Eat for Real. For real.

Having recently packed on the freshman 15 - given that I was new to ... uh... the year 2010 and was eating my way through the first couple of months- I decided to explore some non-traditional weight loss methods. (Only because the idea of 'eating less and moving more' didn't really appeal.)

A good friend of mine, a friend I trust and who has similar tastes and point of view as me, suggested nutrisystem. In fact more than just mentioning it- she was a die hard brand advocate one person selling machine. She also lost loads of lbs and looked great.

Well.. with some research (I grilled her for details) and a craftily placed banner ad that enticed me with "FINAL SALE ON NOW NOW NOW" I decided to check it out.

My reasoning was sound: It's pre-packaged food but so are the lean cusines I frequently consume. I'm not a foodie. I always joke that I wait for the day when we just eat pills... I don't really care about food.

Well guess what I learned about myself? I do care about food. I care about food alot. A considerable amount in fact.

Why is that? Let me tell you. You would care about food too when suddenly your entire diet consisted of a box of 28 days worth of pre-packaged meals you get ALL AT ONCE.

Did I need worry about room in my freezer? oh no friend- not at all. My fridge then - I'm sure I could move stuff around... Nope- NO NEED.

It's 84 MEALS THAT CAN SIT ON YOUR COUNTER FOR 28 DAYS. And I'm not talking about cereal. I'm talking about meat and eggs and cheese!!

When you can joke to your friends that for the 'girls weekend' at the end of July you will bring a bunch of nutrisystem meals, and you could fully bring the food you have right now, on a plane for 8 hours, and it would still be 'edible', that's when you start to care about food.

When the food you're eating is "meat/beans/rice" and the ingredient list on the box is about 37 items long, that's when you start to really care about what you put into your mouth.

When you put the 'meals' you have into the refrigerator not because you have to, but in order to psychologically feel like you're eating something 'fresh', that's a problem.

Little tip for you: "Meatlets" are not real meat.

I think the real reason that people lose weight with nutrisystem is that they have spent so much money on this crap food that they are broke, can't buy real food, don't eat the "food" they instead begin using to fill holes in the walls, and they just starve off the weight.

And so that's where I am now. Drinking wine (I have to stay hydrated) and picking my way through the dry goods in the box. Cereal is cereal... uh... right???