Day 30:

I am currently waiting for my next box of NS foods. It is out for delivery according to the tracking. We'll see. So far all other meals have arrived on time, so I'm expecting the box today.

I recently found out that someone is actually reading this blog. I suppose I should keep it up better. :) To do a quick update. The first week of the program I lost pretty much four pounds. Then for the past three weeks I've been fighting to get past the 156 mark. Today I had success! I'm officially at 155.2. Which makes me very happy. Three weeks at 156? Why did I stay on the program? Answer: the inches. At my last measuring, I had lost 17 inches total.

So to compare my standard "I'm just eating low cal" diet vs. Nutrisystem after one month: Weight is pretty much the same up until now. I never got much below 156 on the old diet and I still have another two weeks to go on Nutrisystem. Inches are another thing-- On my old diet, by this time I had only lost 9.25 inches over all. On Nutrisystem I have lost 7.75 above that mark and I haven't even measured for this week.

As for the overall food: I have found that Nutrisystem ranges. Some of the foods are excellent. There are some that are not so excellent; however, in the past few days I have discovered the NS Recipe Club. People who add their vegetable portion or their fat portion for that meal and make it into something quite tasty. Given all except two items "Mushroom Risotto", and the "Beef Pot Roast" are new for me, I probably won't be doing the food reviews like I have been in the past- unless I get a great deal of substitutions; however, I will post the recipes with credit to those who created them for my less favorite NS foods. I will try to catch up on the foods that I have not reviewed this week. :)

These recipes are amazing. For example:

NS Italian Casserole by Kate

1 NS Rotini with Meatballs and Tomato Sauce
2 cloves garlic (free item)
1 t Italian seasonings (free item)
1 TB olive oil (Fat serving)
1/2 C yellow or red bell pepper (Vegetable Serving)
1/3 C Frozen spinach (Vegetable serving)
1/2 C diced tomato (Vegetable serving)

In a frying pan, saute cloves of garlic (or to taste/ I'm very fond of garlic) in olive Oil. Add the yellow/red bell pepper and spinach. To that add Italian seasonings. Once the bell pepper has started to lighten in color add the Rotini with Meatballs to the pan. Stir frequently on a medium heat until the pasta and meat are heated. At the very end add diced fresh tomato. Stir in and let it simmer for a minute or so. I had a dairy serving left from lunch, so I topped the casserole with 1 oz low fat cheddar cheese and let it melt before I put it on my plate. (Though it was tasty without it)

Rotini with meatballs was not one of my favorite meals (21/2 stars)- I need to post my review of it. I'll get to that later today... I played with the recipie and it is fantastic. At least 4 stars.


krnsmith created one of the best uses of the chicken salad (2 1/2 stars) ever! (I was really considering throwing it all away) I don't believe it myself but I'm adding Chicken Salad to my September order, so I can make this again. (five star recipie)

"I mixed the NS Chicken Salad, 1 oz. canned chicken, and 1 Tablespoon of Cream of Mushroom Soup. I formed these into patties and covered as much as I could with crushed Low Fat Ritz Cracker crumbs equivalent to the melba toast.

I sprayed a skillet with Pam and put in my fat of olive oil. I heated it on medium high heat. I put the patties in the skillet and browned on both sides.

I put it on my plate and put 1 tablespoon of the mushroom soup thinned about 1/2 table spoon of water or less and heated."

The blog will be changing a bit but I'll keep it up better. :) Cheers!

Katie

Day 5:

Breakfast:
Nutricinnamon Squares Cereal 31/40 +++

Looking at the package I'm reminded of chex mix except it seems to have corn flakes and rice crispies in there as well. It's a little confusing to decide how this is going to taste. I'm thinking it will be much like the frosted cereal from day one.

Visual Appeal: 8/10- Once again I'm struck by the small portion size Not particularly because there isn't a great deal of food, but because everything in the bowl is so small. The picture on the package really plays a trick with you. that must be a very small strawberry in that bowl.

Smell: 8/10-Again there is that funny chemical smell which accompanies the cereal in this system. Fortunately it remains with the packaging not with the cereal when you pour it into the bowl. The cereal smells mostly like corn flakes except for the lightest scent of cinnamon.

Taste: 7/10- Think of the Nutrifrosted Flakes and you'll have the taste by adding a pinch of cinnamon. After having so many other products by Nutrisystem I'm a little underwhelmed by this product. There is an odd after taste again. My guess it's the soy puffs. It's not bad, but it's not especially good either.

Texture: 8/10- Crunchy. The soy puffs and the brown flakes (also soy) are a little resistant to eating. Otherwise it is crunchy. It stayed crispy in milk which is a pluss.

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Lunch:
Chicken Salad 26/40 ++1/2

Looking at the package it looks like the Chicken Salad is large chunks of chicken with vegetables and a light salad dressing like sauce. I stored the packages of chicken salad in the fridge. I just think it would be better cold.

Visual Appeal: 2/10- Wow... the worst thing I've seen since I began the diet. The salad is a light orange blob of goo. I can see some red and there was one small piece of chicken when I squeezed it from the package. The rest looks to be pureed to the liquid form. Wow... looks bad.

Smell: 10/10- Oddly enough the smell is pretty good. It smells like chicken salads I have made with miracle whip and celery etc.

Taste: 7/10- Ok taste is weird. Not bad per say but strange. I could get used to it I suppose. On Melba toast this is actually pretty good, I have to say, It's just when you eat it alone that you get the weird aftertastes.

Texture: 7/10-Again like the taste, alone it's pretty awful. It's a little like eating baby paste. However on Melba toast, the toast gives it a crunch. Thinking of it as a chicken spread fixes the consistency problems in my head. Rule of thumb: Don't eat this one by itself.

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Dinner: Chicken and Pasta Parmesan 29/40 +++

Hmmm... I've already had the lunch variety of this meal with dismal results. However, this is not a dehydrated meal. Looking at the package it looks good. Large chunks of chicken with vegetables, and riccioli pasta. It looks like a tomato base which is different from the lunch meal. It actually reminds me of the Chicken Cacciatore that I had for my very first lunch. If that is the case it should be really good.

Visual Appeal: 7/10- Looks a bit like Chef Boyardee is back in town except for the vegetables mixed in with the sauce. there are some spices and I can see onions as well. Looking at it, I'm betting the noodles are overcooked and gooey. They just have that twenty minutes too long on the stove look.

Smell: 8/10- Smell is good, but once again I'm reminded of the Chef. I'm smelling more tomato than anything. It's taking all of my control not to grab the Italian Spices from the spice rack and add. (After I taste)

Taste: 8/10- I'm starting to recognize the sauce. This really doesn't have any spices and is your standard Tomato over pasta sauce you get in frozen meals. A little disappointing. Unfortunately the noodles have a pasty taste to them, but bites without noodles are quite good.

Texture: 6/10- Those noodles... overcooked they are like eating raw dough. Unfortunately there are so many of them that you can't really get around them. Too bad. The rest of the meal is really quite good.

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Dessert: Oatmeal Raisin Cookie 40/40 ++++

Looking at the package I'm a little discouraged by the lack of texture in the cookie. I was hoping for a bit more oatmeal in the actual cookie. Looks more like it is ground a bit more. However there are large chunks of raisins

Visual Appeal: 10/10- Opening the package, the outside appearance of the cookie is quite smooth, but it is a good size- about three inches in diameter. There are oats peaking through the surface as well as large raisins.

Smell: 10/10- Wonderful! Smells just like a oatmeal raisin cookie out of a cookie package. It could be approaching homemade, but my family makes their raisin cookies a bit different. This smells at least as good as "Grandma's Brand."

Taste: 10/10- Oooh! It is really hard to believe this is a diet cookie. It is really flavorful. You can taste the oats and the raisins equally. It is sweet and very satisfying.

Texture: 10/10- Chewy, moist, and wonderful. The raisins are plump and the oats are not dry. It is really delicious!

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Todays Water: 7- 8 oz glasses
Exercise: 30 minutes bike