3 Month Review: Nutrisystem

Spa Week staffer Melissa is sharing her weight-loss journeys through Nutrisystem with you. This is her first update.

I wish I could say that I’m one of those girls that can eat anything I want and stay slim…but I’m not. Truth be told, my body and I have not always seen eye-to-eye on what I want to eat and what I should be eating. I thought that my metabolism would wake up one day all by itself and say, “I’m going to do some extra work today” but that never happened either (ha!).

The smallest I’ve ever been in my adult life is a size four, but with weight fluctuations and life, I typically hover between sizes eight and ten. My goal has always been to get back to that magical size four. After two years of pure disregard for a healthy diet, I gained close to 35 pounds—which is a lot for anyone, but became especially noticeable on me thanks to my five foot frame.

When I saw a commercial for Nutrisystem, I knew it was time to give it a try. The program is fully customizable – I ordered the MyWay Select plan for Women (they offer Vegetarian and Diabetic options too). With this plan, I got to order 18 days of “ready-to-go” food and 10 days of frozen foods. At $329.99 for an entire month, it turns out to be pretty affordable, too! There are hundreds of choices for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert so I set up my menu trying to keep an open mind. My biggest concern was making sure that I didn’t get bored with the options I have, because that would just leave me wide open to cheating on this new plan. The other part of this program that I really liked is the fact that I still get to have dessert. I have a terrible sweet tooth, so being able to have at least one dessert a day does help to keep me on track.

The food arrived three days later along with a tool kit for best practices, tips and tricks for sticking to your goals, plus a handbook that outlined the best options for when you eat out. One of the guides outlines all the meals to eat in a day, along with the food groups that each meal should include. There are six meals: Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack, Dinner and Dessert.  In addition to the Nutrisystem food, it is important to supplement your diet with at least four servings of veggies, three “PowerFuels” like Greek yogurt or grilled chicken, one “SmartCarb” like fruit or a slice of whole wheat bread and at least eight glasses of water a day. These additional food items are added to your meal plan strategically at certain times of the day.

Now, on to the important stuff—how does it taste? Well…it’s not horrible. It’s certainly not gourmet food, but most of the food is pretty decent as far as low-cal diet food is concerned. There are a couple things I would recommend that you NEVER order (like the Risotto dinner option) and things that you simply MUST order (like the frozen Margherita Pizza). Also, if you have a sweet tooth like me, know that I have enjoyed every dessert option they sent me brownies, carrot cake, chocolate cake, red velvet whoopie pies and ice cream sandwiches. They even have popcorn or chips for those of you with a salt tooth!

The other benefit to this plan is the ease of execution. I’ve been on Nutrisystem for about 3 months now, and I absolutely love that all I have to do for the day is grab the meals I want and bring them to work with me. Almost every option is microwaveable, so you don’t waste much time cooking. There is a little bit of prep time to make your own side dishes (vegetables) or salads, but overall the whole plan is very easy and very quick.

I’d like to think that I stuck to this plan the best way I can. I try not to stray from their meals, but when I do, I know how to handle the situation. I know what I should order and what I should stay away from. I’ve even cheated a little on some special occasions. When those cheat meals were over, I didn’t feel great, but I got right back on track. Overall, I like the range of food options that they have. I do add my own seasonings to a lot of the food. As I mentioned, the food is okay, but when you add some onions, garlic powder and black pepper, you’d be surprised how easily a decent tasting plate can turn into a great tasting plate.

One of the major reasons that I have been able to stick to this plan is that I do not feel like I am being deprived. I have lost a total of 15lbs on this plan, with all of my ups and downs, and thankfully I am now back at size eight. But my journey does not end here. I’m still gunning for that magic size four, and I know I will get there. It won’t happen overnight, but I know that I am at least on the right track. Check back in another couple of months for a progress update!

If you have any questions about Nutrisystem, leave them in the comments below and I’d be happy to help.