I am still doing O.K. on Jenny, how about the rest of you guys???? I am anxious to hear from you. I gained 2 lbs on vacation and have removed those. I still have not learned enough about maintainence but that is partially because I am still in losing mode from vacation. I had hoped to lose another few pounds but I am having trouble doing that. All in all I am staying at my goal weight.
I've stopped going to JC too! I guess I got tired of the food and paying the money everyweek. Are you trying anything else backyard birder to help you lose weight?
I am sorry to hear that. I really miss talking to you all and I am sorry you got discourgaged with JC. I am still below goal weight ( I am aiming for 120). Maintainance is constant vigilance but I am pretty satisfied with the way I am eating, I factor a dessert in every day. I don't feel as though I am dieting, I just am eating like a normal person now. let me know how you guys are doing.
I'm trying (key word=trying) to watch what I eat and exercise. I've actually had more success doing this then I did with Jenny Craig, but only because I'm spending the money I used on JC and putting it towards a personal trainer. I share my food intake with her, and she is very (!) tough with me about my food and exercise. It's the kind of discipline I need right now. I see her 2x a week for 1/2 hour each. I'm glad you're still being successful, Kathleen. I hope you continue with your success. Saggy, are you doing any kind of program right now?
I'm trying to watch what I eat too. A girl I work with does the Richard Simmons program and has lost about 25 lbs. It's pretty similar to Weight Watchers. you are only allowed to eat 3 proteins, 2 milks. 4 starches, 4 fruits, 4 vegetables, and 2 extras a day. i try and follow that. The hardest part for me seems to be the exercise right now. Everyday I set my alarm clock for 5:20 in the morning in hopes of getting up and walking on the treadmill, but I always change the time once it goes off. I use to go kickboxing which is a super workout, but I got tired of doing that. So, now I just need to motivate myself to workout. My poor treadmill is collecting dust. I have gone to Winton Woods a couple of times to walk with my husband, but he's a slow walker. I guess I just need to kick myself in the butt and do it.
Extremely low success rate (by "success" I mean not just taking weight off, but KEEPING it off).
I actually signed up for Jenny Craig back in 1989/90 when I was desperate. They had just opened up in our area and were flooding the airwaves with "LOSE ALL THE WEIGHT YOU WANT FOR $99!!!" Went in for the free 'consultation' and they talked me into signing a check for...$349...which was a fortune to me then. Then AFTER having me sign a contract they told me that I was not only required to buy food from the Center (which I knew going in) but also had to "supplement" with regular food such as eggs, milk, fruit, veggies that would cost easily another $25-30 a week (I was already paying a mint for the food from them and my food budget for my then-husband, stepdaughter and myself was about the same as I would be paying just for me to eat doing JC).
Only took two meals to figure out that there was NO WAY I could live on this drek. Fortunately one of my bosses was a contracts attorney who informed me that I had three days to change my mind, so I stopped payment on my check, took the rest of the food back to the Center along with a voided contract. They tried to make me stay to talk to the manager but I told them no dice, gave them $20 for the food I had consumed (more than it was worth for sure) and split.
I tried NutriSystem in the early '90s. They wanted a lot of cash up front, in a similar manner to MrsJim's experience with Jenny Craig. I refused to pay the up-front "fees" but did buy a weeks' worth of the worst food I ever tasted. Everything was loaded with preservatives and sugar.
You know what? That was then, this is now. NutriSystem and Jenny Craig have both revamped their programs and their food. So have Weight Watchers and countless other programs that have been around for a long, long time.
NutriSystem has their entire program online, with counselors and everything. It's all free except for the food. They also have a neat feature called "My Virtual Model" that lets you see how you look now, and shows you how you might look at a lighter weight. There is a place to put in your measurements (if you want more detail) or answer a few simple questions to get a more general picture. They have a section for exercise and videos to show how to use proper form. I thought the website was very well done. I'm not pushing NutriSystem, but if you're considering Jenny Craig, have a look at www.nutrisystem.com too.
Remember too that you're putting out a good bit of cash for the program. Many other programs are free or inexpensive; it just depends on what you want. Too, what may work well for one person may not work as well for another. If you want lots and lots of counseling, LA Weight Loss makes you weigh in three times a week.
Any weight loss plan is basically the same thing -- moderate diet and exercise. How much you spend for that information is up to you...
I will agree with MrsJim--it is pricey. My first time there I plunked down about $400 for a lifetime membership (no more membership fees!) and the first week of food. Subsequent weeks the food has been anywhere from $80-110. (a little ore than i usually spent on groceries for the week)
However, the food is quite tasty---JC's frozen entrees are oodles tastier than any WW, Lean Cuisine, or Healthy Choice entree I've eaten. I enjoy having the portions already taken care of. I haven't been hungry-yes, the entrees aren't the huge ones I'm used to, but once you add your veggies and fruit, it's quite a filling meal.
The folks at JC have been great. My centre director is very nice and my personal counselor is wonderful as well. Admittedly, they don't have degrees in nutrition, but the last time I checked, my old WW leader didn't either!
I jumped ship from WW to JC for several reasons. I hit a wall with WW for reasons I've yet to understand...I love the WW program but it wasn't working for me anymore. I needed more structure and quite frankly, the idea of having my meals already taken care of was quite attractive. (I should add I had quite a few personal problems which made dealing with planning menus the last thing on my mind..much easier to just have my food ready) Plus, I like seeing the same person every week instead of just being one of the crowd in the WW meetings. My WW leader never made an effort to get to know us--she had her group of favorites and that was it.
So far I've been doing JC for almost a month and have had great success. I highly recommend giving it a try. Is it expensive? yup. Am I worth it? You bet!
Feel free to check out jennycraig.com for more info and their community board.
Just wondering if anyone else out there is a Jenny Craig member? I am finishing up my first week and feel great. I am a former Weight Watcher who joined and rejoined and rejoined and never really lost anything. I am looking for a bit more structure to help me learn to plan meals and snacks that are healthy and balances.....unlike WW where I would eat 6 Skinny Cows a day because I could!
I am considering going to Jenny Craig. I would appreciate any input that anyone has; good or bad.
Like a lot of people, I am searching for something that will work for me. I've tried all the urban legend diets (grapefruit, cabbage soup, hot dog, etc.) I have also tried Larry North and Body for Life, both of which I had some success, but I get "unmotivated".
Please let me know what you think before I spend, what I am sure is a fortune! Thanks!
i've done jenny craig before...it was expensive, however it was nice. i was in college so couldn't cook my own food and getting to the store everyday to get fresh food wasn't really an option i wanted to go with.
so i used their premade frozen food and snacks. its helpful in several ways, it takes all the work out of being on a diet, everything pre-measured and weighed and all that. the food did not taste good though.
so while it was an option i liked at the time, it structured everything in a way that was very helpful for me and the counselor i talked to was very supportive and helpful - a former jenny craig client she had lost loads of weight on the program and was genuinely interested in helping other people - despite that i wouldn't do it again just because i prefer to eat fresh, whole foods (for the most part) rather than frozen foods which i ate for so long that they kind of turn my stomach at this point.
i think they do let you buy your own foods and snacks though if you want so that takes out a huge expense of buying the food and they will give you a structured eating plan and recipes.
at the very least it will give you a framework for getting everything under control and accountability with the weigh-ins.
and they give you booklets and workbooks about overeating, emotional eating etc.
have you considered weight watchers? its pretty popular and easy to follow with the points thing...i haven't tried it i just know a lot of people on this board like it
good luck! i'd be interested to know if you do jenny craig
oh btw...i never actually got to my goal on jenny craig as the term ended and i went out of state and continued on my own diet. however i did lose about twenty pounds or so, i can't remember how long it took though, it was several years ago.
Well, I did Jenny Craig years ago - for one day. That's all it took for me to figure out that there was NO WAY I could stay on the program. When you have a family to cook for (at the time I was married to husband #1 and his daughter lived with us) and a budget to stick to, it's very difficult.
If I had stayed on the program, basically my grocery bill would have doubled - the weekly JC food cost as much as a week of 'regular' groceries for the three of us (also, you were still required to purchase veggies, fruit, milk, eggs, and other items from the grocery to supplement the JC meals).
The site eopinions.com has some reviews of JC you might find interesting...
Anyway...it looks as though your problem right now isn't *what* plan you're on, but MOTIVATION. Unfortunately, you can't purchase motivation - that must come from within YOU. And believe me, it is there - you only need to find the key to unlock the door inside of you, and let the motivation out!
You said you 'tried' Body for Life but could not keep it up. A question for you - before you began BFL, did you read the chapter on "Crossing the Abyss" and do the 'homework'? I've found in the past a lot of folks who start and stop BFL had skipped over that chapter, thinking it was all just touchy-feely stuff and not as important as the eating and exercising. The thing I've learnt over the past 13 years is that you need to be MENTALLY ready to succeed. Not for nothing is the book subtitled "12 weeks to MENTAL and physical health"!
I have always recommended JOURNALING as a powerful tool for success. Go out and buy a journalbook (I get 'em at Old Navy for about $2.50) and USE it. Write down whatever comes to mind - your hopes, dreams, aspirations, goals...and keep it to yourself (I keep mine in my nightstand). You're writing for yourself alone; there's no reason to lie to yourself. "To thine own self be true" as the saying goes Another good exercise would be to write down whatever you eat. When I was participating in the Stanford weight-loss study, before we were put on the VCLD (something I don't recommend at this time - due to the fact that 96% of the study participants gained their weight back, plus some!) we all had to spend 2 weeks writing down whatever we put in our mouths. I like to call this becoming MINDFUL of what you eat. How often have you sat in front of the TV with a bowl of popcorn, or a carton of ice cream, eating without thinking - before you know it, your spoon is scraping the bottom of the container (this has happened to me in the past, believe me!). And where is the satisfaction in eating that way? After the first couple of spoonfuls, were you even aware of what you were eating?
I've just started reading a book I found at the library on Monday called "The Quest for Peace, Love and a 24-Inch Waist" by Deborah Low. In it, she has some interesting exercises - and on her website, there was this terrific article that might help you:
Quote:
Is Your Attitude Keeping you Heavy?
We live in a nation ripe with contradiction. The attitude we hold towards our own health is case in point. There has never been a time in history when Americans have had more available information on nutrition and exercise, yet according to US government research, over 60% of the adult population is overweight and more than six million young people are considered overweight enough to endanger their health.
We are a society bombarded by contradictory messages. The very television shows which promote how we are supposed to look; be it thin, tall, strong, lean, petite, beautiful, etc., are paid for by Advertisers promoting the quick, affordable and calorie dense “supersized” mode of eating. Perhaps this is all designed to simplify our hectic lifestyles and put a smile on our children’s faces but at this rate, the smiles won’t last long.
We are a nation obsessed with our weight—fat or thin, and as superficial as this issue may at first appear, it effects us in every way imaginable: physically, emotionally, economically, socially, culturally and perhaps in the most damaging way, spiritually.
It’s time to face our present reality—Americans need an attitude adjustment. All the “quick-fix” diets, low-fat foods, pharmaceutical weight-loss drugs, potions and powders, supplements and artificial sweeteners have done little to nourish what’s really important: balance; positive self-esteem; health in body, mind and spirit.
Take this brief quiz to see if some of your beliefs are compromising your health, and waistline.
1) I find pleasure being active; independent of how many calories I’m working to burn. Y/N
2) I think losing weight will solve other problems in my life. Y/N
3) I focus on self-acceptance verses appearance. Y/N
4) I am a drive-thru dieter, eating fast-food one day and punishing myself the next by going on a strict diet. Y/N
5) I look in the mirror and cringe at the appearance of my thighs or stomach. Y/N
6) I will only feel successful if I lose a lot of weight. Y/N
Positive attitude answers are: YES to questions 1 and 3, NO to 2, 4, 5, and 6. Where could you make some adjustments?
In order to end our “war on weight” we need to start measuring our self-worth beyond the scale. We need to appreciate our physical body by feeding it with whole, natural foods. We need to reclaim responsibility for our lifestyle choices and start moving our bodies in the way they were intended. We need to be inspired. Inspired is to be in spirit, which is the intangible measurement of any health and fitness accomplishment. What inspires you to take care of your health?
Whew! Sometimes I do get a bit long-winded...we are all here to help each other meet our goals. I generally hang out at the BFL/Bodybuilding board - feel free to lurk/post there as much as you want! (that goes for everyone here BTW).
Jenny Craig is Great
Jenny Craig - Your Opinion...
I have also tried Larry North and Body for Life, both of which I had some success, but I get "unmotivated". 
