Nutrisystem

Does anyone know if this Nutrisystem is a good diea or not? The commercial mkaes the food look sooo good, and it seems liek something that might work. Is anyone on it? Is it worth the money? And how exactly does it work?

It works because it's portion control, like everything else.  You can eat their stuff, not think, etc.  You just have to add your fruits & veggies, I believe.  It's a gimmick like most.  I can see how some people might benefit from it, but you can certainly do it without it.  Probably better if you do it yourself anyway because it would be easier to switch when you're in maintenance rather than gaining 100 lbs. from a rough transition.  It's expensive too!  They make it sound cheaper than it is.

I also wouldn't do it personally, because I don't like "diet" products like fake cheeses, artificial sweeteners etc. & I believe they use all that, as most diet meals do.

I actually tried it for 4 days. It was more expensive because you do need to supplement the food with your own fruits and vegatables. It was very easy to follow and I did like what I ate. Unfortunately, after day 4,  I discovered I was allergic to soy - and they told me over 90% of the food has soy in it and I should not be using the program.  I had to pay to send the rest of the food back, but they gave me full refund. I found this site that same day and just have been counting calories and watching portion size. I think I am doing as well as I would have done using Nutrisystem- without having to spend the money to buy their food. Plus, I learned a lot by preparing food myself rather than relying on prepackaged food.

A friend of mine lost A LOT of weight using it and is now trying to maintain and get off the nutrisystem food - it is proving to be a challenge.

No, not a good idea. Statistically most people who reach their goal weights will regain the weight.  I have thought about why this is, since maintaining MUST be easier than losing, because you get more food, right?  The problem with this, and fad-type diets, is they don't teach you to navigate real food in the real world.  Once you go off the diet, you will not have the knowledge and skills you need to maintain.  After your diet, when you go to a family reunion food fest, how do you know how much food you can eat?  No Nutrisystem meals are served there.

People want someone to do all the work for them and make it simple... they don't want to do the brainwork step.  But weight loss, if you don't learn, you likely will not maintain. Ideally weight loss should also be an educational process.  None of us become weight loss experts, but we can become experts on our own bodies. At the end of this, you want to know how many calories you can eat and how much exercise you have to do to maintain. You want to know calories backwards and forwards.... not on an obsessive way, more like an automatic way.  You also have to  change your tastebuds from all the high calories foods, and adjust to low cal foods that will be your life.  You need to learn nutrition, and also the foods that keep you feeling fullest the longest.

When you reach your goal weight, you will have to eat far fewer calories that you did at your heavy weight.  So you have to learn and change along this journey, or you will likely fail long term.

In general, you should probably stay away from artificial sweeteners.  Experts are not sure exactly why, but artificial sweeteners seem to make people hungrier, possibly depressed and possibly more prone to weight gain.  The hunger issue was actually my experience, years later I read what experts said.

So stick with the best quality whole foods you can.  Whole grains, fiber, fruits, dairy, vegetables, lean protein. There is a lot  complicated science behind the diet recomendations. Trust it.  If you eat these foods, you will feel better not just physically, but it will also help your emotional wellbeing.

  

The food is terrible. The commercials make the food look wonderful and then it comes to your door and it is all freeze dried. Even the eggs were a powder that you had to add water to. I couldn't stomach the food so I ended up throwing away $400 worth of it.

I did it for 3 months.  It seems impossible to stick to.  I had to throw away most of the food from the third month because I just couldnt stand eating the same thing over and over again.  Dont waste your money.  Anyways its probably better to learn how to lose weight the old fashioned way with plain old diet and exercise (It sucks, I know).  You cant live on nutrisystem foods forever-trust me.