Nutrishop

There is a supplement store in our area called Nutrishop.  They've been open for 4 years (I asked).  I don't know if they started doing their challenges when they opened or if they have just taken off more recently.  I've been seeing social media about them for about a year.

Let me sum it up.  They do 7-8 week weightloss challenges.  They give out a pretty great prize package for the top 5 winners.  There is no cost to join the challenge, but they will do their best to upsell their supplements.  There *is* a minimum amount to spend in order to win some of the prizes.
They have a fancy scale.  A person stands on it with bare feet and grabs some handles and it measures weight (of course), as well as the amount of water, fat, and muscle.  They hand over a print out with those details and more.

I'm not a supplement person.  I'm a skeptic about that stuff.  I know there is a place for most of those things, but I don't know if the place is to help people lose weight.  I suspect that it's to make the supplement companies richer.  I do think there is a place for protein shakes and BCAA's, but the other things seem like a "magic pill" for weightloss and I haven't seen evidence they work.

They have a nutritionist who has put together some prepackaged meal plans for the challenge.  There seems to be different plans for different goals.  For instance if your priority goal is to gain muscle you would have a different plan that the person who wants to lose fat. They sell the plan for $25 (which, coincidentally is the minimum for getting in the raffle), or you can buy a $99 supplement package.

So, while I don't think that supplements are great, I do think a nutritionists help for my meal planning could be helpful.  I could use that kind of help.  I paid the $25 for the meal plan.  I was disappointed that it was basically one sheet of paper and had a LOT of supplements that were suggested at different times of the day. But they are in the business to sell that stuff, so I guess it makes sense to add it in.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it was more than a glossy sheet of paper with ads.

I'm following the meal plan.  I put it all in MFP to calculate how many calories and what the macros are, because it doesn't seem like enough food.  The calories are less than 1500 per day,  I added a 3 ounce protein before working out which added a few calories.
The macros are really close to what my goal is.  I am showing that I was at 41% Carbs, 34% fat, and 25% protein (before I added 3 more ounces of protein).   My target is 40%, 30%, and 30%.  So, it's a little light on protein for my goal, but I can adjust that a little without adding a lot of calories.

So there is plenty of food on the plan, which tells me that I eat WAY too much. I need that sort of wake up call occasionally, I guess. $25 was too much to spend to learn this though.

I put new batteries in my food scale and started this shindig off.  Unfortunately, I started in the middle of the week with no time for meal prep.  So this week is going to be tough.  Wednesdays are crammed.  My usual schedule is to come home from work, switch a load of laundry, get ready for the gym, address anything the kids need, go to Weightlifting, grab Subway sandwiches, rush home to drop them off, go to tap class, head home by 8:30, last minute chores, then head to bed (hopefully around 9:00).  Notice that I don't have EAT scheduled in there for myself?  I do have time for a shake between weightlifting and tap, but not to cook something.  I have been having a protein rich snack before heading to bed.  I know I need to do better on Wednesdays.  The rest of the week is a little more relaxed, instead of tap I have "study" on the schedule, and I do that at home after I cook.

This shop has created a gold mine.  I just have to say.  I know that it's good to help people lose weight and I'm already thankful for the eye opener in my own menu, but holy cow!  In the first 3 days that sign ups started for this years first challenge, they had ~250 people come in.  There is a 6 day period to sign up so I'd expect double that by the end. These are just challenge people and do not include the regulars who come in for supplements.  The challenge is free, and I don't expect that everyone paid for the meal plan, but I'll bet that most of us did.  Otherwise, what's the point?  Just come in to get weighed?  Not only that, I saw several people buying kegs of protein powder (they gave a free sample and shaker).  There were bottles, jars, and tubs of stuff changing hands there in the half hour I was there.  I know they do this challenge several times a year.  I'll bet once a quarter.  And I know lots of people who have done it more than once.  It seems everyone is successful in this endeavor.

In any case, I'm on another challenge.  I'd like to get the scale to shift a little in the downward direction and make me feel like I'm making some progress.  You know that I will let you know how it goes.