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Well, I am here to say that losing weight is not easy! I started the program last Thursday. I received all my pantry ready (not fresh/frozen) on Wednesday afternoon but decided to start with breakfast on Thursday. I just didn’t have time to read all the start-up info either until Thursday morning. I recommend reading at least a day before you start so you can go to the store because more than likely you will not have the required/allowed products in house!
The welcome kit arrived in the box with the dry foods. All the foods are color-coded which makes it nice. Breakfast is blue, lunch is green, dinner is read and snacks are pink. The welcome packet included: a meal planner – which has the daily food tracker, grocery guide and a dining out guide. It also included an On-The-Go Meal Planner which is a purse size meal planner without the food tracker. And a Resource Guide which talks about what Nutrisystem has to offer to help you lose the weight. I love that I call the toll free hotline and actually talk to someone with questions that I have. By day two, I called 3 times! The wait time was usually short too, under 3 minutes.
What stuck out with me is how small the portions are. But after following the guidelines the first day, I went to bed thinking, there wasn’t a point in the day that I was “starving”, I felt full. I did even skip my dessert in the evening. By the time I had dinner and did the kids activities I just didn’t feel like it. Only after talking to a specialist about what type of bread is allowed for the chicken sandwich the next day, did I find out that a dessert must be had at some point in the day. You are not allowed to skip that or really any part of the required guideline. By lunchtime, I had called the helpline, twice asking questions. I was really upset, depressed and questioning whether I really wanted to do this program. Out of 61 vegetable options, I only liked 4 of the options. and considering you need to have 4-5 vegetable servings a day, those were going to get old really fast! I know that this was going to be a big change in the way that I eat but is this the best way for me? I decided to give it a week, to follow the plan and re-evaluate after week one. I know that time is needed for adjusting and getting all the impurities out of my system and retraining my body on what it takes to be full.
Start Total: 178
Week 1 Total: 173
Weight Loss Total: 5
Day 1: Thursday
- Breakfast: Cinnamon Square Cereal, 1/2 cup 1% milk(wasn’t prepared with fat-free milk), blueberry yogurt and a banana. When I poured the cereal I was taken back and thought that’s not even enough for my three year old! But it was good! Not too sweet and crunchy!
- Lunch: Chicken Caesar Salad, egg with parm. no veggies (wasn’t prepared). There was a lot of dressing, more than 2 tablespoons! The chicken, I didn’t care for. It came in a tear package and was moist but still not up to par.
- Snack: yogurt and 2 cuties
- Dinner: Rotini w/Meatballs, 1 cup Broc & Cauliflower w/1 tbsp. fat-free dressing, salad w/2 tbsp. fat-free dressing and 1 tsp. peanut butter. The rotini, I did not like either. It tasted like my kid’s canned spaghetti and meatballs. Although it did have a lot of meatballs.
- Dessert: skipped
Day 2: Friday
- Breakfast: Blueberry Muffin, fat-free milk and a banana. The muffin was harder than I like – definitely not my regular Panera muffin!
- Lunch: Black beans with rice, 1 oz roast beef, 1 cup broc & cauliflower w/1 tsp of ranch dressing and I was bad I had 1 12 oz. coke (not diet). Diet is allowed, but not regular. I just can not drink diet and I just needed to have it! The black beans had a little kick to them. They were better than they looked.
- Snack: Strawberry Yogurt and 2 Cuties
- Dinner: Meatloaf w/mashed potatoes, 10 grapes, salad w/dressing, and 5 olives. The entree was very bland.
- Dessert: Popcorn. Had a bad aftertaste, even the kids didn’t like.
Day 3: Saturday
- Breakfast: Cluster Crunch Cereal, a glass of Fat-Free milk and a banana
- Lunch: Fettuccini alfredo, roast beef, broc & cali, salad, and a coke. Coke is not allowed but I had to have one.
- Snack: Missed
- Dinner: Chicken breast on a whole wheat sandwich thin bun, 1 pickle slice, 1 tsp. ketchup, 1/2 cup green beans, 10 grapes, and 1 tsp. peanut butter. The chicken did not taste like chicken.
- Dessert: Chocolate Carmel Bar. This really smelled bad and would have been better without the caramel taste.
Day 4: Sunday
- Breakfast: Cin. Sq. cereal, yogurt, and 1/2 cup OJ
- Lunch: Pasta with beef, col jack cheese stick. The entree tasted like chili but it wasn’t chili
- Snack: missed
- Dinner: We went out for dinner: I ordered plain grilled chicken, salad and asparagus. Best meal yet!
- Dessert: I splurged and had a piece of cake (we were celebrating!)
Day 5: Monday
- Breakfast: Blueberry Muffin, FF Milk, and a banana
- Lunch: 3 Cheese Pasta with chicken, ham, carrots & broc, salad, and a coke
- Snack: 1/2 glass FF Milk and a slice of cake (after which I gave the rest of the cake away so there was no more temptation)
- Dinner: BBQ w/pork wrap and 5 grapes. I wasn’t really hungry so that was all I had. The wrap as you can see was really runny and very sweet.
- Dessert: skipped
Day 6: Tuesday
- Breakfast: Choc Chip Scone, FF Milk, and 1 cutie. The scone was spongy, not like a Panera scone.
- Lunch: Caesar Chicken salad, ham, veggies, and a coke
- Snack: Missed
- Dinner: Flame-Broiled Beef on Sandwich Thin bun, 2 pickles, ketchup, and veggies. I have never had a freeze-dried burger. I had to boil water to pour on the burger before I could eat it. Surprisingly it wasn’t that bad but a real burger would have been better.
- Dessert: Choc Crunch Bar, FF Milk. something like a Crunch but with a funny taste.
So, after week 1, my weight loss was 5 pounds. Not bad considering I had 2 slices of cake and 3 bottles of coke. By day 3, the feeling of wanting to cry and overall sadness of these being my options to eat went away. I know that this food is a jumpstart to a healthier way of eating, these aren’t going to be my options forever. I know that this is what I need to do to lose 20 more pounds. I just hope that I continue seeing that much loss every week! So please, if you have been on a diet like this and need some encouragement or just want to talk about your experience please leave me a comment.
Want to lose weight and get healthy on Nutrisystem? Join today by calling 1-888-853-4689 or by visiting Nutrisystem Website.
Disclosure: Nutrisystem is providing me with food and access to all of their weight loss materials, free of charge, in exchange for blogging about my experience with their Nutrisystem Nation Blogger Program. All opinions are my own. Individual results may vary.
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