Monday, January 28, 2013

First Loss with NutriSystem

I wasn't sure I was going to blog about my weight loss journey, but I decided, with some prompting from friends, to go ahead and do just that.  On January 12, 2013, I started the NutriSystem program.  

This is actually my third time with NutriSystem, the first being way back around 1988-89, when I lived in Denver.  Back then, they had small storefronts in mini malls, and you went in every week to get weighed and counseled and to pick up your food for the week.  The food was fair, but I wasn't expecting a lot from diet food anyway, and some of the items were tasty.  After about four months on the program, I had lost 30 pounds, which I was very happy about, but I had noticed that I was having cravings for things I had never even eaten before, like raw mushrooms and oysters.  At least twice a week, I found myself buying raw mushrooms and stopping for fried oysters on the way home from work.  Obviously, my body was craving something that I wasn't getting through my NS food, and that concerned me, and I noticed an odd aftertaste from a lot of their foods.  Not long after that, I quit the program.

My second shot at NutriSystem was in 2006, and by then they had online ordering and mail delivery.  The food was all shelf-stable, no refrigeration required, but you still had to provide your own dairy, lean proteins, fruits and vegetables.  I stayed with the program for over a year and lost 60 pounds.  I eventually started eating non-NS food, and left the program again, hoping that I could keep the weight off by eating sensibly.

My plan didn't work so well, and I gained back some of the weight I'd lost.  It wasn't that I was eating a lot of unhealthy foods (though I must admit to some junk food eating), it was the quantity of foods that caused the problem.  So, I'm back on NS again, and the majority of their food is still shelf-stable, but they also have frozen foods available, which I'm thrilled about.  All of their food has been greatly improved, and knowing that I've lost weight on their program before is really motivating to me, so I'll be able to stick with it until I get down to a healthy weight.  I'm not interested in being stick-thin, but I do want to bring my blood sugars down to a manageable level without medication and to just feel better and be more active, so I'm excited about this.  

I'll keep you updated on my progress.  Wish me luck!

Oh!  I forgot to say that I'm only checking my weight every two weeks, and in the first two weeks of the program, I lost 12.2 pounds!  I know the weight loss will slow way down from here on in, but it's a good start :)

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