I get a lot of emails asking me to paint an accurate picture of real life on the Nutrisystem diet.
People want to know how the food tastes, if they are going to be extremely hungry, whether they are going to be irritable or jittery from the lack of calories and carbs, and if the diet is truly going to work so that it's worth it in the end.
People often ask questions like: "so what is it really like to be on nutrisystem?;" or "is it really going to work?;" or "how hungry will I really be?" I'll try to answer these questions, as well as try to paint an accurate picture of what you can expect in the following article.
You'll Be Eating A Lot Of Small Meals On Nutrisystem, But The Food Isn't So Bad: If you are used to eating just three meals per day or if you typically skip breakfast, you may have a bit of an adjustment period at first.
That's because they want you to eat five times per day.
The good news is that only three of these times need to be actual traditional meals.
Two can be snacks or desserts.
Many people balk at having to interrupt their busy schedule to eat, but please don't eliminate this step because it is necessary to get you into ketosis which is the primary reason that this diet works.
Ketosis is when your body is steadily burning your fat because you are not giving it too many carbs.
But in order for you to be able to get to that place, you must be providing the fuel that your body needs and skipping meals isn't likely to cut it.
The food offerings and taste aren't so bad.
They are many choices (over 170) which is more than most diets and they do a good job of offering comfort foods that you don't typically get on other diets, (especially the low carb variety), like cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, chocolate, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and tacos, to name only a few.
And they do have a new line of foods (called Nutrisystem select) that are described as "frozen gourmet meals" that I find to be pretty close to restaurant quality.
And to me, this is the strength of nutrisystem - the food is quite convenient and the company takes all of the work out of tallying and totaling, but you aren't eating disgusting meals all of the time.
Sure, the portion sizes are probably smaller than what you are used to, but since you will be eating five of them and you do get to add in your own sides, you likely will not be as hungry as you might think.
This diet is not really a lot of work.
All you are really asked to do is to add in a fresh side item (yogurt, fruit, vegetables, dairy, etc.
) to each of the prepacked meals.
Make Sure That You Take Advantage Of The Free Counseling: I believe that, in addition to the variety, convenience, and quality of the foods, the other huge advantage that Nutrisystem has is that they offer free counseling.
This service is very expensive on other diets and yet the company offers it at not cost with every food order.
I'm often quite surprised at the number of folks who do not take advantage of this.
I've found the counselors to be extremely knowledgeable and supportive.
I like one so much that I now deal only with her.
Some people will tell me that they are shy or that they just don't like talking to others about their weight issues.
You know, you can then do online chat so that you feel a little more anonymous or not quite as apprehensive, but please take advantage of this because it truly does help and it doesn't cost you anything.
My Overall Nutrisystem Experience And Impressions: Over all, this is one of the best diets that I have tried.
The food is mostly good and they don't charge you anything extra to hand pick your foods and you do get the counseling free too.
At around $8 per day with coupons, the cost is quite reasonable and most of the foods are pretty good.
And so long as you able to get into ketosis (which shouldn't be a problem if you can follow the directions) you should then be able to lose a decent amount of weight on a quite steady basis.
People want to know how the food tastes, if they are going to be extremely hungry, whether they are going to be irritable or jittery from the lack of calories and carbs, and if the diet is truly going to work so that it's worth it in the end.
People often ask questions like: "so what is it really like to be on nutrisystem?;" or "is it really going to work?;" or "how hungry will I really be?" I'll try to answer these questions, as well as try to paint an accurate picture of what you can expect in the following article.
You'll Be Eating A Lot Of Small Meals On Nutrisystem, But The Food Isn't So Bad: If you are used to eating just three meals per day or if you typically skip breakfast, you may have a bit of an adjustment period at first.
That's because they want you to eat five times per day.
The good news is that only three of these times need to be actual traditional meals.
Two can be snacks or desserts.
Many people balk at having to interrupt their busy schedule to eat, but please don't eliminate this step because it is necessary to get you into ketosis which is the primary reason that this diet works.
Ketosis is when your body is steadily burning your fat because you are not giving it too many carbs.
But in order for you to be able to get to that place, you must be providing the fuel that your body needs and skipping meals isn't likely to cut it.
The food offerings and taste aren't so bad.
They are many choices (over 170) which is more than most diets and they do a good job of offering comfort foods that you don't typically get on other diets, (especially the low carb variety), like cereal, oatmeal, pancakes, chocolate, pizza, macaroni and cheese, and tacos, to name only a few.
And they do have a new line of foods (called Nutrisystem select) that are described as "frozen gourmet meals" that I find to be pretty close to restaurant quality.
And to me, this is the strength of nutrisystem - the food is quite convenient and the company takes all of the work out of tallying and totaling, but you aren't eating disgusting meals all of the time.
Sure, the portion sizes are probably smaller than what you are used to, but since you will be eating five of them and you do get to add in your own sides, you likely will not be as hungry as you might think.
This diet is not really a lot of work.
All you are really asked to do is to add in a fresh side item (yogurt, fruit, vegetables, dairy, etc.
) to each of the prepacked meals.
Make Sure That You Take Advantage Of The Free Counseling: I believe that, in addition to the variety, convenience, and quality of the foods, the other huge advantage that Nutrisystem has is that they offer free counseling.
This service is very expensive on other diets and yet the company offers it at not cost with every food order.
I'm often quite surprised at the number of folks who do not take advantage of this.
I've found the counselors to be extremely knowledgeable and supportive.
I like one so much that I now deal only with her.
Some people will tell me that they are shy or that they just don't like talking to others about their weight issues.
You know, you can then do online chat so that you feel a little more anonymous or not quite as apprehensive, but please take advantage of this because it truly does help and it doesn't cost you anything.
My Overall Nutrisystem Experience And Impressions: Over all, this is one of the best diets that I have tried.
The food is mostly good and they don't charge you anything extra to hand pick your foods and you do get the counseling free too.
At around $8 per day with coupons, the cost is quite reasonable and most of the foods are pretty good.
And so long as you able to get into ketosis (which shouldn't be a problem if you can follow the directions) you should then be able to lose a decent amount of weight on a quite steady basis.