Anyone ever been on the Nutrisystem diet?

daisydoll · Aug 2, 2008

Try eating more food. Stop with the portion control and do proper balancing of meal parts (proper amount of carbs, protein etc). Do proper exercise, less aerobic more anaerobic. You will find that you lose fat faster this way. I went pseudo-vegetarian and pretty much eat every hour. The only time I am hungry is when I wake up and a protein shake cures that quickly. I also consume 3000 calories a day, ride an elliptical for 45 minutes 3 times a week and do moderate weight lifting on the alternate 3 days. Went from 320 to 235 in 7 months.
Don't forget, you want fat loss NOT weight loss. Waiting for weight to go down is a bummer, you can lose whole fat % of your BMI and not lose more than 5-10 pounds.
It's not quick and it's not easy but it's really the only way that always works. Everything else is a fad and only works with a few people.
As far as portion control, bah I eat until I am stuffed, literally every time. However, 3-5 pounds of Veggie products a day does NOT make you fat. Before anyone nay says. Do research, watch what athletes eat. The only other method that has guaranteed success is the hardcore military boot camp method but no one has the time to do that much activity on a daily basis and be a nurse.

How do you have the time to eat every hour??

loricatus · Aug 2, 2008

How do you have the time to eat every hour??

I know the only way that I would be able to do that is to wear a feedbag.

DolphinRN84, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Aug 2, 2008

Hey, thanks. It does sound bearable. I think I will try a 2 week supply at first. Should be able to know if it will work in that time frame. Have any suggestions of what to order? The meatloaf sounds OK. I will only do the custom menu because some of the choices don't sound too good.
The most appealing thing about this system is that I do not have to do counts or my own cooking. Cooking is what gets me in trouble because I am very particular when I do the cooking. If I am going to do portion control, I really don't want the food to taste good enough that I want to stuff myself; and, I don't want to have to put the all the effort into shopping and cooking, just to take spend only a few minutes eating. For me, the objective would be to stay away from the thought of and sights/smells as much as possible. I see that prepackaged foods could acheive that objective.
Thanks again

No problem! :) I just had the lasagna for dinner and again- it was pretty good. The lasagna would be one suggestion. I liked the meatloaf. They also have flatbread and thick crust pizzas- I ordered those though I haven't tried it yet. I did the custom menu myself because not a lot of the food appealed to me. So far so good. The bars are pretty good too-especially the ones with chocolate and peanut butter :chuckle. But I'm sure we have different tastes so things that I like you may find you don't like and so on..but like I said, so far the things I've had have been good. Thanks for keeping up with this thread!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2008

How do you have the time to eat every hour??

He works a desk job, and has more control over his work environment than a floor nurse would.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2008

Weight Watchers is probably the best weight reduction program out there because of their point system. You eat within your points and you will lose weight. Check it out.

It's one of the most long lasting and successful programs, plus having live peer support seems to work as well. Doing things alone can be tough.

One thing I've seen people do though with the point system is eat crappy adding up their points, so it might not always be the most nutritionally balanced way of eating. "I'll eat this piece of cake for lunch and that will be my points for lunch" kind of thing.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2008

Try eating more food. Stop with the portion control and do proper balancing of meal parts (proper amount of carbs, protein etc). Do proper exercise, less aerobic more anaerobic. You will find that you lose fat faster this way. I went pseudo-vegetarian and pretty much eat every hour. The only time I am hungry is when I wake up and a protein shake cures that quickly. I also consume 3000 calories a day, ride an elliptical for 45 minutes 3 times a week and do moderate weight lifting on the alternate 3 days. Went from 320 to 235 in 7 months.
Don't forget, you want fat loss NOT weight loss. Waiting for weight to go down is a bummer, you can lose whole fat % of your BMI and not lose more than 5-10 pounds.
It's not quick and it's not easy but it's really the only way that always works. Everything else is a fad and only works with a few people.
As far as portion control, bah I eat until I am stuffed, literally every time. However, 3-5 pounds of Veggie products a day does NOT make you fat. Before anyone nay says. Do research, watch what athletes eat. The only other method that has guaranteed success is the hardcore military boot camp method but no one has the time to do that much activity on a daily basis and be a nurse.

Congrats on the weight loss!! That's awesome.

There's a lot to be said for the grazing way of dieting, especially when you're eating good quality vegetarian foods like fruits and veggies. I tend to be a grazer myself.

Obviously too exercise works along with a sensible diet program.

Sorry but I'm not buying the "it's really the only way that always works." One size of dieting doesn't fit all. Personally I could never eat 3000 calories a day, work out like you do, eat every hour and eat until I'm stuffed and lose weight. Also if you read the success stories in magazines like Men's Health, or People Magazines "they lost half their size" annual issue, you'll find many different approaches. Almost all of them do exercise, but eating programs seem to vary from person to person.

Perhaps for a 320 pounder that type of eating works well, but I would think eventually you'd have to decrease the calories as your weight dropped and perhaps exercise some restraint in portion control. But your body and your metabolism is unique to you.

What works for me is reduction in overall calories by eating healthier foods (not necessarily less food, but lower calories quality food) and of course exercising.

llg, PhD, RN · Aug 9, 2008

.
What works for me is reduction in overall calories by eating healthier foods (not necessarily less food, but lower calories quality food) and of course exercising.

That's what works best for me, too -- but I've been naughty the last couple of weeks and gained a few pounds. I do fine at home because I don't have a lot of junk food in the house, but I am surrounded by "goodies" at the hospital and I can't resist.

luvschoolnursing, LPN · Aug 9, 2008

It's one of the most long lasting and successful programs, plus having live peer support seems to work as well. Doing things alone can be tough.
One thing I've seen people do though with the point system is eat crappy adding up their points, so it might not always be the most nutritionally balanced way of eating. "I'll eat this piece of cake for lunch and that will be my points for lunch" kind of thing.

Tweety,

"Back in the day" the first time I did WW, it was more of an exchange system where you were expected to eat so many servings of fruit, veg, protein, etc. every day. I think for people with limited knowledge of proper nutrition this was a better program because it taught you how to eat healthy. Didn't offer much flexibility for eating out though.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2008

Tweety,
"Back in the day" the first time I did WW, it was more of an exchange system where you were expected to eat so many servings of fruit, veg, protein, etc. every day. I think for people with limited knowledge of proper nutrition this was a better program because it taught you how to eat healthy. Didn't offer much flexibility for eating out though.

I certainly can't criticize WW. It's one of the only diets that have been around since "back in a day" so that's testimony enough. I know someone who has lost 100 lbs and kept it off for the last ten years and is now an insturctor for them part time.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 9, 2008

That's what works best for me, too -- but I've been naughty the last couple of weeks and gained a few pounds. I do fine at home because I don't have a lot of junk food in the house, but I am surrounded by "goodies" at the hospital and I can't resist.

Work has seriously been my downfall. I have to stay away from the first treat and not induldge and I'm o.k. Just yesterday someone came buy with a plate full of delicious danishes. I could have had "just a piece" but that would have been the entry to a binge on danish. That day I won the battle, but I don't always.

llg, PhD, RN · Aug 9, 2008

Work has seriously been my downfall. I have to stay away from the first treat and not induldge and I'm o.k. Just yesterday someone came buy with a plate full of delicious danishes. I could have had "just a piece" but that would have been the entry to a binge on danish. That day I won the battle, but I don't always.

My low point was yesterday. My boss had prepared "yet another" plate of pastries on Thursday for a staff meeting. They included some of my favorite things -- creme horns, little creme puffs, etc. Of course I had some.

Yesterday, we ate left-overs for lunch. (We have an office suite for our department. So all the leftovers come to us and we have to look at them until somebody eats them.) Late afternoon, she passed them around to everyone in the office suite to "finish them off" because they wouldn't be any good by Monday. I was the last one to leave and couldn't bear to throw the last couple in the garbage. So I brought them home.

... And I am pre-diabetic.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Aug 10, 2008

Well, llg, you couldn't very well let the food go to waste could you? Sigh....I know the feeling....I get a little weary of getting back on the bandwagon time and time again after binging and putting on weight. But what can you do but keep trying?