English: A chocolate chip granola bar made by Quaker Oats. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I thought I'd be able to make some headway with Nutri system but after a few weeks I had to give it up. There were just too many unanswered questions and yes you can go online and ask others, or get support but the bottom line is, as much as I would have loved for this to have worked it was just too much trouble. It is no where near as "simple" or "easy" as the ads on television proclaim. Here is what I hated about being on Nutri system:
1. The food was awful. Yeah- you may hear a lot of people say the food is good, but I'd love to know what food they are used to. The food just tasted horrible. There were a few things that were ok, but more of the food was lacking than satisfying. The breakfast bars are ok, the desserts are ok. However most of the canned heat in the microwave stuff was no better than anything else you've ever eaten that was processed or dehydrated or?
2. Hungry, hungry, hungry. I starved. The portions were tiny, adequate for any 4 to 6 year old but for an adult it left me feeling hungry, even with adding a salad here and there. The portions are no larger than your hand. Lengthwise or depth wise. Your entree is literally a little white bowl that is oval shaped. I doubt there is more than a 1/2 cup of food in each container. The other reason I was hungry is because there is just not enough meat/protein in this diet.
3. Food is high in sodium. You'd think with all that salt that is in these prepackaged processed products that they'd at least have some flavor, but you can't even taste the salt, which means you end up adding salt, which in turn means you are really begging for high blood pressure.
4. Bad labeling, not enough clarity. Ok, its day one, you have the shake and your crummy little packet of cereal. Yippee, sounds simple. However, it gets real confusing when you see an item marked "lunch" and its only a small granola type bar. Seriously? This is it?
So then dinner rolls around and you have your tiny entree marked "dinner" and you get a "dessert" which is usually a small granola type bar, or a tiny packet of crackers, or a muffin. Then you read the book and it tells you to add 1 carb this, or 2 proteins of that..its all too confusing, you pay that much for the food and then you have to eat additional foods with it but they don't really make it easy or clear, because then they say if your are more than 100 lbs overweight to add an extra carb to your lunch or dinner.
So wait...I add one, then if I am really fat I add more? So I am adding more of my own food than what they are supplying and guess what even with all of that confusion at the end of the day I am still hungry because carbs don't fill you up. Why can't you add additional protein?
After a while you just realize this plan just doesn't make sense. I don't want to spend all day researching online on the Nutri System website what I am doing wrong. I spent a good deal of money on a product that promised ease, results, great flavor and flexibility. What I got was confusion, hunger, and too many variables and food I had to add to the diet plan.
Why not just eat my own food? It seems it is mainly about portion control any way, and protein control in my book. Great if you want to try out being a vegetarian.
I can just re-use the tiny containers and put my own food in them. At least I know it would have tasted good. The only things in their program that would be good to have on hand is the protein shakes, granola bars, cookies and muffins, however I suspect you can find similar items to them in the supermarket. The other food they can keep! Those celebrities are lying their butts off if they say this food tastes good. Most of it is not tasty, you only eat it because as I said before YOU'RE STARVING.
