Well, my wallet got a lot lighter.
Written: Jun 23 '00 (Updated Jul 23 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Staff very thin and very cheerful.
Cons: THE COST OF THE FOOD CAN RANGE INTO THE THOUSANDS BEFORE YOU KNOW IT!
The Bottom Line: Avoid this program like the plague. Eating Jenny Craig food teaches you nothing about preparing real-world meals and is expensive as well. Go to weight watchers instead.
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| starrion's Full Review: Jenny Craig Gold Membership |
It was going to be the "big push". I was going to lose weight once and for all. Period. I was going to do it No Matter What. I selected Jenny Craig because I heard that they were into "behavior modification" rather than just counting calories. I needed to learn to control portions and get on an exercise program that worked. So I signed up at Bally's gym and went to Jenny Craig.I mean I was serious.
They saw me coming a mile away. "It only costs $19.95 to join" (plus the cost of food) their ads say. So I sat down and reviewed the programs, I weighed in. (OH MY GOD! That scale has to be wrong... my scale at home....) and I signed up for a few extra weeks. About $120. Okay I thought, that wasn't so bad...
Lower the boom!
That's when we started talking menus. They had all the menus for each day laid out. That's when I realized that they supply all the entrees for all your meals plus some snacks. The menus sounded OK, like "salisbury steak" or "Pasta primevera". So I asked if Jenny Craig supplied all the food, how long did that last. It turns out that I was going to be eating their food for upwards of six months. So I selected seven tasty sounding menus and went to check out. The total came to over $80 for one week's food. Almost $12 a day! My jaw hit the floor. "It's the same as you would normally spend on food anyway", they chirped cheerily from the desk. No, it isn't. But I was committed. I was serious. I'll find a way to afford this, I thought.
At two weeks I had lost 8 pounds and $160 dollars. My will power started to fade, but I had to keep going.
At two months I had lost 16 pounds and spent $640 on food.
The Food
Jenny Craig's portion control means that every meal can fit on a very small plate. They suggest things to eat along with their food like rolls or a cup of broccoli or zuccini. Some of the meals were not bad. Some were pathetic. Most of it could have been bought in normal stores for a fraction of the cost. (Like the cereal or the pancakes.) The logic was that everything was pre-measured for just the right nutritional level. Closer to the truth was that it was premeasured in dollars and cents. Every meal was so small that I was generally still hungry after eating the entree. According to Weight Watchers, if your still hungry and you starve yourself, all you are doing is stalling your metabolism. When the diet ends, so does the weight loss.
I kept trying, but at three months my willpower faded. I simply got tired of spending $80 a week and losing a half a pound. Jenny Craig claims that if you stay on the diet and get close to a goal weight, that they "wean" you off their food and by then you are eating properly sized portions. I never got that close so I was still eating their meals until I quit. I ended up spending (after the fact calculation) $2200 to lose 24 lbs. All of which came right back in the post-diet depression, plus 15 more for good measure.
I had failed. Again. But this time, I also found myself in debt to boot. Oreo anyone?
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
starrion
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Member: Al
Location: Burlington, Mass
Reviews written: 63
Trusted by: 36 members
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