Eighth Day: I Lose a Few Ounces, & Nutrition Comparisons

This morning my weight was down a few ounces to 202.6. It gives me a bit of encouragement, but I know "The scale giveth and the scale taketh away." At this rate I don't want to think of how long it will take me to reach my weight goal of 135.

Even after reducing the "Power fuels" and the "Smart Carb" additions on the plan I wondered if I was getting too many calories, so I did a spreadsheet comparison using My Fitness Pal.  I compared yesterday's Nutrisystem menu with a routine I had worked out last year after consulting with an exercise/nutrition expert.

Comparing my old plan with my Nutrisystem diabetic plan (plus one powerfuel, one smartcarb, a turbo shake and a large salad with non-fat dressing) I see that the values are pretty close. Even though the sodium levels on the Nutrisystem are double what they were on my old plan, they are still within what I understand to be the recommended limits.

Old Plan/Nutrisystem
1393 calories/1235 calories
162g carbs/169g
49g fat/37g
76g protein/72g protein
47mg cholesterol/60mg cholesterol
996mg sodium/1,927mg sodium
70g sugar/64g sugar
30g fiber/32g fiber

Some rambling. You may notice that I am backtracking on some of these entries - actually putting things down after they happened. The reason is that I don't always feel up to (or have the time) to blog every day. I must also confess that I believe I have the symptoms of ADHD, otherwise known as "oh look, a chicken", or, as I prefer to call it "Mr. Toad's Syndrome". When I was growing up they didn't have all the fancy labels they do now. If I was in gradeschool now, I would probably be medicated. Back then, the teachers usually found things for me to do, or shook me. Part of continuing with this blog is not just to keep me on a diet program, but to keep me on track with a project and not just stop halfway.

Seventh Day - Returning the Costco Card & "Chubby Heroines"

No change in weight.

Costco Card:  Today I returned the Costco gift card for the "Weekends Off" Nutrisystem package. The credit-card sized card had come in a large bubblewrap envelope, and after I found out it was no longer honored by Nutrisystem I got an email that I would have to return it via UPS, which involved printing out a label, pasting it on an envelope with the card inside, locating the closest UPS station, and then taking it there. At least I got a few blocks extra walking, but it seems like a lot of work to return a very small card which should not have been sent to me in the first place.

Unwanted product bought from Nutrisystem directly has to be returned via FedEx:

 "All requests for refunds and returns must be made within 30 days of delivery of your package. Please call Customer Service at 1-800-585-5483 to obtain a Return Authorization Number (RMA#). Customer service representatives will explain how to return non frozen foods via FedEx. Your package must be postmarked within 48-72 hours after the RMA # has been issued to you. Any refused packages that are returned to our warehouse without an RMA# will have a return shipping of $19.99 deducted from any credit issued."

Please note: There is no refund for frozen food.

Chubby Heroines:  I've finished reading Good in Bed: Jennifer Weiner: 9780743418171: Amazon.com: Books which is about a "chubby heroine". I didn't like the ending, because it seemed a bit contrived, but the author's portrayal of an overweight woman is very sympathetic. It struck me, though, that most of the "overweight" heroines in literature are younger women who also have pretty faces and work out a lot. Where are the sympathetic overweight women who don't work out a lot or who are older? It seems as if a lot of "larger overweight women" in literature are usually there for comic relief, like Lula in the Stephanie Plum novels.

Here is Goodreads list of books with "plump, overweight, curvy" heroines. A search for "plump older women" led me to a raft of porn sites and this site which shows the belly fat in older women can be correlated to a higher risk of cognitive decline. Help!

Fat older women can make great villains, or serve as 'motherly figures'. I guess I will have to work on my 'motherly' image.

I should add that it is not only fiction that is not kind to old fat women, I don't think we get much respect anywhere; i.e., when I emailed my doctor asking for an appointment and gave one of the main reasons that I was concerned about gaining weight she seemed to shrug her shoulders about the subject when we met in person. Perhaps I should have been more stubborn about asking for help, but perhaps she felt there was no help she could give me.

Sixth Day - The Cold Equations

No change in weight. Today is the last day of the first 5-day box of Nutrisystem.

"The Cold Equations" was a science fiction story by Tom Godwin in which an environment which leaves no margin for error results in a tragic outcome. The narrator has to make a decision to let one person die, so that a greater number of people can live.

Imagine if you will, a body that does not waste anything you fuel it with. If you have eaten more than your body needs, it is stored away as fat. Even worse, it is harder to use that fat for fuel than it was to store it in the first place.

I decide to reduce the "power fuel" and "smart carb" exchanges.

Start of the Fifth Day

Weighed myself. No change. Still 203. Perhaps I will have to EXERCISE. :(

First order of business is to make sure I have sufficient Nutrisystem on hand so that I don't run out.

Options for buying Nutrisystem:

Costco is out for now because they say that they are "out of stock".

In looking at the Nutrisystem site itself, I can't find any inexpensive plan that doesn't involve auto-shipping every thirty days, and from past experience I know that can be hard to stop. They do apparently still have a few brick-and-mortar stores, but the nearest one is a hundred miles away.

Getting Nutrisystem through Walmart is probably the least expensive, but right now they only offer the product in 5-day packages. In our local Walmart there were only two five-day boxes available - the Jumpstart and the Diabetic. Online they also offer Homestyle, Protein Powered, and Every Day.  None of the five-day programs, though, include more than a simple 24-page booklet to explain the program. Yes, I know all that information is on the website, but I like to have something I can read without turning on my computer or iPhone.

I also see many Nutrisystem products on EBay, and this is interesting because many of the sellers appear to be intermediaries who tell you that the product will be shipped from Nutrisystem. I'll skip EBay for now.

You can find Nutrisystem on Amazon. There are private sellers offering different packages, including one optimistic seller who is trying to get $167 for a 5-day package...  Nutrisystem is also a corporate seller, and their prices are comparable to Walmart's. For now, Nutrisystem/Amazon is only offering the 5-day boxes.

I end up at QVC. They have a six-week program for $299 plus shipping, which seems reasonable. I fully expect something to go totally wrong with the order, though.

Today's planned Superfuel: Greek yogurt, non-fat milk
Today's planned Smartcarb: Rice cake, apple
Vegetable: Large raw vegetable salad with fat-free dressing

I'm getting hungry towards the end of the day, and yesterday I felt a little light-headed. I expect my body will adapt, though.

Start of the Fourth Day

I probably won't blog every day, because I think it would be boring to both writer and reader.

I did get three emails, though, that I thought worth mentioning -

- I got a response from the online counseling person correcting the email address they had sent earlier, and I do appreciate that there is actually a person at Nutrisystem who answers questions,

- and I got an automated email from the Nutrisystem Numi program "You maintained your weight this week!. " Somehow I find this mildly amusing. How about giving me a few more days, huh?

- Finally, I got a reply from Costco services explaining that they can't give me a replacement card because Nutrisystem is "currently out of stock". They will give me a refund instead. 

Now I have to decide whether to continue getting the product either direct from the company, or from Walmart, or whether I should try something else entirely.

Nothing is easy.

Today's smartcarbs: banana and rice cake
Today's powerfuels: Greek yogurt and nonfat milk
Vegetables: Steamed yellow summersquash 

Back on Track

After yesterday's disaster I considered making this Day One, but decided that that would be cheating and not facing facts. I decided to continue reporting as I was going, including the bad days.

Yesterday I got the Nutrisystem card from Costco in the mail.

Today I went online and went to "redeem card" section and was not able to make the card work. I put the number into the system as shown on the card, and alternately as shown on the example. I tried to open a new account, thinking that the fact that I had last been there in 2012 might be causing a problem. I contacted the online Chat and was told to go back to the "redeem online" page. Finally I called Nutrisystem customer service and was told that the number on the back of the card from Costco did not exist, so I went back to Costco customer services and asked for help.

This may be the shortest Nutrisystem diet blog ever. I have enough Nutrisystem food for a few more days, but I'm pretty stressed now.

Further stress - the online counselor had given me an email address for the "Nutrisystem Blogging" program. Turns out to be an invalid address.  Then I found Nutrisystem reviews at https://nutrisystem.pissedconsumer.com  - The complaints fall into two categories - "poor-tasting food" and "auto ship won't stop no matter what I do".  I'm OK with the food - after all, this is a diet, but I seem to remember having a problem with the auto ship myself, so this is something to consider.

Today's powerfoods: Greek yogurt and 2 Tablespoons of walnuts
Today's smartcarbs: rice cake, small apple
Vegetables: Large mixed salad

The First "Weekends Off" Day Did Not Go Well

Even though I just started yesterday, I needed to do a "day off" because I had planned to take my Mom to lunch.

Mom is 99 and lives in assisted living and even though her meals are provided for her I like to take her out for a meal, or a ride through the park, or even just drive her over to the lake and let her sit and watch the ducks for a while.

Today I managed to talk my husband into joining us, and it started well. I ordered fish for lunch, but after I got home I got back into my mindless eating habits.

Obviously, diet alone is not going to be the answer.

First Day - I Should Have Read The Instructions Yesterday

Yesterday I put out a breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack from the box.

Today I started with breakfast, but reading the booklet that came with the box I realize that there was a shopping list of items I should have bought to add to the Nutrisystem products. The instruction booklet is very nicely laid out with a five-day program which includes each of the items for each day but there are "Powerfuels" and "SmartCarb" additions you have to get. It also says that you should have four servings of non-starchy vegetables like lettuce, broccoli, and tomatoes.

Fortunately I have some of the items listed on the grocery list, but I am going to have to do some additonal shopping.

So far, so good. I have the four Nutrisystem items, plus Greek yogurt, a large salad with low-fat dressing, tomatoes, and summer squash.

I'm not really hungry when I go to bed, but I miss my nightly ritual of 1/4 cup wine.

Buying the First Package

I'm anxious to start the program. I've gone to Costco online and ordered the first month's package, but I see that Nutrisystem also has starter kits at Walmart.

I make an expedition to Walmart. I see that on the web Walmart has several different 5-day products, but when I get there they have only two: The "Jumpstart" and the "Diabetes" five-day plan.  I buy the "Diabetes" box, as well as a box of Nutrisystem shakes and a box of Nutrisystem chocolate muffins.

The Unpacking:

Here is the five-day box, unpacked:

The five-day Diabetes Management box unpacked. 

I should have shown you the box when I first opened it, because I couldn't get everything back in:

I couldn't get everything back in the box. (I've photoshopped the background)

OK - ready to go. I sign up on the website and send a question to the Counseling section.

I start tomorrow.

Starting Over Again

BACKGROUND:

Sometimes it feels as if I've spent my whole life on diets, from the time I was a chubby ten-year old until now, six decades later.

Obviously, there were times in between when I wasn't dieting, because the weight must have come from somewhere. Mostly the weight has come on bit by bit from over-eating. I have some metabolism problems that make it a little harder to lose weight, but that doesn't mean that I can't lose weight, because I've done it, over and over.

But let's start over.

Reasons to lose weight:

I'm past the vanity thing. It is years since I had regular beauty parlor appointments, or paid much attention to fashion. 

My health and comfort are the motivation here. My doctor has put me on a new medication for cholesterol, in spite of my best efforts at staying on a low-fat diet. I also have different arthritises, so that the fat weight is causing my joints to hurt when I move. Gravity is getting me down. I also hate that everything in my closet is too tight, even my "fat" clothes. I want to fit into an airplane seat with a little wiggle room left over. I want to be able to bend over and touch my toes. I want to be able to go up a flight of stairs without having to pause.

I am now at 203 pounds, which is the highest weight I've ever been, even when I was nine months pregnant.

HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT?:

Name a diet, I've probably been on it. 

I remember one of the first diets I was on. I think the doctor gave the diet to my Mom, and it included a soup made by waving a few vegetables over a large pot of water, and eating celery, cottage cheese, and steak. It got so that I even hated the steak.

I've been on Optifast (not once, but twice) but the weight didn't stay off after I quit the program. I don't think I could do it again - expecially the ketosis part. It was also awkward to maintain an ordinary lifestyle while you were on the program. I remember going to Las Vegas and trying to shake up my Optifast while my husband and I were sitting in a cafe. Somehow the powder got all over the table and I had to scurry around finding napkins to wipe it up. 

Weight Watchers is a good program, but the last time I joined I really couldn't get with any of the programs. I also didn't like the group leader, who pretty much ignored me, even on my first visit.

I love Richard Simmons, and I have to credit him for making me realize that exercise can be fun, but in the end I found that his program was too restrictive for me. Somehow, when someone says that I can't eat certain foods, I start to crave them. 

I had worked with a nutritionist through my health care provider and had put together a balanced diet that worked for a while, but it became extremely boring and I started falling back on bad habits. I've also been on exercise programs, but now I don't drive as much as I used to, so I don't think I could get to the gym regularly enough to do any good. Actually, even walking out the door and around the block seems daunting to me right now, but I haven't totally given up.

So, here I am again.

WHY NUTRISYSTEM?:

I'd been on Nutrisystem twice before - once I lost significant weight, but the next time real life problems cut the program short.

I remember that it was easy, and I see that the program now includes weekends off, which seems like a good idea. I think "weekends off" will give me a chance to practice making better choices, while I still have the safety net of structured days to fall back off.

I've been doing "Mindless eating", let's try "Mindless dieting".

Note on "Before" Picture: This was actually taken on 9-29-16 when I had been on Nutrisystem for about a week but hadn't lost any weight.  I'm wearing a freeby men's XL t-shirt and very very old Alfred Dunner slacks (size 10, but pretty much stretched out of shape with the years).  My hair is naturally this color, although the grey is starting to increase.

I don't suppose anyone but me will ever be interested in this Blog, which is perhaps just as well.