I had never heard of Nutrisystem until earlier this month, but now that I have, I swear it’s everywhere. On television, in magazines, and even on other blogs. Looking back now, I suppose it’s possible that I had seen the commercials and ads before, but that I had discounted it as something that would be too expensive or wouldn’t work for real women – you know, the kinds with families to feed that don’t have time to prepare two separate meals.
But, having read all the blog reviews recently, it does appear that the system does work for real women – and women I know personally. The basis of the Nutrisystem program is that it includes pre-packaged and pre-portioned meals that make it possible to eat the right amounts with no counting calories, hiring a sous chef, or going broke. Trust me when I say I wouldn’t believe it worked if I didn’t trust the bloggers who were posting about it.
I got to try a full day’s worth of food from the Nutrisystem diet and left with two thoughts. The first is that it was rather difficult for my daughter to not move in on my meal. Even if I had prepared her a full {and delicious-looking} meal beforehand, as soon as my food was done, she was right there begging for bites. The second is that some meals were certainly better than others, and I was surprised by which ones I liked and which I could have done without.
It should be noted that I did not get to choose my meals. They were chosen for me by the ad agency, and I had no idea what I was getting until I opened my package. That being said, there were a few items I would have never picked for myself, and thus aren’t likely to become a favorite any time soon, which is more of a personal preference than a reflection on the quality of the food itself. I tried out three meals – a breakfast, lunch and then a dinner – as well as two snack/dessert items. I really, really loved that each package was color-coordinated, making it easy to see what was intended for what meal.
For breakfast I tried out the Sweetened O's Cereal and thought that is was pretty good. Not overly sugary and not mushy when added to water, but it also wasn’t anything spectacular. It pretty much tasted just like I thought it would, but the real surprising thing to me was the portion size. After looking at the package it became very clear that I had been pouring myself too much cereal until that point, akin to a serving and a half, which probably wasn’t doing me any favors when trying to lose the baby weight.
For lunch I tried out the Split Pea soup and thought I would hate it. I had decided at a young age that I did not like split pea soup and had successfully avoided it in my adult life. I was really surprised to find that I actually like the Nutrisystem Split Pea Soup, and so does my daughter {who ended up eating nearly half of my serving}. Who knew?
Then, for dinner I had the BBQ Sauce Over Beef and found it to be kind of bland. It should be noted that the food I received was a shelf-stable variety, and in practice I tend to avoid these types of meals because I really prefer my meals to not be covered in sauces or have extra sodium, which are usually prevalent in shelf-stable foods. While the BBQ Beef wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t my normal faire. That being said, if eating it would allow me to lose tens of pounds, I would do it.
Surprisingly, I ended up hating the snacks and desserts. I tried the chocolate pudding and a snack bar and thought they both were too sugary and the snack bar had a strange texture. Seeing as how I was really looking forward to the snacks because I had heard so many great things about them, I was a bit disappointed to find that they weren’t for me. Not surprisingly, though, my daughter loved them both. I certainly wouldn’t purchase them for her or anything, but it’s something to note if you tend to have the tastes and likes of a two year old.
For those of you looking into the Nutrisystem program, it does come in different varieties for men, women, diabetics, and more, thus giving you the variety to choose from. There is also the option of upgrading your meals to their “Nutrisystem Select”, a program I’m sure I would have preferred since it has frozen and fresh ingredients to choose from. The Select program offers a more premium experience than the one I have detailed here, and something that I think would ultimately be an easier Nutrisystem program for me to stick to in order to lose weight.
That being said, I really love that everything is already set for you with Nutrisystem – you don’t have to measure portions, count calories, or buy pricey diet foods – and that everything is extremely easy to prepare. Since I don’t get a lot of time to myself to think about and prepare meals, sometimes my diet suffers because of it, so I love the idea of a plan that takes all the guesswork out of dieting!
Find out more at http://www.tvtopten.com/nutrisystem.html
With beach season just around the corner, one lucky Rave and Review reader is going to enjoy sampling some Nutrisystem meals for themselves!
The winner for the giveaway will receive the following:
• Mexican Style Tortilla Soup
• Cajun Style Chicken & Sausage with Rice
• Double Chocolate Almond Cookie
• Chocolate Chip Scone
• Choc Peanut Butter Bar
To Enter: Simply tell me what your experience with Nutrisystem is
And, as always, there are extra entries available!
1) Subscribe to Rave and Review, top of right sidebar (2 extra entries, must be verified to count)
2) Like TV Top Ten on Facebook
3) Tweet about this Giveaway after following us both (daily Tweet, just post link here)
Beach season diet time! Win some Nutrisystem meals from @raveandreview and @TVTopTen click here to find out more http://bit.ly/flMb6q!
4) Blog about this Giveaway with links back to this post as well as the www.raveandreview.com homepage (just post the URL where I can find your writeup)
5) Place my button or logo in your sidebar on your blog or website (2 extra entries, must have an active link to R&R)
6) Comment love. Enter any of my other Giveaways and/or comment on any non-giveaway post!
7) Email love. Share this Giveaway with friends and family via email and cc Leanne (at)raveandreview (dot) com (I will never, ever contact your email recipients)
8) Vote for Rave and Review on Top Baby Blogs, logo in right sidebar (daily entry, just tell me what rank R&R has)
On May 2nd at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn via Random.org, announced here and notified via email. Winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen. Giveaway open to US Addresses.
Winner, winner! This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who entered and congrats to #90 tina page said... i like tvtop10 on fb(tina wofford page)
A big thank you to TV Top 10 who provided the day worth of Nutrisystem to check out. All opinions are 100% ours and no form of monetary compensation was received in exchange for this review.