I had emailed one of our Tip Of The Day subscribers to see how their weekly Weight Watchers meeting went. I was interested to hear more feedback about the new Momentum Program. So I was a little dissappointed when I got the response:
"I didn't go this week. I ate so much, I couldn't weigh in. I'm going Saturday morning. One thing you can do is make a comment about how people are eating so badly that they are ashamed to even show up and weigh in at weight watchers. There's a story in there somewhere. And if it's happening to me, it's happening to the masses - you can count on that!"
This is interesting and I want to see what others think about this. I can relate to this, but am not sure what feedback I can give. I will ask Joshua Wayne and update the post. We are going to continue this discussion in the PEERtrainer community. There are some excellent comments below, one from someone who has experienced the same thing, and another who is a receptionist at Weight Watchers meetings and commented on how WW deals with this.
It may also be that you are not totally ready to commit to something like Weight Watchers. PEERtrainer has put together a short quiz to find out your odds of actually following through.
NutriSystem can be a very effective weight loss tool for busy and active men. Many men simply are not into group support environments, and many do not have the time to do the work necessary to craft their own diet programs, even with great assistance. The core service they provide is convenience, and the core benefit is that this approach works for many people.
If you are 25 pounds or more overweight and have not yet made real progress, you need to do something. The most important thing is that you learn that you can lose weight, and that you get accustomed to this process. On PEERtrainer we have seen that many men have used NutriSystem to lose weight, especially those first 20 pounds. If you need to lose weight they offer a free diet analysis to show you how a plan like this would work for you.
NutriSystem has been very successful in reaching out to guys through ads like the one with Dan Marino below. A whole range of very active and physical guys have found this approach helpful. They send you the food and you follow the plan. I think the most important thing is that they don't make you go through "brain drain"- not being overwhelmed is a critical part of succeeding on a diet.
How Is NutriSystem For Men Different From The Regular NutriSystem Program?
A key difference is simply in the calories allowed. Men eat roughly 1500 calories on the diet and women are allowed 1200. The other difference is simply focus. It takes into account that a lot of guys eat hearty meals, like to feel full and basically don't want to eat tofu. But they balance these hearty foods with healthy stuff like salad and broccoli. This blended combination seems to work.
What Are The Fundamentals Of The Diet?
They are aiming for a healthy diet that balances protein, carbs and fat. This is similar to the basics of the The Zone Diet, but the exact percentages differ. What is important for men in particular is that they feel full and have energy. There is a reason that athletes have found success with NutriSystem.
The diet is also designed to be low in the general bad stuff like sodium and bad fats. They encourage whole grains and fiber, and have a strong focus on portion size and social support. If you start playing around with their online tools you have the option of joining their community for free. They also encourage you to eat fruits and vegetables with the packaged meals, and if you have read the work of Dr. Joel Fuhrman you understand clearly the association if fruits and vegetables to long term weight loss.
And What Foods Do You Eat On This Diet?
They have a really big menu of options, and when you sign up online you can go through all sorts of choices of foods for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert. Lots of grains, cereals and oats for breakfast. If you look at the menu it is foods you are familiar with. Same thing with lunch, things like Tex-Mex rice and Spicy Oriental Noodles with vegetables. For dinner offerings include Beef, Beans and Rice with BBQ sauce, pizza, lasagna, chili. All foods you would normally eat.
New NutriSystem Select Program
If you want to add more fruits and vegetables to the foods that are delivered the company just launched the NutriSystem Select program where fresh frozen foods are delivered to your house. This program expands the food choices and also improves the overall health profile of the food. We would observe that going with the Select option is the best one for long term health and long term weight loss success.
How Much Does NutriSystem For Men Cost?
The cost is roughly $11 a day or $300 a month. Many people say they actually save money doing this approach. And with the money you save, you can spend extra on fresh fruits and vegetables. The company has also introduced the NutriSystem Flex program where you can do the diet 5 days a week with two Flex days. This program is $230 a month for men.
NutriSystem For Men Coupons:
We have a list of NutriSystem coupons here. The company is currently offering $100 off the first four weeks or month of food, which is a nice incentive to get started.
What Support Does The Company Provide?
NutriSystem has begun to focus a lot on providing support and teaching people a lot of the fundamentals of weight loss. Their efforts are in an attempt to provide some of the things that are at the core of Weight Watchers. But there are no in person meetings, so this is very different in some respects. When you sign up you will start getting helpful emails telling you exactly what you need to do.
Will NutriSystem Help You Lose Weight Long Term?
With any diet approach you need to do a lot of work yourself to develop the proper habits and mindset. The best thing about NutriSystem is that they easily help you get on track if that is what you need. And it is a cost neutral thing for many people. Weight Watchers has a proven track record for men as well. If you lose a lot of weight following NutriSystem, you might want to join Weight Watchers after to help focus on the long term adjustments and habit development.
All these tools work well if you use them the right way in the proper context. It is like tools to build a house- you need a hammer for this, a saw for that etc. This is at the core of the work we do with the PEERtrainer Tip Of The Day. We encourage you to find the mix of tools you need at different stages of your life and to not use just one diet approach. Your body is your house and you need all sorts of tools to build and maintain it.
Tips On Making NutriSystem A Healthy Diet Approach:
-Augment the meals with large servings of spinach, broccoli, romaine lettuce
-Make sure to start mixing in fruit for your breakfast
-Every week find a way to eat a vegetable in a cheap and easy way.
It is easy to criticize diets like NutriSystem. Some people say that it does not teach you to make proper food choices, or that the food is not as healthy as it could be. That is a fine criticism after you have lost a nice chunk of weight. But if you have not been able to make better or healthier food choices, the you need to do whatever it takes to help you lose weight. You need to know that this is a long process and you will need to learn many tools in addition to NutriSystem.
The questions of what is an ideal diet can be addressed once you have started the process of losing weight. And there are many men who have found success using NutriSystem.
What If I Don't Like The Food?
They offer a 30 day guarantee, and you can just stop. They have been criticized in the past for food that does not taste good or tastes bland, and they seem to be working to address this issue. As we get more feedback we will update this post. One thing to point out is that they are selling $700 million worth of their meals each year, which means there are a lot of people doing this. They offer a pretty compelling value proposition- you don't spend much more than you already would and it is convenient.
Weight Watchers offers a free weight loss readiness assessment that asks you a simple question: "are you ready to commit to losing weight?" This has proven to be a very popular tool. Not sure how new this is, but the new Weight Watchers Momentum program does have a much greater focus on the mental aspect of weight loss.
As part of their overall tool set to get you ready to lose weight, they also offer a BMI calculator and a health assessment. The idea is that by highlighting the health risk to one's weight, that can help give you the motivation to sustain long term weight loss. You can get all three tests from the link above.
I saw this question of Weight Watcher SETPoints in the PEERtrainer community this morning. This is the first I have heard of it, but at first glance it seems to confirm what I have started to think- that the new Weight Watchers Momentum Program is a different and much better overall offering than before.
In the example the person gave in the community salmon was a certain points value with the regular Weight Watchers Point System and a lower value with the new SETPoint system. One is to conclude that this new system is incentivizing you to eat healthier foods.
If you are thinking about joining or rejoining Weight Watchers, you want to make sure you are really ready to follow through on their program. PEERtrainer has put together this weight loss readiness quiz that will help you ballpark how willing you are to lose weight and if is a true priority. This in turn helps you understand your "odds" of losing weight. Take a look at the quiz and really answer those questions as honestly as you can.
I checked out the Weight Watchers message boards and there was some discussion about this. Someone pointed out that if you are doing Weight Watchers Online you have the option of counting your points in either the old or new SETPoint system. If you go to meetings, the book you get will have these two different values as well.
In addition to this being a great overall move for them to make the best diet possible, they also make it harder to count points on your own. We have heard that the Weight Watchers recipes are great and that you have to sign up to get them. With this new SETPoint system, it makes doing Weight Watchers on your own pretty much impossible. They are forcing you to join. They do offer a great new free tool, the weight loss readiness assessment. There are options to save money when you join, and you have to go to their website to find exact pricing and details.
But overall we keep hearing good stuff from these guys. As we say in our coaching programs, you have to be open to the best tools out there and realize that you might be at a very different stage in your life then you once were.
Ok- I mentioned a few days ago that a friend knew a guy who lost 80 pounds on Weight Watchers and that we were going to get his story. We got it and here are the questions we asked. I also have some thoughts, and they are not so PC and totally generalizing, but I think probably true. Questions in bold, answers short and sweet.
1) Did he do the meetings or just do ww online? -- went to meetings
2) Who recommended the diet to him -- wife
3) Did he find the online tools helpful -- somewhat, the tools were not conveniently available
4) how did he perceive the cost vs the result -- I thought the cost was reasonable but that may be because the result was good
5) How hard was it and how long did it take? -- not too hard; my eating habits were so poor that small changes made a big difference. it took about 8 months
6) Has he made permanent changes in his diet and how hard is he finding it to keep it off? --Yes changes are permanent. I pay a lot of attention to what I eat and what is in what I eat. Never did that before. Keeping it off has not been difficult. But I still have more to lose.
So this really got me thinking on something totally controversial, but I have to say it.
Controversial Comment #1--Men are from Mars, Women Are From Venus. Men are more logical and women are more emotional. As you see in these comments there is no major drama in his story. It is very simple- he was overweight because his "habits were so poor." Weight Watchers said- ok, try these new habits. He did. Problem solved.
This is brings me to Controversial Comment #2-- this guy had no excuses and took total responsibility. His weight was nobody's fault but his, it was not a result of some external force. There was no going on about he gained weight because of things being hard at work or really any excuse at all.
If you are a guy and need to lose weight, think about the controversial comments. Can you follow directions? Do you understand the concept that you are responsible for your actions? Can you follow through and persist with a plan?
You might be like the guy who could only lose weight on Nutrisystem, where they just sent you the food. No shame in that. Just think about what kind of person you are right now. As you become the person you want to be, then your diet will change. You will incorporate concepts of The Zone Diet. Lots of professional athletes do btw. You will get to know Joel Fuhrman and embark on a path of nutritional excellence.
Maybe you will even make so much progress that you will run a marathon.
But.....If you are a guy and you need to lose weight and you can follow directions start right now. Go to this link and take some quick tests put out by Weight Watchers to help you get ready to lose weight.
If you want to just find a local meeting you can find one here and sign up. Just do it. If you want to do the program online that is fine too. Those links both take you to Weight Watchers and they will find a way of getting you to sign up for the program you want and getting you to pay for it. If you think you can follow directions the cost will be insignificant.
