Nutrisystem

melissa569 · Sat Jun 28, 2008 4:17 am

My cousin Amber says she wants to try nutrisystem to lose weight, but I've been trying to convince her to try South Beach instead... Thinking of letting her borrow my book. Or sitting her down at the computer and bringing her here. And I told her a theory that I had, but I just wanted to run it by everyone here first:

Like me, do you think nutrisystem is basically just trying to copy from South Beach (in an expensive and crappy way, that is)?? It certainly seems so!

I say this because in the commercial, they say-- "Its our break-down of the glycemic index that helps you lose weight, so now, carbs are no longer off limits"....

Certainly sounds familiar, doesn't it? And those people want you to think that you never have to cook with their product, and that they prepare the food in a very special way, that you can only get through them. Hmmmmm.

Then I went to www.infomercialscams.com and they have all kinds of customer complaints there about nutrisystem. The biggest one being that you pay over 300-400 dollars a month, and you only get the entree. Not the fruits, vegetable, and sometimes not even the carb! They want you to "complete the meal yourself", by going out and purchasing an additional load of groceries! So you're not getting out of having to cook, or prepare your meals and stuff, just because they ship a few things to you.... the adds are extremely misleading, because they make it look like you get complete meals.

Plus the customers all say the food tastes like pure salt, and plastic.... bleh!

So honestly, with the available evidence, what do you guys think about my theory that Nutrisystem is just a knock-off of South Beach?? I truly believe Amber (and anyone else) could probably save a WORLD of money, and eat much better tasting food, if she goes with South Beach instead.

Thoughts? Opinions?

RedRox · Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:18 am

did you think you would get a lot of dissenting opinions on a SB message board?? :lol:

people always look for an easy way out. SB as a lifestyle program does not fall into that category. It doesn't tell you what to eat, it teaches you what to eat and lets you work within an overall framework that allows you to develop your own meal plans so that it is sustainable for a lifetime. If all that you learn how to eat is an entree that is prepared and packaged by someone else, how is that sustainable? Does she plan to eat nutrisystem meals for the rest of her life? If she is going to only use it to lose weight, how is she going to maintain it?

I don't think nutrisystem is trying to copy SB really. SB was originally built without any branded foods at all, just real whole foods organized into an intelligent dietary program that anyone could follow without needing any "special" meals or products. Nutrisystem was built as a way to push their foods and has no "teaching" or "maintainability" aspect to it really. And the concepts of glycemic index and the "new glucose revolution" probably pre-dated SB to begin with. Dr. A didn't really come up with anything new. He just packaged a variety of current dietary principles and marketed it really well! "lose 8-13 lbs in 2 weeks" has the ability to sell a lot of books! :)

DebbyC · Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:19 pm

I have a couple of co-workers on nutrisystem - we end up in the main kitchen making our lunches frequently and they have to put together almost as much non-nutrisystem food as I do. The little cup of food they get is ~3 bucks, then they have to add a salad or veggies, a protein [some of the entrees are just carbs - no protein], fruit, and dairy - so IMO, it's just not worth it for me.

I believe that people who are not able to think for themselves or do not want to make decisions probably will need that kind of structure to lose weight. They will probaly not be successful in the long run - unless they learn to eat independently of the prepared foods.

I never tasted it, but the foods I see certainly do not look appetizing

RedRox · Sat Jun 28, 2008 6:51 pm

I know I'm different, but to me SB is a get healthy program, not just a weight loss plan. You can likely lose weight any number of ways. The key is keeping it off and doing it in a healthy way that supports and complements an active, healthy lifestyle. To me SB is different simply because it is sustainable and doable for life and it teaches you how to eat properly to be healthy for the long term. In many ways, losing weight is the easy part. Maintaining it after you lose it is the challenge where most "diets" fail miserably, IMO.

melissa569 · Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:33 pm

I hear ya.

What I like best about SB is that:

1. It's easy to do.
2. Its not unreasonable.
3. Hubby LOVES the food!

I'm especially glad for #3, because the only difference is, I just use olive oil to cook. We normally do eat lean proteins and veggies, so that's good. And I just switch our carbs to whole grain, etc. We don't really use sugar. And I don't have to cook 2 separate meals for each of us anymore! Some people say I should just tell him to feed himself... But he works 12+ hours a day, so I'm not gonna tell him to cook his own food when he stumbles in the door, about to fall down... That's kinda mean.

Besides, now I got him eating healthy too! :D

RedRox · Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:20 pm

exactly! ;) it's good eating for anyone. it's not really "dieting".

volleyteach · Fri Jul 04, 2008 10:14 pm

Hi,

I did SBD a couple of years ago, lost 25ish pounds and then slowly didn't really think too much about SB, but kept a lot of the principles. Put around 10 - 15 pounds back on. Thats when I tried NS. I have lost about 40 pounds. I got tired of NS after 9 months, started to gain a bit (7 pounds) and now am back to SB and have lost the 7 pounds.

To answer your question: Yes, NS does remind me of SB, there are a lot of veggies, whole grains and paying attention to glycemic index. That is what drew me to it. I was looking for something very structured and it really worked for me. I liked the food. I liked that I could eat a decent amount of fruit. I liked the forced portion control on the proteins, and carbs. It ended up costing me around $275 per order (28 days), but with occasionally supplementing I would stretch it to about 5 weeks.

If someone needs the structure, especially to get them started on losing, then I would definitely recommend Nutrisystem. For a long term way of eating, I would even more highly recommend SB. I guess that is why I am back here. I feel so good about myself, I am the smallest I have been in a while and am motivated to continue losing weight. I am ready to get back to cooking and learning how to set reasonable restrictions on my portion sizes. I needed the time with NS to get me to the place where I understand (and my stomach understands) what a portion of chicken or pasta really looks like.

I hope that helps...

Audrey

tatortot · Sat Jul 05, 2008 12:51 am

Hi Audrey, we have a big lots store here in texas and they carry the nutrisystem nourish meals, well about six different entrees like veg chili and chicken pasta. Is there a way to do nutrisystem with these few items without signing up and getting their food? I guess what I'm asking is there a way to get by with these few items and supplement with my own food and still be on the nutrisytem diet?

volleyteach · Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:31 pm

If I were you, I would do a full month, then once you have the idea of what the foods are like you could mimic the diet using what you find at Big Lots.

Also, on the Nutrisystem website there are links about ways to substitute to follow NS. At the end I was doing mostly my own breakfasts and lunches (eating pretty much South Beach) and then having their dinner and dessert. I was not as successful doing it my way, which is why I am back to 100% SB.

But again, if you are interested in it then give the full program a try for a month. (stay away from the tuna casserole... I like most of the food, the tuna is absolutely disgusting - the veggie chili is good!)


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