So, I'm tired and grumpy- my body is definitely NOT impressed with Turbo Takeoff. I would love to do some more reading behind why they think eating such a low number of calories for the first week is a good idea. I am no dietician so I can't offer a professional opinion, but I don't see why we need to be shocked quite this hard. A person with less than 100lbs to lose would be averaging under 1000 calories daily. I get a few more since I'm quite obese, but not too many. I am finding myself to be constantly feeling mentally slow, yawning all the time, and irritable- these are not good things to deal with! I can't wait for this week to be over so I can go on the "normal" Nutrisystem plan, although I still have to do some reading on how different it is now from what I remember before.
So, these are the Nutrisystem TurboShakes. The box suggests adding a tiny bit of mint extract to make a chocolate mint shake, so I tried that. Personally, I am never really a fan of drinking my calories unless they're alcoholic, so I'd much rather be getting my usual Nutrisystem desserts than these shakes.
Honestly, though, they're not terrible... they're just not good. I would never buy them, and I'd never choose to drink them, but I can get them down okay. The powder blends pretty well with water and it's not chunky or lumpy, which helps a lot. It's best when it's really cold.
The NutriCurb bars are okay, but I'm not as much of a fan. I like some of their other peanut butter products better. I don't find these to be any more satiating than their other bar products, despite the additional grams of protein. I have no issues eating them, but they likely wouldn't be a thing I would order since if I want a protein bar there are lots of good choices at the grocery store for not much money, and way more flavour selection.
I don't mean to be so negative this week... but I'm really, really hungry. I knew that this was going to be bad, but again, I wasn't expecting it to be this bad. I'm also using the an app to track my calories, and I'm way below where it recommends I should be. While I am more sedentary even than its most sedentary setting due to my health, this is still a significant caloric deficit over and above what it says will cause me to lose 2lbs/week. I am really looking forward to next week when the calories go back up to "normal" for Nutrisystem. Hopefully then I won't feel so deprived.
I still have no pictures, and I'll admit that it's again because as soon as I open food, I wind up cramming it in my mouth, so it's not very photogenic. I am starting to come to the end of the Turbo Takeoff, so there is less choice.
Surprisingly, many of the entrees are still at least similar to their 2011 incarnations, although there are several that I miss. Yesterday I tried the chili with beans. I did add a little bit of sour cream as my extra, but I missed being able to throw a baked potato or some sweet potato fries underneath it. It's still pretty tasty though, and I wished for more.
Today started with the blueberry lemon baked bar. Since I used to love the dessert version, I had high hopes for this which were unfortunately dashed as soon as the fake lemon hit my tongue. It was just not right. The texture was somehow dry and chewy at the same time, and it was much like eating flavoured cardboard. This one needs to go back for a reformulation, in my opinion. What would be so terrible about using a little lemon zest?
For lunch, I had the chocolate peanut butter lunch bar, which I think might be exactly the same as it used to be. It's still delicious. My only objection to it being in this box is that it's a little annoying to have that for lunch followed by the peanut butter NutriCurb bar for afternoon snack. Two bars already was irking me, and to have them both be peanut butter flavoured (and the second one less tasty to boot) felt like insult to injury.
Dinner was the chicken pasta parmesan, which seemed similar to the one they used to make although now it comes in a little pouch instead of a plastic tray. I am not sure why, when the other pasta dishes have come in the trays. Either way, I was so hungry by dinnertime and I felt so disappointed when I poured it into a bowl and saw how small the portion was. It was gone within minutes and I was sitting glumly looking at an empty plate. The flavour was fine, and while this wouldn't be one of my favourites, it was serviceable, though. I really miss the old Sloppy Joe Mix though. I never ate it as a sloppy joe but I put it over pasta so this entrée reminded me of it.
Only three more days to go... since they pick the food in the Turbo Takeoff week, my choices are starting to dwindle. I never had a shortage of selection when I was on the program in the past, since I liked having several months' worth of food on hand so that I could have what I wanted when I felt like it and not feel like I had to eat something because it was the only thing left in the box. I'm looking forward to getting into the other items I selected, and hopefully I will like them!
