Details on Jenny Craig

A lot of people have been asking me for actual details on the Jenny Craig program.

Here goes my best sales pitch:

How much does it cost?
The average cost of the program is $600 to $700 a month. That's $23/day when you look at the more expensive side of the program. It gets more expensive the more frozen foods you add to your list. It can be much cheaper if you are a fan of cereals in the morning and chips as a snack. When you start adding breakfast sandwiches instead and cheesecake as a snack- the price goes up. Plus it costs $50 to join. If you are a Jenny at home customer, it also costs $65 a month in shipping, so the best bet is if there is a centre around you to go there and pick up your food and have your consultations in person. If there is no centre, this plan can be pricey- and it is also limited on where you live geographically. Your best best is to call the 1-800 number and see what plan would work best for you. I put in an extra $300 for a premium package that added a years worth of consultations instead of the six months, plus free shipping for six months. On top of that, if you lose the weight and keep is off within 5 pounds, you get the $300 back. I got a great tax return this year, so I put the money aside for my weight loss journey. I get that not everyone can afford this plan but if you can you should do it!

As well, you have to buy some foods that are outside of the Jenny Craig menu in order to meet your daily nutritional values. With breakfast you need a half a cup of fruit and a milk (either a glass of milk or one of those source yogurts with very few calories). With lunch you must have a serving of veggies and with dinner you have to have a salad. So I spend another $50 to $70 a month on veggies. Veggies are ALL YOU CAN EAT. Only problem is I have never been a big veggie eater. I can eat tomatos until the sun goes down, so I have just been making tomato salads with every meal. Breakfast fruit usually consists of strawberries. I don't drink milk, so I opt instead for the Source Dessert Style yogurts. They are only 35 calories (the max for your milk serving).

On top of those, you get three "limited free" servings.  These can include a tablespoon of salad dressing with your salad, or a tablespoon of fat free whipped cream on your strawberries. You can only have three of these a day, so be careful because with two salads that you must eat, you run out of "limited free" servings very quickly just on salad dressing. Another example is the Jenny Craig Maple Syrup that comes with the pancakes. That counts as a limited free. So when you order the pancakes, you need the syrup to give it some oomf. When you do that, you only have two limited free servings.

Salsa is unlimted. A great snack is to take one of your limited free servings and use a tablespoon of low fat sour cream and mix it with salsa. Makes for a great dip for your unlimited veggies.

How do you ween yourself off of the food?
The best thing about the program is the consultations. Your consultant will help you to ween yourself off the food. The food becomes a security blanket, and that is the stage I am at now. When I lose another 7 pounds I will be at my half way to 50 pounds point, and at that point I have no choice but to go on a halfway program where I am eating half of the meals on my own, and the other half will be Jenny Craig so the cost will be cut in half at the half way point. I'm going to pick Breakfast to do on my own, my morning protein bar I am going to switch from Jenny Craig to Cliff Bars to save some money, and I hope to start making some of my own lunches. The Jenny Craig menu is all foods we normally eat, just portioned. So it teaches you the portion control that you need for a few months while you are doing the program 100%. My stomach is at the point now where if I wanted to overeat I would be sick. I am so used to smaller portions that when I go to cook for myself, I will be cooking smaller portions. If I want a turkey burger for lunch, it will be made from scratch and put on a weight watchers bun. That's the size the Jenny Craig Turkey Burger is (only slightly bigger than a slider).

How do you Maintain the Weight Loss after you go off the program?
The whole program is about Mind/Body/Food. So you spend your first half of your goal focused on food and Body. Because your focus is on working out and eating right, your mindset automatically starts to shift. This is the hardest part. I'm working now on realizing that food never was a good reward, and it never will be a good reward. I asked Darcie (my consultant) when I could have Dairy Queen again, and her response was NEVER again. This is the hardest part. I love love love those kinds of food. But.... I also love the way my body is transforming and I can't have it both ways. This part takes the longest.

So you stop eating as much because you are portion controlled, you are working out on a daily basis and becoming more active, and your mindest is changing while you are on the program. By the time you lose 50lbs (that was my goal, yours may be more and may be less) you are ready because you have spent months working on it. By the time you can no longer order Jenny Craig because you have been successful on the program, you are a completely changed woman both inside and out!