Ava Alderman Articles

Welcome to my review website which features many articles about how to have success on the nutrisystem diet. I hope that you find something here that is useful to you and helps you make decisions about, or have success on, this diet. Nutrisystem is a pretty straightforward diet.  There’s no weigh ins, counting calories, or anything to keep track of, really.

Basically you just eat the foods that they send you, add in fresh fruit, dairy, or vegetables, and exercise as you see fit.   You eat three meals and two snacks / desserts per day.  The food is pretty good, but the gourmet and select line is a little better.  One thing that I find really cool about nutrisystem is that you do get to eat comfort type foods that normally aren’t allowed on diets – like pizza, tacos, ravioli, macaroni, chocolate cake, cheese puffs,  ice cream sandwiches, etc.   Many foods that are off limits on other diets are allowed here, as long as you eat their modified foods, many of which are not half bad.  They do allow you the option of hand picking your foods if you know of some foods that you like better than others.  I can’t think of any foods that are truly awful, but of course as with any diet, some are better than others.  One thing that really helps is the fact that nutrisystem allows users to rank their foods.  You can go on their menu and see how other people have liked or disliked the foods and why.  So, if you see a food with five stars, you can be relatively confident that this is a food that most people like.

You can also chose between the part time flex program and many of the full time regular programs, depending on how much weight you have to lose and how much time and money you want to spend.  Hopefully, the articles below give you enough information to evaluate if this diet is right for you, but if not, you can check out my free nutrisystem ebook here.  You can see the latest nutrisystem coupons here.

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By: Ava Alderman:  I sometimes hear from folks who are a little confused about how to add in the fresh, grocery store side items to their nutrisystem meals.  And there can be some reluctance about even bothering with the sides because no one wants to work hard on the diet only to add in food that counteracts what you are trying to do so that it thwarts your progress. I heard from someone who said “what am I supposed to add in to my nutrisystem meals?  I don’t want to eat the wrong things.”  I’ll respond to this in the following article.

The Add Ins Are Broken Down Into 4 Categories. You Can Chose From Any  Category Each Day:  One of the real goals of nutrisystem is that you eat a very balanced diet from all of the food groups while eating foods that are glycemic friendly.  To that end, the add ins are broken down into 4 categories. as follows: smart carbs; power fuels; vegetables; and extras.  Ideally, you will chose from each group each day.  This isn’t as hard as it sounds.   You receive a grocery add in guide with your order and they will tell you how much of each category you should have.  They also give tons of examples with suggested quantities.

For example, foods under the “smart carbs” category are foods like fruits, juices, whole grains, and pastas. In a real world example, you could have one medium banana or a slice of oatmeal bread with your breakfast from your own grocery stash.  Or, you could add in a half cup of pasta or beans at lunch.  For dinner, you could eat strawberries on the side.

The next category that we’ll look at are the “power fuels” and this is mostly lean protein like cheese, yogurt, nuts, peanut butter, and lean meats. A real life option might be adding in canadian bacon at breakfast, a yogurt cup at lunch or some additional lean meat at dinner.   Peanut butter and nuts also counts in the “power fuel” category. Now, the “vegetable” category is reasonably self explanatory.  As you might expect, there are a wide variety of vegetables on this list.  In general, you are allowed an entire cup of vegetable which is quite a bit.

The “extra” category are things like condiments (mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup, salad dressings, oils) and snacks like popcorn and pumpkin seeds.  Don’t confuse these snack foods with the daily snacks that you eat on nutrisystem.  It works like this.  On this plan, you eat three main meals (breakfast, dinner, and lunch) plus side items at every meal (choosing from the categories I just talked about.)  In addition to these main meals with sides, you get to have two snacks and a dessert.  These are included with your nutrisystem package.  So remember that the grocery sides are just that.  They are sides to be eaten on the side of your main meals.  But you also get snacks between meals to help keep you from getting as hungry.

So to answer the question posed, the choices for side items are extensive but you are given a lot of good information with your order.  Basically, you can pick a side from any of those four categories, depending upon what might go nicely with your meal.  So you might have some yogurt (power fuels) with your breakfast bagel, some carrots (vegetable) with your chicken salad lunch, and some pasta (smart carbs) with your steak at dinner.  And you would still get an 2 additional snacks and a dessert on top of all of this. Start Nutrisystem® Success™ today and get 40% off during our 40th Anniversary Sales Event!

By: Ava Alderman:  There’s been a lot of buzz about the 2012 changes to nutrisystem.  The company has done three things that are pretty exciting.  They’re hired Janet Jackson as a spokesperson.  They’ve launched a new line called “Nutrisystem Success.”  They’ve also launched a new line of shakes as well as a new line of entrees called “Chef’s Table.”  I’ve started getting a lot of questions about these chef’s entrees. People ask me if they are part of the “select” line.  They want to know if, like the select line, these entrees are frozen or if they cost more.  I’ll try to address these concerns and give you as much information as I have on these new entrees in the following article.

First of all, the chef’s line is technically included on the select menu on the company’s website. And, these meals ARE frozen and are inspired by celebrity chefs.  Also, unlike the previous frozen foods which have entrees in all categories (breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts,) the new chef’s table entrees only feature dinner items.  Following, I will list what is new and will tell you what the current rating is for each entree.  Dieters have rated these entrees on a scale of 1 to 5.  Here is what is new: Tony Mantuano’s steak tagliata (almost 5 stars) and his ricotta crepes (4.5 stars;) Carmen González’s adobo rubbed pork (4.5 stars) and her arroz con pollo (3.5 stars;) Mark Estee’s butternut squash ravioli (4 stars;) Kent Rathbun’s citrus bar b que pork (4 stars;) and Michael Solomonov’s Moroccan chicken (4 stars.) As you can see, most of these entrees are rated very highly by users already and they haven’t even been out for that long.

If you want mostly frozen entrees and order the select line (which is currently on sale at $299,) you get the chef items included.  The basic or core package is on sale too at $259. And with that package, you get 7 free chef’s entree meals to try out.  People have been asking me which is best to order.  That really does depend upon whether you want significantly more frozen meals or if you are OK with the “soft canned” process with the regular or basic foods foods.  $299 is an aggressive price for the select line and you now get the chef’s line as well as the shakes included.  But the shakes are also included with the basic line.  So you’re looking at a difference of around $40 but you are choosing between frozen or soft canned entrees. Here is the current coupon for both. Order now and get 20% off Nutrisystem® Success™ plus get Chef’s Table™ entrees free with auto Delivery.

By: Ava Alderman: As of today, Nutrisystem has kicked off their latest special offer. They still have the new success line on sale (which is good because it has become very popular.)  And it is still 40 percent off.  But now they are throwing in a free android smartphone of your choice.  This will enable you to use the nutrisystem app.  It appears to me that you have to buy a data plan.  But still.  A free smart phone and the success line for a little over $300 a month is a pretty good deal.  You can read the fine print by following this link: Save up to 40% on Nutrisystem® Success™ and get a FREE Android™ Smartphone of your choice with a new 2-year plan plus data feature.

By: Ava Alderman:  People often ask me how long they can expect it to take to see results on nutrisystem.  Often, they are very understandably looking for quick results.  No one wants to be on a diet for any longer than is absolutely necessary.  I heard from someone who said: “how long will it take me to start seeing a real difference in my body on nutrisystem?  I have an event to attend in two weeks and I am wondering if anyone is even going to notice a difference at that time.”

I think that it is absolutely possible for to definitely notice some weight loss within a couple of weeks.  The guidelines that nutrisystem provides is around 2-3 pounds per week.  In two weeks’ time that could be anywhere from 4 -6 pounds depending on where she was in terms of the normal range.  However, people often want to know when they will start to notice a difference for themselves.  And many really want specifics in terms of the number of days. They are wanting to know if they will see notice anything within the first week or within the first few days.  It really is somewhat hard to determine this.  I have heard people say that they lost weight in only a few days.  And I have heard people say that it took them longer than a week.  Generally speaking, the weight seems to come off a little slower for people with less to lose.  In other words, people who start out as relatively small to begin with and who maybe only have 5 -10 pounds to lose typically see a bit slower results than someone who has more to lose.  These are just generalizations based on what I am seeing, but everyone is different.

Let’s look at it from a scientific standpoint.  If you are looking at it from a caloric standpoint only, if you have a 3500 calorie deficit, this will result in a one pound weight loss.  The average nutrisystem day is around 1200 calories.  If you normally take in around 2500 calories (this is only an estimate since only you know your daily calorie intake,) then this would be a 1300 deficit per day.  In three days, this would be 3900 calories or over a pound.  In six days or a little under a week, this would be a little over two pounds, which interestingly enough is in line with nutrisystem’s own guidelines. Now, whether or not you will  have the same results, I can’t possibly say.  But I am showing you this from a numerical standpoint.

And if you add in a little exercise, you might get better results or at least know that you are doing all you can to see a quick difference.  So while I can’t tell you exactly how long it’s going to take you to see real results, I can tell you that many see some positive indications (or at least feel good about their experience) within the first week.  I think it may be pushing it to think that you are going to see a huge number of pounds fall in only a week, but if the person who wrote me where even remotely typical, it certainly wasn’t out of the question that she could have a five pound weight loss in two weeks, as that’s around 2.5 pounds per week.  And for many, a five pound weight loss is noticeable and significant.

Want more tips on how to be successful on nutrisystem? My NutriSystem Review Website features videos, tips, coupons ($100 off or weeks of food for free), comparisons to other popular diets, information on the diet’s counseling, and FAQs related to success on this diet. I also offers a free ebook (“Getting The Most Out Of NutriSystem”) to help you get started. You can visit at http://celebrity-diet-review.com/nutrisystem.

By: Ava Alderman: I sometimes hear from folks who are concerned about the differences between the core or basic nutrisystem plan and the select or gourmet plan which features frozen foods.  I heard from someone who asked me if the frozen plan was “better” than the core plan.  The word better has a lot of different connotations when it comes to dieting.  By using the term better, she could have meant more effective or she could have meant a better value.   Or, she might have meant that the food was more tasty or of a higher quality.  So, in the following article, I’ll give you my take on the differences between these two plans.   Hopefully, you will be able to take that information to help determine for yourself if one plan would work out to be better for you.

Both Plans Are Set Up The Same Way And Are Designed To be Equally Effective: These plans work in exactly the same way.  You will eat a breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with a snack and dessert.  All of these meals and snacks are provided for you.  In addition to this, you are asked in add in fresh grocery sides with each main meal.  This is true of both plans.  So, you do not take in more or less food on either plan.  Both plans have you taking in around 1,200 calories per day.  Both plans are based on the idea of eating low glycemic, nutrient dense foods that are modified to make you feel full.

So, in this way, you can expect both plans to be equally as effective.  In that sense, one is not better than the other in terms of effectiveness.  And, it isn’t as if you get additional meals with either plan.  They both come in a package with an equal number of meals and with an assortment of different foods unless you chose not to do the “favorites” packages and you opt to choose your own foods (which is certainly allowed and easy to do.)

The Real Difference Between The Two Plans Is On The Menu:  So since hopefully I have made it clear that the plans are set up in the exact same way and should be equally as effective, what is the real difference in the two?  The answer to that question lies in the foods.  While the basic menu has some great offerings (like pizza, ravioli, muffins, etc.)  only the select or frozen menu gives you foods that include the new chef’s table entrees. Also, there are additional frozen offerings available like french toast, omelets, wraps, melts, and speciality dinners like glazed turkey.  Now, I supposed a real argument could be made that some would see the frozen offerings as “better,” more extensive or more tasty.  I would agree with this.  If you think that compliance on the foods from the core or basic line is going to be a problem for you, then perhaps it makes sense to look at the frozen line.

However, I do believe that many people are quite happy with the core line.  There are some nice menu options on it.  Whether you prefer the frozen meals is a matter of personal preferences.  But I hope this article has shown you that the only major difference between the two plans is the foods and the price.  Yes, there is a bit of a premium for the success line, although much of the time it is on sale. For example, right now, not only is it on sale, they are throwing in a free phone.  Save up to 40% on Nutrisystem® Success™ and get a FREE Android™ Smartphone of your choice with a new 2-year plan plus data feature.

I honestly can’t remember pricing this aggressive in a very long time.  Nutrisystem has announced that in addition to the 40% off that they are running because of their anniversary sale, they are adding one week of free food.  This is in addition to getting nearly half off.

So, as of this writing, here are the prices.

The best deal in my opinion is the Select Plan with auto delivery.  This is the plan where you get the frozen gourmet foods and it’s currently on sale for $279.99 which is a savings of about $188.

The women’s core plan with auto delivery is currently priced at $229.99 which is also a $188 savings.  The vegetarian, silver, and men’s programs are similarly priced, although he men’s program is slightly more.  Here is the link to the specials, although I believe that they may be over as of April. We�re celebrating 40 years with 40% savings on our best program ever PLUS 1 WEEK FREE�Nutrisystem® Success™!

By: Ava Alderman:  I sometimes hear from people who are wondering how the nutrisystem diet is going to fit into their busy lifestyle which includes a lot of travel.   Many worry that they won’t be able to stay in compliance when they travel.  And some people travel quite a bit for their jobs or as part of their lifestyle.  I heard from someone who said: “I travel 2 weeks out of every month for my job.  I really want to try nutrisystem but I’m not sure if it’s going to be possible with all of my travels.   If I have to go off the diet when I travel,  I’m not sure if I’m going to lose weight.”

I actually think that it’s possible to lose some weight if you had to go off of the diet occasionally.  After all, people on the flex plan take off two days out of every week and many of them do just fine with their weight loss.  However, I also think that you can stay on the diet and be in compliance even if you have to travel.  The reason for this is that many of the meals don’t require any preparation.  And those that do sometimes only need hot water, which is typically readily available.   Most of the nutrisystem foods are packaged so that they don’t take up a lot of room or can lay flat.  So it would not be too difficult to travel with your foods.

To show what I mean, I’ll show you a day’s worth of meals and what it would take to prepare them.  For breakfast, you could have the chocolate chip scone which doesn’t require any preparation.  Lunch could be the fettuccine Alfredo which doesn’t require anything more than a little hot water.  A good snack might be the pretzels which only require removing the wrapper.  Dinner could be mac and cheese with beef which also only requires water.  An example of a good dessert might be a peanut butter cookie which is ready made.

In short, it would not be too difficult to plan and then pack enough foods for the entire trip.  If you chose the pre made meals carefully, you really shouldn’t need more than access to hot water in order to prepare your meals.  Many places have water coolers that provide both hot and cold water.  And access to a microwave is often quite easy in most travel hotels.   In short, traveling on nutrisystem is actually not all that difficult in my opinion and experience.  Alternatively, some people will adopt a program similar to the flex plan where they allow themselves to take a few meals off while traveling in order to give themselves some flexibility.

To get the latest nutrisystem coupon codes, please check out my blog (where you can also read my free e book “Getting The Most Out Of Nutrisystem” which includes recipes, the latest specials (up to two weeks free or over $100 off), information about the Flex Plan, tips, support, and motivation. It’s located at http://celebrity-diet-review.com/nutrisystem  (I also keep the latest coupons and offers on the right side of this blog.

By: Ava Alderman: I’ve been getting a lot of emails indicating a huge amount of interest in the new nutrisystem success shakes.  People want to know if you can order them individually or if you can order a sample package since there are several flavors (like chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, and coffee.)  I’ll go over how you can order the shakes as well as how much they cost in the following article.

As of this writing, you are able to order these shakes either as part of a core or select package or on an individual basis. The shakes are thrown in for free if you order one of the core or success monthly plans.  (Note that there is no commitment to this and that you can simply stop ordering food when you have met your weight loss goals or decide to go off of the program.)  If you don’t want to get the shakes free and instead want to pay for them on an individual basis, then you have a couple of options.  The first is that you can access the a la carte menu.  (You do this by clicking on either the men’s or women’s plans and clicking on the “order now” link.  You can follow this link to get there. Nutrisystem® Success™ now includes NEW high-quality protein shakes for optimized nutrition! Once there, go all the way to the bottom of the page to the “a la carte” button.)  Once you are in the a la carte version of the website, then click on the “vitamins and supplements” link.  On the bottom of the page, you will notice several flavor options for the shakes.  As of this writing, you can get a 7 pack of any of the shakes for $12.99.  This works out to be about $1.85 per shake.   With this option, you have to get a box of seven of one flavor.  So, if you wanted to sample each flavor if you were ordering this way, you’d had to order a box of each.

Now, if you want a sampling and you want to buy in bulk, then there’s another option.  If you hit the “sampler savings” button in the a la carte section of the website, you will see where you can order a sample pack of 7 of the different types of shakes for a total of 28 shakes (along with a shaker to make them) for $59.99.  This works out to be around  $2.14 per shake if you are not counting the cost of the shaker.  But you are getting more variety.  Of course, the best deal would  be to get the shakes for free as part of your package.  I understand wanting to try the shakes but if you have any real late to lose, just adding a shake into your day probably isn’t going shave off enough calories to get you the results that you are looking for unless you are willing to be very patient.  People who replace their meals with all nutrisystem meals lose around 2 -3 pounds per week, so replacing only one meal with a shake would likely take much longer unless your body responded very favorably.

By: Ava Alderman: I often hear from people who are very concerned about getting hungry on nutrisystem.  To that end, many plan to eat snacks between their meals but they aren’t sure if this is going to be allowed.  I heard from someone who said: “will I get eat between meals on nutrisystem? Because I have to leave for work very early.  I eat breakfast at 6am and sometimes earlier.  So I’m going to be hungry well before lunch.  Can I have a snack at say, 10:30 and still be in compliance with the diet?”  I’ll answer this question below.

The Diet Is Set Up So That You Can Have Two Snacks Plus A Dessert Each Day.  So Yes, You Can Eat Between Meals:  There is a lot of flexibility with this diet.  They don’t require for you to eat at any certain time or in any particular order.  But, it is set up so that you get a breakfast, lunch, dinner, 2 snacks, and 1 dessert each day. How you time this or spread this out is really up to you.  In addition to this, they want for you to add in fresh sides with each larger meal (breakfast, dinner, and lunch.)  People sometimes get confused and think that these side items are your snacks.  They aren’t.  You get to eat them in addition to your snacks.  And the side items are really just fresh foods meant to enhance your meal. For example, you might have some applesauce as your fresh side with the diet bagel.  You might have some non fat milk with the nutrisystem cereal.  Or you might have an apple with the mutrisystem lunch hot dog.

Note that these sides occur with the 3 main meals (although you could spread these out too if you wanted to.) And, you are still allowed 2 snacks and a dessert throughout the day.  Nutrisystem supplies you with snacks or desserts or you could use your own so long as they are in compliance with the diet.  So yes, in this particular situation, she could most certainly have a snack at 10:30.  She might chose the diet’s rice cakes or something else.  But if she had a mid morning snack, she would still have one snack and one dessert left for the entire day, plus all of her side items.  This would allow her to still eat between lunch and dinner and one additional time, or whatever other configuration would work for her.

To make this more clear, here’s a sample schedule. Most people’s nutrisystem meal schedule looks something like this: breakfast; morning snack; lunch; afternoon snack; dinner; and dessert.  However, nothing says that any of this is set in stone.  Since this woman got up so early, she could do a schedule that looks more like this: early morning snack; breakfast; mid morning snack; lunch; dessert; and then a later dinner.  Basically, you can choose whatever schedule works best for long as long as you are eating those six times per day (three main meals plus two snacks and a dessert) as well as adding in your side items to each main meal. (And, some people combine some of these meals if they get really busy and have a hard time eating that often.  I believe that as long as you consume all of the foods, that can be fine.)

Hopefully, this article has made it clear that you do eat quite often on nutrisystem and this ensures that many people do in fact eat between meals and still say well in compliance. Want more tips on how to be successful on nutrisystem? My NutriSystem Review Website features videos, tips, coupons ($100 off or weeks of food for free), comparisons to other popular diets, information on the diet’s counseling, and FAQs related to success on this diet. There’s also a free ebook (“Getting The Most Out Of NutriSystem”)