how jenny craig works

how jenny craig works: i think i should really call this, "how i'm working with jenny craig." everyone's experience is different, of course. i've never done a "food" program before, only fasting and liquid diets. i tried nutrisystem once, but i dont really count it b/c the food was so bad i only lasted about a day (not knocking it, tho, i heard they've re-vamped their recipes). when i wasn't fasting, my regular eating habit was eating what i want, when i wanted it. i had no idea how many calories were in my food, nor the carbohydrates, protein, sugar, nothin.' even when i did make wiser food choices (baked instead of fried, low fat or low sugar), i still ate massive portions.

i want to talk first about the cost. yeah, jenny craig is pricey. the sign up fee depends on how long you want to use the program (i think i dropped down $200) and every week i spend around $100 on jc food. i manage b/c i no longer drive a car. that sort of all happened at once- i drove an old car that was on it's last leg. it broke down for the 4th time in less than 6 months. i decided not to fix it. i had made a decision a few months before to leave my home town and was scheduled to leave in 4 months anyway, so i decided to just sell to my car. that saved me money on gas and insurance alone (insurance $100/mo & gas $200/mo). a month with life sans car i found involved a lot of walking: my walk to work took 2.5 hours, walking to the school where i volunteer once a week took 1.5 hours. i thought to myself, "i'd better lose some weight for all this goddamned walking." but see, i know how much nutrition plays into weight loss. with the liquid diet, i'd lost 68 lbs and hardly exercised. i figured i'd best see about changing my food habits.

i couldnt deal with any more fasting. i looked into prepared food programs. i thought about nurtisystem, but nah. i check out fresh food- diettoyourdoor, zoneathome, 3hourdiet, etc but the costs had me reeling. i made peace with it, tho. i needed... no, i wanted help to lose this weight and whatever i use is going to cost me.

i looked into weight watchers, but points seemed weird to me. i looked at jenny craig and went into my free consultation. you get part jc food, and part grocery shopping on your own. for example, today i had jc turkey chili, along with my own sprinkle of parmesan, a side of broccoli and coke zero. as you get closer to your goal weight, you do less jc foods, ie: 4 days a week do jc menu, your own meals the other 3 days. this goes on until you cook all your own food. it really appealed to me b/c i could use this program to learn how to eat, learn what and how much im eating, and most importantly, learn lifetime management skills. Maybe because i've only ever done liquid diets, i really dont feel like jc is a "diet;" i feel like it's more a nutritional program. all the food tastes good (cept them cookies) b/c it's real food.

aside from the jc food, you also get a motivational cd, a couple of pamphlets, and weekly meetings w/a jc consultant. i meet with my consultant every saturday and record my weight. we talk for about 15 minutes about my progress that week: she asks me if im exercising, if i'm drinking enough water, to try to cut down on the coke zero. i ask her any questions i may have (about food, nutrition, calories, support, resources). then i tell her what jc foods i want for that week, i pay, i leave.

i read a lot about how jc is no different from any other program, and that you could easily do it on your own. that's true but i decided that for me i needed help getting started. yes, im spending a lot of money right now, but that's nothing compared to what my weight will cost me for the rest of my life if i didnt get in control of my eating.

sometimes the slowness of the weight loss compared to fasting is discouraging. with fasting, i'd lose near a pound a day; jc is like a pound a week. but i thought about it, and if i had started this slow loss process a month ago, i'd be 5-10 pounds lighter. i'd already be a smart eater. when i reach my goal weight, i wont be scared about gaining it back b/c i'll have learned how not to. i finally accepted what all the "experts" said- the only way to lose weight and keep it off is to reduce your calories in and increase your calories out. i dont know why i was so intimidated to learn and practice this before. but im really glad im doing it now.

nobody was buzzing in my ear to lose weight, nobody had to, i knew. i made the decision on my own, and to use jc specifically. i mention that b/c i think that's important. no program is going to work until/unless you decide you're ready.

since i started jc, i do a lot of online reading about nutrition and obesity. i think and reflect a lot about what my life was like when i did optifast and went from 235 to 170. i think about how i let all that weight come back and then some. i reflect about what i expect out of this weight loss, what will change, what will be different. i journal on paper every day, i blog here, i read and post on sparkpeople for support, i try to see a therapist about once a month. the reason i list all this is because being overweight and obesity isn't just about a weight problem. it is also a mind problem. if you don't make peace with whatever issue you have, if you dont work on your mental and spiritual health as well as the physical, i would wager you would, like me, gain back all you lost and then some.