Anyone tried Nutrisystem??

[PSC0002]

Hey guys, thought I'd get some opinions. 

I'm committed to surgery, but need to loose some weight first.  I've been tempted in the past to try the Nurtisystem program - I mean you see it on TV all the time.   Has anyone used it??? 

I think the biggest problem I'm having is portion control, which I believe Nutrisystem will help. 

[moobius]

what does your typical daily routine consist of (activity wise)?

[Grandpa Bambu]

I have tried both Nutrisystem and Weight Watchers. Both are good programs, however, Nutrisystem is a little on the expensive side as you buy their 'prepackaged' foods. Anything 'prepackaged' is expensive. With WW, you buy your food at your local grocery store and WW sets you up on a 'points' system of how much of your grocery store bought food you can have a day. There's nothing that you can't have! You just have to fit it into your 'points' daily budget. It's a really easy program to follow... I should get back on it. I'm almost 250 lbs at 6'.

After trying both programs, IMO, WW is the better system. It's a 'real world' program.

You said that your problem, as with many of us, is portion control. WW will teach you portion control.

As I mentioned, both programs are good... however, with Nutrisystem, if/when you reach your weight loss goal, you'll prolly quit the program. You will no longer have access to the 'prepackaged' foods and you may gain the weight back. Nutrisystem doesn't 'teach' you how to budget your food choices like WW does.

There are both women's and men's classes at WW. I went with the wife to the women's (men are welcome at the women's classes if you so choose) classes as she was already signed up. It was very entertaining let me tell you!

If you don't mind me asking, how much do you weigh now dude? (ah, okay, I see in another post that you are 240 at 6'3"...)

If you decide to go to WW, let me know. I'll get back on it and we can help each other out... If you have any WW questions, just ask.

In closing... I highly recommend WW. Follow the program, start an exercise routine and be consistent! Don't fall off the wagon and you'll do fine... 

GB

[PSC0002]

A reply to both posts:

1) My daily routine -  I work as a paramedic on two to three days a week in 12 hr shifts.  If you know any firemen or paramedics, you know our eating habits are not the best.  I rarely get time to get breakfast before I get to work, so it's usually a quick Hardee's trip.  (I know I know I know)  Then work till whenever I can grab lunch, usually my heaviest meal of the day.  Then work for a couple more hours, usually eat when I get off somewhere around 8 PM.  On other days, I'm in school.  Usually no B-fast (I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW, again)  because I love my extra 1/2 hour of sleep oh so dearly.  Run around most of the day (ride bike >1 mile a day on campus)  then meet buddy for lunch at local pizzaria.  I've been pretty good there, and they have awesome salads which helps.  Then dinner at night, just whatever I can rustle up at the house. 

My problem is partly fast food.  I know that.  It's just way easier to grab something on the go. 

That leads me to
#2)  I've considered WW as well, my father tried it 15 some odd years ago, and had decent results as far as I can remember.  He fell off the wagon after a couple months, and the pounds slowly crept back - with company. 
As for me - I've gained probably 30 pounds in the last 3 years.  A lot of beer, but I'm backing off of that - getting to old to hang...  I've somewhat leveled off around the 240 mark over the past 6 months or so. 
The WW sounds really great.  Think it would help alot.  The thing that really cinched me on Nutri-System WAS pre-packaged food.  At my job, I don't have a lot of excess time to prepare something, but a quick zap in the M-wave is doable.  and with my personal life, I don't have alot of time to prepare something for the next day.  As for the price, I've thought about it a lot, and I really think (know) I spend more on fast food a month than the cost of Nutrisystem. 

As for me personally, I lost 60lbs at 15, then back up to 230 ish, down to 190, and slowly back up again.  This weight fluctuation is probably due to a myriad of factors, a busier lifestyle than I had before and I'm sure that a lack of confidence due to gyne plays in there somewhere.  I've tried SouthBeach, Atkins, starvation, and pretty much everything short of bulimia.  I've found, that once I GET STARTED.... and my stomach size shrinks again, that it's fairly easy for me to make healthier choices. 

So I'll look into WW, I know it produces results.  I'm gonna keep studying on Nutrisystem for a "right-now" solution though. 

Thoughts???

[Grandpa Bambu]

Fair enough dude! If NS suits your lifestyle then go for it my man... I really wasn't dissing NS, I was just comparing the two programs. What ever works best for you, then go for it!    NS is very convenient, and that's exactly what you are looking for...

My Step-Daughter is a paramedic... She does it part-time.

I also do 12 hour shifts (continental - days/nights rotating) and it can be a chore to eat properly. A days/nights rotation, really screws up the body.... eating and sleeping wise. 

With the over-abundance of fast-food restaurants, and TV 'in-your-face' advertising, it's tough to stay away from such places. Many people don't have the discipline to resist. I would be the first one to own up to that!

You sound much like me dude... love our sleep, weight up and down, 12 hour shifts... yadda, yadda, yadda.

Well, I wish you the best of luck with NS and getting healthy...

GB

[Paa_Paw]

The problem with any diet program is summed up in this definition of a diet: A diet is when you can have all you want of the foods you do not like.

OK, so that is a bit tongue in cheek, it is the reason why most dietary programs ultimately fail. Even if you should lose weight while on the program, you usually gain the weight back. The see-sawing lose and gain pattern is very hard on your body. Alternate periods of fast and feast are also bad for your overall health.

Within an hour of rising, you should have some sort of breakfast. It does not need to be a formal meal, a diet shake will do. Other possibilities might include: A quick bowl of cereal, a granola bar, toast and jam--- as bad as a Donut is, it may be better than nothing.

Identify some low caloric foods you like and have a good supply with you when you leave home. If you nibble on these throughout the day and do not allow yourself to become hungry, your temptation to gorge on junk food will be greatly diminished.

Drink a lot of water, two liters per day. Other drinks are OK in moderation, but they do not replace water. Limit yourself severely when it comes to sugary sodas and such.

[moobius]

the trick is to not 'diet' but to change your overall eating habits. any short term diet, no matter how effective is going to create any long term results if you just go back to your old eating habits after you stop the diet...


if NS gets you off the fast food, great... it'd be a helluva lot cheaper to just take 15 min each night to pack a lunch that you can just take with you the next day and eat whenever is convenient. WW will be better b/c it'll force you to think about what your eating and quality of food and the macronutrient makeup will become more important to you... 

Once you get on the right track you can tweak your diet (and by 'diet' i mean new eating habits) even more to get better results. i've found that once you 'kick' the junk food/simple carbs that it's much easier to resist them. like any bad habit, junk food can be hard to get away from

and the biggest fallacy in 'dieting' is that a calorie is a calorie... 200 grams of sugar is NOT the same as 200 grams of protein despite the calorie content being the same.

[moobius]

I'm a huge proponent of adding some resistance exercise.  If you add just 5 pounds of muscle to your body, a lot of the calories that are going to maintaining and adding fat will have to go to maintaining that muscle.  You'll lose a corresponding amount of fat.

not only does resistance exercise add muscle which raises metabolism, but you burn much more calories from resistance training than you do from cardio alone -- science has proven this.