Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers?

stephaniejoy

stephaniejoy

Active Member
My husband wants to do nutrisystem to try and start losing weight. I did a little research on-line and I am concerned that the food choices aren't the healthiest. Has anyone done Nutrisystem before? If so, have you had success with it?

He needs to lose between 40-50 pounds. I also told him that he needed to start exercising as well but he said he wants to start with the diet part first.

I suggested looking into Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. Has anyone done either of these? If so, have you had success with it.

Lastly, what would you recommend/suggest he do and why -- Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers???? Thanks!

Stephanie
 
nutrisystem isn't good. my mom went on it and lost weight but as soon as she got off of it she gained it all back and more. i tried some of the food and it really isn't that good at all, you could make easily most of the foods they offer and they would be alot better for you. i'm pretty sure nutrisystem is far from natural and clean foods.
 

Years ago I went to NutriSystem. I lost the weight quickly but put it back on almost as fast. I didn't learn true portion control or how to deal with real life situations. I joined Weight Watchers in Nov. 06. I have lost almost 45 pounds and kept off for 2 years. I think WW is more practical, MUCH cheaper and teaches how to make healthy eating a lifestyle you can stick with.
~~Daffie~~
 
Get all the junk food and trigger food out of the house, learn portion control and healthy eating habits :) That will do wonders for his waistline and your wallet :p
 
Jenny Craig used to WORK for Nutrisystem, so their programs are almost identical. And really they just force you to eat their food for a period of time to lose weight. Lots of gross stuff in both.

WW actually teaches you portion sizes and good eating habits. I think by far this is the best way to learn to eat healthier.

ellie
 
Hi Stephanie,

I have done all three plans. With Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem, you eat mostly prepared foods with high sodium content. I lost 20 lbs. with both of those plans that I immediately gained back when I stopped the plan.

I joined Weight Watchers and have kept off the 70 lbs I lost for 2 years. You really do learn portion control. Again, they do have prepared foods but you are in no way obligated to use them. I now enjoy the challenge of finding new, good tasting foods and recipes. Stick to freshly prepared healthy foods and you will benefit from it.

My husband didn't join WW with me. He ate everything I gave him and he lost 65 lbs. without exercise.

Best of luck,

Chris
 
Hey there! I just want to say that I have NOT been on any of those diets...BUT!...My parents did and they were on it for a month, they lost about 20 lbs whihc was good.

BUT they told me the food was horrible and a lot less healthy then they though, it DOES have high sodium.

My mom couldn't stand it anymore, she hasn't gained the weight back that she lost, but she told me she would NEVER eat that food again. Plus..they said it's too expensive! Hope that helps!;):)
 
Another vote for Weight Watchers. It's totally the more sensible approach. The other two are processed crappy food. My friend's hubby was on Nutrisystem and I saw some of the stuff he was eating. Blech....Expensive, too.
 
I've lost 35 pounds so far on Weight Watchers - love the program. It does really teach portion control and promotes living a healthy life style.
 
I would recommend WW. You can do the meetings or on line. Meetings help with motivation. With WW you get to choose real food, where as the others you are eating very processed food. I tried Nutrisystems with a special pricing through Costco. They sent out the food selection. I didn't get to choose. Most of it was dehydrated and you made it come to life with water. I felt like I was eating space food. Just the thought of the food sitting on the shelf for who knows how long turned my stomach and I just couldn't continue eating it. Plus the program requires you have to add in vegetables to meet your calorie and nutrition needs. Well if I could add in that many vegetables, I wouldn't need a weight program, LOL. With Weight Watchers, I did the on-line points program and lost weight. I did get a little discouraged with WW when they dropped the mimimum points from 20 to 18 for someone my size. IMO,18 points (not counting activity points) is not enough points to keep one from wanting to break away from the program.


Good luck with what ever he choses.

Jean
 
None of the above. You should check out Precision Nutrition, which teaches active people how to buy, cook and eat to fuel their workouts. You can actually just follow Dr. Berardi's Ten Rules and get great results but you have to join to get the cookbooks.
 
You might want to try Seattle Sutton. It is complete meals you pick up twice a week. All you add is dairy. You can pick 1200 calorie or 2000 calorie mealplans. You can see if any are near you at www.seattlesutton.com.
No I don't sell this. We actually get the 2000 calories and I split in half with my mother and dh. I get half the breakfast and dh gets 1/2 lunch and 1/2 dinner as his dinner. He eats out at lunch. I am still trying to finish Nutrisystem. It gets old pretty quickly. The Seattle Sutton has five weeks of meals and then starts over. Hope this helps.
 
Another vote here for Weight Watchers. It will let him incorporate his choices into everyday life. I lost over 70lbs using WW on-line & have kept it off for over 4 years now. I never once attended a meeting either. Another good thing is that you can keep track of your points on your PDA or Smart Phone too. Good luck with whatever he chooses!
 
WW!

Big enthusiastic vote for WW! This is the program that gets the weight off & keeps it off because it teaches you why you got fat, how to lose weight & how to keep it of LONG TERM!!!!!! You have to live in the real world, & you can do it with WW.
 
Weight Watchers fan here!! Lost 32lbs and i learned how to keep it off with portion control, eating a good balance diet and exercise! :)
 
I've been a member of WW since June 6th this year. Love it! I've lost 17lbs to date. It's a slow process for the most part - many people want to see more drastic changes on the scale but everyone says healthy weight loss is 1-2lbs per week. The meetings are great (at least in my area) and it's nice to have that accountability of knowing you have to go to "weigh in" once a week. That really does it for me. Last week I had my first gain of 0.6lbs and I was devestated. But it was what I needed to kick my butt back into gear for this week! And I don't eat WW frozen dinners, but sometimes I do buy their bread or wraps from the grocery store. You have to be willing to track everything you eat. My gain came from a week of not tracking to see if I could do it on my "honor"....not so much!! Because I work 2 jobs, I manage to get in 4 workouts per week ranging from 45 minutes to 75 minutes.
Anyway, this is not about me!!! My vote is for WW out of the 3. It's the only program where I know people have had success and kept the weight off.
 
Another vote for WW. I did it for a while and really like the way it made me feel, plus it gives you a good idea of what exercises burn the most calories.
 
Well, Nutrisystem must have changed over the years because I've been on it for 5 weeks and love all the food and the scale is finally moving in the right direction. Plus it teaches you to eat 5-6 smaller meals per day, which is exactly what all the trainers and fitness professionals tell you to do. Moreover,I've lost the most weight on this program than any other program I've tried (excluding the many fad diets I've tried, like HCG).

I lost a tremendous amount of weight on the old WW points system but I gained weight on their newer system, and I'm a lifetime member. So I'm no longer a fan of WW.
 
JoanC said:
You might want to try Seattle Sutton. It is complete meals you pick up twice a week. All you add is dairy. You can pick 1200 calorie or 2000 calorie mealplans. You can see if any are near you at www.seattlesutton.com.
No I don't sell this. We actually get the 2000 calories and I split in half with my mother and dh. I get half the breakfast and dh gets 1/2 lunch and 1/2 dinner as his dinner. He eats out at lunch. I am still trying to finish Nutrisystem. It gets old pretty quickly. The Seattle Sutton has five weeks of meals and then starts over. Hope this helps.
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I was going to suggest Seattle Sutton as well. It's advertised all over here, and while the ads are slightly annoying :p:eek: it seems to look like real food. I think they deliver twice a week, and it's not freeze dried "stuff" And I don't think you have to add anything to it. Veggies, for example.

I've never done it, but I think that would be the one I'd pick, based on the little I know. I don't think it has the support groups like WW does, if that's something you're looking for.

Nan
 
I would also suggest the completely free online program called SparkPeople - great people on the boards there, helps you learn about nutrition and exercise and a healthy lifestyle. It also emphasizes small changes. I really think that is the way to go. Start small, and because you start to feel good, or see changes it helps motivate you to do more and more.

But if the choice is of the three, I would definitely recommend weight watchers - because it does teach about nutrition and portion control.

You might want to mention to your husband that if you only work on nutrition without exercise you can lose 30-40% muscle mass. That might help motivate him to incorporate exercise into his lifestyle. But, I think starting off with small changes (like diet changes) and then incorporating exercise is a great plan. It is great that he wants to have a healthier lifestyle!

- sarah
 
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