Does Nutrisystem FreshStart Work? (2019)

Nutrisystem vs. Jenny Craig?

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The most popular question we receive from our readers is “which program is better, Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig?”

The answer really comes down to what your goals are. Every year, millions of people make New Year Resolutions to lose weight. Both Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem are designed to help their customers lose when. So when comparing the two, both companies claim that in their study, the average weight loss was 11.6 lbs. However, when you take a look at the success stories, Nutrisystem’s results outweighs Jenny.  From here, we read up on the success stories from both companies, compared results on forums, and review sites.

Final Verdict: Nutrisystem loses the same amount of weight in less time and at lower financial burden.

What types of Food exist on Nutrisystem’s FreshStart?

Nutrisystem provides its customers with up to 7 meals a day including breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Dinners include meals such as chicken parm, spaghetti, chick and bacon ranch pizza, and even meatloaf; their lunch meals include hamburgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, and southwest fiesta melts; breakfast meals include buttermilk waffles, cinnamon rolls, and turkey sausage and egg muffins; snacks include chocolate brownie sundaes, chocolate cupcakes, and ice cream sandwiches.

So as you can see, you are still able to get a variety of meals while conquering your weight loss goals. And, as noted above, Nutrisystem includes the NutriCurb Bars, TurboBoosters, and Turbo Shakes on top of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks!

If you want to know more about individual menu items, check out our review of Nutrisystems food. If there’s a menu item you want to know about we don’t cover, let us know!

What’s in Nutrisystem

  • Nutrisystem prides themselves on their nutrition experts and dietitians who designed each plan themselves. Here are some of their keys to helping you lose weight:
    • Low Glycemic Carbs – which helps stabilize blood sugar
    • Protein – healthy and lean protein to fuel the body
    • Fiber – the FreshStart program is high in fiber to help keep you feeling full
    • Exclude unwanted ingredients
      • No artificial sweetener or flavors
      • No use of MSG
      • No use of high fructose corn syrup
      • No use of hydrogenated oils frequently associated with trans fat
    • Perfect mix of nutrients to fuel the body in a healthy way

What are the different plans?

  • Basic: Pre-selected foods shipped to your door 
  • Core: Choose from a limited menu or get the Chef’s favorites delivered to your house
  • Uniquely Yours: Completely customizable from all frozen and non-frozen options (160+ choices)
  • Uniquely Yours Plus: Add high-protein shakes (4 weeks’ worth) to the Uniquely Yours plan

There are pros and cons of each plan. If you are a picky eater, we suggest checking out the Uniquely Yours plans so you can customize your choices even though they are more expensive. If not, we recommend the core plan and going with the Chef’s Choice Pack which includes an assortment of their most popular items while saving some money. 

Each plan offers a balanced nutrition with high protein and fiber to keep you feeling full and satisfied. Each one also offers you the flexibility to eat up to 6 times a day while losing 1-2 pounds per week

Where to buy?

Customers can buy Nutrisystem in a variety of different places. You can shop on ebay, go to Walmart, order on amazon, or go directly to Nutrisystem’s site. Ebay, Walmart, and amazon allow you to get small kits but we feel that ordering those means you have one foot in and one foot out. Nearly 75% of New Years’ resolutions for weight loss ends by January 28th. By buying the small 5 day kits, you are allowing yourself an easy out. We would recommend going directly to the site and purchasing the full plan so you can stick to your weight loss and exceed your goal while receiving our discount code.

Pros & Cons

Nowadays, everyone searches for reviews before buying anything online which is why we thought it would be helpful to list the Pros and Cons

  • PROS
    • Convenient
      • Nutrisystem delivers the food to your door monthly meaning you don’t even have to leave the house. With auto-delivery, Nutrisystem makes sure to send the FreshStart program before the previous plan runs out.
    • Ease of Use
      • Nutrisystem does the work for you by sending each meal directly to your door so you don’t have to think at all. They recommend the numbers of times you should eat and even allow for up to 7 meals a day with multiple snacks
    • Calories already counted
      • Weight loss is directly correlated to calorie intake. Nutrisystem’s FreshStart does the counting for you which means you don’t have to worry about that at all
    • Customizable
      • Nutrisystem’s FreshStart (Core and Unique Your plans) allows you to customize your monthly meals. With over 150+ different menu options, customizing the program is extremely important and valuable
  • Cons
    • Price
      • The first thing many notice is the upfront cost of Nutrisystem. If you go directly to site, the most popular program costs over $300 which is a steep cost. However, with our discount included, the price turns out to be $9.29 a meal which is cheaper than monthly food bills when factoring in dining out
    • Long-term weight loss
      • Nutrisystem is designed to help you lose weight – and it will. However, when people get off the program, most fail to continue to monitor their calorie intake so they gain back the weight.
    • Freshness of Food
      • Nutrisystem ships their food monthly which means more preservatives. If you need your food to be fresh, then make sure to incorporate grocery items into your Nutrisystem plans
    • Individual Plans
      • The FreshStart program is designed for individuals and is not meant for the whole family so it only feeds one

What are the Cons?

If your goal is to lose weight, then Nutrisystem will help you achieve your weight loss goals (the main benefit of using Nutrisystem). Nutrisystem also helps you learn to control your portions which is key in keeping unwanted weight off. Another key benefit of the FreshStart program is that you get to customize when you choose the Core Plan or Uniquely Yours Plan. Since Nutrisystem is low in sodium and trans-fat but high in protein, fiber, and carbs, it helps prevent fatigueless while also reducing your appetite.

Benefits of Nutrisystem

Now most of this review is about Nutrisystem and if it works or not. As with most programs, there are some cons. In doing the program myself and reading reviews, the biggest con you’ll have to conquer is the taste of some of the food. Most of the meals were delicious in my opinion, but there were some that weren’t very flavorful. In short, my goal was strictly to lose weight so the taste wasn’t a huge factor in my decision.

The other con I saw in my research was the price. Now with our discount, the program costs about $272/month for the core plan. That means that the price of your food comes to roughly $9.89/day for 4 meals, snacks, shakes, and bars. Comparing this cost to my monthly grocery and eat out bill, this is actually cheaper per day based on my lifestyle

Is Nutrisystem Easy to Follow

This is a question our team gets asked a lot and for the right reason. When spending several hundred dollars to lose weight, people want to make sure the program is going to work and that it is easy to follow. This is Nutrisystem’s entire business model – making the process of losing weight as simple and easy as possible. FreshStart ships perfectly portioned meals directly to your doorstep every month and allow you to eat up to 6 times a day. They make sure to outline what you should eat for each meal and even add in recommendations for groceries.

How Does Nutrisystem Work:

Nutrisystem’s FreshStart program is designed to help you lose weight by controlling your portions with each meal. It doesn’t require you to count, measure, or even weigh in. By limiting portions and calorie intake with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, Nutrisystem successfully helps you lose weight.

Support System

Nutrisystem’s Core and Unique Yours Plans give you access to unlimited support. This means access to their mobile app (Numi), counselors, dietitians, and all their tools/trackers. Losing weight is never easy to do and Nutrisystem makes sure you aren’t in the process alone

Does Nutrisystem Really work?

In conclusion, yes Nutrisystem really does work. They have been in business since 1972 and solely focused on weight loss the whole time. With 46 years of experience and customer service, they definitely know how to help their customers lose weight. They’ve listened to their customers feedback which has allowed them to customize their own meals, offer a money back guarantee, and offer their customers their very own weight loss counselors that you can chat with for help/guidance.

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