Disqus for Where Are My Knees

The Jenny Craig programme explained

Monday 9 January 2012

I think one of the things I struggle with the most when sticking to a diet is the fact that it's not me who decides what we eat at home and it's not me who does the food shopping either, so I don't have complete control over what I eat and how healthy (or not) it is. Being on a diet plan is something I've thought about for a while. I think it would make me feel more in control of what I was eating, which would be a big help.

When Jenny Craig contacted me asking if I would like to try their programme for a month I said yes! Jenny Craig was founded in 1983 and upon doing my research I've found a lot of positive weightloss stories. They don't just send you the food required for the diet but they guide, support and motivate you throughout the programme in the form of weekly phone call consultations with your own personal consultant.

Sounds good so far, right? Not only that but their food looks tasty (see some of their dishes for yourself here) and they even have menus to cater for vegetarian, vegan and kosher diets. I must admit, I'm a bit sceptical about how such 'normal' dishes (pasta, cheese, and there's even chocolate) opposed to 'rabbit food' will help me lose weight but a chat with the Jenny Craig team has taught me about portion sizes and the amount of faith they have in the programme has almost reassured me that it will work for me!





I received my delivery of food for the month this morning and my first thought was that everything looked quite clinical and ready meal like but on closer inspection I do actually like the sound of the meals. Each morning I start off with a cereal or porridge, followed by a snack (eg. fruit or yoghurt), lunch is a selection of yummy sounding soups or noodle dishes. I then get yet another snack which I can pick from potato bites (crisps!), chocolate biscuit bars or a cereal bar. Dinner comes next and there are 7 different meals available including pastas, thai curry and risotto and I get another snack (again, fruit or yoghurt are recommended) before bed. All of the food can either be microwaved or cooked on the hob and is really quick to make.

It seems like such a lot of food but the portions look smaller than what I'm used to so I'm feeling positive so far. I've just ate lunch (pot of noodles [which turned out to be pasta!] in a cream sauce with salad) and has filled me right up! The good news is that non-starchy vegetables (brocolli, courgette, salad and my favourite.. mushrooms!) are all free foods which I can add to my meals to bulk them up.



I didn't get a clear photo of my whole menu, but here's a snippet of what this weeks menu looks like. As you can see there are extra foods to add on to lunch and dinner which are simply labelled as '1 protein, 1 fat' which gives you some freedom to pick and choose. The shopping list of things I need to buy is minimal, only including items like salad, fresh fruit and veg, yoghurts, cheese (yes, really!) and bread.

So... here goes! Wish me luck! I'm hoping to lose a healthy 1-2lbs per week and kickstart my weightloss for 2012! I plan on doing a few more posts on my progress throughout the month - please let me know if there's anything in particular you want to know!

* Jenny Craig has provided me with a free 1 month trial however all opinions about my experience with the programme are my own and are completely honest.

20 comments:

  1. Oooooh I am intrigued to hear how you get on with this! I have always wonder how effective they are!
    Sophie
    x

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  2. I've always liked the idea of these but they seem pretty expensive so I'd love to see how you find it and if you think it's worth the money x

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  3. Good luck with this, I'll be really interested to read your results at the end of the month! Something like this would be great as all your meals are already planned out. Trying to think of nice, healthy things to cook is so difficult, I always end up giving up and eating comfort food because it's much easier!

    Gillian x
    elevatormusik.blogspot.com

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  4. I am really interested to hear how you get on! There seems like a lot of variety and the meals sound quite tasty! Hoping it works for you :)

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  5. Good luck! It seems really interesting, it will be nice to see how you get on. One thing that always scares me about diet plans, is going back to eating 'normal food' afterwards, then putting all the weight back on! 

    Makeup for Biochemists

    xx

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  6. Looks really good, I've thought about doing this before but decided it's just too expensive xx

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  7. i've always wanted to try one of these food delivery services. i had a sample pack similar to the ones in your box from diet chef but it was pretty horrid. really interested to see how it works for you, good luck! xx

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  8. This looks really interesting. I've wanted to try something like this for a while, hoping it would help me stick to a set food plan but I've always been worried about the quality of the food. Look forward to seeing how you get on xx

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  9. Yeah, there's 7 different dinners and quite a few lunches and desserts. So far the food has been lovely, fingers crossed it works! x 

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  10. Thank you! That is a worry of mine as I'm eating lots of little meals as opposed to brunch, dinner and snacks! I think my time speaking with my consultant might teach me some things though! x 

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  11. Yeah, I'm not quite sure that I could afford it on my own but I've always been curious! x 

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  12. Ahh really? So far the food has been really nice, shall keep you updated! x

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  13. The quality of the food has been good so far, I'll definitely do a few more posts about the food as I think this is one of the main things that people worry about! x 

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  14. Good luck with it. It looks a bit scary though - all those packages look like the food astronauts take into space Where are the fresh veggies?
    I'm sure it is good for learning more about portion control but I'm not really convinced by it as a healthy way to eat.

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  15. Yes! The packages do remind me of astronaut food too, haha! With each meal I need to add my own fresh fruit and veg so I do get a lot more nutrition than simply these packages. Fruit and veg are actually 'free foods' which are unlimited and I could eat as much of them as I want to. :) x 

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  16. That sounds pretty good actually! I agree that the hardest part is deciding what to eat. I can be really good, but if I have a day where I'm starving I just want quick food like bread which is where I ruin it! I was trying the Weight Watchers diet (just using the book etc) and found that quite good as long as I planned my meals ahead. Must get back into it now Christmas is out of the way!

    http://www.rafflesbizarre.blogspot.com

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  17. I actually won a free Month trial of Jenny Craig a while back. I happily found it did work. unfortunetly I can't afford the prices to keep up the programme.

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  18. I've realised that I was eating a lot of convenience food because I wanted quick food and couldn't be bothered cooking. Things like crisps and sandwiches! I think planning is definitely the key to success with diets! x 

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  19. I don't think I can afford it once this month ends either. :( How much weight did you lose, if you don't mind me asking? x

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  20. sounds like a great ideabut...can you choose menu?afraid i'm not into curries,chilli and other spicy foods

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