Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Starting Nutrisystem
We made the decision to lose weight in June of 2006 and I looked into joining the Nutrisystem program after seeing the commercials on TV frequently. I was skeptical and questioned how the food would taste, whether we would be able to stick with the program, how many "extras" would we need to get, how expensive it was, and asked myself: how do you cook for yourself AND a family too? I wasn't ready to commit to Nutrisystem's (NS') autoshipment program immediately even though there were significant savings associated with autoship (free shipping, 10% discount). I read up on NS' bulletin boards and e-classes and saw that the same questions were asked over and over again: How many calories do you consume per day? What's the Yellow Book? Can you swap your meals around? What extra foods do you add in? What counts as a protein serving? What's the difference between a vegetable and a salad serving? Does adding milk to your cereal count as your protein (hands down, the question asked the MOST frequently, lol)?
I read up on posts by Jazzman and Graylady - the "old-timers" on the NS bulletin boards who are full of really great information about NS. I even posed a typical newbie question to the support bulletin board: What foods do you REALLY like? The answer? Of course, it depends on your personal tastes but I had read enough to steer clear of the Mashers and I selected foods that I THOUGHT we would like: cereals, pancakes, granola bars, chocolates, meat dishes, beef stew, etc. I had copied and pasted tons of information about how to "spice up" some of the entrees and special NS recipes using the entrees as ingredients (eg Jazzman's Bread Pudding - now one of my all-time favorites) which incorporates the muffins, a protein serving, fruit serving, and a few "free foods". I asked for and received a $15 referral coupon from a NS member that I didn't know and added that to my first order and got my promotional "free week".
I received my package in the mail and opened it with a mixture of trepidation and excitement. It took about a week after placing my order online and I could track it online so that I could make sure to run home and get the box out of the heat when it arrived. The first problem: where to put all the food??? NS foods are all shelf-stable and do not require refrigeration (except for the chocolates that sometimes melt in the summer and simply needs to be put in the fridge for a short while). We had already gone out and bought the recommendations made by the bulletin board members: fat free (FF) milk, salad dressing, veggies, fruit, Laughing Cow cheese (one of the BEST recommendations from the bulletin board), low-fat yogurt, etc. We were ready to get started.
