I'm Narcissistic, Shallow, And Lazy

Let me get this out of the way: I believe I look great. I believe some combination of genetics and personal preening have come together to make me just pretty enough to get all the nice treatment which pretty girls have coming, but not so jaw-droppingly hot that all the women hate me and men can't pay attention when I talk. Never in my whole life, in spite of a near religious devotion to chocolate chip cookies and homemade bread slathered in butter, have I been fat. I'm a naturally tiny person who likes sports and knows everybody's name at the gym, so I have only worried about weight twice in my life. Once was after surgery followed by six months of artificial menopause, and the second time was after I had my baby.

The body of a new mother is a battleground. If I had to live with stretch marks, stitches in intimate places, hemorrhoids, and untrustyworthy behavior from my formerly trusty breasts, I couldn't stand to weigh even an ounce more than I did before getting knocked up. About ten extra pounds had set up camp, and while some of it lived in my new enormous boobs, most of it settled around my tummy and hips. It might not sound like much weight to lose, but ten pounds is a definite hunk of chub on a short person. My midwife pronounced me perfectly healthy and said I could diet if I felt the need, as long as I kept my calorie intake above 1700 per day. For some women who diet often, that sounds like a lot of calories, but it's bare bones subsistence for a nursing mother.

I admit that it's a little extreme to pay money for a diet to lose only ten pounds, but I had other motives as well. I understood that on Jenny Craig your food is delivered to you in a box, and the only cooking necessary is peeling off the lids and microwaving everything. Since I had a lot of trouble learning how to get everything done around the house with a baby, the idea of not having to prepare any meals myself was seductive. Also, I've only stayed on a diet for any length of time once before in my life and usually have very little success sticking a plan. The last thing I wanted to devote any energy to was counting calories, weighing my food, or studying the glycemic index.

The Wost Case of Sticker Shock I Have Ever Had

I chose to do the At Home program because I felt a little embarrassed to pay for a diet at all and didn't want any of my friends in town to see my car parked in front of the weight loss center. I also had a silly concern that since I was not heavy, people who signed up for Jenny Craig to lose a hundred pounds might not be nice to me when we met in the waiting room. Another reason was that I was afraid of getting a hard sell if I walked into the building and had to sit down with one of the Jenny Craig counselors. I wanted to experiment with the program by buying the smallest amount of time and food on the diet possible to see if I could stand it before paying for a whole month or two.

Signing up involved a long phone call in which I supplied all sorts of vital statistics about my size and health. When I told the man on the phone I was nursing, he said that would drastically increase my calorie allotment and I would not be given a plan that would make me lose weight as quickly as another woman my age and weight. He offered me all kinds of special discounts if I would buy a few months of food at once, but I stuck to my guns and insisted on beginning with two weeks, the smallest amount you're allowed to order with At Home. The price he quoted before requesting a credit card number took my breath away. The amount was about double my normal grocery bill. Just for food for me, I would spend twice as much as I usually spent on food for two people - and I buy organic. I reeled at the cost, but closed my eyes and rattled off my credit card information anyway.

Is This Supposed to be Health Food?

The huge box of food and packet of information were exciting to receive. I happily organized and put everything away, pleased to get started down the road of reclaiming my body for myself. After studying my 1700 calorie menu plans, I realized that most days included yogurts, fruit, and garden salads that I had to shop for in addition to paying for all that food. The yogurt had to be 100 calories or less per serving, which was a far cry from my usual full-fat yogurt made of goat's milk. In order to find this type of yogurt, I had to leave my usual natural food stores and go to the supermarket. My Jenny Craig shopping list also included fake whip cream and sugar free jello, two substances which had never passed my lips before. I didn't even bother to buy those at first, because they were considered optional snacks and I preferred to go without them. My whole foods upbringing had only just begun to clash with the Jenny Craig diet.

Reading the lists of ingredients on some of the packages made me feel uneasy. The first thing I look for on ingredients lists are partially hydrogenated oils and corn syrup, and when I find those things, I usually put the item back on the shelf. Jenny Craig had delivered me a whole box of trans fats and corn syrup. They were also laden with preservatives, which is necessary if a box of ravioli and sauce is to sit in the pantry. The next thing I noticed was that the food wasn't particularly low in fat, sugar, salt, or calories, but the portions were very small. I considered that a good thing in the beginning, because I thought maybe the food would taste good and be very satisfying.

Yuck...I Wish There Were More

Everybody who found out I was on Jenny Craig wanted to know if the food was good. I didn't know what to say to them. The food was all shelf stable or frozen TV dinners, so how good could it be? Some meals I liked better than others. Very few were downright disgusting, and none made me say Yum. Everything tasted sweet, salty, and had a fatty mouthfeel; after a few days, everything tasted the same. The food does not look very appetizing, and my counselor who was assigned to call me once a week with encouragement and guidance suggested I put it on a regular plate.

By the end of day two, I felt so ravenous I would have eaten a styrafoam cup full of raw bait if it appeared on my menu plan. Had I not been nursing, I would have been assigned a 1200 calorie per day menu, but just imagining that makes my stomach growl. While at first I wondered who in their right mind eats sugar-free jello with a squirt of low-cal whip on top, on day three I bought a couple cases of the stuff and ate it constantly. All the joy that generally surrounds meal preparation and food in my life had been replaced by anxiety and obsession. What if I was still hungry after my afternoon snack? How would I ever last until dinnertime without throwing my infant in her car seat and speeding toward the nearest bakery? Was it dinnertime yet? Did today's menu plan include a dessert? How would I ever last until breakfast without eating again?

Everytime I finished a tray or a plate of food, I felt despair. My husband made his own dinner but refused to eat alone, insisting that I join him with my little trays. I also brought the food with me to other people's houses when we went out, which was embarrassing to me. On top of being hungry and longing for better food, I felt lonely.

I Could Get Used to This, But That Would be so Sad

After a week, I no longer felt so hungry. I didn't feel full, but I did feel satisfied. To my shock, I lost six pounds the first week. Jenny's literature calls this "The Big Drop." I knew enough about restrictive diets to identify it as water weight, but it was still pretty exciting. The measurements around my waist and hips dropped a little as well. This gave me the second wind to keep eating my second week of food.

During the second week, I began to really miss cooking. Although escaping this task was part of the reason I was drawn to Jenny Craig in the first place, I'm actually a pretty good cook and enjoy preparing meals. My husband had a great time in the kitchen while I was on Jenny Craig, making all kinds of things that I normally won't cook or eat, like roasted chicken wrapped in bacon and carne asada nachos. I envied the fun he was having. Despite my weight loss and appetite adjustment, I decided not to buy any more food from Jenny Craig. I lost five more pounds that week, and while that pleased me, I felt confident I could keep the weight off with my own food.

My Counselor

Jenny Craig Right at Home makes a little effort to support and guide you to your goal weight. A packet of literature arrives with your box of food. I skimmed through this, but was too bored to absorb anything. Most of it was very familiar advice about what to do when you get hungry (try drinking a very cold glass of water or chewing sugar free candies), encouragement to get exercise, and nutrition facts. The only thing I really paid attention to were the menu plans that tell you what to eat every day, and those I studied so well I can almost see them now if I close my eyes. They also assign you a counselor who is to call you once a week, answer your questions, chart your progress, offer support, and take your orders for more food.

The counselor was sweet. She wanted to help, but I really didn't have anything to say to her. If I had been allowed, I would have opted out of the weekly phone calls altogether. The impression I got, however, was that while my counselor was kind and well-meaning, she didn't know very much about nutrition and was mostly trained to be friendly. It's not entirely fair for me to say that since I never tested her knowledge of anything, but she spent a lot of time asking me how my baby was and not much trying to give advice about how to succeed on the diet. When I told her I didn't want any more food, she asked if I wanted her to keep calling since my membership would last for six weeks. I tried not to laugh right in her ear.

I Bet You Can Guess This Part of the Story

I gained some weight back. A couple pounds came back right away, probably water, but a couple months after the diet I went on vacation with my family to the Caribbean. We ate, we drank, and I got some junk back in the trunk. After the vacation, I lost weight the same way I have always maintained my body - I ate whatever I felt like and worked out. Once my baby started eating more solids, I didn't have to nurse as often and felt fewer cravings, which made it much easier to eat reasonable portions of healthy food.

In some ways, Jenny Craig was good for me. My self-esteem benefitted from seeing that I had the power to lose weight if I wanted to. But it was a lot of money for me, and the results didn't last. I ended up losing weight when my body had fewer strange hormones swarming around anyway. I could have achieved my goal without such a restrictive and expensive plan.

Who Should Try Jenny Craig?

Jenny Craig is probably best for single people who aren't knowledgable about nutrition, don't cook, can afford the plan, and have a significant amount of weight to lose. I also think people who are desperate enough to consider gastric bypass surgery might be better off trying something like Jenny Craig before going through with it. Gastric bypass has an even more drastic effect on the portions you are able to eat, your enjoyment of food, your ability to partake in social meals, and can fail to have permanent effects for those who are determined enough to eat what they want. I've heard of people who didn't lose weight on Jenny Craig, but I mostly hear stories of people who lost plenty of weight but couldn't go on eating the food or paying for it. Because of the money and the restrictiveness, I consider Jenny Craig to fall into the category of desperate measures.

Recommended: Yes

Approximate Monthly Cost (US$) 420.00
Food Variety Restrictions A somewhat varied menu
Restrictiveness of Portions Practically starvation