I guess if you look at it in terms of pounds lost, smaller clothing worn, and lifestyle changes, most would consider my Nutrisystem journey to be a success. I have lost most of the weight that I wanted to lose and have kept it off. And, I’m reasonably confident that I will be able to maintain this and not regain the weight. I also look at food in a much more healthy and less obsessive way.
So, the other day, a coworker asked me what my secret was. Because, she knew someone else who had been on this diet who had not had the same sort of lasting success. I think that she suspected that I skipped meals or didn’t add in the sides with each meal or was exercising in a way that was dangerous or unhealthy. None of these things was true. There might be a few things that have helped contribute to my success. I’ll let you decide if you want to call them “secrets” or not. But, I’ll share them in the following article.
Is The “Friendly Glycemic Index” The Secret To Nutrisystem?: Most experts will tell you that this diet is mostly effective because the carb to calorie to protein ratio of the foods that they give you are such that they encourage ketosis. This makes your body burn more fat for fuel since it doesn’t have free reign on continuous carbs (that you likely had been providing previously.)
Now, I will certainly concede that this most certainly helps. I mean, less calories in and more calories burned or out is all very well and good and I know that this does work. But, adding in a little additional fat burning can only help and can sometimes offer quicker and better results. This is always a good thing because it’s the results that keep you wanting to continue on. Very few people are going to stay on a diet and tough it out when they aren’t getting the pay off of the results. So yes, the glycemic consideration does help. And, I firmly believe in it – so much so that in the beginning stages of the diet I was never without ketone strips to make sure that this diet was doing it’s job and getting me in ketosis.
What I Think Is The Real Secret To Nutrisystem (And To Those Who Lose A Lot Of Weight On It:) As I hope you can see, I very much appreciate the low amount of carbs in these foods, but I think that the real key to this diet runs a little deeper. I believe the real secret to success with this diet is that the maker’s understand the psychological hurdles that dieters face. The company seems to really understand the realities that no one wants to talk about.
What I mean by this are things like this: I am inherently lazy. I don’t want to have to “work” too hard for the results. Yes, I’m willing to change what I eat somewhat. I know that I won’t be eating my favorite meals every single day at every single meal. But, I can’t deny that I want to enjoy what I’m eating. I want to be able to look forward to a meal every once in a while. And, I don’t want to be kept away from foods and desserts that I actually enjoy very much. I mean, I don’t want to have to say goodbye to burgers and chocolate cake forever.
I also do not want to be a gourmet cook. It shouldn’t be difficult to come up with the foods that are going to help me lose weight. I remember trying to learn how to make a cheese cake with an almond crust for the zone diet. The cake was good but it took me about two hours to make it and I knew when I was enjoying it that I would never put in that effort again. Working that hard is just not sustainable over any length of time.
The company seems to understand this because they do most of the work for you. They provide most of the foods that you’ll consume. They’ve already counted the sugars, carbs, proteins and calories. They’ve listed every thing out for you so that you don’t have to guess at when or how or what to eat. They’ve provided free counseling that requires only that you log on to your computer or pick up the phone to use it. In short, they anticipated every objection or difficulty that you might have and have either eliminated it or fully addressed it.
Finally, if I had to define what I do that I would classify as my “secrets,” it would only be a few things. To me, the real key to this whole thing is choosing your foods well. (I always go with the custom package so that I can hand pick what I want.) I know that as long as I’m happily eating the foods, I’m not going to be temped to go off my regimen. And, sure, the Nutrisystem pizza, burgers, and chocolate aren’t exactly what I’d be eating off the diet, but they are acceptable, pretty good tasting, and they mean my jeans continue to get smaller. I still purchase ketone strips because this makes me know that I’m going to be accountable when I cheat.
And it finally got through my hard head that working out even just a little bit was going to make this go a lot faster. I will never love the gym and I will probably never go. So, I accept this about myself in the same way that I accept my being lazy about cooking. Instead, I just power walk after dinner or I walk home from my son’s school after I drop him off. This is five miles and it was hard at first, but now, I actually enjoy this and reload my MP3 every weekend in anticipation for the week ahead.
