This is a review from a good friend of mine. It summarizes what I hear from most people about Jenny Craig. (Also, take a look at my video post, Jenny Craig vs. Nutrisystem, where an independent reporter investigates and compares both diets.)
My sister and I have struggled with our weight for our whole lives. Like everyone else, we had tried diet program after diet program. I clearly remember the day when we finally decided to do something about it and go to Jenny Craig. I’m not sure exactly why we chose Jenny Craig.
Maybe it was the Jenny Craig ads on TV with famous spokeswomen like Kirstie and Valerie (heard they just added Queen Latifah). Maybe it was the skinny people contrasted with pictures and videos of their former fat selves (”Results Not Typical” hmm). Or maybe it was just desperation because we had tried and failed at so many other diets: Weight Watchers, Atkins, and endless diet pills.
When we went to the center they put us through the drill. We watched a video, talked to the manager/sales rep, got weighed and got measurements taken. Very simple stuff which was all filled with sales pitches about how great the program is and how much weight we can lose. The whole initialization process didn’t fill me with a lot of confidence in the program, but I looked at it like it was a ritual that I had to perform to get to the nugget of the Jenny Craig program. The nugget that we believed would solve my sister’s and my problem. We were so excited about what we thought Jenny would help us do.
Jenny Craig supplies the following in exchange for your hard-earned dollars:
1) Counseling
Basically, the counselors were a joke. None of them had any insight or understanding of our struggle. Most had been thin all their lives. Some were 10 or 20 lbs. overweight and were far from masters of fitness and didn’t really understand us. On top of this the staff was untrained. They knew way less about weight loss than we did. If you want to know what the counseling was like imagine this:
Imagine your average decent woman from the street who has never really struggled with her weight. Imagine her sitting down with you and giving you advice on how to lose weight. Whatever pops into her head. Whatever skills she has come to the table with her and that’s it. Then she gives you an expensive menu that you must buy from and she whisks you off.
I guess there are a few good counselors peppered throughout the Jenny Craig organization, but, according to my experience, the counselors are generally less than useless. They’re counterproductive. It made me feel worse having some mega thin Barbie (who had always been thin) or some semi-pudgy “counselor” rush me through the session and ask me if I drank my water or ate an extra bar.
2) Classes
If you’ve ever read a book on basic nutrition and a basic diet book then you can skip these. I don’t know if they’ve changed them in the past few years, but they were entirely lame when I went. Nutrition and behavior modification courses taught by people who knew very little about either.
3) Expensive Food.
Some food was delicious and some was unbearably disgusting. I loved the bars. The menu was repetitive. There was about a week or two’s worth of different food which is redistributed over the menus for as many weeks as you’re on the program. I was on the program for a long time (8 months).
Here’s the real meat of the deal for Jenny Craig. From my experience it quickly became obvious that Jenny Craig was just a diet food retailer. They’re not really about counseling or classes, because the quality is way too low. I think it’s just a front. So, to compensate for the added overhead costs of all those diet centers, counselors, and marketing, they overprice their food. Pretty slick huh.
The Bottom Line:
As with any diet, you can have success losing weight with Jenny Craig, but at what cost? Strip away all the fluff and at Jenny Craig’s core is a company selling overpriced diet food, twice as much as their competition. Save your money and stick with better choices like Nutrisystem or Medifast.
Hi, I'm a dietitian with experience in hundreds of weight loss programs and fad diets. When forming my list of the
I think a lot of emphasis seems to be on the fact that Kirstie lied about her starting weight…don’t tell me that none of you overweight people have ever taken a few pounds, a stone or maybe even more off when you tell people your weight? No one wants to admit how big they are (as we all know fat people are despised by ignorant society). Who cares what she started at - what’s important surely is that she’s lost that 70lbs or whatever it is? It’s just as hard to lose weight whatever your starting weight whether you’re famous or supported or paid to do it or not! And yes, ok she may still be too large to be healthy or fashionable (I haven’t seen photos myself or the adverts)but she’s still lost that weight. She should be applauded - I know how she’s yo-yo dieted for many years and suffered with her weight problem. I keep reading everywhere that ‘Kirstie lied!’, that she’s a bad role model/influence on dieters and is misleading the public; all I have to say is get over yourselves; the public aren’t stupid and dieters though desperate to try ANYTHING are not going to flock like sheep to try this diet just because ‘Kirstie Alley’ says it worked for her. People will try any diet/pill/machine even if Hitler had suggested it, bacause they want to lose weight! The fact that Kirstie is saying it is immaterial!I mean, most people aren’t complete gormless idiots! Also, I think the fact that she’s still overweight is a much more realistic representation of weight loss than if a tiny skinny person was standing there afterwards - people would be suspicious. If someone had told me when I was at my very biggest (15.5 stone)that I would be paid 5 million to lose 14lbs it would not have made dieting with an eating disorder (which Kirstie obviously has) any easier! And keeping it off afterwards is even harder, it’s no reflection on the diet, just the dieter!
Also although I have never seen pictures of Kirstie at her largest, in the ones I have seen (before weight-loss pics)there’s no way she was EVER 500lbs (that’s about 35 stone!)or even 322lbs (er 23 stone?). So I think some people need to brush up on sizes vs weights! I’d say she was probably about 18 or 19 stone, so after 75lbs she’d now be about 12.5/13.5 stone…? Which is roughly a UK size 16/18. Ok, not magazine perfect but pretty acceptable. Let’s get things into perspective here! Yeah, she’s not that ‘Cheers’ girl anymore but she’s older, with an eating disorder! Of course, if anybody has a 35 stone Kirstie-at-her-biggest picture let me see it and I’ll retract my ramblings and get off my soapbox, but I doubt it somehow.
I tried the Jenny Craig plan for over 6 months, I gained 5 pounds and lost a lot of money! I did read the South Beach book and lost 20 pounds (which was 2 more pounds than I was aiming for) It has now been 2 years and I eat better, feel better and have maintained my weight.
Okay, I am finally posting about this because It is so irritating to me. I am a 37 year old 5′4″ mother of 4. 10 years ago after the birth of my last child I weighed 220 lbs. I lost 80lb through diet and tons of exercise and was 140 lb. I am now 145 lb and wear a size 8. I don’t exercise as much a before, so am not quite as toned as I would like, but there is no way that Ms Ally and I weigh the same with her being over 3 inches taller than I. And I have seen myself in video and photos and it doesn’t make you look that much bigger. Every woman probably lies about weight at some point, but Ms Ally is being paid to promote a diet and lying about where she started and how far she has come is a huge misrepresentation. It’s destructive to those who have worked very hard to lose weight and feel good about themselves to see her claiming to be a certain weight and then still looking quite overweight on t.v. I give her a ton of credit for getting up and doing something about it, but why not tell the truth, what does she have to lose? The pictures don’t lie, and I am not stupid enough to believe her claims. What happen when a young 5′7″, 145 lb girl (this is a perfectly healthy weight for this height) see’s these pictures and believes herself to look like that??? Very irresponsible Kirstey! You chose to go public with your weight loss, please at least be honest about the numbers!