NutriSystem? Time to Get Serious

Okay, it's now time to get serious about my weight. It's a health thing. Sure, I'd like to look better and feel better in my clothes. But the big thing is, I like to live an active life and when every joint in my body hurts, it's hard to move. And sitting makes it worse.

Please do not tell me to take tumeric, or to cut out bread or to try Tai Chi. The fact is, I am at least 50 pounds overweight and no matter how I cut the mustard, the first order of business is going to be to relieve my joints of this extra baggage. And I want to do it as fast as I can.

I have been a Weight Watcher member for at least 30 years. It's a great program for someone like me who loves to cook. But it is pretty tough when you live with a really picky eater who has a requested change to everything you cook because he only eats about 20% of the foods that farmers can put on our tables. So, honestly, I am tired of the battle of meal planning and cooking and serving. Plus Weight Watchers is slower than molasses in January. Members "can expect to lose 1/2 to 1 pounds a week'. At least that's the last I remember hearing. I went to their site to look for an update on that, but couldn't find it anywhere. And, in fact, even in the FAQs, after clicking through "more" about twenty times, it still didn't come up. Hmmm. What's the first thing I want to know about a weight loss program? How much weight can I expect to lose?

I've done Jenny Craig and was pretty successful, but it, too, is pretty expensive and not very flexible if you have special occasions where you don't need to buy 21 meals a week.

My doctor has really been encouraging me to go on the Opti-Fast program that they sponsor (but insurance doesn't cover). First thing he said, though,was that I would need to cut back on my exercise because it's under 1,000 calories a day. No, I want to move. And it's hardly any chewing (mostly shakes) and it's really, REALLY expensive. But it is fast.

I checked out Ideal Protein after a friend of mine had great success on that program. But the person who runs our local program here didn't impress me at all. And again, it is expensive, and there are no provisions for days off. When I mentioned a planned three-day vacation, she suggested that I take my shakes with me. And while you cannot have store bought barbecue sauce or salad dressing, you can buy theirs, which is, of course, extra.

So, after being inundated with commercials, I checked out NutriSystem and decided to give it a try. Good price, and while I had heard in the past that the taste of the food was pretty questionable, I'd also heard that the newer, frozen food was pretty good. So I took the plunge. and now, you're going to take it with me.😀

I received my non-frozen portion within two days of ordering. Cool!! Breakfasts: Good. Lunches: Not too bad. Dinners: pretty yucky. Although, with free vegetables, I doctored them up to be palatable.  But, I was excited to be able to try the frozen food. And that's where the snag hit.

While the website is screaming at me constantly to buy more food, they can't even manage to ship the frozen portion of my first shipment out of their warehouse. It has been 8 days since I ordered it and still nothing. I have chatted with them every day (until today, when they have disabled their chat capability) and I have called them three times, each time being promised the food would ship the next day. Still, no shipment. I do seem to losing weight, though, and I will update you on that after I have completed my first week. So far, here is my rating of the program on a scale of 1-10:

Weight Loss: ? Stay tuned
Food: 5
Customer Service: 5 (assuming they re-enable their chat)
Warehouse and Shipping: 1

Keep in mind that if I never get the food, it will be hard to stay on the program........