Why I Canceled Nutrisystem
I have a separate nutrition blog; it's not that I have earned research credentials in the field of nutrition. I've struggled with weight nearly my whole adult life, probably gaining more than the freshman 15 lbs. (no, the cafeteria food was not that good). I went on a self-imposed diet in the middle of undergraduate school, dropping 75 lbs. And when I joined the Navy years later, I probably gained 15 pounds since my physical, enough to get the no-nonsense military to put me in the "fat boys program", which included mandatory outdoor exercise sessions within sight of other personnel going off-duty. I did a lot of jogging in my 20's; that pretty much ended when one night as a UH grad student, I was jogging along the boundaries of the campus and one of two black males on bicycles viciously and unexpectedly punched my left eye as they passed. My eye was swollen shut; I reported the incident to campus security, but there was nothing they could do. I thereafter started going to a campus gym, doing some universal weights and some cardio in terms of stationary bikes, steppers, etc. over the next 2-3 decades. There was a time I religiously went to the gym, often in the evening after work. I even went out one evening while it was snowing, ended up slipping on black ice hiding under an unplowed road, costing me something like $2000 in damage to the underside of the GM car and having to rent a car for a month during the repairs. Oh--I did manage to limp my car to the fitness center to get my workout done that evening.There was a tendency on my Dad's side of the family to weight gain (particularly my aunts), although my Dad himself never became obese. I myself never really indulged in sugary desserts, ice cream, doughnuts, chips, pizza, or went to eat at unlimited buffets and the like. (That is not to say I totally abstained; I had my fair share of pie, ice cream, birthday cake, cookies, etc., when I visited the folks over the holidays. I certainly ate my fair share of "free" pizza at work on occasion (a high tech staple) and/or joined colleagues for fast food at lunch, including Pizza Hut buffets, etc.
It was probably more of a stealth weight gain; I did a lot of road warrior work around the turn of the century. It became almost impossible to maintain a daily exercise regimen on the road (yes, a lot of hotels do have exercise rooms, etc. But for instance one gig I was doing near Provo, Utah I was often getting off work around midnight; my meal choices were an all-night diner on the interstate or Wendy's or Taco Bell in town near the hotel. And I really wanted to get to bed after a late meal.
Now being within an inch of average height, there's no way to disguise the pounds as I struggled to keep within 200 lbs. And when I moved to California in late 1999 (my infamous job offer by extortion), it turned out my fitness club had no affiliated clubs in the San Jose area: the nearest location was in SF, up route 101. If you know anything about Silicon Valley, trust me, you don't want to drive on 101. I was soon putting 70 hours per week. My Indian colleague and I ate a lot of buffet dinners at a Sunnyvale Indian food place. I knew my clothes were getting tighter and I had to go to the Internet to find clothes to wear. But one day I saw my weight hit a milestone I never thought possible.
On a Chicago city project in 2002, I met a literally crazy DBA I've discussed in past posts. But one of the saner points of discussion was his discussion of diets, that he had had a weight problem like mine, and he swore by the Atkins diet. Loosely speaking, he talked about eating as much meat to satiation as he wanted, and the pounds melted away. I didn't act on it then. It wasn't until the next year when I got an expenses-paid job interview for a Baltimore utility company--when I found my one good suit was a tight fit, that I had come to a decision I had to do something, like I had in undergraduate school. No, I didn't get the job, but I lost something like 90 pounds over the next 15 months, just in time for a major anniversary for my folks.
During that period, I started reading up almost everything I could find on nutrition. I even joined some Yahoo groups and actively participated, although I was not an Atkins fundamentalist and soon found myself being targeted as a heretic to the cause. I also have a touch of the iconoclast in me, e.g., discussing research busting myths like drinking 8 glasses of water a day. For me, the "jump the shark" moment in dealing with these fundamentalists was when some lady complained she was having trouble losing weight despite being on a rigorous diet. She had published her sample menus, and I thought it was a very good diet. And then these fundamentalists noted that her mixed veggies included corn kernels (higher-carb) and hypothesized that the corn in her mixed vegetables was causing her to retain water. At this point, I had had enough with this idiocy and called them out. I asked the woman a simple question: "What kind of exercise are you doing?" She complained that she was confined to a wheelchair; what could she do? At this point, the entire thread completely went in a new direction as others focused on exercise for disabled people.
For me, the end with participating in the groups came to an end when the fundamentalists started mocking my research credentials (in discussing empirical nutrition research). It's not so much that I have a fragile ego or haven't dealt with bullying in the past, but they weren't addressing the substantive issues I was raising. It was all ad hominem attacks by a wolf pack of cultists who would cite Atkins chapter and verse. I did have a small following of forum members imploring me to stay after I announced as I was gone.
I would like to say I kept the weight off I lost in 2004; part of the problem was I experienced a long, discouraging plateau, and the diet had also become rather monotonous. I also had a sluggish thyroid issue, probably genetic but worse than my Dad or siblings, not to mention a slowing metabolism (with age?). I don't think I ever reached my 2003 peak but I've cycled back and forth within that range and was discouraged to note when I resume the original diet that seemingly melted the weight maybe 3 lbs a week, weight losses were stickier around new lows with water gain rebounds.
I started on the Nutrisystem program maybe around 2011 and quickly dropped off 40 pounds or so. There are some positive points to the program: quality ingredients, variety, portion control. At least in the "classic" plans, everything was ready to eat or microwavable, shelf-stable. (They now have an extra-cost frozen foods option, now the default. I couldn't do that because my landlord never replaced a broken refrigerator. I have a small refrigerator/freezer with limited space.) They have different plans; the one I have is a lower-carb alternate. For men, you usually have a breakfast, lunch and dinner selection, plus two snack items. Breakfast items might include servings of hot (oatmeal) or cold cereal, breakfast pastries (like muffins) or breakfast bars. Lunches might include soups (dry or prepared), water-added mixes (say, mac 'n cheese) or protein bars. Dinners include pastas (including lasagna), chicken dishes or chili. Snack items might include things like cookies, various single-serve snacks/popcorn, chocolates and bars. Keep in mind this is an oversimplification; Nutrisystem might argue far more variety, but this is probably a reasonable, realistic summary, at least for my option.
I don't recall why I stopped a few years back; it may be because I expected to move soon being between jobs, and/or I wanted more options on my own, like grass-fed beef, Omega-3 oily fish (like salmon, sardines, and mackerel), eggs, etc. Over the past year and a half, I've dealt with some minor health issues, and my doctors started ragging on my weight; I decided to restart Nutrisystem, mostly for the positive reasons I discussed above.
So why did I decide to cancel Nutrisystem just a few months into this go-round? Well, first, relocation is a probability; I'm considering employment outside the state. It's often a hassle to get them to postpone delivery, e.g., when I was due to visit my mom over the holidays. But what I particularly loathe is their delivery partner FedEx.
About 2-3 months back, FedEx delivered my box to the wrong apartment building. I have no idea how that happened because the building numbers are clearly legible. FedEx was initially in a state of denial. The only reason I found out is because the resident who got my package came to my door and said he had my box in his car for me to retrieve. When I let FedEx know, they seemed agitated because the resident hadn't contacted them to have them redeliver it. But the resident could have simply kept my shipment and nobody would have ever known. Nutrisystem had been prepared to replace the shipment at no extra cost, but FedEx had been a pain in the ass, in a state of denial insisting my package had been delivered. I mean, I contacted FedEx as soon as I saw it had been "delivered" (I was at home at the time), calling them thinking the driver might still be on the road and the dispatcher could hail him to fix his fuck-up. Instead I'm dealing with FedEx investigators assuming their drivers are capable of reading building numbers.
The January delivery occurred as expected, and my February shipment was scheduled to be delivered Thursday afternoon. I had FedEx text alerts on my cellphone and was at home. When at 4 PM I got an alert saying my package had been delivered and signed for. BULLSHIT!
Now I have to interject some context with FedEx. There had been a couple of times, maybe more when FedEx, while I was at work, attempted delivery and left a sticker on my door saying the package had been left at the local Walgreen's, about 2 miles down the road, which has a FedEx kiosk. I think in one case I had bought a portable hard drive from Best Buy (I didn't mind picking that up); the second time, I was pissed that an investment newsletter had sent me junk mail by FedEx. Note to newsletters: the chances that I'll reward your unsolicited junk mail having to go to FedEx to pick it up is zero.
So I called up FedEx multiple times. and soon get the message that FedEx dumped my shipment at Walgreen's. Who the fuck authorized you to deliver it there? "Contact the shipper." Nutrisystem denies they said any such thing; it's supposed to be delivered to my apartment. So I'm demanding that the FedEx assholes deliver it the remaining 2 miles to my door the next day. No, we're not going to do that; it may take 2 to 4 business days to do that. Hell, the original shipment from Kansas or wherever took that long, You assholes can't do a drop-off 2 miles down the road? I am still dealing with an idiot FedEx investigator insisting the driver must have left a sticker at my door! No, you jackass! I was checking all afternoon; I heard everyone come in and out of the building.
Not that Nutrisystem was that helpful: "Sir, that's overnight delivery; we can't do that. Basically, it's just easier for you to go pickup the package." I didn't pay you to deliver it to Walgreen, fool! "Okay, I want FedEx to return the shipment to Nutrisystem"; both Nutrisystem and FedEx blow me off. I tell Nutrisystem I want them to credit my card for the missing shipment. "No, sir, We will not credit your account until we receive the shipment back in our inventory." Tell me you didn't just say that, fool! You are charging me for something you haven't delivered. Why am I being inconvenienced by your issues with a vendor? You think they are more competent shipping it back as they are in getting it to my apartment!
This reminds me of why Netflix lost me permanently as a customer. (This was still when most of their business was via postal delivery.) I can't recall if it was just a budget issue at my end, but what I recall is they were particularly nasty about threatening to force me to pay full list price for any unreturned disks (I had returned them), but it took like 4-6 weeks before they acknowledged return. But in the process they lost the chance to ever regain me as a customer.
I did consider contacting my card issuer to dispute the charge. But this morning I called Walgreens to verify they were still holding the package. (After all, I had demanded they return it to Nutrisystem.) It was just more trouble than it was worth to dispute the charge. So after I pick up the package, I immediately get a text from FedEx reporting they successfully "delivered" the package. Fuck you, assholes! You may be better than the USPS (which has actually lost my packages), but that's not saying much.
Oh, a note about my weight: although I'm still way over my weight when I left the Navy, I'm several pounds below my 2004 weight plateau.
Lidl and Aldi
My local town has multiple supermarket chain stores, including Walmart, Shoprite, and Aldi's. There are a few others, like Weiss, Safeway, and others if I expand to a 15-mile radius. Not to mention a Trader Joe's (an Aldi cousin) if I go to nearby Baltimore County.I've discussed a number of these in my nutrition blog. I like grass-fed beef, and Shoprite often sells Australian ground beef at $4/lb. Walmart often has grass-fed chuck roasts at about $6.50/lb. Weiss has carried ground venison. ShopRite often has the best selection, e.g., of seafood and brands. For example, I developed a taste for lower-carb chickpea pastas, and I've found a couple of leading brands there.
Trader Joe's, Aldi's and Lidl are principally expansions of German supermarket chains; at the risk of oversimplification, they are often budget-priced, healthier-food, premium private-label chains where you will generally find attractively-priced veggies and fruit, a dizzying array of organic and other premium items ("wild-caught", "sustainably farmed", etc.) Trader Joe's tends to be much larger with vast selections, e.g., nut butters, nuts, cheeses; I've often bought big chunks of dark chocolate at good prices. Aldi's is distinctive in terms of how it handles grocery carts; you basically have to rent them for a quarter, which you basically get back when you return them. Also, you have to buy bags for your groceries (unless you bring yours with you).
The first thing you notice when you walk into an Aldi's is how immaculately and meticulously arranged and clean everything is. You will see some well-known brands, e.g., Coca-Cola, but you will often see a variety of things and private labels you'll never find in a WalMart. I'll occasionally shop at Aldi's; our local one is just across the street from the WalMart Supercenter. It differs; for instance, one visit to Walmart I wasn't impressed with the produce or dark chocolate selection.
So I had been aware Lidl had recently opened a location a few blocks down from Walmart; they and Aldi's often have a weekly circular distributed in my apartment complex. Lidl had drawn my attention because it seems every week they feature some grass-fed beef special. This week, for instance, they were selling individual serving packages of ribeye steak for $5 each. So I finally decided to stop by.
The first think I noticed was no grocery cart returns; they don't do the Aldi's thing, but I simply pushed my cart near the others at the side of the store. The store appearance is almost a clone of Aldi's: same meticulous order and arrangement. I'm not going to bore you with my shopping list; let's just say the biggest purchase was grass-fed ground beef and steaks, some produce (including blueberries and a bag of plums), butter, a dark chocolate/Hazelnut bar ($1), and a pack of mini-margherita pizzas. I shelled out 14 cents for 2 surprisingly strong paper bags.
