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People often ask me about the pros and the cons of the Nutrisystem diet. I think that people are just looking to get a balanced view of this plan in order to know what to really expect. Most people realize that there are going to be some pluses and minuses to any diet and they just want to be sure that the good outweighs the bad. No diet is perfect. And all diets encourage you to change the foods that you eat and your habits. But some diets make this process more appealing than others. In the following article, I'll outline what I consider some of the good things and some of the bad things about the Nutrisystem diet.
Good Things About The Nutrisystem Diet: The Pluses:
The Food: I personally think that the strength of this diet is it's food. It has tons more choices than most diets and it offers comfort type foods that you normally wouldn't associate with diets like burgers, tacos, pizza, nachos, and candy bars. They offer both the shelf stable and frozen foods and you're allowed to eat five meals per day so that you don't get as hungry as you might on other diets.
The Convenience: Let's face it. Being on a diet is hard enough without having to shop for and prepare your meals also. Frankly, this is one chore that I would prefer to leave to someone else. If I have to put in a lot of time planning, cleaning and cooking my meals, I'm going to be more than likely to throw in the towel and make excuses about the diet being too much work or being too hard. Nutrisystem's meals are all prepackaged. You just usually have to heat them up or remove the wrapper. You don't have to count anything and that includes carbs, calories, or sugars. Basically, they've done a good deal of the work for you and you only have to decide on which foods you want.
The Free And Extensive Support: I'm not really someone who enjoys a group setting. The idea of "weighing in" or of talking to a counselor is not my idea of a good time. I realize that not every one agrees with me. Some people embrace the accountability of face to face interactions but I'm not one of those people. I think that Nutrisystem's support offers the best of both worlds. They offer totally free counseling which you can get online, by email, or over the phone. It's there if you need it and it's not required.
In addition to the counseling, they usually send work out tips or motivational literature or DVDs with your food shipments. Their website is also chock full of pointers, information and support. I like knowing that help is there if I need it but I don't like being forced into it when I'm reluctant. This to me seems to be a nice compromise.
The Gradual But Steady Results: The company literature states that most people lose around 2-3 pounds per week. This might be a conservative estimate but even so, it's a nice gradual pace that's sustainable, still favors dramatic results over time, and isn't one of those drastic crash diets that just aren't healthy over the long term. I'm more comfortable with a life style change that doesn't feel too drastic or unsustainable.
The Bad Things About Nutrisystem: The Minuses: Now, we'll move on to the things which I consider to be not so good (although I have to admit that none of the things are deal breakers.)
It's Not Relatively Free: I recently had someone tell me that the bad thing about Nutrisystem was that "it's not free." I had to respond and ask her what diets were free. She said that many diets just give you guidelines and you make your own meals without having to buy the plan's special food. Admittedly, you are buying the Nutrisystem meals and there's a cost associated with this.
But, if you've ever tried to make your own diet meals, you know that there's a cost there too. Many of the specialty ingredients that are required are by no means cheap. By the time you pay for groceries and gas, most of the time, you're actually not saving as much by "doing it yourself" as you might think. I think my time is worth something also. If I waste an hour or two shopping for an preparing five meals per day, then that's time I can't really get back.
To be fair though, Nutrisystem does have a monthly cost associated with it. But, you're only looking at $10 per day before coupons. That $10 covers 5 meals. That's around $2 per meal. I don't find that to be a deal breaker and I personally don't think I could do any better than that on my own, but as you might have gathered I'm not someone who wants to spend a lot of time doing something which could be done for me.
It's Not All That Great For People Who Like To Cook: I realize there are some people who very much enjoy preparing and sitting down to a nice meal. If you're one of those folks who loves The Food Network or the glossy food magazines, you may miss preparing your own meals. Because there's not a lot to do when you're on Nutrisystem in terms of food preparation. Sure, you can spruce up the foods and make a few changes here and there. But this isn't likely going to be the same thing is making meals from scratch.
As you may have gathered, I don't fall into this category and I'm perfectly happy with letting someone else do the work, but I have friends who really do consider food to be a sort of hobby and I know that just relying on their microwave for a while wouldn't be all that appealing. For me though, that's a blissful idea. Everyone is different.
So Do The Good Aspects Of Nutrisystem Outweigh The Bad?: For me they do. I'm certainly willing to live with not cooking for a while and coming up with around $8 - $10 per day for that convenience. I don't find this diet to be particularly painful or hard to maintain. And, for me, it's the results that really matter. And I find the results to be worth any sacrifice.
Ava's Nutrisystem Review Website features comparisons, tips, reviews, videos, coupons ($100 off or weeks of food for free), information on the counseling, and FAQs related to success on Nutrisystem. She also offers a free ebook ("Getting The Most Out Of Nutrisystem") to help you get started. You can visit her at http://celebrity-diet-review.com/.
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