A box sitting in my apartment contains nearly all the food I will be consuming for the next 28 days ... starting tomorrow.
Nearly one year after I wrote a story about the terrible experience of many NutriSystem customers, it is still one of the most often read stories on ConsumerAffairs.com. And as for the company, the complaints have become more numerous.
Many say the food is so disgusting, it makes it impossible to follow the diet.
Upon receiving the boxes of product, I tried a lunch of beef stew which tasted like I imagine bad dog food would taste, and sampled a bite from 12 of the snacks, all of which were stale, broken and tasted absolutely horrible, wrote Sue of Republic, Mo. The chocolate tasted like ex-lax squares, the snack cakes dry and old, the popcorn stuck together and stale, all inedible.
Others complain that NutriSystem substitutes dishes frequently, even though customers pay a premium to pick their menu items.
I am in my third month of ordering from NutriSystem," wrote Cate of St. Louis. "I order online and pay extra for the privilege of ordering the meals I want rather than doing the automatic ship where they choose the meals. For two of the three months I have ordered, they have shipped me substituted items, and I quote here from the letter that arrives with my order:
Due to unusually high demand for our weight loss program, we are experiencing temporary shortages of some of our food products. Because of this, we may have had to substitute some items which you ordered that were out of stock with others of comparable value. We apologize for this temporary inconvenience, and thank you for your understanding in this matter.
Of the 112 items in my last order (28 days worth), 32 items, (29%) were substitutes, Cate continued. It is unconscionable to me that they would arbitrarily opt to substitute almost a third of my entire order.
Although I haven't had the opportunity -- or, more accurately, the nerve -- to look at the contents of the box in my apartment, I received the same letter.
Finally, others say the food is extraordinarily salty, possibly a side effect of pre-packaged foods. However, according to the NutriSystem's ingredient labels, the food has less than the approved percent of daily sodium intake.
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Millions try it
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Before: Our well-fed reporter (left)Are these the words that often accompany the love/hate relationship many Americans have with diets? Or is the food so disgusting that it's not feasible to base an entire diet on it? By the end of these next 28 days, I expect to have answers to those questions and more.
Although I'm pretty worried about the disgusting smell, taste and texture of the foods that hundreds have complained to ConsumerAffairs.com about, I think what most concerns me is the huge calorie deficit. At less than 1500 calories per day, I will be cutting my estimated current intake nearly in half.
I've never considered myself overweight and I've generally eaten like I have nothing to worry about. So it will be difficult living the same active lifestyle on what will probably feel like a bottomless pit.
On that note, I plan to stay as active after I start the diet as I am now. That means walking about four miles every day and running about four miles every week.
Medical OK
This afternoon, Dr. Henry Fishman, ConsumerAffairs.com's consulting physician, inspected me and said that at 188 pounds and six feet I'm healthy in nearly every regard but could afford to lose a few pounds.
My NutriSystem counselor told me most men in the program lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. At that estimate, I should be four to eight pounds lighter 28 days from now. If the food is as revolting as its severest critics claim, I may lose more than that.
Well, I'm off to have my final regular meal and glass of beer.
Check back with ConsumerAffairs.com frequently as I will be regularly posting written and video blogs detailing my one-month adventure with the NutriSystem diet.
