Jenny Craig – Initial Telephone Consultation

For the next 28 days I am going to be trialling the Jenny Craig Weight Management Plan.I wanted to trial this programme before committing to it or something like it in preparation for my wedding later this year. In July 2010 I gave birth to my beautiful twins Esther and William. It is now March 2011, I get married in September and I am still a stone heavier than my pre pregnancy weight.

I weigh 10 stone and ideally I would like to weigh 9 stone. I am hoping that the food, one to one support and activity plan from the Jenny Craig Programme will help me to achieve my goal in time for my big day.
First of all it is important to know that this is not a diet as such but a weight management programme. One of the great things for me is that you still get to eat crisps and chocolate and even chocolate flavoured breakfast cereal; it is about doing so in moderation. Jenny Craig promotes moderation not deprivation.

For me this programme has begun with a consultation with Programme Director, Ian Robson. He is very open and friendly, very good at his job (!) and we immediately got on well.

He talked me through the main aspects of the Jenny Craig plan and what I would be getting as part of my 28 day trial.
Ian talked to me as though I would be embarking on the plan for 12 months. This is the recommended time frame for losing weight with Jenny Craig.. This is the time that their experts recommend is needed for not only losing the weight but learning the right tricks and tools for maintaining your new weight and keeping the fat off! Jenny Craig offers 3, 6 or 12 month programmes with 12 being what they think to be the best time frame for losing weight healthily. On average customers using the programme have about 3 stone to lose, for me I am aiming to lose only one stone but I want to make sure that I keep it off.

So how can Jenny Craig help me to do that?

The programme is all about portion control and educating people about their eating habits. Using Ian’s analogy the Jenny Craig team view their clients like computers whose wiring or programming is wrong. They need to take the memory out, wipe the hard disk and reprogram. For many of us in order to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight after the initial loss our food habits need to be revisited and rewound.
Ian and I talked about the fact that as children we are often made to eat everything that is on our plate, no matter what the portion size, and in fact we are rewarded for eating a huge portion of main by being given pudding, only if we completely empty our plates. I am currently weaning Esther and William and already I am saying this to them, just a few more mouthfuls and then you can have something nice for dessert!

We need to eat the foods that we enjoy but in moderation and this is what the Jenny Craig Plan supports

So, how is it going to work?

Straight from the horse’s mouth “I am about to embark on a journey of self-discovery where I will learn to understand my current diet and lifestyle habits and develop new skills, techniques and knowledge to help manage my weight successfully in the long term.”

But how?

For the next 28 days I will eat a calorie controlled diet. This will consist of 1200 calories a day eaten in the form of a breakfast, a morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and evening snack. Jenny Craig does not allow people to eat less than 1200 calories a day as it is just not sustainable. On the Jenny Craig programme you can choose to have all your food delivered to your door ready for you to pop in the microwave or heat on the hob. They also provide snack bars and crisps. You then supplement what they provide with your own fruit and vegetables but they provide a Grocery Guide to ensure that you purchase the best food for the diet or plan that you are following.

The programme is designed to fit around your lifestyle. During your first telephone consultation you will discuss in detail how you live your day to day life, what you eat, drink and how you exercise. It is like a friendly chat with somebody new who is going to help you achieve a goal. Jenny Craig provides you with a weekly consultation plus a telephone number for their care line that you can ring at anytime for further support. This can be for menu advice if you are going to be eating out or to ask what activity you can do to work off that extra digestive biscuit or glass of wine!

The Jenny Craig diet is sodium correct and so should reduce fluid retention in the body. Because of this I can expect to see my biggest drop in weight during the first week of the plan as my body gets used to this lower salt intake. I have to say that I do not add any salt to my food currently but am aware that there can be hidden salt in some foods. I am going to be interested to see what happens as the weeks’ progress.

One of the things that I really like about this plan is that it is an education about eating that can have a positive effect on the whole family we learn about proper portion sizes and what Jenny Craig terms as eating and burning.

This programme is designed and constantly adapted to fit around your lifestyle and as a mother of twins I certainly hope this is true as no two days are the same for us.

And what am I going to feed my partner?

Please follow our journey over the next 28 days as I aim to lose a stone with Jenny Craig.

You can find out more about the plan by looking at their website, their Facebook page or by following them on Twitter.

Wish me luck!