Health & Diet

I recently received correspondence from someone who asked me several questions about life on the nutrisystem diet. Examples of the questions asked were things like: “How exactly does nutrisystem work? Do I have to count calories and carbs? What types of foods will I get to eat? How much will I get to eat? How hungry will I be? How much willpower will I need? And, how much weight can I lose?”

I will try to address all of these questions in the following article. And, I’ll try to give you some idea of what your life would be like should you chose this diet, as well as what to expect once you get started on it.

The Basics On The Nutrisystem Meal Replacement Diet: At it’s core, this is a meal replacement diet. This means that the company provides you with foods which you will use to “replace” what you would normally eat with the more preferable and safe diet meals. The good news about all of this is that it makes the diet very convenient. The meals are very easy to prepare and some only require that you remove the wrapper.

And, you aren’t responsible for counting calories or carbs either. This has been done for you by the company. They do ask for you to add a fresh side item in with each meal, but they offer suggestions that make this very easy. And most of the time, this is just a piece of fruit, a prepackaged or bagged salad, or a cup of yogurt, cottage cheese, or pudding.

They have you eating six times per day. Most of the time, this breaks down as a breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and snack. However, you can work out the timing of this however you like. Most people find that it’s just easier (and helps with hunger) to eat every couple of hours or so. This also can help with ketosis and with keeping your metabolism steady also, which I’ll discuss more below.

Nutrisystem Works With A Calorie Deficit Combined With Ketosis: Before I started researching this diet, I assumed that it worked by saving you a lot of calories each day. And, this is part of how it works. But, there’s another mechanism at play also and it’s called ketosis. See, the diet’s food are low in both carbohydrates and calories. They are also high in protein and fiber. These things work together to put your body in fat burning mode or ketosis. This where your body no longer has those excess carbs to burn so it must use your own fat for fuel. And, as gross as this sounds, it’s a good thing in terms of weight loss and how long this whole process takes.

The Foods That You’ll Be Eating On The Nutrisystem Diet: I believe that the biggest strength of this diet is the foods. There are well over 150 food choices and there are a lot of foods included that you don’t typically associate with diets. Examples are things like pizza, fajitas, ravioli, macaroni and cheese, wraps and paninis, nachos, chocolate cake, and sundaes.

And, the diet includes many different program choices depending upon your preferences and objectives. There are programs for both women and men. There is a part time program. And, there are programs for people with diabetes, for vegetarians, and for people who are above 60 years of age. So, some of the foods are omitted in some of these programs for obvious reasons. (For example, the hot dog would not be offered in the vegetarian program.) But, all of the programs have a lot of decent tasting choices.

The Cost Of Nutrisystem: First of all, I have to tell you that there is no monthly fees or membership costs for this diet. You only have to pay for your food. And, there’s no premium for the specialty plans (like the vegetarian and diabetic programs.) Most people opt for one of the monthly packages because it works out to be cheaper. Generally speaking, these packages start at around $299 for the whole month. There are also usually coupons available that will bring these costs down.

Does The Nutrisystem Diet Really Work? Will I Really Lose Weight?: Of course, I can’t predict any outcome without knowing more details. And, common sense will tell you that results will vary. But, there have been some promising clinical studies which show favorable results. And, the company literature indicates that a loss or 2 – 5 pounds per week approaches what is typical or what is approaching the norm. Of course, moving a bit more and being careful to keep your sides low on the glycemic index can all help to ensure that you end up with the results that you want.

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