Week: 0 – My Nutrisystem Food Arrives! #NSNation

I’m so excited!  My Nutrisystem food arrived and I’m getting ready to get back on track :)

I’ve been feeling… well… big.  You know how you feel when you’ve gained weight? Just… big.

Slowing down, tired, less energy… just… big.

Well, those days are going to be behind me!  If you’ve been reading KLY for awhile, you know I was on Nutrisystem before and lost 20 pounds :)  Ah….  It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I expected it to be.  Once I got going on the program, times go by so fast, and the 20 pounds was gone.  Because I was used to smaller portions and eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies, the weight stayed off for months.  But, over the summer, I fell into old habits and we did a lot of snacking.  Even Rosie’s doctor commented that we needed to start watching better with her weight.  It’s Fall, Rosie’s in school and she’s already dropped some of the “baby” fat.  I think she had a height spurt as well, and she’s at a healthy weight.  Now it’s time for me to make weight loss a priority.

That is the key for me – making weight loss and healthy eating a priority.  If I don’t pay attention, if I don’t make a conscious effort, the weight will slip back on.  My whole life, weight control has been a challenge.  Nutrisystem is a good program for me – the food is easy to prepare and there is a set number of side dishes (vegetable, fruit, dairy and protein) that you can have everyday.  It allows me to focus on my diet but because there is a program, I don’t have to think about what to eat, when to eat, etc.  I have to give attention and focus, but not necessarily time.

If you’re wondering how Nutrisystem works, I’m on the plan that is part frozen and part shelf-stable (not frozen).  When I order the shelf-stable, I choose 18 breakfasts, 18 lunches, 18 dinners, and 18 snacks.  I have a choice among all the Nutrisystem options and can get 18 of one breakfast, or 1 of each of eighteen breakfasts.  I hope that make sense.  I have three favorites – the banana nut muffin; the cluster crunch cereal and lowfat granola cereal.  Because I don’t like making choices, especially in the morning, and don’t really need variety, I get multiples of one type of meal.

As you can imagine, 18 days of food is going to be a big box!  It depends of course, on what you order – a banana nut muffin is bigger than a packet of pancake mix :)  but as an example, here’s a picture of my box of goodies.

All the Nutrisystem food packaging is color-coded for the meal.  Breakfast is blue, lunch is green, dinner is red and snack is pink.  It’s easy to instantly see what category you are looking at.

When the food is packed, the Nutrisystem elves put it into categories for you, in cardboard trays.  You could just take the trays straight out of the box and put it into your pantry.

But, I’m all about “pretty”, so I like to put mine in baskets.  Also, I keep my Nutrisystem separate from the rest of the food in the house.  There’s just something psychological about not-seeing the other food that helps me not crave it.  I also keep my weight loss/healthy food in a place that’s easy to grab.  It sounds crazy, but for awhile I tried keeping it in the pantry on the bottom shelf.  Fail.  I would grab something right in front of me, rather than bend down and search for the Nutrisystem.  *sigh* Like with kids, sometimes you have to abandon efforts and just go with what works!

In the box is also a “Meal Planner” where you plan your meals and write down what you eat.  Have you ever kept a food journal?  Writing down everything I eat is one of the biggest tools to weight loss in my toolbox.  It creates accountability tracking for me, and I need that.  In the “Meal Planner” there are also options for the side dishes (vegetable, fruit, dairy and protein) so I’ve started my grocery list.  I’ll share that too in a later post and show you how much it costs.

My frozen food hasn’t arrived yet, but I’ll share pictures with you when it does.  I’m on my way, and it feels good!