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NutriSystem is the diet program you see advertised on television all the time – they ship you three meals and a snack for each day of the program, and you lose weight. I’ve considered it a few times – mainly for the convenience- all the meals are pre portioned, some are frozen, others require that you add milk or water, or fresh fruit to prepare. The cost has always deterred me from getting on board, but I decided to take a closer look to see if maybe it would actually end up saving MONEY as well as pounds!

The NutriSystem Advanced program features over 120 menu selections. Slightly different menu’s exist depending on the program you select: Women’s, Women’s Silver (for older women’s needs) Men’s, Men’s Silver, Vegetarian and the Diabetic program.

NutriSystem Advanced features meals that have low glycemic index carbohydrates, the “right” amounts of protein and fiber, and are low in fat. You eat 5 small meals/snacks per day to keep hunger cravings from causing you to overeat and ruin your progress. It’s a 5-day Flexible program, meaning you eat Nutrisystem meals for 5 days and you eat your own selections the other 2 days.

You get 28 days of food with the auto-delivery program, as well as two or three free weeks (depending on the promotion you sign up with. For the purposes of this article we’ll go with the two weeks free).

When they say a free week, they mean 5 days of food. So you end up getting 38 days worth of food, for the price of $199 (plus shipping, however when I filled out the form to find out how much shipping costs, I was given free shipping under the current promotion).

38 Days of Food for $199 = $5.24 per day.

I’m pretty sure I currently eat more than $5.24 worth of food in a day, especially given the price of groceries. Even if I need to add milk, fresh fruit and veggies to some of the meals, I’m certain my price for food per day is going to be less using NutriSystem than it is trying to buy and prepare healthy meals myself.

Not to mention the convenience factor of not having to measure and weigh for proper portion sizes – which is difficult for most of us.

At first, I wondered why I would want to order the food through NutriSystem, rather than just grabbing frozen SmartOnes or Lean Cuisine meals at the local grocery store – but even if I ate those three meals a day and buy them on sale – you’re looking at about $8 minimum per day and the variety is a lot less than what you have to choose from with NutriSystem. 

I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to do NutriSystem or any prepared food program for very long – but for 2 or 3 months to jump start weight loss, save money, and with a high level of convenience- it’s looking like a viable option.



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