Choose Your
Weight Loss Plan

The best diet for weight loss may not be an actual “diet” at all. A major criticism around so-called “fad” or “crash” diets is that they are not sustainable in the long run, because they do not provide enough nutrients, are too strict and people don’t feel well while on them for extended periods of time.

For these reasons, the best weight loss program is one that you can actually adhere to, while also meeting your nutritional needs. A core principle guiding such programs is to reduce caloric intake while increasing activity levels. When your body needs more calories than you are eating or drinking, it starts to break down the fat you carry around. This allows your body to burn fat as the “fuel” needed to keep it running.

The best weight loss meal delivery programs help you lose weight now, while also introducing new habits that will help you keep the weight off in the long run. Instead of just measuring the success of a weight loss program based on how many pounds or inches you lose, be sure to consider the lifestyle changes that will keep the pounds off over time.

Nutrisystem is widely regarded as a smart and sustainable choice because it adheres to the principles of safe and effective weight loss without feeling restrictive. The program is easy to follow, proven to work and it delivers convenient, nutritionally balanced meals that are perfectly portioned for weight loss—without requiring you to count calories or points.

By having your weight loss meals delivered,Nutrisystem plans help take away the stress of meal-planning so you can focus on eating healthy and living your life. In the process, you learn about healthy portion sizes, balanced nutrition and you even pick up recipes to help with the final prep on your fresh meals. By the time you reach your weight loss goal and finish your Nutrisystem plan, you’ve reformed your relationship with food; your body is mentally and physically primed to feel full and satisfied without feeling hungry or overeating. And if you ever need a “refresher” of these lessons in the future, Nutrisystem is always available to you.

The general consensus is that approximately 75-80% of weight loss is influenced by your diet, and 20-25% is driven by exercise patterns. These figures are informed by years of experience among professionals ranging from dietitians to personal trainers.

We acknowledge no two individuals or bodies are exactly alike; each person’s diet and weight loss journey looks a little different. In other words, there is room for some flexibility when it comes to determining an individual’s optimal ratio of diet to exercise.

At Nutrisystem, we recognize that the “80/20 rule” is not a weight loss absolute. There are other guidelines factoring into healthy, effective weight loss that must be kept in mind. Creating a deficit between calorie intake and calorie consumption is how you teach the body to start breaking down fat, driving weight loss. Depending on where someone is on their weight loss journey, this might not look like 80% diet and 20% exercise changes.

For these reasons, the Nutrisystem program takes the “80/20 weight loss rule” into consideration as a broad guideline, but more importantly, Nutrisystem promotes incremental lifestyle changes to help you find the right balance for your body. Remember, the factors that contributed to making you overweight will not simply vanish because you are on a weight loss plan. The key to losing weight is finding a way to overcome the negative factors by incorporating the right habits into your daily life. Nutrisystem provides the foundation needed to develop the healthy and sustainable habits needed for lasting weight loss.

You can accelerate weight loss by making a series of changes to your daily habits around meals and activity. The more healthy changes you are able to implement, the more likely you are to successfully lose weight quickly. Ideally, these changes reduce how much you eat and make it easier for you to be more active.

Nutrisystem facilitates such changes by providing the foundation needed to start losing weight quickly and safely. In fact, people often lose up to 5 pounds in their very first week on Nutrisystem. However, such rapid weight loss is not recommended over extended periods of time.

Any changes that reduce fluctuations in blood sugar levels will help control appetite and eating; these changes include eating whole foods and soluble fiber, avoiding excessive amounts of refined carbohydrates and added sugars and incorporating protein into every meal. That’s why Nutrisystem delivers high-protein meal plans with lower-glycemic nutrition.

Drinking water before every meal can also help reduce hunger. That’s because the brain cannot properly differentiate between hunger and thirst, so you might be eating when you are really just thirsty. When you do eat, we recommend eating slowly and mindfully because it gives hormones a chance to tell your body that you are full.

Getting regular exercise can help increase the calorie gap, as well as boost morale and facilitate good sleep. Getting a good night of sleep is another vital part of losing weight quickly; good sleep helps reduce stress, anxiety and hunger.

In order to consistently exercise and get good sleep, your body needs to be fueled by the right nutritional balance. This is why we encourage eating six times per day. Our program is designed to focus not just on meal plans, but also on helping you master the skills needed to maintain healthy habits in your life outside of Nutrisystem. Sometimes, people go through life events that derail their healthy habits; even then, Nutrisystem is here to help get you back on track.

There are many factors that could contribute to feelings of frequent hunger—even right after a meal. Such factors might include poor meal-planning, disrupted hunger signals from satiety hormones and, of course, unhealthy lifestyle and eating habits.

The nutrient composition of your meals can significantly influence how full they make you feel. Meals high in simple carbohydrates will leave you full for a few moments before you get hungry again; these meals induce fast blood sugar spikes followed by dips, which trigger your body to release hunger signals.

Meal plans that are high in protein will help you feel fuller longer because protein takes longer to digest. Therefore, protein does not cause the sudden spikes that simple carbs do. Fiber-rich foods are another trick to feeling full longer, because fiber is slowly digested in the body. Incorporating healthy amounts of fat into each meal will also help you eat less in one sitting while still feeling full. Nutrisystem plans are dietitian-designed to deliver foods with the right nutritional balance to fight hunger and help you feel full and satisfied.

Nutrisystem also promotes slow and mindful eating. If you eat too quickly or frequently, or eat big-volume meals, your stomach may not have a chance to expand and trigger the stretch receptors that release hormones to tell your body it feels full. This can leave you feeling hungry all the time, even if you just ate. Some people are resistant to the feelings of fullness that satiety hormones like leptin are supposed to trigger; for these people, when their fat cells release leptin to signal the end of a meal, the brain’s receptors cannot properly read the signal as “fullness”. Stress, lack of sleep, insulin resistance and distracted eating can also disrupt your body’s signals of fullness.

Another possibility: If you are trying to lose weight on your own, you may be cutting too many calories from your diet. As a result, your body will tell you it’s still hungry. The sooner you are able to address these factors, the more likely you are to feel full after eating.

Whatever is driving you to feel hungry so often, Nutrisystem is here to help. In addition to delivering foods with the right nutritional balance, we give you tools and resources to promote healthy habits, including our NuMi® weight loss app, which can create personal calorie goals that adapt to your body as you lose weight and record your progress. Our personal weight loss coaches are also available on-demand, 7 days a week, to help you identify and address the factors that may be contributing to your feelings of hunger.