Nutrisystem is a packaged meal delivery brand for weight loss. The company claims that users can "Lose Up To 7 Pounds Your First 7 Days!"
But is Nutrisystem shown to cause weight loss in clinical studies? Are the meals healthy or unhealthy? Are the low calorie counts a long-term risk? And how does Nutrisystem compare to other popular weight loss meal programs like Jenny Craig?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze clinical studies on Nutrisystem to give our take on whether or not the program is likely to cause weight loss.
We'll also share our concerns regarding the low calorie counts of some of the meals, and compare Nutrisystem to other popular weight loss meal programs like Jenny Craig to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- Caused more weight loss than self-directed diet in one trial
- Contains "processed" ingredients that we consider unhealthy
- We do not currently recommend Nutrisystem
Does Nutrisystem Cause Weight Loss?
Nutrisystem has been studied in clinical trials for its effects on weight in overweight and obese patients.
A clinical trial published in the Frontiers in Nutrition journal compared Nutrisystem with a self-directed weight loss diet, and found that participants on Nutrisystem lost more weight.
After 16 weeks, trial participants on the Nutrisystem diet lost an average of 13 pounds while those on a self-directed diet lost an average of 3.97 pounds.
However we consider this study to be poorly-designed and to have potential bias.
This study was designed by employees of Nutrisystem as stated in the Conflict of Interest section.
The study also had the Nutrisystem participants eat fewer calories than the self-directed dieters for the first week.
The researchers even stated “The lower calorie level during the first week of the commercial program was designed to promote an early larger initial weight loss to encourage compliance and continued weight loss with this program."
Nutrisystem is also clinically shown to reduce blood sugar levels in diabetic patients.
Overall, we consider Nutrisystem likely to be effective for short-term weight loss, but we're unconvinced of its long-term (12+ months) weight loss efficacy.
Are the Calorie Counts a Concern?
Many of the meals sold by Nutrisystem have extremely low calories:
image source: https://www.nutrisystem.com/
The nutritional content shown above is from the mushroom parmesan soup which is a lunch item.
Nearly every breakfast option on the brand's website at the time of updating this article contains under 200 calories, and the vast majority of their lunch and dinner options contain under 300 calories.
These calorie counts are simply insufficient to provide the energy needs of most adults; even those on a diet.
Caloric needs vary by the individual, but the general recommendation is 2,500 calories for men and 2,000 calories for women, according to a 2021 medical review.
Overweight and obese individuals have even higher baseline caloric needs.
If an overweight man with a base metabolic requirement of 3,000 calories cuts to a caloric deficit of 2,600 calories per day to lose weight, he’d need an average of nearly 900 calories per meal.
A woman cutting to 1,600 calories would need over 500 calories per meal (assuming three meals daily in each case).
Three Nutrisystem meals and a snack only averages around 1,000 total calories.
This simply isn't sufficient for the vast majority of the population, even for those dieting, which is why we're unconvinced about the long-term effectiveness of this program.
As we discussed in our review of another weight loss meal delivery program called BistroMD, simply cutting calories without changing dietary habits is a suboptimal long-term weight loss strategy.
If people are hungry and have food cravings, they often they break the diet and start binging. This is why the vast majority of people on commercial weight loss programs regain the weight, as documented in a 2018 medical review.
We consider a weight loss program that shifts dietary patterns from processed food to whole food to be more likely to support long-term success, because whole foods are rich in dietary fiber, which is clinically shown to be associated with reduced caloric intake.
Are Nutrisystem Meals Healthy?
The ingredients in Nutrisystem Salisbury Steak with Mac and Cheese meal are shown below:
image source: https://www.nutrisystem.com/
We assume that all of the animal products (meats, cheese, butter, etc.) are sourced from conventionally-raised animals rather than grass-fed animals, since Nutrisystem doesn’t state otherwise.
We know from medical research that food sourced from pastured animals is healthier, because it's more nutrient-dense, has a more optimal fatty acid ratio of omega-3 versus omega-6 fats, and tends to be lower in toxins and other contaminants.
Disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate are synthetic flavor enhancers.
Citric acid is a preservative and flavor enhancer which can cause whole-body inflammatory reactions in some individuals, as we documented in our Optavia review article.
Sugar is listed three times, and we recommend avoiding food products and supplements containing refined, added sugar.
We know from medical studies that added sugar can be harmful to human health when consumed in excess.
Natural flavors is a better choice than artificial flavors, but added flavors can contain solvents and preservatives according to a medical review published in the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal.
Overall, we do not consider Nutrisystem to be healthy, and we would recommend a whole food diet free of preservatives to be a nutritionally superior option.
Jenny Craig vs. Nutrisystem
Jenny Craig is another popular weight loss meal program, so consumers are often curious about which is a better option.
A 2017 clinical trial compared weight loss in overweight and obese women who were using different commercial diet programs. The trial lasted 12 weeks.
Those on Nutrisystem lost an average of 11.09 pounds, while those on Jenny Craig's meal plan lost an average of 11.77 pounds.
Since this is the only clinical trial we could identify comparing the two programs, we will consider Jenny Craig potentially more effective for weight loss than Nutrisystem.
However, this is too small of a data sample to say so conclusively.
At the time of updating this article, Jenny Craig appears to have filed for bankruptcy according to Bloomberg, so it seems like Nutrisystem may be the only available option between the two brands.
Are Nutrisystem Shakes Healthy?
The ingredients in Nutrisystem PROSYNC Chocolate Fudge Shake are shown below:
image source: https://www.nutrisystem.com/
Added vitamins and minerals constitute the majority of the active ingredients, and the Nutrition Facts drop-down is broken on the brand's website at the time of updating this article, so we can't access the doses of these ingredients.
As we referenced in our review of It Works gummies, a different health shake brand recently had to recall several of their products because all of the added vitamins and minerals caused toxicity to some customers.
Fructose as a sweetener, and an extensive medical review published in the Nutrients journal found that dietary fructose intake was associated with a range of negative health outcomes, such as insulin resistance.
Tricalcium phosphate is part of a class of compounds called dietary phosphates, which were described as "an emerging global health concern" in a 2018 medical review.
Natural flavor is included, and we mentioned in the previous formulation analysis section why we recommend avoiding this ingredient.
There's also no explanation about whether the whey is sourced from conventionally-raised animals or pastured, so we'll assume the former.
Overall, we do not consider Nutrisystem shakes to be healthy and we do not recommend this product.
Our Healthy Body Weight Picks
Ceylon cinnamon was shown to support healthy body weight in a 2022 meta-analysis. The study authors concluded that effects were greater at doses at or over 3 grams daily.
Illuminate Labs Ceylon Cinnamon Extract is our standardized Ceylon cinnamon supplement which is third-party tested to ensure purity and potency.
Dietary fiber was shown in a medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition to help reduce body weight when combined with moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline).
MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top fiber pick because it's certified organic, provides 7 g of fiber per serving and costs under $1.85 per serving at the time of updating this article.
Both of the products mentioned in this section are free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
Nutrisystem Pros and Cons
Here are the pros and cons of Nutrisystem in our opinion:
Pros:
- Clinically shown to cause weight loss
- May support blood sugar reductions
- Has options for diabetics
Cons:
- Unclear animal product ingredient sourcing
- Very low calorie count in meals
- One clinical trial was designed by Nutrisystem employees
- May be unsustainable for long-term weight loss
- Some meals contain preservatives
- Some means contain added phosphates
- Some meals contain refined sugar
- Some meals contain natural flavor
