The nutrisystem diet: Does anyone know if (and how) does it work?

I recently received letters from someone who asked me some questions about life on the NutriSystem diet. Examples of questions were things like? "How exactly NutriSystem work I have to count calories and carbohydrates What types of foods I eat How much can I get hungry as I eat a lot of power I need and how much weight can I lose?"

A list of Flex nutrisystem meals - a sample menu

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I've been getting a lot of questions about flex nutrisystem meals. There are a lot like this program because you can take two days a week. And it is about $ 100 less than the normal women in the program. But there are some misconceptions about the food that I can face the following article.

The food is not very different. You Just getting less of it there is no "special food" for the flex nutrisystemPlan. But you are getting enough to eat five times a day for 20 days instead of 28 days. So, if your order is shipped, the less food will be in a box, so you eat less than eight days a month. But the selection for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and desserts remain the same. You can still do all the food you've chosen from the menu. There are only 20 days instead of 28 The choice to go on a food sample below.

SampleNutrisystem menu Flex: If you order the whole package nutrisystem, you're down the choice to go) with a sampling of the most popular terms ("Preferred Order") or you can select your own hand ("Choose your menu" are terms from Tracks. But the total quantity of food choices available when you take the hand of your food. There are no additional costs to do this. The exercise price of these two is about $ 234 (and before the coupons, special, orIncentives, which are usually put down even more.)

Sample Breakfast Menu:

Apple Scone

Blueberry Muffin

Cereal bars (chocolate chip is often included)

Cereals (often included, cereals, Nutricinnamon Squares (such as cereals life) tires Nutriflakes (or corn flakes) and NutriCrunch (as Captain Crunch, but much less sweet), and

Scrambled eggs (veggie and cheddar).

Sample lunch menu

Soups (such as beans andHam, soup, pasta with beef)

Fettuccine Alfredo

Tortellini cheese (very good)

Chicken Salad

potato cheese

Dark chocolate bar or peanut butter (very good)

Dinner Menu Example:

Ravioli (meat or spinach and tomato basil (a couple of my favorites)

Macaroni and cheese

Chili

Pizza (thick crust or pita bread - both are pretty good, but I actually prefer the pita bread)

two types of lasagna (aVegetables optional)

Chicken Parmesan

Braised

Dessert and snack choices:

Dessert Bar (chocolate and peanut butter, chocolate crunch, caramel, chocolate - all pretty good)

Cookies (peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, macadamia nuts, chocolate, white chocolate, almonds)

Pretzels

Chips.

As you can see, there are some very good deals here, but again, this package is the popular choice. There are some really good choices on the lefthere (such as tacos, Bisotti, squares of lemon, chocolate pound cake, etc.), usually in the package Favorites What most people like best, but not limited to these. As I said, you can choose the hand with food, choose your menu, if you can get only the food that you want something in your favorite flavors.

Nutrisystem Sample Menu - A Typical Day's Worth of Food on This Diet

I get a lot of emails asking me about the food offerings, taste, and variety of the Nutrisystem foods.  I understand this because when I was researching this diet, the food was what I was most interested in also.  After all, you're going to be eating this food at almost every meal (unless you go with the flex program) so it's important that you'll actually find it enjoyable or at least tolerable.  Because if you don't, it's just not going to be a positive experience that you'll want to repeat or stick with. So, in the following article, I'll list what would be a sample or typical menu for me so that you can see what a day might be like should you chose this diet.

Decent Amounts Of Variety, Decent Taste: Before I get into the actual meals, I want to take a minute to assure you that the food really is not that bad.  Most of it is not only edible, but actually pretty good. And the choices are pretty plentiful on Nutrisystem. There are over 170 foods to chose from, and much of them are comfort foods, snacks and desserts.  You really do get to eat pizza, burgers, tacos, and cake on this plan.  And while this fare doesn't exactly taste like junk food, it's decent enough and you have to appreciate being able to eat these things because not all diets would allow this.

Sample Nutrisystem Breakfast:  I think that breakfast is really composed of the best that this diet has to offer.  There are so many decent choices here.  I love the blueberry muffins and scones. The pancakes are decent too.  I don't like oatmeal as a general rule, but the diet oatmeal tastes a lot like Quaker brand, and the cereal is a nice option to have, as this is technically a low carb diet.  I suppose the only option that I steer clear of for breakfast is the eggs, but I don't like non diet eggs either.

Nutrisystem Mid Morning Snack Offerings:  The premise of this diet consists of three meals, one snack, and dessert.  I like to have my snack mid morning, but you could have it at any time.  I know a lot of people who have it at around 3 o'clock when they begin to get hungry for dinner.  I like to have the pretzels or the chips here.  You can also have some of the dessert foods as your snack, and although I will do this sometimes, I often try and stick to the salt for my snack rather than the sweet.

Nutrisystem Lunch Sample Menu: If there is a weakness of the  diet, the lunch is it, in my opinion.  There are just too many soup options and I don't like soup.  I finally wised up and learned to just order more dinners with my package.  This doesn't cost anymore and the company allows you to hand pick your foods.  However, if I did have to chose from the lunch foods, I'd go with the cheese tortellini or the fudge bar. The chicken salad isn't too bad either.

Typical Nutrisystem Dinner: The offerings become much better here.  There's a lot to like.  I find the pizza to be pretty good (I like the flat bread variety.) The macaroni and cheese and lasagna are also good.  The tacos require a little dressing up, but they can be made to be tasty.  The mushroom risotto is addictive and I would eat this even if I were not on a diet.  The texture on this is wonderful and very creamy.

Nutrisystem Dessert Choices: This too is where the diet shines.  There is not one option that I don't like in this category, but I'd have to say that my favorites are the almond biscotti and the chocolate cake. If I had to pick my least favorite, it would probably be the strawberry short cake bar as this really isn't like your traditional dessert, but this one is still pretty tasty. I just would rather they have made it an actual cake or muffin rather than a bar.

You would have the same menu if you you went with the flex plan.  The foods offered aren't any different. What's different is that you're only eating the foods five days out of the week rather than every day.  You get any two days off on the flex plan so it's the cheapest option out there.

Nutrisystem Sample Menu - A Typical Day's Worth of Food on This Diet

Image : http://www.flickr.com

I get a lot of emails asking me about the food offerings, taste, and variety of the Nutrisystem foods.  I understand this because when I was researching this diet, the food was what I was most interested in also.  After all, you're going to be eating this food at almost every meal (unless you go with the flex program) so it's important that you'll actually find it enjoyable or at least tolerable.  Because if you don't, it's just not going to be a positive experience that you'll want to repeat or stick with. So, in the following article, I'll list what would be a sample or typical menu for me so that you can see what a day might be like should you chose this diet.

Decent Amounts Of Variety, Decent Taste: Before I get into the actual meals, I want to take a minute to assure you that the food really is not that bad.  Most of it is not only edible, but actually pretty good. And the choices are pretty plentiful on Nutrisystem. There are over 170 foods to chose from, and much of them are comfort foods, snacks and desserts.  You really do get to eat pizza, burgers, tacos, and cake on this plan.  And while this fare doesn't exactly taste like junk food, it's decent enough and you have to appreciate being able to eat these things because not all diets would allow this.

Sample Nutrisystem Breakfast:  I think that breakfast is really composed of the best that this diet has to offer.  There are so many decent choices here.  I love the blueberry muffins and scones. The pancakes are decent too.  I don't like oatmeal as a general rule, but the diet oatmeal tastes a lot like Quaker brand, and the cereal is a nice option to have, as this is technically a low carb diet.  I suppose the only option that I steer clear of for breakfast is the eggs, but I don't like non diet eggs either.

Nutrisystem Mid Morning Snack Offerings:  The premise of this diet consists of three meals, one snack, and dessert.  I like to have my snack mid morning, but you could have it at any time.  I know a lot of people who have it at around 3 o'clock when they begin to get hungry for dinner.  I like to have the pretzels or the chips here.  You can also have some of the dessert foods as your snack, and although I will do this sometimes, I often try and stick to the salt for my snack rather than the sweet.

Nutrisystem Lunch Sample Menu: If there is a weakness of the  diet, the lunch is it, in my opinion.  There are just too many soup options and I don't like soup.  I finally wised up and learned to just order more dinners with my package.  This doesn't cost anymore and the company allows you to hand pick your foods.  However, if I did have to chose from the lunch foods, I'd go with the cheese tortellini or the fudge bar. The chicken salad isn't too bad either.

Typical Nutrisystem Dinner: The offerings become much better here.  There's a lot to like.  I find the pizza to be pretty good (I like the flat bread variety.) The macaroni and cheese and lasagna are also good.  The tacos require a little dressing up, but they can be made to be tasty.  The mushroom risotto is addictive and I would eat this even if I were not on a diet.  The texture on this is wonderful and very creamy.

Nutrisystem Dessert Choices: This too is where the diet shines.  There is not one option that I don't like in this category, but I'd have to say that my favorites are the almond biscotti and the chocolate cake. If I had to pick my least favorite, it would probably be the strawberry short cake bar as this really isn't like your traditional dessert, but this one is still pretty tasty. I just would rather they have made it an actual cake or muffin rather than a bar.

You would have the same menu if you you went with the flex plan.  The foods offered aren't any different. What's different is that you're only eating the foods five days out of the week rather than every day.  You get any two days off on the flex plan so it's the cheapest option out there.

A Weekly Nutrisystem Menu Sample - 7 Examples of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner Meals

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I get a lot of emails from people who are asking for me to paint them a picture of what life on nutrisystem is like. I've written about a typical day on this diet. I've had a few people tell me that this isn't a big enough glimpse of the meals to give them a full idea of what they will be eating. So, in the following article, I'm going to expand on this idea and provide an example of a week's worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and desserts. I will also give you examples of the sides that you are asked to add onto each meal.

An Example Of A Week's Worth Of Nutrisystem Breakfasts: I often say that I think that the breakfasts, snacks, and desserts are my favorite part of this diets. Even though this is a lower carb diet, you are still allowed cereals, muffins, pancakes, and scones. For this example, I've tried to mix things up a bit so that there's a lot of variety. Here are seven typical breakfasts that I chose and the sides which would work well with them. They are: the banana nut muffin with milk; the egg frittata with cantaloupe; the blueberry pancakes with yogurt; the apple cinnamon oatmeal with apple slices; the apple strudel scone with cottage cheese; the cluster crunch cereal with skim milk; and the cinnamon roll with yogurt.

Now, this is only seven choices. There are more. But this does give you a good sampling of the types of products that you will eat. There are different flavors within each category. There are different flavors of oatmeal, cereals, scones, and muffins. What I've given are examples that I enjoy.

7 Days Worth Of Nutrisystem Lunches: People often expect to see a lot of soups here. And, there are some. But there are also pastas, hot dogs, bars, salads, and rice dishes. The examples that I've chosen are: the cheese tortellini and a small salad; the hot dog and celery sticks; the chicken and pasta in cacciatore sauce with carrot sticks; the chicken caesar salad with blueberries; the red beans and rice with red peppers; the minestrone soup with salad; the fettucine alfredo and cucumber slices; and finally, the chicken and noodles with watermelon.

A Weekly Sample Menu Of Nutrisystem Dinners: The dinners are a bit more substantial and they do offer a lot of variety. I tend to like the comfort food options, so if I were choosing for an entire week, I might chose: the Cajun chicken and sausage with fat and sugar free pudding; the lasagne and meat sauce with a salad; the pizza and strawberries; the beef steak with potatoes and cantaloupe; the bar b que pork wrap with celery sticks and fat free dressing; the macaroni cheese and beef with sliced tomatoes; and the mushroom risotto with sliced red peppers.

7 Tasty Snacks: You really can't go wrong with any of the snacks. But, here are seven of my favorites: the nachos; the pretzels; the herb snack mix; the cheese puffs; the bar b que chips; the coconut almond bar; and the chocolate rainbow desserts.

A Week's Worth Of Desserts: This isn't going to be very original, but the desserts are my favorite. I honestly can't think of one that I wouldn't eat, and I pretty much like them all. If I could only chose 7, I'd pick: the almond biscotti; the chocolate cake; the peppermint cookie patty; the nutrichocolates; the golden pound cake: the blueberry lemon dessert bar; and the mint chocolate crunch bar.

All of the meals are meant to be interchangeable. And, nutrisystem does allow for you to buy foods individually, by the week, and by the month. The monthly packages usually work out to be cheaper because you're buying in bulk and because they allow for you to use the most generous coupons with the monthly packages.

Nutrisystem Diet Pros and Cons

I'm asked a lot about the pluses and minuses / pros and cons of the nutrisystem diet since I often write about this weight loss plan and how it works. In this article, I'll try to provide a balanced, unbiased review of what I think are the great and not so great things about the nutrisystem diet.

Pros: I do believe that the pros far outweigh the cons with this plan, so I will list them first.

1. It Is Very Effective. I've come to believe that if you follow and stick with the diet as planned you can not help but lose weight. I spend a lot of time in weight loss forums and find that the few folks who aren't having success are just not sticking with it or are cheating. But, I haven't found anyone who has stuck with it faithfully that didn't get results.

Nutrisystem is really a low carb diet (although you certainly don't have to eat meat all of the time.) It's low in calories and high in protein as well. This works to put your body in metabolic state where it is fooled into burning its own fat. I find that this is effective for most people.

And, results come pretty quickly which helps to motivate you to stick with it.

2. Lots Of Good Tasting Choices: Nutrisystem has over 130 food choices available and many of them are comfort foods like macaroni and cheese, fajitas, pizza, and tacos. There are also lots of desserts and snacks available. And, you never have to count points, worry about keeping track of carbs, or count calories here. All of the foods are glycemic friendly and safe. Jillian Barberie wasn't kidding when she said that she got to eat pizza and chocolate on this diet. Ok, so the pizza doesn't exactly taste like Chicago deep dish, but it's not half bad. I find that the taste and variety of this food puts it head and shoulders above many of the other diets I've tried and I'm very picky.

Convenience: Many of the foods in this diet are prepackaged and require very little preparation. Some are literally grab and go. You are asked to add veggies and proteins to your Nutrisystem meals (salad, yogurt, etc.), and you are asked to eat five times per day, but the meals are small and there isn't much prep time associated with them. It's also nice that you never have to count or tally anything. You just eat five of the plans meals per day and know that you are safe.

Cons: Now, onto what might be considered cons by some.

1. It Takes Some Getting Used To At First: Over time, I've grown to really enjoy having my meals mostly provided for me, but this was not always the case. Eating five times per day can really take some getting used to. I used to skip breakfast and eat a snack type lunch. I can't do that on Nutriystem because I have to eat regularly to keep my metabolism strong. And, if you're someone who loves to plan, cook and eat elaborate meals, you may find having your own food provided difficult. (Sure, you can get elaborate with your sides, but if you're a "foodie," this might frustrate you until you get used to it.)

2. Having To Add The Sides With Every Meal And Eating So Often: I know that I have gotten spoiled over time and I understand that I need a regular supply of fresh healthful foods to be as healthy as I possible can. But, once I got used to eating the pre provided meals, then I did not want to take the time to add the sides. I've learned that the best thing for me to do is make good use of bagged salads, frozen stir-fry, and prepackaged yogurts. I also now assemble what I can ahead of time, but it took me a while to get the hang of this.

Eating five times per day was a challenge at first, but I've learned that this is necessary to keep the metabolism revved and fully functional. Luckily, the meals are small and most are grab and go, so this helps.

3 Cost: With the price of gas and groceries so high, the cost of this plan doesn't seem altogether that bad now, but it certainly isn't free. The average price of a month's worth of Nutrisystem is about $290. This works out to be about $10 per day, which certainly isn't bad.

I was worried about the cost, but it just hadn't been an issue as being on this diet has greatly cut down the amount of money I was spending on eating out and splurging on treats. My grocery bill has come way down as well, since most of my food is provided.

Still, I understand that some people will be skeptical at having to buy food outside of their family's groceries, but I'd argue that every time you buy your lunch at work, you're doing just that anyway.