I noticed there aren't a lot of posts on this thread, so I thought I'd jump in and offer my experience with Ourlife Fresh.
I read reviews of this diet (and there weren't many so it was a leap of faith!) and decided to take the plunge. I'm 32 years old and had a gastric bypass at the age of 25 back in 2003. I went from 312 pounds to about 185 or so. In the last couple of years, I've let my weight creep back up to 235 and I feel terrible about it. All that pain of the surgery only to go back over 200 lbs? No way I said!
So I've been trying every diet under the sun for the past 2 years. I did WW, SBD, You on a Diet, and Biggest Loser. THese are all fantastic plans and I had short term success on each of them. However, I have a very stressful work schedule (looong hours and a high-pressure career) and I just don't have time to plan weekly menus, buy all of the fresh groceries, and prepare them for my boyfriend and I. Half the time I'd buy all of this expensive produce, then it'd rot in the fridge b/c I came home too late and too exhausted to cook. My bf would try to help but we're both exhausted from work all of the time. Somehow after a stressful day, I needed something right away and fattening fast food just seemed more appealing; hence, the weight gain.
After struggling for the past 2 yrs and watching my weight creep at its highest since my surgery, I knew I needed to try something more convenient without compromising my principles of eating fresh, WHOLE foods that are not just processed stuff with tons of sodium. That ruled out Nutrisystem (the ingredients are scary) and I looked at Jenny Craig but the pricing was outrageous and the food's not fresh, PLUS you had to pay just to walk in the door and buy the food (i.e., the membership fee). Crazy!
So I did some research on Bistro MD, the ediets delivery program, Ourlife, and a few others. I finally settled on Ourlife for a few reasons. The menus looked good, Ruby's pretty inspiring
and the shipping costs were less than what other companies were charging (only 9.98 for overnight fed ex to where I live in Virginia - the food shipped from Richmond, only 3 hrs away).
Here's the pro's for those of you thinking about it:
1. The food tastes great for being "diet" food. These are things I'd order in a restaurant. Today I ate a grilled shrimp salad that was fab! Tonight's dinner is turkey meatloaf with rice and beans. I'll add to this some steamed broccoli by green giant (frozen bag). Tommorrow's lunch is lasagna (I'll add a small side salad to this for veggies) and dinner will be crab cakes with sweet potatoes. Again, I always add something green (probably some steamed asparagus). Tuesday's dinner will be roasted turkey breast with whole grain stuffing and gravy and lunch that day will be cheesesteak penne pasta. For a gal from GA who likes comfort food, I'm pretty happy so far. Oh, and the portions are big! Bigger than frozen Lean Cuisine or WW meals at the grocery store.
2. It ships in pristine condition. No joke. Came in triple-insulated containers and I get to keep the refreezable gel packs and the heavy duty styrofoam cooler. I was very impressed.
3. They don't rope you into a contract (neither does Nutrisystem I believe, but Jenny Craig will). I opted to do the auto-ship for a reduced price for my first week of food where I committed to ordering five weeks of food that I had to use at some point in the next three months. So far, the gamble's paid off b/c I love the food!
4. I now come straight home after work and eat what I have knowing I'll like it. I have stopped going thru the drive thru or ordering pizzas late at night. No more. I have food at home ready to eat, so no more excuses :-)
5. It is five days of lunches and dinners. This gives me the flexibilty of going out at night on two days or cooking some fresh salmon or a pork tenderloin or roasting a chicken on those nights. I LOVE having this flexibility b/c I truly love cooking, I just don't have much time. Plus, I get to eat my own breakfast (egg white omelets, protein fruit smoothies, etc) which I like.
6. Weight watchers points are posted on each food package, along with all other nutritional info. I use this information to keep a daily food/calorie log using an online program I belong to.
7. My favorite part is that these are all packaged to travel. I throw one in my work bag and then microwave it at the office.
The Cons:
1. It's not cheap by any means. Five lunches and dinners cost me $115 a week. I pulled my old grocery reciepts (thanks to online banking) and I was spending waaaaay more than this on groceries each week b/c so many of the ingredients in recipes on SBD, You on a Diet and WW were pretty expensive.
2. You do not get to pick your menu and there are no substitutions that I could find. This will be a deal-breaker for some, and I for one, was really worried about what to do if the food was spicy (I can't handle any hot foods). I'm not picky (trust me, I didn't balloon to 235 for nothing!) so it's not a huge issue for me. But I do have high expectations for flavor and these meals meet them. They're better than the Jenny meals my parents eat by far. AND FRESH. Not frozen. So no complaints about the inabilty to substitute yet.
3. You're on your own for snacks. I learned about what to snack on from Dr. Oz's You on a Diet and SBD. I always have fresh fruit, cut veggies, and a bag of almonds nearby. Sometimes, a protein bar or a slimfast shake will do the trick if I'm in a pinch for time.
4. One poster said her salad lettuce had wilted. I was worried about that, so when I got my shipment I noticed two of my lunches were salads and so I ate those first. No wilted lettuce. I keep a bag handy though just to be safe.
My Progress so Far:
Well, it's only week one but so far so good! Down three pounds, which may not seem like much but it was enough to make me cry (sob is more like it) on the scale. Finally, I'm hoping I've found something that fits me and my life. Now I just have to get my boyfriend on board!
Good luck to all! If you'd like any other feedback I'm happy to oblige. I sincerely recommend this plan, but if I hit any roadblocks with the company or diet, I'll post them here. No plan is perfect, but this one may just be my answer :-)