Do Dieters Lose Weight With NUTRISYSTEM?
If you stick to eating only the Nutrisystem meals along with healthy snacks from the grocery store, you should see a drop in weight. There is not a long-term fix when going through this program though, because you will not be taught how to fix healthy meals for yourself. When you go off the Nutrisystem plan you may see the weight creep back on overtime due to the lack of pre-packaged meals.
The 28-day plan is the most popular, and the average cost is around 11 dollars a day, which amounts to $300.00 when it is all said and done after shipping. This cost is set for one person, which is rather expensive.The meals consist of frozen pastas and potpies, re-heat cakes and pizzas. When looking at pictures of the meals, they did not look appetizing at all, and made me somewhat nauseous to think about eating this way for a solid month.
When looking into customer reviews, some said that the program was good for the short term especially if you enroll in the fast 5 (1,000 calorie restricted 1 week diet) to jump-start your weight loss journey. There were other reports of the customer service being poor, and the cost to cancel after the first shipment was around $90.00. There were many other complaints about the cancellation fees being more costly than the meals itself, so be cautious when ordering. Finally, there have been a lot of reviews about the food being processed (hence the microwavable and frozen options), which did not surprise me the least after looking at the food options and pictures.
back to menu ↑What is NUTRISYSTEM
Nutrisystem came onto the scene in 1972 and partnered with QVC back in 2001, which gave them a boost in their popularity and clientele over the years. Their aim is to take the guesswork out of the weight loss journey for the customer, by providing them pre-packaged meals daily. The customer has the option to go to the grocery store to buy fresh fruits, and snacks but for the most part there is no cooking or prepping involved when on the program. There are many meal choices to choose from such as pizza, tacos, chocolate cake, and cookies. As you can tell there are also no restrictions to what you can and cannot eat.
Obviously, eating out is discouraged, as all of the meals you will be eating come directly from Nutrisystem. The consumption of alcohol is also off limits, as this can result in an unhealthy spike of calories. While this sounds like an interesting diet system, the cost can be an upwards of $300.00 per month for one person alone, which is extremely expensive. On top of the high cost, you are limited to eating the foods that they ship you and nothing more, which can be hard to stomach overtime.
While many diet programs discourage the intake of carbohydrates, while on the Nutrisystem you will ingest 50% of your calories from carbohydrates alone.
back to menu ↑Is NUTRISYSTEM Easy To Follow?
Nutrisystem’s business model is to take the thinking entirely out of dieting, by providing the customer pre-made meals. The hardest part of the entire program is reading all of the terms and conditions, to be clear on the return process if you do not like the food. They are not very generous with returns, so be cautious if you decide to order anything. What’s also hard to abide by is the fact that eating out is entirely off limits, which makes social outings near impossible on this diet. Because there are not really any calorie restrictions, this program can leave you confused on what a healthy diet really looks like. Once you are off of the program, consuming regular pizzas, potpies, cakes, and cookies are not going to keep the weight down. The problem overall is the lack of education you are getting when you are being mailed meals that are traditionally seen as unhealthy food options. Some known side effects from this program are: upset stomach from the processed food options, not enough calories making one feel hungry and irritable, and frustration from the high cost of the meals and cancellation fees.
back to menu ↑Word on the Street About NUTRISYSTEM
So about those Nutrisystem reviews? Given the program is sold by Nutrisystem directly (though their five-day plan was sold on WalMart, which we’ll get to), I chose reviews from sources news and medical information sites.
U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Diets of 2017” has Nutrisystem ranked 16th, or “in the middle of the pack.” The Nutrisystem review rin “Best Overall Ditsates it a 3.3 on a scale of 5. The biggest problem with the diet, according to the best diets list, is it scores too low on long-term weight loss—it’s rated a weak 2.6. Though U.S. News & World Report does say you’ll “probably” lose weight. [10]
Reviewed by Christine Mikstas, RD, LD in early 2017 for WebMD, the conclusion was simple: it’s an easy, time-saving diet in that the meals are made for you and delivered to your door. So convenience. But, as Mikstas points out, it’s costly and limiting if you like eating out.
“it’s an easy, time-saving diet in that the meals are made for you and delivered to your door. So convenience. But, as Mikstas points out, it’s costly and limiting if you like eating out. “
The real question is whether you can continue to lose weight or maintain your weight when you are no longer relying on the prepackaged foods.
The WalMart Nutrisystem product line is huge. The highest-rated is Nutrisystem Members’ Favorites 5-Day Diet Kit. Of more than 100 reviews, this particular Nutrisystem meal kit earned 4.6 out of 5 stars. More than 70 reviewers gave it five stars.
But reviewer “Iowan,” said it’s “totally wrong,” and complained,
“Most of the meals are grain based. Many are wraps that are thick, tough, and tasteless. I opened them and scraped out a spoonful of filling. There is not nearly enough protein or healthy fat and way to [sic] much carbohydrates. They are convenient. However to make this plan work you still have to provide most of the food yourself.“
back to menu ↑The Bottom Line: Is NUTRISYSTEM Worth a Try?
Depends. While famous celebrities such as Melissa Joan Hart, Marie Osmond, and Dan Marino have endorsed this company I find it hard to believe that these A-listers truly enjoyed the processed microwavable meals provided by Nutrisystem. Overall, the company has an expensive meal service that does not promote long-term weight loss to its customers. With the customer service being poor, I already have a headache when thinking about scrolling through 50+ meals to place my first order. Their social media pages were low in followers and activity based off of the number of customers and celebrity endorsement in its past. I would not recommend this program as a long-term weight loss tool, as the processed and packaged meals already have me reaching for my trash can.
Can you afford it to try it? Does the idea of having the work done for you sound appealing? My feeling is if you have the disposable income, either live alone or don’t have to feed a brood, and are okay with not eating out often, go for it. It’s pretty likely you’ll lose some weight, but will it come back when the FedEx person stops ringing the bell?
Nutrisystem is literally a scam. I tried it for a month and hated the food, it literally made me gag a few times. They STILL get you if you don’t read the fine print. Even if you cancel a little later in the month (as I did because I wanted to be fair and taste the rest of the choices I had left) they hit you for a cancellation fee of $125.00 . This is PREPOSTEROUS!! I had stomach issues with their food and the food looks NOTHING like the pictures or the commercials. Don’t fall into this, you may as well by frozen low cal foods in your grocery store for half the price. I disputed the charge of 125.00 and I am pretty sure their LAWYERS, charged Nutrisystem way more than that to get the charges put back on our account which we will AGAIN DISPUTE. SCAM!
This is a horrible product, don’t waste your money. The food has no taste and the price point is crazy. They will recharge your card even if you cancel, you have to read the fine print on time frame to cancel if not you are stuck with another charge and this is NOT CHEAP. Don’t fall into this farce, it’s a scam.
Food is horrible and edible disgusting and then when I canceled they charge me for canceling.