“Now I eat to live, not live to eat.”

Portion control was not a term often used in Gina DePitero’s household. “I’m 100 percent Italian,” she explains. “Food is something I enjoy very much; it’s hard for me to push it away.” But what Gina learned through her lifestyle change with Nutrisystem was that eating healthy didn’t have to mean ‘pushing food away.’ Nor did it have to mean depriving herself of her favorite meals, like ravioli and stuffed shells.

Instead, the plan taught her to control how much she ate. “Nutrisystem is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change,” she says—one that helped Gina lose more than 100 pounds.*

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Before starting Nutrisystem, Gina weighed 268 pounds. “I tried every pill, powdered drink, potion, lotion, sticker and patch to lose weight,” she admits—but nothing worked. What attracted her to Nutrisystem was the convenience. Every meal, snack and dessert comes prepared and perfectly portioned, so there’s no thinking or calorie-counting involved. “It’s so simple,” she says. “All you have to do is choose your food and eat!”

It took a little convincing to get Gina’s family on board with her lifestyle change. But she explained this was a change she was making for her health. And this change gave Gina her life back: “Now I eat to live, not live to eat,” she says. As she slimmed down, she started exercising more—doing yoga, swimming and even horseback riding. “The sky’s the limit!” she says.

There were moments in her journey that were tough, and times when she lost her way and felt herself slipping away from her healthy lifestyle change. But Gina relied on Nutrisystem’s support and tips to help her get back on track. When she hit a plateau, she’d make a change to jump-start her weight loss—like adding a little good fat to her diet, for example.

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Slowly and steadily, Gina slimmed down 109 pounds.* It took her five years to lose the weight, but she knows she did it right. “I used to shy away from a lot because of my weight,” says Gina. “I don’t want to go back to that life. Nutrisystem lets me shine like a star again.”

Ready to make a healthy lifestyle change today? Get started with Nutrisystem today!

*$10,000 Contest Winner.  Weight lost on prior program. Expect to lose an avg 1-2 lbs per week.