NutriSystem Reviews
Posted by lose weight | Tagged as: lose weight
The best Nutrisystem reviews that are not only up to date, but are essential as part of the Weight Loss Tips that any dieter needs to help them to make the right decisions. For that reason, and because we’re running the Nutrisystem banner ad here on this site for a while, it make sense to provide a review so readers have a better idea what is involved in taking up one pf their tailored diet plans.
First a little background.
NutriSystem, Inc. is a company that provides a convenient and easy to use weight loss system for dieters and has been in business since the early 1970s. So you can see they’re a long term company that have been there helping people to lose weight for a very long time. They are well established and have been providing weight loss solutions to dieters for all that time with a high degree of success. You don’t get to be one of the most popular diet companies without providing your customers with a successful means of losing weight for all that time. Nutrisystem does just that for its customers and has been doing it for almost four decades.
What do they provide?
In the Nutrisystems package, you have over 120 ready meals and desserts that you can choose from. For this reason, you won’t get tired of serving up and eating the same foods repetitively like on some diets. The system works quite simply, in that you just order what you want from their website or you can do it over the phone.
The foods used in the NutriSystem set up use low Glycemic Index (GI) carbohydrates combined with the correct amounts of fiber and protein, while being low in fat. To make a meal, you just take any of their prepackaged meals and add some standard grocery items that you like, such as salads, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables etc and you’re done. One of the nice parts about this diet is you get to eat five times each day. This is especially useful in helping reduce any food cravings you might get between meals on standard diets. The best part is of course you get to keep eating all your favorite sweets and pasta. There’s no need to count calories any more and you have full access to Free Live counseling, which is available both online and via telephone.
Ok, here’s the science bit:
Low Glycemic Index (GI) carbohydrates is a measure of the quality of carbohydrates and how they impact your blood sugar levels. Carbohydrates that are broken down slowly by the body are considered low on the Glycemic Index, which is good. On the other hand, carbohydrates that break down too fast cause insulin levels in the blood to rise, which then causes the body to store fat and make you feel hungry even straight after a meal. So it makes sense to ensure your food is made up of lots of low GI carbs and to avoid the high GI carbs.
The diet plans currently available:
NutriSystem offer several different types of meal plans which are tailor made for different groups. These are for:
- Women
- Women over 60
- Men
- Men over 60
- Vegetarians
- Type 2 diabetes sufferers
Plus points:
Another bonus on offer is that you can order a 28 day food program from NutriSystem and receive a free week’s (or for a limited period, two weeks) worth of food. It provides a convenient way to diet that is especially suited to busy people who simply do not have the time to work on conventional diets. The food is delivered to your door and you simply store it in your freezer, taking out a meal as you need it and placing it in the microwave for the time stated on the packaging and in no time at all you are sitting down to your calorie controlled, healthy meal.
NutriSystem’s latest weight loss program is heavily based on the Glycemic Index being rich in good carbohydrates and low in fat.
The general cost
NutriSystem will run you around $70 per week and this includes online nutrition classes, counseling and delivery of the food packages. The goal here is to promote sustainable, long term weight loss. You are provided with a week’s worth of meals including seven breakfasts, lunches, dinners as well as snacks.
Minus Points:
No review would be any good if it only told you all about the great things a system provided while ignoring any disadvantages or negatives, so this review gives it to you straight.
First up, you’ll need sufficient space in your freezer to store the food packages when they arrive, which is seven sets of three meals plus snacks so make sure you’re prepared for that.
While the packaged meals are complete meals in themselves, they are smaller than many people are used to. Lots of people go on the Nutrisystem diet and believe that the meals they ship to you are the same as what they’re used to, then complain when they still feel hungry after eating them. You have to be aware that you can also include some fresh vegetables that you buy from the store and cook yourself to bulk out the meals. Fresh vegetable will not add calories or bad carbs to the diet but will aid it by providing essential vitamins and minerals while helping to curb any feelings of hunger.
The thing to realize here is that if you are used to meals of a certain size, it could be part of the reason you have gotten overweight in the first place. Large meals, especially if they are full of high GI carbs, saturated fats and hidden sugar, are a sure way to pile on the pounds. So when you are faced with the smaller meal size of this product, you really should make an effort to get used to it, because after all, you want to lose weight and one of the ways that’s going to happen is if you eat less!
Next, some people report getting flatulence (gas) after eating the food. So you might be tempted to ask, does Nutrisystem cause gas? Okay, this might appear to be a little unpleasant, but its a natural byproduct of metabolizing some protein rich foods. If your previous diet was lacking in certain foods, the body will need to adjust to the new types of food. If you never ate fresh vegetables before and start doing so as part of any diet, you’ll get gas until your body gets used to metabolizing them. To counter this, make sure you drink plenty of fresh, plain water (not soda!) which will help with digestion.
Ok, apart from that and the Nutrisystem cost, which is comparable to and in many cases cheaper than most over the counter diets, as far as Nutrisystem tips go, it does exactly what it says it does as long as you follow the plan that you decided on. Same as pretty much any diet really.
On the positive side:
You can help yourself immensely by doing some light exercise while you are on the plan as well, because its a scientifically proved fact that exercise improves metabolism and when combined with a healthy diet really does cause sustainable weight loss. Having a positive mental attitude towards losing weight also helps a lot, because when you are positive about something, there is a greater chance of success because you want it more.
Note: The author is a qualified hypnotherapist specializing in weight control hypnotherapy and this review is comprised of his own personal views and opinions. There is a follow up to this post that you can read at: Lose Weight with Nutrisystem Reviews as it will tell you about the latest special offers being promoted by the company as well as an update on all the extras for 2010.
Thanks for the review of this program. After I read it three months ago, I signed up for a month supply of Nutrisystem diet meals on their Nutrisystem for men plan and everything went pretty much to plan. I was a little taken aback by the small meal size just like you mentioned here, but even so I don’t think I really appreciated the difference with what I was already used to.
That taught me something that I was overeating for too many years it became the norm and sure, that was why I had become so overweight. I’ll be honest here and tell you I needed to lose 80lbs. I really didn’t think it would be possible and figured i would need more time than just a months to do that in. Well, in the first month I actually lost 34lbs and I was totally amazed. I signed up for another month supply really fired up about how good I did. In the second month I lost a further 25lbs and I felt I was really on a roll. So I signed up for another month and lost another 12lbs.
Okay, I didn’t hit my target but I still felt I had to write in and tell you and your readers that losing this weight has probably saved my life. Would I recommend Nutrisystem to anyone else? Hell, yes! I have only one complaint and that’s it sure is hard getting used to eating half sized meals, but I succeeded and now I only eat small, regular meals but home cooked instead of buying in so much junk like I used to.
Thanks for that review cause it made me decide to do the right thing for me. It may not be for everyone, for sure. But I believe it can work on anybody who can alter their way of thinking toward meal size and of course what’s on the plate, cause it worked for me.
John Hansford
Identifying where you are currently failing to lose weight is the hardest part, but I agree with your conclusions as to the benefits of the Nutrisystem diet. It is a very convenient diet and for busy people with busy schedules in their daily lives, it sounds the perfect solution to losing weight while not wasting precious time messing around with complex diets, calorie counting and all the paraphernalia that goes with them.
I am going to do some research of my own as well, but your review is about the most comprehensive I have seen anywhere yet.
Thanks!
I went on the Nutrisystem diet two months ago and chose my own customized plan because I wanted to make it as doable for me as I could. Well, I started a little shakily to be honest and just like you said, I found the meals smaller than I anticipated. Sure, I knew I had to eat less if I wanted to really lose weight, but in the first week I cheated some and thought I’d blown the diet. But when I weighted myself after 7 days I was surprised to find I’d lost 4lbs. That inspired me to grit my teeth and go for it with renewed determination.
At the end of the month, I had lost an amazing 15lbs and that’s without doing anything extra like working out or suchlike. So far I’ve stayed the same weight for the last month just by watching what I eat and sticking with the smaller meal size that I got used to the month before with the Nutrisystem meals. I’d recommend it to anyone who isn’t a quitter cause it worked for me and I don’t see myself as all that much a determined guy, I’m pretty average really.
I am always looking for additional tips when it comes to keeping the weight off and you’ve got them in spades here at this site, thanks!
Aaron
Thanks for your honest review of Nutrisystem and its pluses and minuses. Any tips or advice that can help is always appreciated.
Lisa
Aaron, that’s really great that you lost 15lbs overall. I know the meal size is really something that gets a lot of customers when they first open them up, but if folks can get past that then they’ll lose weight as long as they don’t cheat.
Thanks Tesmer, the whole idea of the diet is based around convenience so if you have that measure of determination then you can succeed at losing weight with this diet food delivery plan.