25-06-2007 22:26

Nutrisystem - Does It Work?

NutriSystem is a portion-controlled weight loss program. They started out with "bricks and mortar" weight loss centers, but some years ago changed strategy and became on-line only. While being similar to Jenny Craig - NutriSystem has one major advantage - it is far more affordable.

How Does Nutri System Work?

The Nutri System Nourish program provides an on-line analysis to calculate your calorie requirements. From this, your meal plans can be calculated and they will begin to ship all your meals to your door. This kind of weight loss program has distinct advantages:

• Sustainable weight loss of around 2 pounds per week.
• Based on the Glycemic Index
• All meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert) are provided and delivered to you (free shipping on 4 week food orders). Note that you may want to add some fresh fruit and vegetables to your meals.
• On-line support available with membership in the program (including chat and one-to-one counseling sessions).
• Yes - a weight loss counselor will actually phone you once you've subscribed.
• Portion controlled - low fat, controlled carbohydrate, and protein. For most women calorie amounts will be 1200 per day (although this may vary up to 1500 per day for very active women, and men).
• Free membership to all aspects of the program (you only pay for the food).
• Programs for Men, Women, Vegetarians, and Diabetics.
• Free exercise program and meal planner.

Who Is It Good For?

The idea behind the NutriSystem diet is to provide a healthy portion controlled diet, for a short time frame, to get you back on track.

Whether the food is better or worse than Jenny Craig is a matter of personal taste and opinion - but certainly the cost makes it a favorable choice.

If you want a comprehensive weight loss program where you don't have to worry about cooking, shopping, counting points or calories, or figuring out meal plans - then NutriSystem is recommended.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is It Safe For Diabetics / High Blood Pressure / Heart Disease?
Nutrisystem claim they have a lot of diabetics on the program who do very well and experience better health on the program. The program meets the American Dietetic Association's guidelines for sodium, cholesterol, and saturated fat.

What Food Is In The Program?
There are hundreds of meals to choose from. To see what exactly there is, go to NutriSystem and click on the Men's Program or Women's Program. You can choose any foods you like, or pick a pre-made "favorite-foods" selection.

Shelf-life for the baked goods is 6 months. For the other foods it is up to 18 months (due to the airtight containers).

What is Nutrisystem Silver?
Nutrisystem Silver is a program aimed at men and women over 60 years of age - which comes with a supply of multi-vitamins.

What Are The Downsides?
They can sometimes temporarily substitute food items based on availability. This generally only happens during times of great demand, and NutriSystem will inform you by email of any substitutions - this only occurs to prevent delaying of shipment.

Do They Honor The 30-day Money Back Guarantee?
Yes they do. We have spoken with customers who have been unhappy - and have received a refund on unused food. However, during times of high demand (such as the new year), their customer service department can sometimes be overloaded, and it may take time before your refund is actioned.

source:

http://www.freedieting.com/nutrisystem.htm

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23-06-2007 23:25

NutriSystem: A Complete Review

NutriSystem : A Complete Review

NutriSystem Inc. has experienced the strongest growth ever, announcing a massive 768% increase in revenues (3rd Qtr 2005). That's amazing considering Weight Watchers revenue rose just 5%. Nutrisystem began as a series of bland bricks-and-mortar weight loss centers in the 1970s, who went bankrupt in the 1990s, and are now a completely successful on-line offering (although they have just purchased a number of "Slim-and-Tone" fitness centers).

What's so good about NutriSystem?

So why? Why are so many people embarking on this diet?

The NutriSystem Nourish program is all about convenience. They sell pre-packaged (heat and eat) meals from their website and ship them to your door. They have an ongoing deal that will supply one weeks free food with every 4 week order (see the free deal here). This amounts to $280 for 5 weeks food. In an age where foods are chosen according taste, price, and convenience - it should come as no surprise that Nutrisystem is so popular. This is effectively fast food for weight loss. If you are not prepared to eat processed food (i.e. increased sodium), then this is not for you.

With the autoship option, the price gets cheaper each month, going from $280, to $270, to $260 and so on.

Jenny Craig vs Nutrisystem

Both of these diets are about pre-packaged foods and portion-controlled weight loss. Jenny Craig charges a membership fee (which requires signing a contract). Nutrisystem has no such contract and membership is free. Jenny Craig allows you to visit with a counsellor, whereas Nutrisystem only offers phone counselling.

What's not so good?

According to one survey, the average customer stays for 9.5 weeks. This shows that NutriSystem is useful for getting back on track, but it is not a permanent answer. After finishing your stint with Nutrisystem you must go back to preparing your own meals - and this is a critical time (and an issue with every on-and-off diet).

I've also seen one person complaining about food being substituted when she had requested specific meals. However this only happened during a peak time (the New Year Resolution weight loss frenzy) - and it seems that Nutrisystem were completely overloaded with orders.

Those Ads

Nutrisystem is well known for it's advertising - particular the TV commercials. One in particular featured a customer - seen catching a bouquet at a mock wedding -- wearing nothing but a bikini and high heels. Cheesy for sure - but at least the woman (37 year old Sheila Duren) was a genuine customer (via Businessweek). Although the ad did tend to portray unrealistic expections (despite the *Results not typical caption). A further commerical had a woman going supermarket shopping wearing nothing but her underwear - very tacky indeed.

What people are saying about Nutrisystem

The taste of the food is... well... a matter of taste. Here are two comments:

"I find the food very good and actually good value considering all- I am never hungry and enjoy this diet very much..."

"I couldn't stand Nutrisystem but was able to get a partial refund. I had to call them and get a return number and follow the instructions they emailed. They were really quite nice about everything, considering I told them I didn't like their food's taste and consistency."

Nutrisystem is pre-packaged food. It's never going to taste like whole fruits and vegetables.

Diet and Nutritional Aspects

The Nutrisystem diet is based around the glycemic index. They have options for men, women, diabetics, and vegetarians. Typical daily calorie amounts will vary from 1200 to 1500, and each days food consists of 3 meals and 2 snacks. The macro-nutrient ratios are approximately 55% carbohydrates, 25% protein and 20% fats. The have 2 additional programs for women and men over 60 - the only difference here is the addition of one months supply of a multivitamin-mineral.

A typical day might look like this (according to spokeswoman Zora Andrich).

"Breakfast is frosted shredded wheat with skim milk and a banana. Lunch might be salad with some mashed potatoes. I snack on soy chips, and dinner is vegetable lasagne"

So it seems that people do add some fresh fruit and vegetables into the mix - and indeed Nutrisystem recommend adding 4½ cups.

Alcohol should be avoided, but tea, coffee, and diet sodas are okay.

Exercise is fully recommended with beginner, intermediate, and advanced workout plans available.

So... will you lose weight?
Strictly follow a 1200-1500 calorie diet - such as Nutrisystem, and most people will lose weight. It's a simple formula of reducing energy intake. How long the weight loss will continue is something that cannot be easily answered. This is the same with virtually every diet - you reach a plateau and something will need to change (changing exercise patterns, lifting weights, changing nutrient ratios, etc.). However an appraisal of most opinion sites on the web show that people (a) Definitely lose weight with Nutrisystem and (b) Tend to get tired of the food after 2-3 months.

Source:

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2005/11/15/nutrisystem_a_complete_review.php

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23-06-2007 02:11

NutriSystem lures men with pizza, sex

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Nate Griffin, a former Army sergeant, watches what he eats. He's even tried juice diets to shed pounds. But ask him if he'd join a group to talk about weight loss and he cringes.

"To talk about a diet means you're really weak in a certain area," said Griffin, a personal trainer in a Philadelphia suburb. "It's like saying 'I need this group to help me beat that."'

A new advertising campaign is taking a different approach, focusing instead on sports metaphors, confidence and -- sometimes -- sex.

"Since NutriSystem, my sex life is excellent," a male dieter says in one testimonial that claims a loss of 62 pounds.

The new campaign by NutriSystem Inc. was designed to appeal to men who want to lose weight but who don't like groups, counting calories or laborious food preparations. After many focus groups, the Horsham, Pennsylvania-based company realized guys required a different approach.

The company dangles this lure: They can eat pizza, burgers and pasta. NutriSystem's portion-controlled meals are microwavable. There are no group meetings and they can diet at home, privately.

"Seventy million people are on a diet -- 20 million are men," said Djordje "George" Jankovic, NutriSystem's president and chief operating officer. "It's a huge market."

Founded in 1972, NutriSystem operated mainly as weight-loss centers offering packaged meals. After a bankruptcy in 1993 and management and ownership changes, a new team put the company on its own diet, closing centers and moving into direct sales to consumers, with updated packaging, improved food and aggressive marketing.

Its new pitch is to offer free support for customers who pay for the food, and it is planning to target seniors soon, too, by offering foods infused with more vitamins as well as gingko biloba and green tea.

NutriSystem still faces an uphill battle for market share, though. It wasn't named by dieters in an October survey by NPD Group, a market research firm, because other programs or eating plans had more participants.

A report last year on diet programs by Consumer Reports, which didn't include NutriSystem, gave Weight Watchers the highest marks. This month, EDiets.com Inc. kicked off a premium food delivery service called FreshCuisine. And Jenny Craig Inc. began its own meal delivery service last year.

Source:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/diet.fitness/01/30/diet.nutrisystem.ap/index.html

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21-06-2007 21:51

TODAY'S FOOD REVIEW: LUNCH

NutriSystem Vegetarian Pasta Salad

I served this pasta salad to my mom. At first, I didn't tell her it was NutriSystem. And guess what? She actually thought it was homemade!

To get a second set of taste buds' opinion, I asked if her if she thought it tasted like a light or diet version of pasta salad ... The verdict: not at all. I'm glad she liked it. Perhaps there's still a chance she'll join me on the plan (fingers crossed).

You definitely need to chill this salad before you serve it. It does say on the package to serve it cold, but mom has sensitive teeth, so I thought maybe I'd skip it. I tasted it at room temperature and it wasn't impressive at all. But chilling it a few hours in the fridge made all the difference in the world.

I thought it looked really appetizing, too. Check out the photo! As you can see, it's a generous portion.

I thought this lunch was delicious. It is tasty and tangy. The vegetables have a good texture. The pasta is just firm enough and the dressing has a real zip.

The salad includes red bell peppers, kidney beans, corn, and black olives. It was much more satisfying than I expected. I didn't reach for my snack for hours!

Give it a Try!
Many of you have asked if there is a way to try NutriSystem Nourish without investing the initial $300 for 28 days of food.

Source:

http://weightloss.about.com/library/nutrisystem/blnsday29.htm

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21-06-2007 21:47

NutriSystem Powers Nourish Brand With Full-Scale Marketing Initiative

Destined to be one of the biggest breakthroughs in dieting this year, NutriSystem (OTC BB: THIN) has rolled out a full-scale marketing initiative to power the new NutriSystem Nourish brand.

The NutriSystem brand has been dormant for the past 10 years. Now, under new management, the reinvented brand is backed by an aggressive marketing push to open new sales and marketing channels. With a new integrated advertising campaign, the signing of reality TV star Zora Andrich as a spokesperson, and America's escalating interest in low-carb eating, NutriSystem Nourish has sprinted out of the gate.

"We spent 2003 testing various marketing vehicles and studying our consumer through a series of focus groups, surveys and quantitative research while developing the new NutriSystem Nourish program," said NutriSystem President George Jankovic. "The reason 2004 is so very exciting for us is that we are rolling out a comprehensive marketing campaign that we feel will be very effective.

"Our new television creative responds to the demands of today's dieter, focusing on the benefits of our convenient, good-carb, low-fat program. We feature Zora Andrich along with lots of other people who are excited about NutriSystem Nourish. In addition, we have dropped a direct mail series and will begin a print advertising campaign this March.

"We've also had great success in the public relations arena raising awareness for NutriSystem. The media has been very responsive to both of our spokespersons -- reality television star Zora Andrich and former CNN diet and nutrition correspondent Carolyn O'Neil. In the past 90 days, we have achieved over 55 million media impressions including placements with The View, People, US Weekly, and the cover story of this week's Woman's World (February 24 issue)."

Cathy Cassidy was one of the original leaders in NutriSystem's sales and client services area and was responsible, in part, for the explosive growth of NutriSystem in the '80s. Cassidy has recently returned to the company as a key player in the launch of the new NutriSystem Nourish brand. Cassidy also serves as the "voice of the NutriSystem client" and is the NutriSystem spokesperson on QVC.

"We've become one of the top sellers in the QVC health category," said Cassidy, vice president of NutriSystem sales and client relations. "We have been on air monthly with some exciting promotional opportunities. For example, we were featured as 'Today's Special Value' on January 1, the optimal time for New Year's diet resolutions and QVC's biggest health and fitness day of the year."

The NutriSystem business model has changed from the old weigh-in centers to an at-home model where consumers order their food online, or by telephone, and it's shipped right to their front door. Accordingly, the importance of nutrisystem.com and its online affiliations has increased dramatically.

"The NutriSystem website has been entirely redesigned and rewritten to speak to today's busy and demanding consumer," said Cassidy. "Our new site is much more dynamic, easier to navigate and provides consumers with much more information than ever before.

"We have partnered with some of the heaviest hitting online giants to expand our reach by millions of consumers. For example, we are currently a featured partner on the eDiets home page. We gain even more consumers each month through our keyword marketing initiative with partners like Google and Overture. Our internet focus for 2004 is to continue to build nutrisystem.com traffic with additional online powerhouses."

Founded in 1972, NutriSystem (OTC BB: THIN) is a leading provider of weight management products and services. The Company offers a weight loss program based on portion-controlled, lower Glycemic Index prepared meals.

Source:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_200402/ai_mark116983166

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