Hi Carrie,
My mom used nutrisystem and had great results with it for a long time. She started out at around 280 lbs, and lost over 70 pounds using nutrisystem. She really enjoyed the meals and was not hungry due to the fact that the plan emphasizes eating large amounts of vegetables along with every meal. She liked the fact that the food was all prepackaged, leaving nothing up to her, except the addition of the vegetables. Another thing that really helped with her motivation was that for every 10 lbs that she lost, they sent her a little different colored teddy bear with the amount of total weight that she had lost on its belly. She had 7 bears sitting on top of her counter, and she said that looking at them was a good reminder of the progress she was making.
However, after about 6 months or so, she started to get bored of eating the same meals every day, and her progress slowed. She got to a plateau, and eventually stopped using the program. Since then, she's put back 20 lbs of the weight that she lost. I don't believe that this is any reflection on the program itself - the program was successful, and probably the best one that she's ever been on, but her motivation was what changed.
I think the negatives of the program are things like:
* What do you do when you go to a restaurant? You can't really bring boxed microwavable meals with you.
* What do you do when you've reached your goal and are ready to stop using the program? Does it really teach you how to portion for yourself since all along, your meals have come in ready to use packages?
The positives are things like:
* It's very easy to follow
* The employ the usage of an online food log, that helps you track what you're eating and be accountable for every thing you put in your mouth
* They have online support for you when you feel your motivation waning and/or have questions
I hope that helps. If you have any other questions about the program, feel free to ask. I can ask her any questions that you might have and post her responses here.
Good luck,
Doreen