Nutrisystem, What a rip-off

Nutrisystem had been hyping up their TV ads lately and I bought into it. I checked out the website, and decided to try a month. For less than $10/day it seemed like the perfect program for me since I am almost never home, I travel a lot for work and I don't ever cook, ever. It would save me money and calories from eating out all the time. What a deal right?

Wrong... No where in their ads or their website do they explain that the Nutrisystem diet accounts for less than HALF the calories I should be consuming every day. You add the breakfast, to the lunch, to the snack, to the dinner, to the dessert and you get 710 calories!

According to the little log book, I should be consuming an additional fruit, protein, and carb serving at breakfast. An additional protein, salad, and carb serving at lunch. An addtional fruit, and protein serving at snack. An additional salad, carb serving, and 2 additional vegetable and fat servings at dinner!... not only is this JUST as time consuming as shopping for and preparing meals for myself all the time, it'll probably cost me another $15-20/day.

Sorry for the rant... someone please tell me that this system really works and is worth all the trouble? (PS, I've put on all 20 lbs that I lost in the past year back on in the past 1.5 months)

I love the Nutrisystem ads! I just sit there and go; "I've lost more then him...and more then him...And more..."

But the new ad with the guy who has lost 120 lbs is just farther then I can ever go. Really!

Still the fact that you have to ad fresh fruits and veggies is one of the down falls of Nutrisystem and why those results aren't typical. Counting 'almost' everything for someone and saying then can add will always be to big a loophole for most minds.

I tried it years ago and it's not worth it.  All the packaged food is loaded with salt.  You're right - by the time you make a salad, fix some protein, and prepare the vegetables, you will have spent way too much for food.

My favroite part of the commercial is when Dan freggin' Marino says, "If I can do it, anybody can!"

So if a pro-bowl, Hall-of-Fame quarterback who for all intents and purposes has perfect genetics can do it, CERTAINLY YOU CAN TOO!!!

Because every morning when I get up I think to myself, "God, I'm so much better than the average, run of the mill, Hall-of-Fame quarterback."

i thought it supplied everything. how weird.

HHAhahahahhahah THat Dan Marino commercial kills me too!!  I laugh everytime.  I want to phone him up and be like "Dan, listen, can I borrow say a half a mil so that I too can have personal trainers, and chefs to prepare meals for me and maybe could you lend me a few cheerleaders too, so they can cheer me everytime im on the tread mill... you dont mind do you?"

I love that they used a celebrity endorsement and then try to pass him off as a"regular guy."  Pure marketing gold....

Oh my gosh, I am so glad you brought this up! I fall for that woman who says look at me, I'm a size two! (with a little laugh) and I was seriously concidering ordering Nutrisystem! I had no idea you supplied your own food....Nevermind! Thank you so much for posting this!

Yes, thanks for posting this.  Informercials are designed to suck us in and make us think their product will solve EVERYTHING.  We all get sucked into the hype.  Thanks for the reminder that there's "no free lunch." 

Does anyone know if Jenny Craig is the same?  I don't have any intention on trying any of these programs but just wonder since Jenny Craig also has the food you have to buy if you have to supplement the food that you buy?

Not only do you have to supply your own food also, but the food they give you is HORRIBLE! Its almost not edible in my opinion.  And you are always left hungry after you eat their meals.  Its an AWFUL diet. 

*lol*  Why is it all the women are a size 2?  Is size 2 the magical weight loss size for a woman?

I had an ex-girlfriend that did Nutrisystem and had to have gall bladder surgery afterwards, I'm not sure if it was related, but I've heard alot of Nutrisystem have had to get this...

I used to work in their call center as a second job (don't hate me; I was poor) and a bunch of the employees were on the diet because it was discounted.  The lady in the cubicle next to mine kept hounding me to try the food (which I didn't want) and finally I ate a teensy  piece of brownie just to shut her up.  Revolting.  I couldn't get the taste out of my mouth until I got home and brushed my teeth, even though I was chewing gum and chain smoking the whole 40 minute car ride home!

Lots of people used to call up and curse me out and say the food is terrible, haha.

out of desperation, my roommate decided to try nutrisystem. she bought 2 months worth of food. it took over our entire kitchen, and she was shocked when she learned she still had to buy a lot of produce to go with it. the food portions were tiny and looked disgusting.. especially the pizza! it was supposed to have peppers on it, but the peppers looked more like jelly candies! so gross. 

I ordered the nutrisystem package deal they had on QVC that was just under $160 for one month of food 5 days per week.  Honestly I don't think that the food is bad at all.  If you order it through Nutrisystem you get to pick your own food, but I didn't get that option, so if you do order it, I would avoid the blueberry lemon bar at all costs.  But I lost 15 pounds last month.  Which was awesome, I have 15 more to go!  It does kind of bite that you have to supply your own food, but at the same time, the food that you're supplying, is supposed to be fresh fruit, vegetables, and dairy products.  How many people would really be that keen on having a cup of yogurt that got sent through the mail?  And as long as you follow the guide book they send you, most people shouldn't still be hungry after their stomach's adjust to the diet plan.  Because you really do eat a lot and a lot of vegetables and stuff with this. 

My favroite part of the commercial is when Dan freggin' Marino says, "If I can do it, anybody can!" -- Distracted

Yeah! That's what I LOVE about weightloss advertisements and Bally's commercials!

I too heard the food was AWFUL. Your best best is to lose weight by being FULLY involved in your efforst. Sure Nutrisystems would work, but once you went off of their diet and had to fend for yourself, would you know what healthy choices to make? Maybe not ...

I've been on the Nutrisystem diet for almost four weeks now.  I've lost over ten pounds, I'm never hungry, and even though my calorie consumption is the same as before, I feel much more energized--not to mention much more satisfied.  Most of their products have whole wheat or soy products, which really help to fill me up.  And I LOVE the food.  I think it's delicious.  Also, adding in fruits and veggies is really not that big of a deal.  You should be doing that anyways--and I didn't realize until I had to do it with every meal how little fruit and veggies I was really getting.  As for supplementing proteins, well, I'm eating the same ones I already was--yogurt, milk, string cheese, eggbeaters.  So my cost, if anything, has probably gone down, the diet has worked extremely well for me, and if nothing else, it has taught me a LOT about proper portion size and how many fruits and veggies I really should be eating.  I give NutriSystem an A, no question.  I'm only worried about what I'm going to do when my supply runs out in a week!!

I have nothing but good things to say about the NutriSystem diet. I'm glad you get to add your own food to the system. You feel much more satisfied after eating. The diet seems to focus on portion control and total calorie intake. My calculations say it's 1500-2000 calories per day. As for extra cost for adding food, there are plenty of low cost options.

They include a checkbook sized logbook for you to check off your meal contents. I use a slice of whole wheat bread for my low GI carb. Canned carrots or green beans for dinner vegie (the men's diet lets you have 2 veg servings at dinner). I use unsweetened applesauce for fruit. I also use steel cut oats for breakfast to cover the low GI carb & protein (5 min in microwave). I also sub in V8 and unsweetened fruit juice (grape, grapefruit) for veg & fruit.

As for taste, the food tastes good. I haven't found a bad item yet.

I hope this helps those who are looking for info on Nutrisystem.

I hope my skeptic side of me is wrong, but why is the two people who completely support the nuti system plan only have one post each? Hmm........

I personaly would rather learn to pick my own food, that way when you quit it, you do not gain the weight back, unless you plan on buying the meals for the rest of your life.
bill

I don't trust any diet, because what happens when you go off it?

I figure if I make healthy choices for life, it will be permanent, and I won't have to worry about gaining as long as I continue to eat well and exercise. Plus, I'm learning so much through experimenting! I wouldn't know a tenth of what I know now if I was restricted to a little log book telling me what to eat!

I just joined today to post my 2 cents. I saw some folks knocking it, mostly based on not liking the commercial.

I'm 47 years old, and for last 8-10 years have not had much luck keeping my weight down. When I was younger, I could just cut back, exercise like crazy and drop pounds with no problem.

Part of the problem is self discipline to stick to a diet, especially managing portion size. With Nutrisystem, the variety at every meal helps minimize the problem of small portions.

In the past, I've tried different milkshake meals, and after a while, downing lunch in 30 seconds doesn't end up being very fullfiling. I like that each meal has several different items you eat (even though the portion size is small). That at least makes the meal take more than just a few minutes to consume.

If I have any complaints, I can post those, too. Only one I can think of at this point is the sample dessert selection has a lot of chocolate items, which still can cause my face to break out. When I do my re-order I'll probably stay clear of chocolate.

gurlygurl - I hate the lady that says, "Look at me, I'm a size two!" too! She drives me so crazy that I make my hubby change the channel as soon as she pops on the screen in her little bikini. Argh.