1. How much does Nutrisystem cost? It cost me $299 for 28 days plus I got another 7 days of food free. I can send you a coupon to save $30 on Nutrisystem. Let me know if you want one. If you all sign up, I save $30 too!
2. Does the food taste good? It tastes like prepackaged food. The lunches and dinners taste like frozen TV dinners. The breakfast items taste like store bought granola bars and muffins. The desserts taste like store bought cookies and cakes. Its not as good as homemade, but it tastes fine. When you sign up, you get to pick your meals, so you can stay away from things you think you will not like.
3. Do you really LIKE the food? Well, I do really like the Tomato and Corn chowder soup and the Mint Crunch Chocolate Bar. I also really enjoyed the lasagna last night. Some of the others just taste like regular food. Eat to Live. Don’t Live to Eat.
4. How big are the pre packaged portions? The Nutrisystem breakfast portions are the sie of granola bars, but a bit bigger. The muffins are smaller than you would buy at Panera…but that probably does not surprise you. Lunch portions are like the small microwave soup bowls you can buy at the convenience store. You know the kind….the ones with the white plastic lid which you pull off, then you pull the silver tab, put the white lid back on and then microwave. The dinners are the size of Lean Cuisine entree. The snacks are a 4 inch diameter cookie, a piece of cake the size of a mouse or a candy bar.
5. What kind of food to I add to the meal plan? I am on the women’s plan. At breakfast, I add fruit and a protein/dairy. So, I usually have the prepackaged item, a yogurt and I share a banana with Giggles. There is no mid-morning snack, so sometimes I wait to eat the yogurt until later. At lunch, I add a salad and another protein/dairy. There are suggestions on what you can choose in these categories, but for me its usually cheese or yogurt. At afternoon snack, I have fruit and a dairy/protein. At dinner I add a salad, and some vegetables or fruit. Dessert (or nighttime snack) is one prepackaged item. If I get really hungry, I have a cup of Sugar Free Jell-o sometime too.
6. Are you hungry? No, not really. I think I am actually eating less than I am allowed to. I forget to do the protein/dairy sometimes. I drink alot of water too. And I eat about 4 pieces of Sugar Free hard candy a day, at times when I want to nibble on whatever Pookie, Giggles and Geetle are having.
7. Is it easy to do? Yes, I think it is. The meals are premade, so there is no worrying about what is for lunch. Plus, this plan costs $300. So, I am not likely to waste that money by really cheating. I have thought about it a few times and I decided that it would be a waste of money. Somehow, the amount of money this plan has cost me has made me less likely to cheat. I will not waste the money. I will not cheat.
8. Have you really not cheated? Well, Ok. I did a few things that you might call cheating, but I do not. First, I had a Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad for lunch at McDonalds. But its only 420 calories and I am allowed to have protein on my salad, and have salad dressing. Nutrisystem has a plan for “maintenance” and eating out. You have to do it sometime. Also, on Saturday, after I saw that I had lost 6 pounds, I ate a bowl of airpopped popcorn with spices on top. Probably 100 calories. A good choice. I also took Saturday off from the diet because it was Pookie and Geetle’s birthday party. But, surprisingly, I did not go overboard. I think I have learned something.
9. Really? What did you learn so far? I learned that sometimes I eat when I am bored. I eat to see what something tastes like, although I probably already know. I eat when I “deserve it” because my life is incredibly stressful and gosh darn it, if no one else notices it, at least the lady at DQ will.
10. Will you do it longer than a month? I don’t know. I am still thinking about it. Its too soon to tell. But I am happy with how things are going. I do not have a magic number in mind. I will know when I get there. Basically, I want less to jiggle when I walk fast on concrete. I also want to feel comfortable in my own skin. I am not far away from that magic place, but I do not know what weight it is. For those of you who know me, when I am done, you will probably think I look alot like I did in the period between when Geetle and Pookie were born and when I started the fertility shots for Giggles. Its probably about 25 pounds total, or another 19 to go.
11. Is doing this a good thing for your self-esteem or is it actually bad, because you are obsessing about food, calories and your weight? I do not think I am obsessing about anything right now. In fact, I think I am thinking less about those things than I did a few weeks ago. A few weeks ago, I would look in the mirror and say “I really have to do something about this muffin top.” I would say (think) it a dozen times a day. Now, I just go about my day, feeling confident that I am making good choices.
12. What about Geetle? Isn’t it unhealthy for her to know you are on a diet? This could affect her self-esteem. I work very hard to make sure that the kids do not fall into those traps. I have done it since the beginning. Geetle will never hear me say “God, I am getting fat” or “I look so ugly in that picture.” Geetle asks me why her belly is round, I tell her its to keep her ribs warm. She asks me why she cannot have all the cookies she wants, I tell her its because to be healthy you have to eat all sorts of foods, not just cookies. She once pointed out a very overweight woman to me in the library. I told her “So? What fun would it be if all people looked the same?” I have told her that I joined the “Healthy Eating Club” and that I am working on being healthier. She thinks that is a good idea.
13. Are you exercising? That is not really an issue for me. I am actually exercising less now than I usually do. BAGD and I belong to an easy-to-visit gym and we go on average 2 times a week. That has been part of our lives for the past 8 years. But, exercise alone will not make you lose weight. It will help you maintain. Except for my pregnancy with Giggles and all the fertility stuff beforehand, I have maintained my weight over that period. I am focusing on the food right now. When I am done with Nutrisytem, I will go back to the gym. But right now I am giving myself a break from that, in return for my focus on the food issue.
14. Why are you telling me all this? Well, first I would like you to sign up for Nutrisystem, so that I can give you a $30 coupon (and get one for myself). Second, I want to be held accountable to myself and others. There is no shame in my game. I want to lose some weight. I am not saying that in the passive agressive way that alot of women do (“ugh, I hate my hair.” “I am so fat”). I want to lose some weight, its a fact. And rather than just complain about it, I am doing something about it. I am so busy. I do not have time in my life to complain about things I refuse to do anything about. As Pookie would say (in echoing the great Chef Linguini from Ratouille) “Let’s Do this Thing!”
So, I am pro-Nutrisystem. Its only been 11 days, but I think its a healthy plan. Yes, it costs a bit, but its safe and easy to do.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think I really might try this, especially since there is a “plan” for eating out. I wouldn’t really get to socialize with my friends if it weren’t for eating out once in awhile, and the fact that it tastes like pre-packaged food doesn’t bother me, since I don’t have time to cook much anyway and often end up eating a lot of granola bars, yogurt, progresso soup, etc. The cost isn’t so bad to me, I mean, you would spend more than that if you went out to eat everyday, so I think it’s fairly reasonable. Also, for someone like me that is only cooking for one or two people, often it’s cheaper to just eat out or buy prepared stuff, one or two people can’t eat a whole casserole if you know what I mean.
I agree, it would probably be even easier if I lived alone or had no kids. I should say that the “plan” for eating out is not very specific. It just tells you what kind of things to avoid and what to go for at certain types of restaurants. And it gives advice on planning your trip so you dont get into trouble. I think they mean it for the “maintenance” part of the lifestyle. But whatever works for you,works for them. I could see some people buying the month of food and taking 45 or 60 days to eat it. If you behave yourself on the other days, it will still work, it will just take longer to lose the weight. The food will not spoil. None of the nutrisystem food requires refrigeration. If I go more than a month, I will probably use the second 30 days of food for an extended type plan where I use it every other day or something.