Nutrisystem - has anyone done this?

[Capt. Kaos]

Going a little off topic here ~~~~>

I am in desperate need of losing some weight. I understand the concepts behind eating the right foods. My biggest problem is bad joints (knees, ankles, lower back, hands). What would be my best bet for actual exercise that wouldnt leave me in horrible pain for days?

I have a treadmill and the wife has a gazelle but I'm worried about trying that silly contraption. Not sure if it would actually do anything and really dislike wasting my time.

[Darth Tater]

Just wanted to throw in my bit of advice.

I think that exercise, no matter how intense or moderate, is a key to getting healthier. Sounds easy enough, but let's face it, it's REALLY tough to get into an exercise routine if you're not into one already. My advice would be to go see a personal trainer for a few months. I did this about a year ago and it helped me a lot. I grew up working out a lot but had gotten out of it for a few years, so just went and said "show me what to do". She showed me a whole new way of exercising that fit my wants and limitations and it helped me a lot. Once you start to see the benefits of it you'll get addicted to exercising. And for me, if i'm working out a lot I don't have to limit what I eat really. In fact, I lose weight best when I work out hard and eat what i want rather than working out and eating 1200 calories a day or something.

For me, exercise, especially high-intensity/short duration, has always been the easy part to do. The biggest reason is that I'm doing something rather than giving something up. Maybe I'm lucky, but when I start exercising, my cravings tend to lean toward what I need nutritionally and I like most healthy food anyway, so I've never really dieted but right eating is the hardest thing to get into unless I'm already doing it.

[Thiebear]

I think the ONE thing that is saving me as i halfass do the P90x.

Whenever i go out to eat now: i go to the grocery store instead and by 60$ worth of Food.

[Die Hard]

Going a little off topic here ~~~~>

I am in desperate need of losing some weight. I understand the concepts behind eating the right foods. My biggest problem is bad joints (knees, ankles, lower back, hands). What would be my best bet for actual exercise that wouldnt leave me in horrible pain for days?

I have a treadmill and the wife has a gazelle but I'm worried about trying that silly contraption. Not sure if it would actually do anything and really dislike wasting my time.

If you have joint problems.... than you should be doing non-weight bearing exercises. For example... swimming. Recumbant bike. Check Google

The problem with bad joints typically... is a lack of motion. Lack of motion causes the problems... and accelerates them. You've got to get the joints moving..... even if it's simple active ranges of motion movements.

Start with something low impact... like a Yoga or Tai Chi. The whole concept is to stretch muscles AND facilitate all the muscles in the body (particularly the underused ones) by the various poses. And there won't be any stress on the joints.

[SUSkinsFan]

I really need to get back into my routine.

Last semester I had a pretty good thing going. I would go to the gym at my university 4-5 times a week and ride one of the bikes for 30 minutes, and I would lift weights with a friend of mine a few times a week too. I would eat baked chips, pretzels and chicken sandwiches for lunch and drink alot of flavored water. I lost about 15 pounds (went from 275 to 260) and was feeling better.

This semster however, I was working on a political campaign and when I wasn't in class I was at the office working. I had no time to go to the gym and since I was out until 8 or 9 every night I was eating a lot of fast food. Luckily I only gained about 5 pounds from that but I definitely don't feel as good as I did, although the only reason I didn't gain more was because I was in a swimming class that met 3 times a week for about 30 minutes.

My biggest problem with eating healthy is I absolutely hate raw vegetables so I never eat salads, which is something people always say they eat when they are losing weight. Plus with my schedule I am not at home alot of the time so I can eat decent meals. And can someone tell me why I shouldn't drink diet sodas. I usually drink a diet pepsi with lunch and the only thing listed on the nutritional info is 25mg of sodium.

Also, can anyone recommend a decent bike I could buy. The recumbent bike did get a bit boring so if I have a bike I could ride it around and get some different scenery every time.

[Darth Tater]

Going a little off topic here ~~~~>

I am in desperate need of losing some weight. I understand the concepts behind eating the right foods. My biggest problem is bad joints (knees, ankles, lower back, hands). What would be my best bet for actual exercise that wouldnt leave me in horrible pain for days?

I have a treadmill and the wife has a gazelle but I'm worried about trying that silly contraption. Not sure if it would actually do anything and really dislike wasting my time.

Most yoga techniques (though depending on how severe your weight and joint problems are, some that may appear not to stress joints will) , most isometrics (wall sitting would probably be out), swimming and I've hear good things about exercising in the pool (heated I'd think). If the joint problems aren't to severe, elliptical trainers are great but you need to do it right. Simple walking is a great low-impact workout unless your just about incapacitated.

[spjunkies]

Isn't that what killed Anna Nicole?

[twenty-eight]

Buddy told me the food taste like :pooh:

[Corcaigh]

A great article on nutrition by Michael Pollan is at the attached. It's very long but is worth a read. It has some great advice and some one liners too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=1

To summarize the 16 pages he starts with ... "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. "

Adding a little more detail from his conclusions:

1. Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.

2. Avoid even those food products that come bearing health claims. Don’t take the silence of the yams as a sign that they have nothing valuable to say about health.

3. Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, unpronounceable c) more than five in number — or that contain high-fructose corn syrup.

4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. You won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer’s market; you also won’t find food harvested long ago and far away.

5. Pay more, eat less. Americans spend less as a percentage of their income than other nations on food.

6. Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.

7. Eat more like the French. Or the Japanese. Or the Italians. Or the Greeks. Confounding factors aside, people who eat according to the rules of a traditional food culture are generally healthier than we are.

8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden.

9. Eat like an omnivore. Try to add new species, not just new foods, to your diet. The greater the diversity of species you eat, the more likely you are to cover all your nutritional bases.

[zoony]

4. Get out of the supermarket whenever possible. You won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup at the farmer’s market;

Seems like the more that comes out about that stuff, the worse it sounds.

Does anyone have some good info on why it's so bad for you? Seems like avoiding it is next to impossible. And why is it worse than sugar?

The one thing I have really taken great care to avoid over the past several months are hydrogenated oils. That is some scary **** - amazing how many foods contain them. And its amazing that the government allows them.

[chipwhich]

Does anyone have some good info on why it's so bad for you? Seems like avoiding it is next to impossible. And why is it worse than sugar?

Well you would have to get into a detailed look at the health effects of Sugar -vs- Fructose and what overeating each individually does to your body.

Many americans grew up eating margarine which WAS nothing but hydrogenated crap. Now margarine makers have scrambled to take out the garbage. Everyone thinking they were making a healthier choice by not eating butter were actually eating something worse.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is to Sugar essentially what Hydrogenated Oils are to fat. Fortunately there is such an outcry that food manufacturers are now removing this sweetner from their foods.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is cheap, it's more fattening, and the canadiens/europeans have opposed foods containing it from the fattest nation in the world....the US.

If Americans would just eat from the produce and meat sections and drink water they would not need to diet. They would not need to read ingredients. They would not be overweight. But we are a weight watchers nation, more concerned with the 100 calorie pack of Oreos on our diet than our waistline.

[zoony]

Well you would have to get into a detailed look at the health effects of Sugar -vs- Fructose and what overeating each individually does to your body.

Many americans grew up eating margarine which WAS nothing but hydrogenated crap. Now margarine makers have scrambled to take out the garbage. Everyone thinking they were making a healthier choice by not eating butter were actually eating something worse.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is to Sugar essentially what Hydrogenated Oils are to fat. Fortunately there is such an outcry that food manufacturers are now removing this sweetner from their foods.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is cheap, it's more fattening, and the canadiens/europeans have opposed foods containing it from the fattest nation in the world....the US.

If Americans would just eat from the produce and meat sections and drink water they would not need to diet. They would not need to read ingredients. They would not be overweight. But we are a weight watchers nation, more concerned with the 100 calorie pack of Oreos on our diet than our waistline.

That is very interesting stuff c- I'd really be interested in reading more.

And I agree- there has to be SOMETHING to the fact that Europe eats like a bunch of dam pigs but don't have near the obesity problems we do. I guess they walk more b/c it is more urbanized, but that can't be all of it

[Corcaigh]

That is very interesting stuff c- I'd really be interested in reading more.

And I agree- there has to be SOMETHING to the fact that Europe eats like a bunch of dam pigs but don't have near the obesity problems we do. I guess they walk more b/c it is more urbanized, but that can't be all of it

Portion size is a (big) reason and another is that in the US there are many low cost options for eating out.

When I lived in Oxford (England) I remember standing in a McDonalds (picking up a Happy Meal for the kid ) and some American tourists were in front of me. When their order was handed over the guy looked at it and said, "I ordered an extra-large". The server replied "That IS an extra large".

Or friends from Europe visiting look at a Subway 6" sandwich and think it's too big for lunch. Then they see other customers ordering the foot long with chips, cookies and a soda big enough to bathe a toddler in.

Euros eat less and cook at home more.

The article I linked to commented:

"Medicine is learning how to keep alive the people whom the Western diet is making sick. It’s gotten good at extending the lives of people with heart disease, and now it’s working on obesity and diabetes. Capitalism is itself marvelously adaptive, able to turn the problems it creates into lucrative business opportunities: diet pills, heart-bypass operations, insulin pumps, bariatric surgery. But while fast food may be good business for the health-care industry, surely the cost to society — estimated at more than $200 billion a year in diet-related health-care costs — is unsustainable."

I've worked with people who take a fistful of medicines (and supplements) and then get their only exercise of the day waddling across the road to have lunch every day at Taco Bell or McDonalds. :doh:

[zoony]

Portion size is a (big) reason and another is that in the US there are many low cost options for eating out.

When I lived in Oxford (England) I remember standing in a McDonalds (picking up a Happy Meal for the kid ) and some American tourists were in front of me. When their order was handed over the guy looked at it and said, "I ordered an extra-large". The server replied "That IS an extra large".

Or friends from Europe visiting look at a Subway 6" sandwich and think it's too big for lunch. Then they see other customers ordering the foot long with chips, cookies and a soda big enough to bathe a toddler in.

Euros eat less and cook at home more.

The article I linked to commented:

"Medicine is learning how to keep alive the people whom the Western diet is making sick. It’s gotten good at extending the lives of people with heart disease, and now it’s working on obesity and diabetes. Capitalism is itself marvelously adaptive, able to turn the problems it creates into lucrative business opportunities: diet pills, heart-bypass operations, insulin pumps, bariatric surgery. But while fast food may be good business for the health-care industry, surely the cost to society — estimated at more than $200 billion a year in diet-related health-care costs — is unsustainable."

I've worked with people who take a fistful of medicines (and supplements) and then get their only exercise of the day waddling across the road to have lunch every day at Taco Bell or McDonalds. :doh:

Good point, maybe they do cook at home more.

I do know from my time living there that my stomach had trouble adjusting to the richness of a lot of the food. That was true for pretty much all of us. Lunch in Belgium is a 2 hour affair. Get comfortable, you're not going anywhere for a while. And the fillaful (sp?) houses- with the baskets of french fries and gobs of mayo on top to dip them in. And if you order a regular sandwich- expect (literally) 3 or 4 TABLEspoons of mayo on it. And the waffles... holy crap the waffles... mmmmm.... waffles...

So I do think maybe chipwich has a point about Americans and our processed foods. I don't know. Like I said I'd be interested in learning more

And the beer over there, don't get me started.

[chipwhich]

So I do think maybe chipwich has a point about Americans and our processed foods. I don't know. Like I said I'd be interested in learning more

And the beer over there, don't get me started.

Not saying mayo and fries are a good thing :laugh:

Most european countries have foods that actually come from the fields, not the processing plants. When I worked in England for a while I remember the first time I was served heavy cream with my coffee....yuck. the cream had a film over it, like it had just come right from the cow.

In Europe, flavored water is more normal than high fructose corn syrup sodas or diet sodas. I haven't even touched on the diet soda epidemic.

You won't find 100 calorie cheeze nips and oreo's in europe as a dietary standard. You will also find a big mac extra vaue meal is a treat, not the norm.

You won't find fast food restaurants on every corner.

Truth is, if you have been to Europe you will find it is essentially all farmland.

If you eat meat, fruit, and vegetables you wont gain wait.

The biggest problem with going meat, fruit, and vegetables in the US is steroid and pesticides used to produce those products.

In the U.S., the Weight Watcher revolution has people afraid to eat an Egg because it contains cholesterol, but will push a 1 point fat free brownie as an option to dietary weight loss.

My cousin, www.chipotless.com lost 100 pounds eating chipotle burritos. What did he really eat? Chicken or Steak, lettuce, organic tomato salsas, guacamole, fiber, and sour cream. There really is no magic in his plan. And no real magic in Chipotle. He cut out all processed foods, and essentially went back to eating food out of the fields. He went from borderline diabetic, to healthy with excellent blood work.

You can try it yourself. Spend a month eating 1500 calories of pasta, white rice, fat free foods, diet soda.

Take blood work.

Spend the next month eating meat, vegetables and fruit.

Take blood work.

Let your body decide.

His Chipotle is the OP's Nutrisystem. A forced way to stick to a daily meal plan. Nothing more, nothing less. I can tell you from experience, Chipotle is more enjoyable than Nutrisystems foods even if you eat it every day.

[Corcaigh]

I do know from my time living there that my stomach had trouble adjusting to the richness of a lot of the food. That was true for pretty much all of us. Lunch in Belgium is a 2 hour affair. Get comfortable, you're not going anywhere for a while.

True. I have family living in Belgium and they really don't like to be rushed.

On the subject of portion size,I took my family to a nice French restaurant on Christmas Eve. My son said the steak he had was the best he'd ever had. He said it was the smallest too.

But according to the US Federal nutritional guidelines, a 4oz steak is defined as a medium portion. Imagine how many restaurants here would have happy customers if they served meat portions smaller than the size of a cigarette packet.