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
WOW I thought it was just me. When I joined I knew I would get the “Pitch” but that was okay if the program was effective. As you all have mentioned the atmosphere and counseling were all inexperienced. I think maybe they don’t pay well enough for good help.
I did like my first counselor, she was pretty much up front with me. But the kicker was when one day I went there and they told me to come back in 15 minutes as they were having a meeting in the waiting room no less. When I returned, the regional manager was belittling my counselor in front of everyone and forbid her to walk away until she was finished with her.
I was appalled and told my counselor how angry I was to see her embarrassed that way. Needless to say she was gone next time I went there. I told the staff one by one every time I got the opportunity. Totally turned me off and I did not find the program effective or supportive for the money I spent with these so called professionals. Thanks for letting me vent and Good Luck to all in 2008
I am a jenny craig member and have been since the early 90s. I agree there is a difference in how thy were managed then vs now. I have lost weight then and now, but not the weight I was hoping for. The one counselor that I liked since my return in february 2007 left the company, on her last day she quietly told me watch what I eat, excercise and leave Jenny alone because they are all about the money.
Thank you all so much for this consumer site. I too was contemplating joining Jenny Craig. I also considered Nutri System, but the lure of having a counselor tempted me toward Jenny!
After reading all your reviews and the experience you had with a so called “counselor” has swayed me to Nutri System. Maybe, like someone else said, the Jenny Program may have been good 20 years ago but after undergoing corporate changes it is no longer the program it started out to be. Thanks Again you just saved me from wasting my money.