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I am interested in trying this. If you've not heard of it basically they deliver food to you, breakfast, lunch, and dinner for $10 a day. That's certainly less than I CURRENTLY spend on food and it would rid myself of the part I hate the most...planning and execution of a healthy meal plan day after day....I was wondering if anyone has tried it?
Hm. My sister did Nutrisystem twice. She lost weight (quite a bit) each time. She gained it all back after going off -- each time. it's very strict and just my opinion, but is a traditional "diet" and not a way to learn lifetime skills as much as some other approaches. But....maybe this would be a way to start and then as you feel more in control down the road you could begin to explore other approaches and cooking?
A coworker of mine tried it, ordered all the food. I thought it was a good idea for her as she has chaotic eating habits and health wise needs to get the weight off, but she didn't like the food. So I bought most of it from her as it is all low glycemic, which is how I eat, and I also wanted to experiment with it without committing myself to Nutrisystem. I also joined their website and got a catalog.
I also did not like the food, except for the low glycemic soy chips, which are the best snack I ever had. There's nothing wrong with the food per se, it just didn't taste good to me.
Also, the food is considerably different than shown on the site and in the catalog. For instance, it shows a hamburger or cheeseburger on a bun, but all you get for your money is the meat.
They are quite up-front about the fact, though, that these are serving suggestions and you have to buy fresh produce and dairy (if you do dairy). Nutrisystem basically gives you three "meals" (you have to add produce and dairy) and two snacks and/or desserts. The food adheres to low glycemic principles but has some IMO questionable ingredients, but seems healthy and balanced. You subscribe to your chosen plan ... they have one for women, one for men and one for diabetics (last time I checked).
It's really not a bad deal money wise, if you like the food, and it'd be a good transition for someone who either doesn't want to plan and cook or someone like my coworker with chaotic eating patterns. But you still have to shop and buy fresh stuff and cook it ... so for my money, it just doesn't seem worth it. But a lot of people do well on this.
There are other plans out there like this you might want to explore ... I believe the Zone has one ... they have a website, which I've been to but can't offhand tell you the URL.
One thing my coworker decided to do (not sure where she is with this) was to just use diet entrees from the grocery and add produce and dairy ... there are all sorts of products in the store that are similar to the Nutrisystem ones. You could just stack a supply in your fridge and cupboards and you'd have the same thing.
But I'm not bashin' Nutrisystem. I think it's a better plan than a lot of things out there ... just not for me. If I had a lot of weight left to lose and was experiencing difficulty, I might go that route.
One thing my coworker decided to do (not sure where she is with this) was to just use diet entrees from the grocery and add produce and dairy ... there are all sorts of products in the store that are similar to the Nutrisystem ones. You could just stack a supply in your fridge and cupboards and you'd have the same thing..
This is basically what I've done in the past when I was living alone. It made it easy to count calories, I had more personal choice in what I ate, I was able to try out different options, and I bought things on sale. You don't even need "diet" food if you just check the labels (for example, Stouffer's frozen lasagna is about 370 calories--add a salad with a low fat dressing and dinner is in under 500 calories, which is not bad if you've been careful all day!). That seems worth trying first, before you commit to a program in which you'll still need to go shopping for the fresh stuff!
I can't say exactly how much weight I lost by doing this, because I had already lost a lot of weight following the 90/10 Plan (which really boils down to calorie counting), which I eventually modified to fit my personal needs once I got the hang of it. Substituting frozen meals for the meals recommended by the book was one of the modifications I did.
Since we're talking a bit about alternatives, but ones that still save on the cooking/prep, one of the things I've been doing lately is going to a meal preparation place. You basically sign up to make a certain number of entrees (I do 8, each of which serves 4-6, and each can be prepared in "splits"--2 packages instead of 1). You DO have to cook the selection when you're ready to eat. The place I go to has 16 choices each month, several are fish, and there are always plenty in the 250-350 range for the entree (I generally just add a lot of very lo cal veggies with it). So...you sign up for the choices, then go in at your sign-up time and the chef has everything set up in assembly stations and you then put your stuff together (all the instructions are REALLY clear and it's really easy). In an hour or less, I have 32+ entrees. I go to Designed Dinners in the Seattle area (which I highly recommend to anyone around here--Bruce the chef is a sweetie and his choices are definitely a bit more on the gourmet side--very "adult").
If you want to check for a place near you, try the meal prep association for the US & Canada--they list all the places they can locate. Since you prepare the entree yourself, you can choose to leave out ingredients you don't like (say....onions or jalapeno). Most of the things can be cooked in 30 minutes or less (many are just roasted so it's not exactly hands on). I usually come home, throw the entree in the oven, take a shower, then fix a big salad or whatever veggie accompaniments I'm having and by then, the entree is ready.
I find the price worth it because for me to buy specialty ingredients and then use a tablespoon or teaspoon here and there means I would have a lot of wastage. Plus, I've found this is the IDEAL way for me to get more fish/seafood in my diet because I'm not horribly fond of it, but Bruce's stuff is really good. I'm not sure about other places, but Designed Dinners does provide both points and calorie counts and the servings are generous.
Has anyone tried Nutrisystem?
