Ensight - Jeremy Wright

A couple of monts ago I posted my 20 Things I Do to Stay a Bit Healthier list. Doing the list allowed me to lose roughly 7 pounds of completely excess weight, but wasn’t letting me get below my previous “average” of 240-245.

Rewind 6 months ago, and I’d mentioned my attempt at weightloss on Twitter., when a PR rep for NutriSystem (Keith McArthur from Veritas Communication) tweeted me back and offered a free few months of NutriSystem. At the time I was in the middle of a majo travel swing, and knew I’d never get around to it.

However a month or so ago I decided to give this weightloss thing one more shot, so pinged Keith to see if the offer was still open, and wonder of wonders it was!

So for the last 2 weeks I’ve been using NutriSystem fairly religiously (probably a total of 5 meals that haven’t been, which ain’t bad).

Before I get into how it’s working, I want to note what my goals are for this period of my life. Plain and simple: lose weight, get healthier, find more energy so I can play with my boys more.

The last time I tried to lose weight (roughly this time last year), I engaged a trainer for 3-4 workouts a week, redid my diet (many of those changes in eating are reflected in my 20 things post). However I was gaining muscle as fast as I was losing fat. So my weight was basically the same after 2 months of working out.

In my past,  I’ve never managed to get to the gym regularly. It’s always, always, always been an issue.

So, as part of doing NutriSystem, I’ve started going back to the gym and working out at home on our elliptical.

In the last 2 weeks, I’ve:

1. Lost an additional 10 pounds over and above the 7 I’d lost as part of getting back onto my healthier life kick.
2. Begun using NutriSysem
3. Gone to the gym 6 times
4. Done 4 workous at home on the elliptical (adding nearly 100km to the tally)
5. Massively cut down on my pop consumption (specifically sweetened iced tea, which is the devil’s nectar)

I’m now down to 233 pounds (from a high of 253 a few months ago, but from my average of 243 as well). I’ve retired all of my size 42 and 40 pants (the pants I’m wearing these days haven’t been worn in 3 years… and some of them have NEVER been worn).

But really I wanted to talk about NutriSystem. Not because I have to in order to get it for free, but because I think it provides value. Now, if you look online there’s all kinds of stuff about how unhealthy it is, how it doesn’t help, etc. I don’t know about the health side. What I do know is this:

1. The cost is well worth the amount of “free food” you get
2. Outside of the pre-packaged stuff, you have to eat a metric tonne of truly, truly healthy food
3. The structure NutriSystem provides, for me, has created a magical formula that keeps me on track

And maybe this magic is the real magic. I’ve tried to pay for trainers so that I’d be motivated to go. I’ve tried to look deep into my boys’ eyes to find motivation. But apparently for my personality type, the real trick is structure, habit, routine. And NutriSystem forms the “bookends” of my routine. It’s too early to say it’s definitely going to stick, but the biggest thing for me has always been milestones. And here are the real milestones I’ve hit, in just the last 2 weeks:

1. At bedtime, weighed less than 245 (this was the first big one, and was incredibly motivational)
2. Gotten under 240 (HUGE, as I’d never managed this in previous stuff)
3. Fit into size 38 pants (again, HUGE)
4. Under 240 at bedtime (omg, couldn’t believe this one!)
5. UNDER 235 pounds
6. Got in 5 actual gym workouts (first time ever where I’ve stuck to my schedule)
7. Gone to the theatre without ordering junk food (did you know they have water bottles at the theatre?! CRAZY!!!)
8. Done 3 non-gym workouts (again, a first in a consecutive fashion)

Each of these are major milestones for me. But I want to continue setting small (and big) milestones that keep me motivated. The number going down most mornings (except for a spell last weekend where I totally gave up eating properly) is just exceptionally motivational.

I’m going to attempt to blog weekly on my experiences with NutriSystem (positive and negative), but wanted to kick this off with the very simple thought that while I don’t know if it’s the healthiest prepackaged food in the world, for me this totally works – at this point mostly due to the structure it provides.

So a huge thanks to Keith and the team at Veritas. Dropping 20 pounds feels absolutely incredible. If I ever get to 225 pounds, dinner’s on me :-)