NutriSystem Challenge: mission accomplished!

Weigh-in (Day 84):


• Tamsin – no change – lost 13 pounds in 12 weeks!
• Eden – -1.6 lbs – lost 25.5 pounds in 12 weeks!

I can’t believe this is the last official post for The NutriSystem Challenge. Tamsin and I have lost a total of 38.5 pounds combined and gained a friendship. It’s been amazing connecting with a member of the community this way. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of her in this space. She has an open invitation to contribute anytime.

Most likely, we will be testing out NutriSystem’s maintenance program. I suspect we won’t be blogging about it weekly but we will have a regular weigh-in and posting schedule sorted out soon.

I am so grateful to the team at com.motion and NutriSystem for asking me to participate in the program. I was nervous at first because I had never done anything like it before. I’d always been uncomfortable with the idea of food supplements and diet food. Not anymore. It worked for me. I feel great and I’m loving every minute.

I’d be lying though if I didn’t acknowledge the psychological component and my prior experience with Weight Watchers – both were critical to my success. I was highly motivated and ready for a drastic change. It was more than the food. If you’re wondering, I’m at exactly the same weight I was at when I became a Weight Watchers lifetime member in 2002. The biggest difference is I lost almost the same amount of weight in half the time with NutriSystem and I didn’t need to go to weekly meetings or public weigh-ins.

I’m looking forward to continuing with some NutriSystem products at least for the short-term. I’ve started altering my bigger clothes and buying new ones so there’s no way I’m prepared to give up my new body or the benefits of being more than 25 pounds lighter – a lot on my barely 5’3” frame.

As for Tamsin, here’s what she had to say…

Hey there
No change for me this week, but I DID start working out with my favourite Goodlife trainer in a Women On Weights (WOW) program for the next 8 weeks. Not sure I'd promote Goodlife, but NS definitely got me pumped to keeping trying with the weight loss and maintenance!! My trainer, who I haven't seen in a year, told me I looked "amazing" and that she almost didn't recognize me. She measured me, and we compared the inches to 1 year ago. Major inches lost in my thighs, calves, and waist combined. Amazing! I credit MOST of that to NutriSystem.

I am eager to keep working out and practicing the eating habits that I picked up from NS - portion control, frequent minimeals, PROTEIN, and water, water, water!

Tamsin

Are there any questions on your mind we haven’t answered? If so, please send me an email or leave a comment. We’ll do our best to help. What we haven’t learned is what it’s like to order the food and receive deliveries as a regular customer. If you have, we’d love hearing from you as that is one of the most frequently asked questions I get whenever people ask me how I lost the weight.

As a final note, we still owe you some pictures of how we look today. It would be awesome if we could have makeovers first à la Stacy and Clinton from What Not to Wear. Being a bit more realistic, spending a few hours with a wardrobe planner at Yorkdale would be awesome. Any takers?

Day 1 of the NutriSystem Challenge

Okay, so the delivery was a bit messed up but Tamsin and I are on track now. We started the program today. I’m on a 3-day training course for work so my routine is out of whack. We tossed around the idea of delaying our start and decided if we did that, we’d always be able to find an excuse. Here goes nothing...

Initial observations:
• Nutrisystem’s website needs to answer more of my questions without requiring me to log in first. I didn’t know how much of my own food I’d be combining with NutriSystem products. Tamsin and I had a lot of questions but we needed to wait for our kits to get answers. Fortunately, I had enough fruit and veggies in the house to get started.

• A lot of reading is required and we’re supposed to watch a motivational exercise DVD. As for me, I read what I needed to know to get going. I did a fair amount of walking– not bad considering the storm we had in Toronto today.

• NutriSystem food comes in colour-coded packages and are easy to sort into meal categories.

• The breakfast and lunch meals are portable.

• NutriSystem assumes everyone who needs to lose weight has a sweet tooth. There’s a ton of breakfast pastries, breakfast and lunch bars a plus a daily dessert.

• The program includes a daily diary. The concept is similar to Weight Watchers but instead of itemizing everything you eat and their point values, you check off items divided into 5 meal categories. Here’s what I ate today:

Breakfast
I didn’t have time to eat breakfast at home. I drank a glass of skim milk lactaid, and grabbed a banana (should have only eaten half) and a NutriSystem Cranberry Orange Pastry (yuck, this sounds much better than it looks or tastes).

Lunch
NutriSystem Chocolaty Raspberry Flavoured Bar (tasted better than your average energy bar), steamed veggies with tofu, shrimp, green beans and green tea.

As much as I wanted to follow the rules, I had to break them the very first day because of my change in routine. I figured it was better to follow as much as I could rather than not starting at all. I skipped the lunch salad and ate my dinner veggies at lunchtime instead. I ended up at a Chinese restaurant so I ordered them steamed. I realized I needed some protein so I had a taste of steamed tofu and about 2 oz. of small shrimp (the sauce was probably a no-no) and some stir-fried green beans with fresh garlic and ginger. I counted this as my fat serving for the day (probably at least a bit more than a teaspoon of oil – oh well!)

Afternoon Snack
½ c unsweetened applesauce.

Dinner
NutriSystem Beef and Mushrooms with Pasta (comparable to Lean Cuisine, bigger portion than I expected), salad with low-calorie dressing, 1/3 c edamame (leftover from snacktime).

Dessert
NutriSystem White Chocolate Flavoured Chunk Cookie (hard and dry but edible).

I had 2 decaf coffees with a splash of 2% milk. (I shouldn’t be drinking milk at all since I’m lactose intolerant, and the program favours skim milk.) I’m still working my way through the 8 glasses of water. I’m used to snacking at night so I guess I’ll fill up with water instead.

Stay tuned for next week’s check-up when Tamsin and I will tell you what happened when we stepped on our scales.

The NutriSystem Countdown - no news

Hey, Tamsin and I would like to tell you how it’s going but it’s not. At least not yet. Hopefully we’ll have some news for you soon.

In the meantime, I probably should buy a scale. Any recommendations?

i like to cook gets thin(ner) has already lost seven pounds in two weeks. I’m jealous.

Food please.

The NutriSystem Countdown - anticipation is keeping us way-ay-ay-ay-iting

Guest blogger and future NutriSystem buddy, Tamsin, shares her thoughts about our upcoming NutriSystem Challenge...

I’m really eager to get started on my NutriSystem adventure. I look at this as an adventure of-sorts because I have never really dieted before -- let alone followed a prescribed menu that comes in little packages. I’m very curious: will it look like astronaut food? Are the scrambled eggs as bad as some bloggers describe? Will I STARVE? I am grazing like crazy these days, as if I am off to Yummy-Snacks rehab! I need to clean house of temptation foods before Day 1.

In anticipation of Finally Getting Started, I’ve thought about some good habits to develop over the next 3 months -- perhaps some of these will even take my mind off the great meals I’ll miss during the upcoming Winterlicious:

• Keep a daily journal. Aside from reporting on my experience and progress through Bargainista, I will keep a daily personal journal. I used to journal religiously, but I somehow lost the habit and have longer planned to get back into it. This is my chance! I’m still not sure if this will be paper or blog, but I look forward to a personal space to clear my thoughts.

[Bargainista: I used to journal when I was on Weight Watchers and worked really well.]

• Drink more water. Surely water intake will be a component of NutriSystem, but I plan to make an extra effort.

• Daily walks. With a new job downtown, I plan to use the great window-shopping as incentive for a quick afternoon walk. Is it too early to dream of a spring shopping spree in a smaller size?

[Bargainista: If you don’t start dreaming now, what’s the point? Dreaming is what motivates me this time around. ; )]