About Nutrisystem

It is not uncommon to turn on the TV and see celebritites promoting the Nutrisystem diet. With advertisements claiming to take the guesswork out of your diet by offering pre-packaged calorie-sensitive meals to help you control your eating, Nutrisystem has taken the diet market by storm.

History of

• Nutrisystem started in 1972 as a company that solely sold liquid weight-loss protein drinks. However, as protein became more and more popular as a weight loss/muscle gaining tool, too much competition entered the market , so Nutrisystem expanded to include prepackaged foods. Though the company went bankrupt in 1990, it came back in 1999 as a publicly traded company and has ruled the weight-loss market ever since.

Function

• Nutrisystem functions as a way to increase your weight loss. With recent studies coming out explaining the benefits of more frequent meals consisting of less calories, Nutrisystem is the perfect solution to this. The program offers meals and snacks that are already perfectly proportioned for the common dieter. The consumer just logs on to a website online, chooses the meals that fits his tastes, and each week the meals are delivered to his door, starting the weight-loss journey.

Features

• Nutrisystem features meal systems that are specifically aimed at the consumer. Although it started with only one set of meals, the program now includes meals that are specifically designed for women, men, older women, older men, diabetics and even vegetarians. Nutrisystem also features an easy way to receive and pay for your food, as you can set up automatic payments from your bank account or credit card, and the food is automatically delivered to your door. The program also comes with an exercise DVD to help jump-start your exercise routine as well.

Benefits

• The largest cause of weight gain is too many calories. By using the Nutrisystem diet you can easily have your calories counted for you and controlled so that you are only taking in the recommended amount of daily calories. The less calories you take in, mixed with the extra calories burned from working out, will help you to lose the 2-to-3 pounds a week until you reach your goal weight. The system also includes snacks to help curb your cravings for chocolates and other sweets. As long as you stick to the program and only eat the Nutrisystem foods, you are almost guaranteed to lose some amount of weight. Add exercise to the program and you will increase your chances of success.

Risk Factors

• Like any diet program, there are some risk factors. It is always important to take into consideration your activity level when deciding how many calories to limit your diet to. If you lead an active lifestyle, you can easily cut too many calories out of your diet, resulting in lost energy or unhealthy amounts of weight loss. It is also important to remember that the Nutrisystem diet states that it is inexpensive with just $3 a meal. You need to remember the fact that each week involves 14 breakfasts, 14 lunches, 14 snacks and 14 dinners each week. Multiply that number by $3 and you will see that the Nutrisystem program can get expensive.