I am receiving 12 weeks of the Nutrisystem® Uniquely Yours plan for myself and my husband in return for our honest review. All opinions are 100% our own.
My husband and I are starting Nutrisystem today — July 4th, 2016 — with a week of Turbo Takeoff.
I have struggled with my weight for my entire life. I have dieted several times and lost weight only to end up gaining it all back within a few years. It is a vicious cycle of dieting, losing weight, then going back to old habits and slowly gaining it all back.
My husband has really never watched what he ate, and only in the last few years has his eating habits caught up with him. He has gained weight and has high blood-pressure and high cholesterol.
Working towards the goal of eating healthier and losing weight, my husband and I are starting the Nutrisystem® Uniquely Yours program. The great thing about Nutrisystem is that they deliver the majority of your meals and snacks right to your door. I will not be responsible for thinking of 12 weeks worth of healthy meals and snacks by myself, which is fantastic!
Goals
My ultimate goal is to lose a total of 90 pounds. My husband would like to lose a total of 20 pounds. Of course I do not expect to lost 90 pounds in just 12 weeks, as that is not only unrealistic but also unhealthy. My goal for this 12 week program is to lose a total of 25 pounds. My husband's 12 week goal is to lose all 20 pounds.
Past Struggles
In the past I have struggled with weight loss programs. This time around I want to analyze what caused the difficulties in the past and figure out what we could do differently this time to ensure our success.
I think that part of the reason that I have trouble sticking to any of the diets that I have tried is that when I diet, I diet hardcore. I am super strict and do not allow myself anything “unhealthy.” Once I do eventually steer off course, which always happens – whether it is because I go on vacation or whether I decide to eat what my husband eats for dinner instead of my “diet” meal – I end up feeling guilty and like a failure. I just give up on the whole thing and go back to my old ways, eventually packing on all the weight I had lost.
One particularly difficult aspect of dieting is sharing a home, and dinner table, with those that are not dieting. It is a struggle to sit next to my husband at the dinner table watching him eat a juicy cheeseburger. Similarly, it is hard to enjoy a non-fat yogurt while hubby is next to me eating a giant bowl of ice cream. I end up feeling completely deprived, and it pushes me closer and closer to caving in and eating what I know I shouldn't.
Setting up for success
This time around I am not going to be so hard on myself. I am vowing to not give up in the event that I do slip up. I will forgive myself, as hard as that is for me, and move forward.
Rather than trying to stick to a ridiculously strict diet plan which leaves no room for indulgences and the foods that we love, hubby and I will be following the Nutrisystem® Uniquely Yours plan. We will get to enjoy everything from pizza to hamburgers. No more feeling deprived!
Although, I think that there will be less temptations in general this time around I have my husband on board to join me in this weight loss journey. With both myself and hubby starting the program, we can support each other rather than tempt each other by eating unhealthy foods.
To prepare for this journey we stopped buying all frozen foods and junk food for a few weeks and set out to use up all that we have in the house. When the first shipment of our Nutrisystem food arrived we got rid of any food that we had in the house that wasn't in line with our plan.
The reason for this is 2-fold. First, we didn't want any food around the house to tempt us and since we shouldn't be eating any of it for the next 3 months anyway, it made the most sense to just get rid of it all. The second reason is basically for practical purposes. Nutrisystem ships out 4 weeks of food at a time which takes up quite a bit of room – especially when you have 2 people in a household on the plan. We simply needed the freezer space and cabinet space to fit all our Nutrisystem food.
Upcoming challenges
Starting a weight loss journey in July poses some unique challenges for us. It's summertime and ice cream is more enticing than ever. With Nutrisystem we get to enjoy snacks such as ice cream sandwiches and whoopie pies. I hope that this will help us to stay away from the ice cream shops this summer!
Later this month we have a 5-day vacation at the Jersey Shore planned. We can bring our food with us since we are staying in a condo with a full kitchen. Nevertheless, it will be very challenging to stay on track during this time. We are going away with friends and we love to dine at the restaurants down the shore.
The Nutrisystem Program
With Nutrisystem we get access to great resources such as The Leaf, the NuMi app, and a weight loss counselor. I am confident that by following the Nutrisystem program we will be able to reach our weight loss goals.
Find out how we did on Turbo Takeoff in next week's post
To find out more about Nutrisystem visit the Nutrisystem website or connect with Nutrisystem on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Youtube.
Nancy at Whispered Inspirations says
07/04/2016 at 6:07 pmMe and my husband are actually on our own journey. It’s great to have the support!
OurFamilyWorld says
07/04/2016 at 9:49 pmGetting support from other family members is very important when you are dieting. I’m glad your husband is joining you on this journey. I have heard a lot of great things about Nutrisystem and I’m sure this will work for you guys. Good luck.
Jess Benoit says
07/05/2016 at 1:25 amI wish you and the hubs all the best! I have been hearing a lot of good things about this Nutrisystem program and it does look interesting enough for me to try it out myself, as well as the hubs. Taking the food with you to the condo is a great plan and will also save you a lot of money since you won’t have to go out to eat the whole time or buy quick, junky foods. We like to take our own foods when we stay anywhere anyway. I can’t wait to see your results!
Helena says
07/05/2016 at 7:45 amRealy great post!
Sad tha my husband can t follow the same food interest ..
He doesnt really like salads healthy dishes..even if he has cholesterol , diabet and hypertnsion and the doctors always warn him to eat moreheathy food, like fruits and vegetables.
Kathy says
07/05/2016 at 12:08 pmGood luck on your journey! I loved Nutrisystem back when I used them. The food was actually really good too and it was simple to keep track of everything. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did.
Lynndee says
07/05/2016 at 12:51 pmI’ve heard so much great stuff about Nytrisystem. Best of luck to you and your husband on your journey to weight loss.
Emily says
07/05/2016 at 6:41 pmCongrats on starting! My boyfriend has been on Nutrisystem for about 2 weeks shy of a year and has lost just over 60 pounds. It’s a great program. It really helped him realize how off his portion sizes were, and the importance of protein and fiber for staying full while on a low calorie diet. Also, don’t be disappointed if you find that some of the Nutrisystem meals don’t fit your tastes. On your next order try ordering things you aren’t sure you would like (or think you won’t like). My boyfriend found that many of his favorite nutrisystem foods are ones that he didn’t think he would like at all.
Allyson becker says
07/08/2016 at 3:38 pmI have to be honest. I wish the very best to you on your journey. But I have been on Nutrisystem. Some of the food was okay. But some of it was not edible. And the pizza is really bad. I hope that you have a much better experience with the food. It just isn’t like it looks on tv.
Terry Poage says
07/10/2016 at 1:40 pmGood luck with your diet. I will be following to see how it is working. I to need to lose weight.
Lauryn R says
07/11/2016 at 11:44 amWhat a wonderful thing for you to do together! 🙂 It definitely helps to have that support. My husband is a gymrat so it really helped having him around tp motivate me to lose my baby weight after our 3 kids. Good luck to you both!
Lisa says
07/11/2016 at 7:40 pmI am so glad to be making a conscious effort with my weight right now. It has taken a long time to come to terms with some things in my life and to be at a peaceful place and I am ready to start caring about myself again over other things that keep me in a dump somewhere (mood wise). I am starting week 2 of Nutrisystem tomorrow and I am so glad to be done with week 1 and I only deviated once with a greek yogurt that I just couldn’t say no to. Other than that, I stuck to it religiously all week and I have had a big loss in weight, which is very motivating! I love this system mostly due to the fact that I am a vegetable fanatic and so this works for me in that respect. I just hope it helps me regain my ability to portion and to eat more through the day in the long-term! My husband is stick thin and could eat 100 burgers a day forever and not gain an ounce, so I am cooking normally for him and my children, even though they eat pretty healthily anyway, I will just be minding my business with those friday night pizza’s or once in a while fries! We’ve got this!
Lisa says
07/14/2016 at 3:56 pmI thought I replied to this, but now I am not so sure if it posted or not because I don’t see it!
Anyway, I am so loving this right now and I haven’t ha any issues with the food – even the pizza is great if you dress it up nice.
I am glad to be done with the shakes, and happy to be on the snacking, and lord knows I like a nice snack of fruit and cottage cheese, so the snacking is really pushing me further than the shakes (not a big chocolate fan, here, though they are still good).
I actually made my own shake today from peanut butter powder, decaf coffee and soy milk with a tiny bit of sweetner. It tasted great and went well for my snack with a tiny bit of popcorn at the movies with the kids!!
My hubs weighs half what I do and he can’t put any on. He could sit here and eat burgers all day, no problem and never gain a lb! He really wants to get fatter, it isn’t happening!
So far I lost 10lbs give or take on Nutrisystem and I couldn’t be happier. If I never lost another lb more i’d still feel like I accomplished something!!
We’ve got this!
Lisa says
07/20/2016 at 3:00 pmBest of luck on your journey. Ive been on NS for 19 months and still love all the food with the exception of maybe two items. I lost 50 lbs and now im just maintaining.
Katelyn Wilkinson says
07/23/2016 at 3:21 amIt’s wonderful you guys can do this together!! I really hope you meet and maintain your goal. How do you feel it’s working so far?