I was recently asked by someone if “Nutrisystem was really sustainable for the long term.” The person had looked at the diet and was pretty sure that she could get behind this program for a month or two, but she wasn’t sure if this short time frame was going to give her the results that she wanted. And she also wasn’t sure how long she planned to stick with the diet. I will share some of the things that we discussed in the following article.

Determining How Long You’re Going To Need To Be On Nutrisystem To See The Results That You Want: The person in question was hoping to lose around 60 pounds. Taking into consideration the company’s literature, clinical studies, and my own knowledge from experience (and on weight loss forums,) I’d call anywhere from 2 - 4 pounds about average and not unrealistic. So, I’ll just take the middle of this range and call it three pounds. Again, I don’t think that this range is out of question for someone who’s going to be reasonably diligent with consuming the foods provided and somewhat smart about adding in the recommended side items.

So at three pounds per week, she was looking at around 20 weeks or about five months. I can tell you from my own experiences and opinions that I don’t think that this would be overwhelmingly difficult. You are offered decent tasting comfort foods like pizza, fajitas, macaroni and cheese, ravioli, pretzels, chocolate bars and pancakes. Most people can find enough foods that they like out of the over 150 choices to make up a decent amount of variety and satisfaction with their meals.

And, you can always change up and rotate your sides to give yourself even more variety. So, while I didn’t think 5 months was going to be out of her reach, she also wanted to know what what happen at the end of that time period (once she lost enough weight.) She wanted to know if, after she finally reached her goal, she was supposed to have to stay on Nutrisystem for longer than that of if she could just abruptly go off of it. The truth is, that decision is hers, but the company does offer you a lot of support with this process.

Nutrisystem Maintenance After You’ve Met Your Weight Loss Goals: Once you’re happy with your weight, you will want to decide how (or if) you want to go off of the plan. Some people will chose to remain on the plan, at least somewhat, because it’s just become a habit and because it’s easy. Some will chose to add a Nutrisystem meal or two into their daily life as they sort of ease into regular foods. And, some will just try to take what they’ve learned about healthy eating on the plan and use that knowledge to make healthy choices with regular foods from the beginning.

One thing that many people don’t know about Nutrisystem is that they offer free counseling during your entire experience. You can very easily call up (or real time chat) and have a counselor work with you to come up with a plan to transition back to regular foods. This process really isn’t all that difficult. It really just depends on your comfort level, your decisions as to how quickly you want to stop consuming the diet foods, and how you’re able to incorporate what you’ve learned during the process. Many people underestimate this. If you’ve been following along, using the free counseling, and making smart choices with your sides, this process might actually be a little easier than you might think.