will also find out that you will fill up way faster than you used to, and you'll end up eating less even if it's not NS food.
Sorry to hear about your hubby too, hopefully he'll find something soon.

kiki: I guess I should've looked at your ticker before I asked you LOL

staci/kiki: Do you have any problems bringing meat products over the border? I never know what's allowed and what's not.

Happy Valentine's day everyone! :val1: (in case I don't log on again until Monday)

Newshinyme - I never buy meat in the states - that's one thing I always stay away from. I'd like to avoid whatever problems at the border I can. Although, I've purchased salads with meat from Whole Foods and not had any issues - I love that Sonoma Chicken Salad. I know. I know..not NS friendly! I haven't had it in ages. Mmmm..sounds really good right about now.

Oh....I missed the part where you explained that the Morningstar thing was a veggie sausage LOL, that's why I was asking. I guess that would not give you any issues, would it?

Newshinyme - funny, I happen to be eating one, with some scrambled egg whites, RIGHT NOW..LOL..yes, it's veggie but sooo delicious. I was skeptical at first but everyone kept raving about them so I thought I'd give them a shot and now I always have a box in my freezer.

Hee hee...I saw them but didn't get any. I was rushed when we left and totally forgot the cooler to bring home the frozen goodies. So it'll have to be next time.

I did get some WW cheese strings (only 2.5g of fat per serving and that's less than I've ever seen here) that are 1 point each and some pita pockets that are 1 point (I think) too. Can you imagine the sandwich you could make with that? ;) I will freeze those until I'm on my own and done with NS. I always like to get some different cyrstal light flav's but there wasn't much this time. I did however get an awesome green trench coat at Target for $45!!! OH! AND it was a size 16/18!! Some flavored coffee packs made from Splenda that you just add to the coffee (never seen those in Canada!) and a couple of other not so sinful treats. Pretty much when we go over I'm looking for stuff I can't get at home.

It was nice to get away for a night but boy, the kids sure know how to send you back into reality quickly! No sooner did we pick them up and they were bickering at each other again! THey are 5.5 and almost 8 and lately...grrrrrrr...they can drive me bananas!!

I ate at The Cheesecake factory last night. I had thai lettuce wraps (not too bad) and the Santa Fe salad...mmmmmmm, I love that salad! But this time I had the cheese and tortilla strips removed and the dressing on the side (I ate half...which is better). We ate at Fuddruckers for lunch (also love that place!!) and I had the veggie burger (pretty good actually!) and a side salad. Plus, I had a few fries off my hubby. :p

All in all...it was a good night. And my daugher (the 5 year old) got a new bike out of the deal...how lucky is she?! Poor girl always gets her brother's hand me down's and we found this pink and purple VERY girly bike for $50 that would have easily been $100 here! She's a happy princess now! :D

Now I have to make it through the Valentine's day party we're having tomorrow with 2 other families and my son's 8th bday party at my inlaws on Monday. Don't you just love social outings on a diet? Ooops, I mean lifestyle change? LOL!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend and all the love birds out there get a little couple time with their sweeties!!

One full week of stomach bloat problems but it didn't stop me from light beer yesterday. Sigh. Hopefully the stomach woes will go away at some point this week. Other than that I was pretty much on plan besides a bit less of the vegies and still having sugar in my tea.
Anyways, down .5. Could be just water loss from the beers yesterday. We'll see how this week goes.


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So today was a good op day. Didn't really like the nacho crisps that I had for dessert.

Kiki: Sounds like you had a good trip to the US, too bad you forgot the cooler hehe.

I will try to keep those sausages in mind if I ever go down...or maybe I should just plan a shopping trip ;)

Newgie: I hear you on the alcohol. It's such a social thing for me, I have been able to turn it down on most occasions, but it still feels odd sometimes when everybody else is having something and I am having water or a diet drink (I just keep reminding myself that those are empty calories that I could do very well without).

The weekend was a bit tricky for me, stayed away from all Valentine's stuff but on Sunday I went to a friend's house for lunch and she had prepared such a feast that I ate more than I should've (and a lot of carbs too).

Yesterday I found out that I am scheduled for surgery in 3 weeks, so now I have an added incentive to lose as much as I can by then to make it an easier procedure.

Newlywed: I don't like the Nacho crisps either, I don't even order them anymore. Some people seem to like them with salsa, maybe that would help you.

Was hoping for a nice day today since I have to be out and about, but it looks very cloudy, hopefully it will get better.

Have a great day everyone!

I love the nacho crisps. I never think of them to replace chips, wrong texture and for me doesn't work with salsa. I just think of them as nacho flavored bacon rind things. Can't recall exactly what they are called. Fills the craving for a very crunchy salty item anyways.
But not really getting excited about your desserts, its better to just order ones you like. I've been cutting down my list, box after box. Dinners are great as there are many that are good. The other meals seem a bit lacking but for desserts, not a problem as I could have the mint chocolate crunch bar five days out of seven and still not tire of them.
Breakfasts, love the granola mixed with yogurt. I bake the oatmeal in the oven with fruit to have a fruit crumble. Pancake mix you can do so many things with. If I get in a mood for eggs, I'll have egg beaters, a real egg or egg whites with an english muffin. I haven't yet, but I'm sure I will one day.
I wish there were more lunch choices. I'm down to the fettucine, pea soup, mashed potatoes, pasta and beef, chicken a la king and the vegetable soup. Still enough though, so I'm not bored. I'd like to make myself a sandwich in replace of a lunch some day. As a weekend treat, not NS but will fit the stats.

I made a banana cake for the family this weekend and I see it whenever i"m in the kitchen or passing through. Hard not to have a piece! And I eye crackers at the same time. Two items that I loved to munch on. I wouldn't dare have even one piece as that would set off a binge of eating five pieces of the cake or a half a box of crackers.

My stomach is still blah and so am I. Will try to make myself exercise tomorrow. I'm also going to try to have different protein choices and fruit so I'll stop making that cottage cheese, cool whip dessert. Want to lower my extras as I've been having sugar with my tea. Will also try to use stevia in my teas tomorrow.

No matter how blah, or how little exercise, I stay on plan as best as I can knowing that it will help me maintain or slowly lose through the blah time. I'm not going back to the 180s!

Have a great nutriday everyone!

I can not stand the fettucine... But that's just me, it doesn't help that I HATE fish and they put anchovies in it. I have liked everything else that I have tried for dinner lunch and breakfast.

Oh man, I should look on the ingredients. I hate fishy taste and have never noticed! thought it was a slight bacon flavor, haha.
I dont' like the brocolli parmesan...that has a sweet bad smell to it like its going bad. Taste is kind of ok but can't get over the smell.

Okay here it goes guys!

49 yr old female, 5'5, 180 lbs. I have 40 lbs to lose. My daughter is getting married in August and want look H-O-T in my dress! After careful consideration of several diets including Atkins and Medifast, I have decided to order NS. My sis-in-law lost 30 lbs back in 2002 on this diet and she said it was fairly easy to stick to.

My question for Nurtisystem babes young and old: what should I order? I dont want to get the Variety Pack because there's some dishes in there I know I wont like off the bat. I know everyone's taste is different but what are your top 2 or 3 fav meals?

On the flipside, what should I absolutely avoid at all costs? I have heard to stay away from the muffins like they're the plague!

Everyone here seems so friendly so I'm sure I'll be posting here lots! Having a support system is so awesome!

Jan

Welcome Jan! You can always go to the NS website and click on the link of the food item when ordering. They have a picture of the food item cooked, along with the ingredients and nutritional factors.

Welcome, Jan! My favourite lunch is cheesy potatoes. In fact, it's really the only lunch I like. I basically choke down the others just so they don't go to waste. I tried that fettucine once and threw it out. Never touched it again.

For dinner I like the pizza (with added ingredients, like turkey bites or some veggies), lasagna, or tacos..I like most of the dinners. For snack, hands down, the chocolate crunch bar. I also like the cookies but I can taste an artificial flavour that bothers a lot of people. I think I'm in the minority here but I also like those little chocolate cakes that you make in the microwave with a little bit of ff cool whip. Feels like a nice treat.

I don't eat NS breakfast often but I like to have the breakfast bars on hand if I don't have time to make eggs (egg beaters or egg whites).

Good luck with NS...You will look soooo hot in your dress!!!

OK Guys and Gals! I have received my order today and reviewed it. My basic goals are to lose 100 pounds and Walk the 3 Day Cancer Walk at the end of October. I am excited to start but havent decided if now is the time for me to. I have to go out of town Saturday and won't be back until next Friday. While out of town I may be able to eat a couple of lunches and maybe a couple of the breakfast but that would be about it and I don't want to mess up my meal counts. What do you think? Should I just hang tight until I come back or should I start tomorrow and at least get a few days in?

Yeah I had the minestrone soup today and that too has anchovies in it.... So I have decided that I will not eat anymore of the lunches that you have to add water too. Or I'll just look at the ingredients before I pick it for lunch. Luckily my DH is doing NS too, so I'll just trade lunches with him.

Hi Jan I would say STAY AWAY from the fettucini! This pizzas are really good, I have not tried to add anything to them and still love them... The BBQ beef, rice, and beans are really good. I just had the chicken noodles and gravy for dinner, well it was more like a soup then noodles with gravy, but it was still pretty good.

Welcome Jan! Congrats on joining...I love the plan! My fav breakies are the granola (hands down! I mix it with yogurt and strawberries..sometimes even make a nice little parfait :) ) and the choc chip granola bar. I like the oatmeal too...will have to try baking mine!! I love the lunches!!!!! Beef and veg soup, pasta and beef, black bean tortilla soup, pea soup, and my ultimate fav is the cheesey mashed potatoes!!!! Dinners, love me some tacos!! The bbq beef with beans and rice and the mac and cheese are a close second though and than the meatballs and rigatoni and pizza are good too. Snacks...I don't love them. I like the choc microwave cake too...never tried it with cool whip though (I have put a spoonful of SF jam though and that's nice), the strawberry shortcake bar and the nacho chips are all good for me. I like some more but I eat my desserts as night snacks and I HATE eating them after 8 and especially if they're higher in fat like so many are. I won't touch the cookies...they are dry and nasty to me (even my 8 year old wouldn't eat them! LOL).

Angel, I might suggest bringing some breakfasts and doing the rest on your own. I find breakie the hardest when I'm away from home. So much pressure to have a big bacon/egg meal and so few good choices. If you don't, Starbucks oatmeal (only 2.5g of fat I think) with cinnamen and sweetener is pretty good and a tall skinny latte counts as your dairy for the morning! :)

So I have decided that my scale was broken cause DH got his new scale in the mail today (had to get it off line he is to big for one out of the store) and I weighed myself on it and it said that I have lost 4 lbs but when I weighed my self last night at around the same time it said I haven't lost anything. So I am going to use his from now on.

Welcome Jan and Angel!

Newlywed, as for the scale issue. I always weigh more at night then in the morning. Weigh yourself at the same time, once a week.
If I weigh myself through the week, this is what I notice. Monday I weigh in, Wednesday I"m down, Friday I'm up, Monday weigh in I'll weigh the same as I did on Wednesday.

Jan, you can't go wrong with most dinners. I'll say though that I'm not that big of a fan of the macaroni and cheese. It's okay but it needs something. Maybe I just put too much water in it. If you get pizza, they are really teeny tiny. I slice the flatbread in half lengthwise to get 2 pieces, add a touch of hot sauce to the sauce and add a pile of mushrooms on it, bake in oven for a short time. YUM! It tastes good but I still miss quantity.
Desserts, the mint crunch bar! my fav! I didn't really like the cookies as they just don't taste like homemade and are dry. But the peanut butter cookie with some peanut butter (saved fat or saved fat/protein...depending on amount) is GREAT! I am not crazy over the regular crunch bar as the mint one hides what the chocolate is lacking. So I'll put peanut butter on the regular crunch bar for added ooompf. The strawberry shortcake and blueberry lemon bar and good, just really sweet. I like the chocolate peanut butter bar. Pretzels were dry and blah, but the honey mustard pretzels are goooooood. Too bad they are always broken up, like they were left overs on the floor, swept up and put in bags, hahah. I still like the taste tho. Oh I bet if you sprayed the regular pretzels with the butter spray and put seasoning on it they would be good.
As you progress with NS and detox from all the fatty carbs, your taste buds appreciate the NS food better. So while many might be not appealing right at first, you may find you like them better later on or with the help of a seasoning or spice, etc you can make them taste really good.

Welcome Jan!
Everybody has given you their opinion, so here's mine:
(I am in Canada so the amount of items available for us is less than what you have available in the US)
Breakfast: I love, love, love the granola, the bars are tasty and pretty handy. Everything else is pretty good too except for the eggs, I ordered them once and that was it, they are not very good at all.
Lunch: I like most things. My favourite is the beans and ham soup, if you are often on the run, I would recommend getting some bars so that you can get your lunch in no matter where you are. The 2 items I can't stand are the beans and rice and the black bean soup.
Dinner: In general, I don't like the items that have rice as a side (green pepper steak, teriyaki beef, cajun chicken). I like the 3 cheese pasta with chicken, the beef pattie and the lasagnas.
Dessert: The chocolate crunch bar is definitely the best, followed by the caramel popcorn. The cookies are alright, but they don't taste like regular cookies. I am not a big fan of the salty stuff, specially the nacho crisps.

Hi Angel! Welcome :D

If you have one of those places that sell NS (I think Big Lots does), you could go and buy some extra to take on your trip.

Personally, I would wait until I came back and then I would go full on with it. The first week is when you lose the most and I would hate to miss on that by doing half a plan. What you could do is take the suggestions they have for eating out and start going by those and see how you do


Newlywed Scales are the devil :devil: sometimes hehe. Like Newgie said, your weight will fluctuate a lot during the day. One thing I would suggest tho is to weigh yourself first thing in the morning after you go to the bathroom. If you weigh at night, you are not only weighing your body, but also all the things you have eaten/drank during the day and that can be enough of a variation to drive you crazy.

I did a non-official mid-week weigh in this AM and guess what? I saw a 7!!
(as in the 170's). I don't even remember when the last time I saw that was...talk about motivation to stay OP for the rest of the week and make it official Woo Hoo!!

Question: Can we eat ff mayo???

Yeah I usually weigh myself in the mornings, but for some reason the last two times I've weighed myself it was at night after I got off work. So hopefully I weigh less then what it said last night. I don't want to weigh myself again till mon when I weigh in.

You can eat regular mayo and that would count as your fat serving for the day. Not sure about FF mayo though.

Hi everyone! I am new here too, and I'm excited to have some folks to chat with about NS!

I was curious too about the fish oil ingredient, so I googled it. Basically it is a component of the omegasol, an ingredient ns includes in many of their foods to make us feel full. I can't notice a fishy taste, but for those who can, apparently the vegetarian items don't contain it.

I can't stand the chicken with dumplings...the smell is wayyy to close to my cat's Nine Lives. Ack. I am also not feelin' the nacho crisps, but the last time I had them I crunched them up in my chili at dinner time and that was pretty good.

I am a huge fan of the vegetable beef soup and lasagna. And for dessert, nothing beats the crunch bars!

Welcome dinni :wave:

Hello Ladies!
Its been a while since I've been on. My achilles tendon feels much better so working out has been much easier. :) SO I thought going away was a success.. I brough NS with me, only drank 1 glass of wine, and ate a lot of salad, with the exception of one pan roasted chicken dish I had for dinner. When I got home I worked out like a crazy woman- 4 miles on the elliptical 2 days in a row! All for.... .6 of a lb. It was so discouraging- for .6 of a lb I could've splurged on Ben and Jerry's! Guh! Lets hope this week is better! I weigh in tomorrow...
Could I be hitting a plateau already?

So, I started off yesterday doing pretty good. I didn't wake up until 1:40 (shhh don't tell) so I skipped breakfast obviously, DH and I went to subway for lunch and I got mine on their new flat bread because I figured that was healthier then getting it on bread. Then for dinner we went to Jack in the Box which was bad, but I had the grilled chicken pita which is only 700 calories, so it wasn't that bad..... THEN we went to my BF's brother's b-day party and I had a few mixed drinks and started "feeling" it really fast so my BF convinced me to eat a hamburger and some spanish rice to help "absorb" the booze. Then of course I had a small piece of cake and a scoop for chocolate chip cake. Hopefully today will be better at DH grandma's b-day party. I know we are having steak and salad there so it wont be to bad.

hi lizzz.
I know .6 is very disappointing (I've had quite a few of those lately myself), but hey, at least is a loss, so it's not really a plateau. Given that you were traveling, it might just be some water weight from it. I have found that when I eat stuff that is not my "regular" stuff my body does wonky things, and if I have to be sitting still for a while flying or driving or whatever, I also get a bit water logged.
Best thing you can do is just keep at it and the weight will keep moving in the right direction.

Newlywed: :dust: to you, to help you resist temptation today.

I swear the scale is playing tricks with my mind :dizzy:. I was so ready to be in the 170's this week but No!, I am at 180.2...grrr. At least I know that even with a tiny little loss this week I will get there lol.

I am invited to an Oscar's party tonight. I am not sure if I will go, but if I do I am planning on eating beforehand to stay away from all the snacks.

Have a great Sunday!

So I did pretty good today, at least I think so... I skipped breakfast (yes that was bad) but I had a salad for lunch with a water, and for dinner I had a steak, salad, and green beans with a Dt Dr Pepper. And thats it for the day

Weigh in day. Gained one pound.
A little too many extras on the weekend but definitely not one pounds worth. It's a water issue plus need more fiber issue. We'll see how it goes as I'm entering PMS time!
Autodelivery today. I'm always excited to open my box of NS goodies. I'm hoping there is a planner in there this time.

This weeks stats for me
SW:280
CW:276
Lost: 4lbs

Newlywed: Good job! Both on the loss for the week and for managing to stay away from goodies yesterday :carrot:
Make sure you drink lots of water in case you had more sodium than normal so that you don't retain water.

Newgie: Ugh! hopefully PMSing won't make you retain even more water. I think I am still recovering from my episode a couple of weeks ago LOL

I skipped the Oscar's party last night, which was good since that way I managed to stay OP for the day :)

Newgie- feel your pain... haven't gained but the weight loss is going much slower.. and I am working out like a mad woman! GUH!

Does anyone supplement/replace any nutrisystem meals with protein shakes? I was thinking of substituting my breakfast entree/protein/fruit with just a protein shake/fruit bc of the added calories the shake has in it.. thoughts?

Newshinyme- THANKS! I am making sure that I get in all of my water if not extra today, because I didn't too much water this weekend

On the Nutrisystem diet, is it possible to order lunch and dinner ONLY ?

Thanks,
Mila

Yes on the nutrisystem website you can order things a la carte.

Hi Steph:D

Congratulations on your loss!

Sorry but I can't find anywhere on Nutrisystem's website where I can order a la carte. Can you direct me to it?

Thanks,
Mila

I was just looking at the site and from what I can tell it will not let you buy a la carte, without already having a plan. But a way to get around that is, you can make a free profile on the site and on your home page, go to the shop tab on the top of the page and there is a link in there.

Thanks Stephanie!

This is a somewhat X post but also has other questions relating to Nutrisystem in it so thought I would also post here.

I am having a really hard time deciding what plan to do. My nutritionist doesnt believe in diets but due to my weight I really need a jumpstart in getting some off. I dont know if I should try SBD or do Nutrisystem or do something else.

I did SBD a few years ago lost a good amount of weight and then totally fell off the wagon and could never get back on. Then I also did Nutrisystem and the same thing happened. I am at my highest weight and need a jumpstart. Any advice on which to pick or others to consider?

I have a lot to lose and have PCOS and insulin resistance. I am not a good cook and lazy when it comes to cooking so its to have something already ready or something super easy to make and take to go. I am just so stressed thinking about all of this again. Due to this I am thinking about doing the diabetic nutrisystem plan since I have PCOS insulin resistance and pre diabetes. I havent tasted the food in a few years, has it improved any? The cost is what makes me cringe on not knowing if its worth it and being scared I am just going to fail again. Has anyone lost a signiciant amount of weight and been able to keep it off on this plan?

Thanks!

Morning all!

Lizzz: I haven't thought about doing the substitutions yet. I will probably do that once I hit goal or close to it and start mixing NS with my own food. My guess would be that you should look at the nutritional info on the shake and compare to what you'd get on any typical NS breakfast (carbs, proteins and calories at the very least) and see if they are somewhat comparable. Or you could call a counselor and see what they say, maybe?

KimberlyHeidi: From my personal point of view, I chose NS because after trying to lose weight many different ways countless times, I came to the realization that I need to follow a more structured thing, something that would tell me what to eat when instead of me making my own choices (I wasn't making very good ones otherwise). The problem with a lot of those plans is that there was a lot of cooking or food prep involved and often a lot of waste because I'd only use half of what I'd buy and I'd get overwhelmed with all the work required.
On the advice of my family doctor, I started looking at Jenny Craig but after doing some research, I found that the cost was higher than NS, and I liked the convenience of not having to go to any centres.
With NS you probably know you still have to add your own fruits, vegetables and dairy and protein, but the amount of work required for that is pretty minimal (depending on what you want to eat and how you want to prepare it of course).
NS will refund you the cost of the food if you don't like it and decide to return it too. This is my first time trying it so I don't know how it compares to before. If you go back in this thread there have been a few discussions on what foods each of us like and what we don't, maybe that will help.
As for the diabetic plan, I am not familiar with it, but I am sure you can always call NS and ask them about it and to suggest which plan would work best for your individual case.
I've been on the plan since September 07 and lost a bit over 20 lbs (I was off NS for all of November and December was very on and off) and I am happy. There are people here who have lost more than I have too.
If you decide to do NS, make sure you come back and join us here so that we can encourage you to keep going and help you get back on the wagon if you happen to fall off.

Out of curiosity...if your nutritionist doesn't believe in diets, how does she suggest you lose the weight?

Kimberly, I forgot to mention in my other post that my DH, who is following Nutrisystem has lost 20 pounds since January 13th. His fasting bloodsugars went from 140-160 down to 90-105 in that short period of time. He often does not have to take his glyburide lately because his fasting sugar is below 100. He had about 100 pounds to lose when he started.

I hope that helps you make a decision. I, as I mentioned, am happily on Jenny Craig.

Hi all, I hope it's ok to jump in!

I just found this site last night, very cool! I've been on nutrisystem a week now and I'm doing the flex plan. So far it's going well.

Christina

Love all the new members we're getting!! Welcome Christina!!

Welcome Goingtothebeach!!!! I am doing the flex plan as well!

Hi
Hope you don't mind me joining your group.. I ordered a month's worth of Nutrisystem Flex from QVC. It is on its' way!! We'll see how it works
I have done the no carb plans and gained all the weight back.

So finally got around to placing my order today! YAYAYAY! :carrot:

All your advice was so helpful! It's so funny that a lot of the stuff you guys recommended were the things I thought looked tasty (tacos, lasanga, mint crunch bars). LOL.

Saw that it took 4-10 business days to ship. Hope it's more like 4 and less like 10 if ya know what I mean.

Welcome Christina and scrappinmoe! Jump right in and join us

Jan: Glad to hear you placed your order. Hopefully it will be there soon. I think they say 10 days just to be on the safe side :)

I was just thinking: Do any of you do "recipes" with your items or do you just eat them as they are?.
I know the NS website has some recipes that I've thought about trying but I never get around to that, I am usually hungry by the time I start thinking about eating and I just want to dive right in. One of these days I might start getting creative LOL.

Welcome scrappinmoe... I too ordered my first month through QVC, but for this next month I ordered throught the actual nutrisystem website because they now have the flex plan and it is only like $10 more, but you don't have to pay shipping so really it is cheaper and you get to pick which foods you like. So I recommend doing the same thing if there are items that you do not like. You should go through all of the posts and see what we think is good and not so good.

Question: I forgot my snack at work but I will be heading back there in a couple of hours, so do you think that it would be ok for me to eat my dinner now and later eat my snack, or should I just make a different snack and eat dinner later?

You can eat the foods in whichever order you want (or need)
So eating your dinner now and snack later is perfectly fine. (hope it's not too late for you)

Hi
Hope you don't mind me joining your group.. I ordered a month's worth of Nutrisystem Flex from QVC. It is on its' way!! We'll see how it works
I have done the no carb plans and gained all the weight back.

Are the products much less expensive when ordered from QVC?

Are the products much less expensive when ordered from QVC?
It used to be cheaper but now it is the same price if you choose to do the flex plan.

Welcome new people!

Newshinyme, I do use the occasional recipe posted on the Nutrisystem forums site. Also I got a ton of recipes a lady named Graylady has. She has the info attached to every post she writes. There is also Christina who is a whiz when it comes to recipes. http://christinagray.19.forumer.com/viewforum.php?f=369
Usually I try them out on a weekend. I've made a pumpkin custard for a pumpkin pie craving and I found a substitute for the NS pancake mix so I could help out a pancake craving. Plus there are tons of ways to use the pancake mix to make cheese scones, carrot muffins, cinnamon buns etc.
Also simple tips like mixing the chili and beans into the macaroni and cheese (makes 2 meals) to make the macaroni and cheese more tolerable for me.

One great thing I tried out for the first time on the NS site, the daily meal tracker journal thing. I still had two fruit, a protien, fat and NS dessert at the end of the night. So I tinkered around with the daily planner to figure out how I could eat what I wanted and still be on plan. I figured out I had to forgo the peanut butter cookie (as I wanted a tablespoon of pb on it) and opt for the nacho crisps. So I ended up having one banana (two fruit), 2 tablespoons of cool whip, 1/4 cup SF jello pudding, 1/4 cup cottage cheese (protein) and a scant tablespoon of PB2 (fat). Btw that was all mixed together for some creamy heaven!
Now I know you aren't supposed to have that many extra calories in one meal but I was sure that I didn't have my full 8 oz of milk this morning in my 2 teas. It's not 100 % NS but that dessert is what keeps me away from the chocolates(given out for staff appreciation week) and whatever goodies the husband and kids have around (chocolate chip cookies). BTW the total calorie count for the day was 1298. I was aiming for under 1300, lol.
Tomorrow I'll work in my NS peanut butter cookie, warmed up in the microwave and put a fat/protien of peanut butter on. The only trouble is it's the regular kind and has a bunch of calories but I can preplan and look at my entrees to make the lower calorie choices for the day.

I'm such a foodie. I think about food, keep 2 journals, read the NS forums about food and recipes. I'm just glad I"m the most excited about healthy eating and not just food in general.

Hey Newlywed, I love your dancing carrots to indicate every 5 lbs lost! Nice idea!

Hey Newlywed, I love your dancing carrots to indicate every 5 lbs lost! Nice idea!

Thanks Newgie, I got the idea from other ladies on 3FC.... I am not that creative by myself.

Okay ladies... I think I may have a new favorite NS snack...I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier...

I used my NS hot cocoa, and put it in the blender with ice and water...voila..a chocolate ice cream shake!

For someone with a sore throat and who loves chocolate and ice cream more than life itself... it was a treat!

Ok so I don't know if anyone has figured this out yet but I just tried it. So I didn't eat my snack this afternoon, and I was having the beef mac and cheese for dinner, so I decided to add an oz of FF cheese to it to make up for my dairy that I skipped and it was SO good! It tasted just like cheesy mac and cheese. MMMMMMMMM

Hello folks! I haven't done any recipes per se yet , though I love your ideas, Newgie! However, one of the things I like to do is dump some of the more "saucy" dinners (chicken and noodles, three cheese chicken with pasta, beef stroganoff, mac and cheese) over brocolli or spinach or another veg. It really makes the food feel much fresher to me. I also like to put fresh basil over top of all of the italian style dinners. It makes a huge difference somehow.

Lizzzz, I can't wait to go home and make myself a "milkshake!" What a great idea...

I just read something that I would like to get feedback on. I had always heard that it was "bad" to eat close to bed time. But I just read on several internet sites that this is a total myth. Hmmmm. I hope that is true...because I pretty much eat dinner and go straight to bed! Anyone know anything about this?

I don't eat past 8:30 at night and I usually go to bed around 11 because I've noticed it does effect the scales the next day. That being said...I suspect it would all even out in the end. It's a personal thing for me...if I eat and than go to sleep I feel like I'm not giving my body a chance to work off the calories or benefit from them either.

Great recipe ideas!! I'm off to have a LATE breakfast (it's almost 11:30 eeks!) of NS eggs made into an omelette.

Make it a great day!!!

Newgie: thanks for the link, I'll bookmark it :)

Oh yeah! I've been wanting to try the chocolate milkshake thing for a while (saw the recipe on the NS site), but I wasn't sure if it the powder would mix well with cold water, I guess you didn't have any problems, lizzz?

Stephanie: I've done that with the Mac and Cheese (the regular one) before when I was behind on my protein and you are right...it's so good that way.

dini: Honestly, I don't think there's much truth to the do not eat after X thing (there's been some discussions about that here on the boards too). Your body will still burn the calories provided you are still eating less than what your body needs on a daily basis.
Having said that, it is also probably true that you will burn more calories if you are awake just because you are more active than if you are sleeping. Personally, I don't like having a heavy meal before going to bed just because I often have nightmares if I do (that was before my NS days), but I do very often end up having my dessert and some tea at 10 pm or sometimes later and I have not had any problems.
One thing you can do if you don't like having the biggest meal at the end of the day, is move your meals around so that you eat lighter at the end of the day, something like exchanging lunch and dinner, for example.

I've had a bit of trouble sticking to plan 100% this week, I haven't been too bad, but there were a few cookies involved. I am not sure how the weigh in will go this weekend, but hopefully the numbers will be lower.

Looks like today I will be living off bars since I have to be out all day, I just have to remember to pack them along with some fruit.

Have a great day!

Today I mixed up pancake mix, milk, applesauce, splenda and cinnamon and threw that in the microwave for 4 mins. Whoops I forgot egg beaters or an egg, so it was kind of not completely cooked the way I'd like. I then put a topping of cottage cheese, splenda, cinnamon, NF cool whip mixture on top of that. It was really yummy and filling!

I work afternoons and get home at nine thirty and don't eat my dessert/snack till ten thirtyish. In bed by midnight or one. I don't mind eating before bed. With the stomach issues and sleep issues, it seems to help me fall asleep better.

Have a good nutriday all!

Newmyshine- I used my immersion blender and there was no problem with the mixing...

My NS honey mustard pretzels disappointed me tonight. Extra crunched up and not very strong on flavor. *Sigh* Sure makes a person want to CHEAT!

But I will just have a can of diet rootbeer.

Hi...i haven't been on in a couple of days, we've all been sick in my house..ugh!

Newgie- I totally agree with you about the honey mustard pretzels. That was one item I was excited to try, but was disappointed.

I love the cheesy homesytle potatoes, they are my favorite.

Hi Going2thebeach. :)

I've liked the honey mustard pretzels alot for three months. This package, not so much. I have 4 left, we'll see how they are. But not tonight! I'll probably have a mint chocolate crunch bar. :)

Yah, the cheesey potatoes are great, I like them nice and thick.

We're leaving in a month for 2 weeks in Florida...and I'm tempted to give WW or CC a try for the next month. My rational is that I'll be more prepared for 2 weeks vacation eating real food (we're renting a condo so we'll still be making alot of our own food) AND if I indulge a bit/gain a little I still have a little more than a months worth of NS food left to get me back on plan.

I think this is the end of the road for me and NS mostly because it's been over 5 months on plan and I can't afford to do it a whole lot longer. Plus I think I need a little variation in my diet...I think I'm getting bored. It's still working...so on the one hand I had to "fix it if it ain't broken" but on the other hand perhaps a little change will help keep my motivation strong.

I thought perhaps 6 weeks later I might be happy to have a break from planning my meals and cooking! I have to admit that I'm am going to miss the convenience of NS!!

So, almost 5.5 months later and 60 lbs (61 actually but my official weigh in isn't until tomorrow so I haven't changed my ticker!) gone (and NEVER coming back) I guess I'm gonna try and spread my wings and fly solo for awhile!! EEKS! At least I'll have a cupboard full of NS food to back me up if I falter...wish me luck!

I love HM Pretzels.. they just aren't a great snack if you are starved... there aren't too many! I tend to order a lot of chocolate snacks... I can't resist..I have such a sweet-tooth...Fudge graham bars are eaten for lunch quite often to satisfy that craving too...

Hey-it keeps my hand out of the cookie jar- right?

Since today is my weigh in day I just wanted to say I have lost 61lbs on Nutrisystem!! I lost 6lbs this week!! I gained a lb 2 weeks ago, kept that lb and lost nothing the next week and than lost 6 this week!! Bodies work in weird ways but I'll take it!!

Have a great day!!

6 lbs Kiki!! WOW!!! Congrats! I've been in a rut lately.. I hope when I weigh in tomorrow I have luck like you!

And to think you are thinking of going off NS... does this change your mind?

It makes me waiver a bit Lizzz...but I can't pack my NS for 2 weeks so I have to learn how to make my own food sooner or later. If my next week on WW yeilds cruddy results you'll hear me crying for NS!!! :)

I've had good results on WW in the past... you'll be fine!