The Jenny Craig Journey

Elsa

Full Member
Well I though I'd start my own on-line diary. I did a search but couldn't find any references to the Jenny Craig diet elsewhere on the site so thought I'd note my success (or not) here!

Bit of background I followed the Lighterlife diet in 2007 and lost 6.5 stone...fantastic eh! Then I emigrated to Australia in 2008 and put on 5 stone in weight. I've had several attempts at following the Cambridge diet but just can't seem to get back into the no food thing. So a week and half ago I joined the Jenny Craig diet. This diet is pretty big here in Oz but I think it's only just come to the UK. It's basically a prepared meal plan - you buy your food mostly frozen from the diet centre. They put you on a calorie controlled diet (1200 calories a day for me) which consists of 3 meals and a snack plus additional fruit and vegetables and yoghurt. This has supposedly all been worked out nutitionally to give you the correct proportions - including fat!! The snacks include Choc Fudge Cookie, Caramel popcorn and Toffee Pudding wth sauce - the portion sizes are small but it is a diet, but you eat regularly throughout the day.

I've finished 1 week and lost 1.2kg (3lbs) which I'm pretty pleased by...scales not looking so good this week but weigh in isnt til Weds so we will see.

This is just my first post so I'll leave it there but I'll fill in with a it more info on my background and the food I'm eating now in later posts. Cheers
 
So I said I'd try and give a little more information. I'm a serial dieter - been overweight all my life - done almost every diet going. From the F-Plan (we all know what the F stands for) to Atkins WW and SW. I had some success with WW 10 years ago and I lost 3 stone got down to 12 stone but it took me 2 years and I was done with points counting by then. So in 2007 having gone up to almost 17stone and having failed at SW again - I decided Lighterlife was my last chance. It was a revelation to me I stuck to the diet for 9 months and lost 6.5 stone. I got a little irritated that the other women in my group lost weight so much faster than I did although I stuck to the diet 100% and exercised regularly. We all had roughly the same weight to lose and they all did it in less than 6 months but I had recently been diagnosed with PCOS so I guess it's true it does impact on your ability to lose weight. But having said that I was so proud of my weight loss - I was lowest ever adult weight and I was a size 12-14. It was great and it lasted all of 2 months......
At the end of 2007 I was offered my dream job in Australia (where I live now in Melbourne) and I left in Jan 2008 for a new life - on my own as my hubbie decided to give it 6 months before he followed me. No excuses I just fell off the wagon big style...food wine and socialising did for me but I had a great time faling. Now I've got to pay the price. I've tried to follow the Cambridge Diet here but everytime I think about going without food for another 9 months I just waver - someone once told me that a VLCD was a one-off thing and I didn't believe them but it seems that's true for me. So anyway that brings me back to today and Jenny Craig. If this diet works its a total revelation it will be truly amazing. For example today I have eaten
Breakfast: Nut & Grain chew bar and vanilla No-Fat Yoghurt
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Honey & Soy Beef and Noodles followed by apple
Snack: Choc Crisp Bar
Dinner: Chicken Soup with 1 slice of bread and a corn cob
Snack: No- Fat Yoghurt

This is 1200 calories but it seems like so much food! Mu dear husband is a total disbeliever especially when he sees me tucking into my crisps or cookies (both JC snacks). He knows how hard it has been for me to lose weight and he knows I only lost an average of 2.5lbs a week when I was eating less than 500 calories a day so can this work. I must admit I'm not convinced either which is why I'm keeping this blog. Weigh in is on Wednesday so 2 days to go...
 
Week 2 is over and I lost 600g (1.3lbs) which i am over the moon about. I know on LL I lost 2.5 lbs a week but the difference was then I ate/drunk 4 shakes a day and today I ate a nut & grain bar with no-fat vanilla yoghurt for breakkie, and a ham and cheese toastie with chees flavoured crisps and a banana for lunch and a chicken parmigiana with roast potatoes carrots and salad followed by an apple and another yoghurt for tea......I truly don't feel like I'm n a diet and in fact they market themselves as a lifestyle. I'm not saying I don't feel slightly hungry but I'm enjoying the food so I feel satisified and I look forward to my next meal instead of dreading it. Well fingers crossed I get the same result this week
 
Hi Elsa just saw your diary and thought I would wish you well.

I thought about joining this diet plan while living in Cairns , but had not realised it was a food ready plan :eek: I just recognised the name from the TV and thought I would give it a go, however due to circumstances we had to come back to the UK and now follow SW, which so far has been a success for me.

So good luck with the plan and to your success on it :D
 
Thanks for that Kaye - I can see from your tracker that SW is REALLY working - well done. I did SW for a while and I felt pleased to lose 1lb a week but I kinda lost focus....again. That's why I'm really keen for this to work coz I don't have to think about the food at all its just there waiting for me.

Good luck
 
Nothings Tastes Better......??

This is probably blasphemy on this site but does anyone think that commonly used phrase "Nothing Tastes Better than Slim Feels" is complete rubbish?? Every diet consultant I've ever seen has touted this baloney. If that were true why are so many us struggling with our weight? Why after losing 6.5 stone did I fall of the wagon in a big way? Why did I dream of eating banquets (really I did) while I was following LL. I love good food and I love the way it makes me feel and yes at some points in my life it does feel more important to me than being slim - just because society wants me to be slim. Being healthy now that's another matter...

I just need to learn how to eat nice food in a healthy and sensible manner. ie. cut out those binges and find my perfect weight even if that isn't in the normal range....having said that I have got my heart set on reaching 60kg this time which would bring me down to the normal range for my height (5'2")...so I'm probably a hypocrite :busted:
 
I agree Elsa...I love food (obviously the reason I am overweight) but I had to learn a healthy relationship with it.

I did cambridge diet and it did not work for me as I wanted to eat :eek: so when I did break that plan I ate and ate and ate, obviuosly not good.

For me SW lets me eat a little of what I fancy and i'm loving it and never miss anything so I never feel the need to overeat anymore (well hardly ever :D)

I want to feel great being slim (when I get there) but I dont want to give up all the lovely things at the same time :D
 
This is probably blasphemy on this site but does anyone think that commonly used phrase "Nothing Tastes Better than Slim Feels" is complete rubbish?? Every diet consultant I've ever seen has touted this baloney. If that were true why are so many us struggling with our weight? Why after losing 6.5 stone did I fall of the wagon in a big way? Why did I dream of eating banquets (really I did) while I was following LL. I love good food and I love the way it makes me feel and yes at some points in my life it does feel more important to me than being slim - just because society wants me to be slim. Being healthy now that's another matter...

Hi there, I feel some of them actually believe it, some use it as a catch phase to sell their product or service and a few were never really that over weight to begin with or have a very controlling atittude towards food and eating..aka..they have not really dealt with their stuff so they lean on one liners to make their point.
 
Choosing my Colours

Just had a very good weekend. Not just diet wise..but we are planning on building a house (it's very popular here in Oz) and we have bought a plot of land on a golf course and have been working with a builder designing the house. On Friday we had an appointment with the colour consultant choosing all the colour schemes etc. We have chosen the high gloss white kitchen cabinets with a white caesarstone worktop with little flecks of silver in it, and a red glass splashback. It is a big open kitchen/dining/living room with a wooden floorboards and off-white walls so it is very modern and minimialist so the red splashback should look stunning ...I hope...I'm now so excited I can't wait for it to be built but we haven't signed contracts yet so it will not probably be ready til this time next year. Which coincidently is the timeline for me to reach goal weight. So it could be new body to go with new house..YAY:D
 
Week 3 Weigh-In

Went for my 3rd weekly weigh–in last night and I’d lost 0.5kg (1.1lbs). I was really pleased as I’ve lost 2.3kg (5lbs) in 3 weeks. But it did bring home to me that on LL I lost 15lbs in the same time period so this will be alot slower but you know what? I didn’t see that as a negative. I mean LL/CD sure works it worked for me (short-term) and I follow some of the stories on here and the results are amazing but unfortunately even with the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy it didn’t clear up my problems with food – to be honest it made them worse. Because I became fixated on food and I was only able to stay strong and resist the food by thinking when this diet is over I can eat that...and that...and that... and that is what I ended up doing. I remember thinking “Oh I’ve put on a 1.5 stone but that’s ok I’ll just follow the LL diet for a month and it will all be gone”. But I tried and I found I just couldn’t get back into that deprivation mode again and instead of losing the 1.5 stone I’d put another stone on. Looking back at my history I was putting weight back on at the same rate as I had lost it.
The difference is now I really don’t feel like I’m on a diet – I’m not feeling deprived. Yes I get a little bit hungry now and then but I am trying to lose weight and it is usually just before a meal anyway. The real difference is that I am looking forward to my mealtimes and it has been soooo long since I felt like that. Even before LL I was trying one diet or another. I did have some initial success with WW and SW but after you’ve had a long and stressful day in the office and you are on your way home and you think “How many points/sins do I have – what can I eat how much of it am I allowed?” It all seems too much and I’m too tired to think about it ...and that is when I end up going into the newsagent and stocking up on chocolate and crisps instead....Now I just think “shall I have the lasagne or the pizza and do I want the choc mousse or the mango crush for dessert” Makes the long train journey home more bearable. I know I still have to deal with my food problems and I’m already worried about having to introduce my own meals into the plan...will I be able to cope!! But I haven’t got to worry about that yet you don’t start improvising until you are halfway to goal and I’m still a long way from that. That’s the other thing I’m not thinking about how long I would have to follow this diet to reach goal. That used to depress me greatly – you know “Another 4 months of shakes” or “another 12 months of counting every morsel that goes into my mouth”. To be honest I’d be happy to follow this the rest of my life although it might get a bit boring as there are only 13 dinners on the plan that I like – still that gives me 2 weeks of menus and how many people really eat that much variety?.:)
 
Hi Elsa,
I am glad I found you ! here (in France) jenny Craig is brand new and it is hard to find blogs or whatever type of site to hear about other experiences. I am in my second week (until sunday 23) and I have lost just a little kilo so far. I created a blog to share my experience (in French) and to get some encouragements from other women who would do jenny Craig too. But there seem very few persons doing it right now. I am a little disappointed by my lost of weight, but I lost 5 cm around my waist and that motivates me. I would like my scale to be more cooperative...:)
 
Hi Frederique - you don't say how much you've lost so far but they way I feel I'm happy to lose the 0.5kg a week if it means I can eat (almost) normally - which I feel I am on JC. Not saying it's easy in fact I was just going to update my blog on the toubles I've had this week but it is definately easier than Cambridge or Lighter Life even if the results are not so dramatic. So it's upto the individual what is most important
 
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly


So after my last rather smug entry I have been bamboozled with temptation – everywhere I went. After saying I didn’t feel I was missing out etc I suddenly started craving all these foods. I decided it was karma I managed to resist for the most part and then on Weds (day of my weigh –in) I realised in was TOTM which explains all the cravings! I have to admit (and I admit this only here) - I finally gave in on Weds. :break_diet:I was achy and tired and grumpy and had no resistance so I ended up buying some chocolate covered peanut crunch. I did try and mitigate it by skipping my JC snack but I don’t think my 130 cal snack made much of a dent against the several hundred calorie chocolate!! Oh well at least I tried.

The good news :)is that I did lose another 600g on the scales again this week – The bad news:( is that on the Thursday I had a lunch out planned with the girls from the office in of all places an Indian – I say that because it’s all cream and oil and nuts. The good news:) is that I ended up choosing the Chicken Tikka starter but as my main course with a rice side dish. The meat portion was small about the JC portion size I reckon and I made sure I only had a small portion of the rice. The bad news :(was that it was bit too spicy for me really (I usually go for very mild korma mopped up with lots of Naan bread) but the good news:) is that that meant I didn’t want to eat any more than the small portion I had....so on balance I think it worked out quite well. :confused:

Other than that I’m back on track so it’ll be interesting to see if the choccie has a big impact on my weight loss. When I started this diet I did some spreadsheet calculations based on the scientific advice on the amount of calories a woman my size and activity level should eat to lose weight and I worked out that on 1200 calories a day I should lose 0.6kg a week. Then surprised myself but doing exactly that – how cool is that I can actually work out how much weight I will lose!!! So I then worked out that the extra chocolate works out as approximately an additional 100 calories a day if I spread the cost over the week – so that’s the equivalent of eating 1300 calories a day – so I did some mathematical jiggery pokery again and calculated it should only cost me 100-200g in weight loss. ie. I should still lose but it may only be 300-400g next week. However if I step up my exercise level I may be able to pull back those 200g – so I’m off swimming tonight after work....
 
Musings

Week 5 weigh in this evening and I'm pleased to say I was wrong in my last post coz I lost 800g (over 1.5lbs) double what I predicted. Yay :)

I guess its all TOTM related coz I didn't do anything different except actually pig out after my last weigh in that is....

So I'm happy with the way the weight is going but I'm not so happy at work. I started a new job in January and it wasn't a postive move basically I felt I had no choice but to leave the previous job coz they wern't supporting me and reneged on a number of promises they made me when I started. So I took this new job and I've found that they misrepresented the job to me. I have in most respects taken a step backwards in responsibility level but have been given a team to manage that has a number of motivation and delivery problems that will be difficult to rectify. It's not that I hate it or that I'm stressed like I was in my last place , it's just that it isn't doing it for me...I guess my career has always been such a big thing in my life as we couldn't have kids and I was looking for the next move, the next progression and now I just feel its all pointless. I didn't even apply for the recent promotion at work ... I guess I'm feeling slightly adrift at the moment but at least the diet is working for right!!!
 
Struggling!

I don't know what's gone wrong this week :sigh:. I seem to be picking - you know a handful of nuts here and a chocolate brownie there. I'm not hungry but I've had a headache for 3 days and am just feeling generally low. The issues with the job are getting on top of me aaarggghh. Why am I so weak:break_diet:
 
Diet Breaking & Golf

Well – I’m slightly more upbeat today. It’s amazing what a good (or not so good) game of golf can do for you!
I slipped diet wise again Saturday I was out at the shopping centre having just completed a 45min swim so I was trying to work off the chocolate from the day before and I succumbed to a piece of choc fudge cake....I don’t know what goes on inside my head I just seem to get taken over by emotions. I won’t say I regret it coz actually I REALLY enjoyed that piece of cake and I’m proud of myself that I didn’t use it as an excuse to blow the diet completely which is my usual trick. So other than that piece of cake I stuck to the diet this weekend. I then played 18 holes of golf on Sunday. It was my first round walking for 2 months as I managed to damage the ligaments in my leg a couple of months back and have been in hobbling agony for most of that time. I blame the new high heeled shoes I’d just bought!! As I told my husband that meant I just HAD to go but some nice flat shoes to wear while my leg was bad....well you do!
Anyway the golf was ok – the course was fantastic it was up in the Yarra Valley - which is a famous wine growing region here in Victoria that I have visited on numerous occasions over the last 2 years. The various wine regions is one of the reasons we moved here (that and the sun and beaches). There are all these wineries large and small which have cellar doors. You just rock up and sample as much or as little as you want (depending on whether you are the designated driver) and usually all free – although some make a small charge. Anyway got off the subject there wine does that to you – we played Par at the golf and I scored -4 (If I say an average score is 0 and the worst score possible is -18 then -4 was not good but not terrible either) but the weather was mild (it is winter here remember) so I didn’t need a coat and the course was loooong which was great exercise so all in all a good day.
Anyway I jumped on my scales today and they do look a little up (0.5lb) up on last week but that wasn’t as bad as I feared and do have another day before weigh-in to go so fingers crossed my aim is to stay the same this week especially as I’m weighing in a day early ( I have another appointment on my normal weigh-in day)
:wave_cry:
 
Still going down

Well I'm a happy bunny. After my last couple of posts you wouldn't have been wrong to assume that i would put weight on this week. I certianly thought I might - my best hope was that I would manage tot maintain...well I lost 100g (0.25lb) ok not much but it is still down and my weight in was a day early as well. So although the lowest weight loss yet I'm the happiest with it. Jut got to control my urges better this week :8855:
 
Hi Elsa!
Is JC very expensive? Do you weigh in with someone once a week?
A few years ago I worked in a clinic in country Victoria that had some serious morale problems. The management, (pretty much the cause of the problems) decided to take the team to a winery in the Yarra Valley for a team building/bonding day. In the morning we did all these group games with a mangerial representative in each group, "assessing" individual reactions to various scenarios. At lunch time, about half of the group went wine tasting, and some of them had a bit too much. The afternoon was a scream, inhibitions lost, the managers got some very blunt reactions! I didn't have a drop, but it was one of my very best cellar door experiences!
 
Hi minusfour
At first glnce JC is quite expensive - if you eat all JC products for every meal it comes to about $140 a week. But that includes all the snacks as well so if I add up how much I used to spend on chocolate and take outs it starts to look more reasonable and then after the first few weeks you start to replace the JC meals with your own versions. I still eat 90% JC because I don't trust myself yet. Yes weigh-in is every week and they stress its a lifestyle management programme rather than diet which is why they encourage you to try introducing your own meals. Its working for me at the moment so I don't mind spending the money and its not much more expensive than the Lighter Life diet wich was just shakes and bars.
 
- also alcohol and management expercises not always a great mix but I can envisga ethe great results......
 
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