Category Archives: portion control

Jenny Craig – End of Week 1

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The end of my first week with Jenny Craig is here.

Jenny Craig is not a diet but a weight management programme it consists of a calorie controlled menu, physical activity and lifestyle coaching.

At the beginning of the week I had a 15 minute chat with my Jenny Craig consultant. She talked me through my hamper which had arrived bursting with edible goodness to last me through the weeks ahead. 28 days of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks delivered directly to your door! In this case, to my door!

Next my consultant talked to me about expectations of the programme and of myself. She said that the programme is designed by a dietician to help you lose weight steadily. Eating six times throughout the day maximises your metabolism and aids weight loss. She explained that each day on the menu was nutritionally balanced and so though you could do the days in any order to follow the programme correctly you had to reach all the foods from each day and not mix and match. She also advised taking a multi-vitamin supplement which I do anyway as I am breastfeeding the twins.

So how is the food? It is a diet after all even if it is part of a programme. The snacks are great. The best part of the diet by far. However, as my best friend pointed out to me there are actually similar amounts of calories in Wotsits and Quavers as there are in Jenny Craig Potato Snacks. The cereal bars are tasty, very similar to Special K bars in taste and calorie content. The chocolate wafers and digestive bars are great ways to feel naughty ad get that chocolate fix. So though the snacks are good I am not sure that cheaper, perhaps tastier alternatives cannot be bought as part of your usual weekly shop.

The meals themselves are fine. I supplemented mine with a lot of vegetables and chillies and this masked much of the taste. The foods do all taste quite similar with something of a faint after taste?? They were not horrible at all and I look forward to tasting more of the options next week but they were not what I would call bursting with flavour. I am certain that they are more than good enough if you are desperate to lose weight and have a lot to lose. They are actually very filling for the portion size given.

I have struggled with the diet this week as I have had a bad week with the twins and I am not sure that 1200 calories is enough when breastfeeding twins but with what I have done I have lost weight.

This morning I weighed 9 stone 8 pounds and I started the week at 9st11lbs. So one thing has to be said for Jenny Craig so far, it works, and if I had been following it religiously I think that it would have worked very well indeed.

One thing that I am certain of is that if I do not continue with this diet afte the 28 day trial I will definitely continue with the methodology particularly relating to portion sizes. I know now that though I eat very healthily I do eat far too much and this is why I was not able to lose the baby weight without this help.

I also feel that the available consultations and support are needed to make the initial weight loss a success and to help keep the weight off. At home I have my mother for support who just keeps feeding me biscuits!!

Anyway, onwards and upwards to next week when I have another consultation and a new menu to explore.

If you would like to find out more about this programme then you can visit their website by clicking the picture below.

JENNY CRAIG

Jenny Craig – Day 4

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I am really tired today after a second terrible night with the teething twins. William is breastfeeding night and day at the moment because he is off solids because of his teeth. This is leaving me exhausted and I am worried that my allocated 1200 calories is not enough for a Mummy feeding 8 month old twins. I did tell Jenny Craig during my initial consultation that I was breastfeeding and so was sure this had been taken into account but now I feel uncertain.

It could just be that I am having a bad day. Esther and William are demanding and draining every ounce of energy that I can muster.

Must try to keep positive and keep my goal in mind, to lose weight for the wedding. Seems such a silly thing to focus on though when the babies do not seem to be doing so well.

It is taking me, my Mum and David to make things work today.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Jenny Craig – Day 3

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Oh dear, yesterday I fell off the diet wagon spectacularly, enjoying not only pancakes with sugar and lemon but also fajitas and flapjack! Not because I do not want to continue with the plan, not because I particularly lack motivation but because I wanted to enjoy the last day before Lent. For Lent I have given up fajitas, flapjack and caffeine. I will feast again at the end. To counteract my over eating yesterday I upped my activity and went for a 9 mile cross country walk pushing almost 2 stone of babies in their double buggy. The weather was glorious and we completed the route in 3 hours, quite good going I think!

But back to Jenny Craig’s Plan today. I was naughty yesterday but am back on the diet today. I started the day with porridge and blueberries from my free fruit allowance. It was really a rather nice way to start the day. I am back on the diet and raring to go.

For lunch I am having yesterday’s Winter Vegetable Soup which is easily prepared in the microwave. This is great when parenting twinfants! With the soup I am allowed some bread and cheese and also some salad. I am going to have some cherries though instead of my salad. Tonight I am having mushroom stroganoff and rice supplemented with lots of free veg and a little parmesan cheese.

On Monday I found the Bacon and Mushroom Risotto okay but I had to supplement with a lot of veg to feel satisfied. I am thinking that I might actually like to become a vegetarian. Maybe next Lent I will give up meat and see how I get on!

The soup today was quite nice and definitely filled me up. A filling lunch that will give me plenty of energy for the afternoon, playing with Esther and William.

Looking forward to dinner tonight and seeing how satisfied I feel at the end of a full Jenny Craig day.

I think I should point out that I am getting this 28 day trial for free but receiving no financial reward for the reviews. These are all my own, very honest findings and opinions and I hope that people will find them helpful.

Jenny Craig – Day 1: Part 1

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Today is the first day of my 28 day Jenny Craig Weight Management Plan trial. I am feeling quite apprehensive about it actually, almost like I am on trial. The children must have sensed my heightened mood as they have been awak and raring to go since 5.30am. It is now 7.45am and they are already back in bed having had a breakfast of fresh, warm apple puree and a good play. Bless.

Now I am about to start my day. Today’s breakfast is a 40 gram serving of muesli with half a cup of milk. I can also have as much fruit as I like and as much tea, though without sugar. I usually have just one.

Before that though I need to weigh myself and make a note of my measurements too. These details are recorded on my Jenny Craig Lifestyle Graph. I have to measure my bust, waist, abdomen and hips.

Here goes

Bust = 93cm / 36.6 inches
Waist = 79cm / 31.1 inches (Oh my God!! I used to be 26/28 inches!)
Abdomen = 92cm / 36.2 inches
Hips = 92cm / 36.2 inches

And I weigh (in the morning, after a large mug of tea!) 9 stone and 11 pounds. So ideally, I have 11lbs to lose.

Crikey I am larger than I thought, and must look kind of barrel shaped as bust, hips and stomach are all about the same. If I needed some extra motivation I think that I have just found it!

Time to make my muesli!

Along with my Jenny Craig meals and snacks I can have as much free food as I like. My free foods include: diet drinks; tea and herbal tea; fresh chilli; garlic; herbs; spices; Worcestershire sauce; Balsamic vinegar; asparagus; bean sprouts; broccoli; celery; mushrooms; onions; peppers; sugra snap peas; tomatoes. I can eat as much of these as I like. Can almost make vegetarian fajitas out of that little lot! No wraps though!

I can also eat up to 3 servings per day of any of: melon; strawberries; honey; jam; jelly and low cal hot chocolate.

The Jenny Craig menu plan states that it is important to eat all the foods on your plan and aim for weight loss of 1 to 2lbs a week. The free foods are designed to increase your satisfaction without significantly increasing your caloric intake.

I have never been on a diet before and have always thought I would be terrible at sticking to one as I am such a fussy eater but I really do think this plan could work for me as I can fill up on veg should I not like one of the specified meals. I am looking forward to getting started now.

Will let you know how I have got on at the end of the day.

Jenny Craig – What Have I Got to Lose?

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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!