Nutrisystem Question

Hey, I posted this on the surgical board as well since I have had surgery in the past...

I wanted to try nutrisystem to try to get myself back to where I need to be. I had surgery and it was a success but I gained 30lbs back because I started to let life get in the way of me paying attention to me. I lost 10lbs and have been at a standstill for almost 6 months now. It's driving me crazy. I think I need to make some drastic changes.

Has anyone tried nutrisystem recently? Any thoughts on it? I need the strict regimen and the simplicity of having everything there for me until I can fully focus on myself again.

Thanks in advance for your help!!

Ashley

Hi Ashley, I don't know much about Nutrisystem but a friend of mine tried it and she said the portions are tiny and it's expensive.  But since you can't eat a lot, it might be right up your alley. 

I'm insulin resistant and have to do low carb so I chose Atkins because of the discipline and the allowed foods list taught me what I can eat and plan my menus from that.  And I get to EAT!  Maybe you can look into it and find a plan that you can learn and maintain for life, which will become second nature to you and then it won't be so expensive and you can lose the weight on your own.

You said you want to do this only until you can focus on yourself again...Sweetie, maintaining your weight loss for the sake of your long term health has got to be the "number one focus in your life"!!!!!!!!  Through my weight loss journey I took care of elderly parents, grieved for their loss, went through accident and surgery drama with my husband, and helped care for my sister with cerebral palsy, and built a house.  One thing I learned through all of this, the world was not going to come to an end if I took a few extra minutes a day to focus on me and what I was going to eat.  The key for me was preparation at all costs.  This is more important for you now that you've had the surgery than ever.  I pray you find your answer,

Mary   

Mary, what an inspiring response.

Ashley - isn't that food self stable and dry where you have to add water to reconstitute? I would think it would be hard to eat after WLS?(I could be wrong, I've never had Nutrisystem but my cousin did years ago). I understand that what you really are looking for is something that takes you away from making decisions. I know I felt like this when I did medically supervised medifast shakes years ago - but I found the problem was I didn't really learn how to change my eating patterns to maintain the success so the weight came back on - this is yoyo dieting which we need to avoid.

I follow Dr. McDougall's Maximum Weight loss diet which I realize you probably aren't interested in, but on his website they also have something called Mary's mini (MM) diet based on something his wife did years ago to lose weight and when they analyzed it nutritionally it was extremely healthy just limited food choices. MM is chosing a complex carbohydrate and a vegetable(s) and a fruit and eating the same thing for each meal - in fact you can eat the same foods all week long. One of the reasons this works so well is, well it's boring - so you can apply this to your food. Chose a meal that is healthy and keep eating the same thing with little or no variety.

Nutra System is awful.  I have some in my cabinets now that I need to throw out.  My 2 cents!  I will never ever do again.  Have you heard of Seattle Sutton.  Fresh foods mostly. Low sodium and it is very tasty.  Have you contacted your surgeons group or nutritionist for help.  I think this is your best, safest and cheapest bet. 

I agree wholeheartedly to Mary's post about LIFE.  Life happens and we do have to make our new healthy life a top priority.  If we use each life event to go back to unhealthy habits we will always be in a yo-yo zone.  Believe me I am learning now my error.  Kudos to you for catching weight gain before you gained by more .  You will be fine and I know you can do it! 

Hi Ashley,
I do know something about Nurti-System.....I tried it a few years ago.
The first 2 weeks were not too bad,....I was riding the high of "being on a diet" and on the first week I lost weight because I was eating so much less than normal.  By the 3rd week I was getting very tired of eating the same thing and the portions were not doing it for me anymore.  The powdered eggs were nasty and I love eggs so it was not a good substitute for me.  Before week 4 I was already thinking I can do this on my own if I eat smart......I stopped and ended up with a few meals in the back of my pantry for ages....... 

Taste: one of the worst I've had (much worse than Jenny Craig) Since it's all vacuum packed for long shelf life in the pantry it just has a strange taste.
Cost: Very expensive because you have to pay for their food PLUS you have to buy lots of fruit, veg, milk, etc
Ease: very good, takes most of the guess work out of it BUT I've learned there are better ways to do it and keep it simple.
Effectiveness: Did not work....I gained back the few pounds I lost during the first 2 weeks and some additional because I was so hungry by then that I ate all of my favorite foods and lots of them.

FYI - if you need to have meals pre-paid for you to grab on the go you could use some Healthy Choice or Weigh****cher frozen meals and add fruit and veg to bulk them up.  I've done that and it worked for me.

What I did when I was losing I would take one day and cook a bunch of chicken breast, dice it up and cook it.  Then I portion it out into 3 oz servings and freeze it.  Since it's cooked I could re heat it in any kind of healthy sauce (tomato sauce, yogurt sauce, no fat Italian dressing, or make a light chicken salad), add it to 1/2 cup cooked pasta, some bulgur wheat pilaf, on top of a spinach salad, stuffed into 1/2 a pita pocket.....add some diced cucumber salad on the side and a small apple or banana and you have a full and healthy meal.
I eat so much (6 or 7 times a day), I am very rarely ever hungry .  Even when losing weight I never had that awful "OMG I'M STARVING" feeling....I would actually worry that I wouldn't lose when I'd get on the scale because I rarely felt hungry...but I learned you are not supposed to feel hungry but also should not feel full....

I could go on and on....sorry if I bored you (and everyone else).  If you want to discuss options more send me a note, I'd be happy to share my experiences.

Best wishes on your decision.

PS- The biggest thing I learned in my journey was I have to be my #1 priority otherwise I'm no good for anyone else.  :-)

Thanks to all of you for your help.

You are ALL right. I've thought about your responses and some responses I got on the other board and I really need to stop looking for an "easy fix" for my mistakes.

I'm going to have to learn how to make healthy choices all the time and for it to become second nature. I know that by eating certain foods I make myself sick, yet, I've gone back to those foods over and over again. I need to really change how I look at food.

Maybe taking some time for me isn't so bad. It seems I find every excuse in the book why I'm NOT worth the time and energy. I know that a lot of my "laziness" is due to emotional issues that I have and not necessarily because of time constraints. To be honest, I have the time to prepare meals and to plan things out, but I always find an excuse. It's time for me to wake up and realize that I am worth it.

Thanks again!!