Day 34:

I can safely say that I am feeling pretty good right now. The plateau has finally moved into weight loss and I am down 2 pounds in four days. Officially I'm at 154 and my waist has finally hit 28. Yay! Being on the second box is nice. I know that 95% of what is in the cupboard is something that I enjoy eating. I do have to say that the 3 weeks of free food has been a disappointment because they send me so many items that I can't or won't eat. Oh well, it was free. I put it in my food storage. Most of the items have a 2 years shelf life that I have put away. I suppose if the world ends and I'm starving I will be happy to eat that Chicken Breast Patty. :)

I have also noticed that the quality of the food tends to waver. The Mac and Cheese I ate last night wasn't nearly as sweet as the previous mac and cheese. I hope they didn't change the formula.

I have promised food reviews for the past month. I do have to say sorry that I stopped writing the reviews, but the plateau at 156 was getting to me. The last thing I wanted to do was sit down and blog about food. I'm transferring what I can from my notebook. Please be patient. :)

Cheese Puffs: 24/40 ++

Visual Appeal: 6/10-
The cheese puffs reminded me of the bargain brand cheese puffs my mom bought when I was a kid. They are large and covered with a thin coating of cheese. Looking at them, they have a 65% chance of being tasty.

Smell: 8/10-
You can definitely smell the cheese powder in these puffs. It does remind me of Cheetos. Hopefully it will taste as good.

Taste: 5/10-
Cheetos these are not. They are somewhat cheesy but the flavor disappears after about the second chew and you are left with a mushy cereal taste. These puffs are so puffed with air that I feel like I'm chewing Styrofoam.

Texture: 5/10-

Ok the Styrofoam comment stands with the texture part too. Yes the puffs are crunchy. If you are looking for something to crunch these are your things as long as you are not looking for great flavor. Like I said, the cheese flavor is gone before you really eat the thing and you are left with a mushy corn taste. Oh, there is also a slight chemical aftertaste that I found unappetizing.

Mashed Potatoes with Meatloaf and Tomato Sauce: 14/40 +

Visual Appeal: 2/10-

Hmmm.... how to explain the meatloaf? Ok, take ground beef and put it in a nest of mashed potatoes (I think that's what they were). Then spread a dull red tomato paste over the top. I hate to say it but this meatloaf made school lunch look good. This is really a mess to look at.

Smell: 8/10-

The smell is ok compared to the sight of it. The tomato sauce smells sweet and you get the nice smell of cooked beef. Boy the sight of this thing is still getting to me. Who thought of this?

Taste: 2/10-
Weird. That is my first impression. The potatoes do not really taste like anything. They are white goo. The tomato sauce actually has a tinny taste to it (made with canned tomatoes maybe?) The beef is boiled. You put this all together and it's rather off putting. I saved it with some catsup, but still this is bad. Is this Nutrisystem or Airplane food? Six one way half a dozen the other. Still it gets a point because I was able to finish it.

Texture: 2/10-
Eating the meatloaf is like eating something that has sat in water for a few days. Everything felt soggy and sad. The meat was boiled so it chewed like something between wet paper towel and a rubber tire. The potatoes were well paste there is no other word for what I ate, and the tomato sauce was sauce. Not my favorite meal.

Milk Chocolatey Delight Bar: 40/40 ++++

Visual Appeal: 10/10-

Keeping in mind that my box was somewhat melted when it arrived, it's not surprising that the chocolate around the bar was not uniform. The appearance of the candy bar reminds me of a Milky Way. It is approximately the same size and the same color. It looks like a nice dark chocolate. Of course I am a sucker for anything with the words dark and chocolate in them. :)

Smell: 10/10-

Very nice. Smells like rich dark cocoa.

Taste: 10/10-

Wow! The inside of this bar I think got changed by the heat either that or you are supposed to have something the consistancy of fudge inside. Each bite is like you are cheating with this little candy bar. It is so satisfying that I'm saving it for the days when I just have to eat a three musketeers. I can't beleive how good this bar is! Well done Nutrisystem!!!!

Texture: 10/10-
I froze my bar mostly because I like frozen candybars. However, I let the second one I bought thaw out so I could report on my blog. This candybar pulls away like a Milky Way. It is soft and smooth and is wonderful frozen or at room temperature. A definate winner!!

Rotini with Meatballs and Tomato Sauce: 27/40 ++1/2

Visual Appeal: 7/10-

Rotini with Meatballs looks like Chef Boyardee is back in town. Tiny round meatballs surrounded by spiral noodles in a red tomato sauce. It looks identical to something that my neice had for lunch from a can. Not very impressive. There are some spices in the sauce but they are sparse.

Smell: 7/10-

Same sweet tomato smell that is standard with Nutrisystem pasta meals. The meatballs don't really stand out as a fragrant player in this meal.

Taste: 6/10-
Hello Chef! Even the meatballs taste like the meatballs from Chef Boyardee. The noodles again have very little taste and as I guessed looking at it the sauce is underseasoned. This is not a bad taste by any means but it is bland and somewhat uninteresting. It is nice to have something with a beef flavor but the taste is fleating.

Texture: 6/10-

Again with the overcooked noodles. I think that Nutrisystem should set up the pasta dishes like they do the pizza. Give us a portion of noodles, the sauce and let us cook it. Their meals would be 80% better.

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