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 made an apt. at Jenny Craig and then even called to confirm it myself…I drove to my apt. through some bad bad weather only to find out that my contract of 20 weeks with them had expired two weeks previously…..My counselor called a supervisor and asked if I could still purchase food one more day since I had not been notified my contract was up and I had made an apt and kept it even after confirmation on my part and their part…………They actually told me they had a 30 grace period for situations like mine but when the counselor I was with called the “accountant/supervisor/manager???
She refused to sell me more food the day I got there..what a waste of my time and gas and I also had been working two jobs. It was quite hard to fit my Jenny Craig appointments in, but I had done so faithfully with always large purchases of their food..Letting me leave that day without being able to purchase food one more time ( left a bad taste in my mouth) no pun intended…..
They did try to talk me in to signing up for a six week plan but I refused..If they had sold me food that week I would have signed on longer…..I was angry I drove there only to be turned away…….I believe they should have told me before I came in that my contract of 20 weeks was over…I admit I had not kept track of it but never suspected they would not sell me food one more time …..NO MORE JENNY CRAIG FOR ME……………….to me that was bad customer relations……………I will tell everyone not to go there…………………………..
I was a victim of this Jenny Craig racket. I had joined back in 2004 and lost about 35 pounds. However, I started gaining some of the weight back towards when I was about 18 months into the program. The consultants (more like CON-sultants) accused me of cheating. That was utter crap! Christmas 2005, I became violently ill. I had my final consultation a few days later. I never returned and yes, I signed up for the Platinum program - BIG MISTAKE! About two months later, I was diagnosed with an ovarian tumor that consumed my ovary. I had surgery to removed the diseased ovary, thankfully it was benign. I think it was a minor problem that was made even worse by all that Jenny junk that I ate.
A few months ago, I received a phone call from the local Jenny centre and a letter. They wanted me to renew my contract (the gall of them!). I was livid! They didn’t call me while I was recuperating from surgery to ask how I was doing or if the tumor was benign or malignant. They cared more about my money than my health!
Thank you Jenny Craig for the wasted money, the regaining of my lost weight and the loss of my ovary!
For those who are thinking of joining, don’t do it. If you go for the free consultation, run the other way! Don’t fall for what the commercials tell you! Never call Jenny!
Same story for me, was doing research on which plan to go with, I even called Jenny Craig a week ago and never got a call back after the girl told me “she’d call me back in 20 minutes”. I gave them the benefit of the doubt thinking that maybe they were short staffed and busy (tried to be positive). Decided to go there instead - They were rude, short, looked at me like I was more or less “bothering them”. I walked out. I guess they did me a favor by showing their true colors BEFORE I handed over my cash. The sad thing is, my insurance will even cover some of the sign up fee as a wellness perk - And after reading what everyone has read and what I experienced - I will not be joining. I think it’s time for Nutrisystem for me. Thanks for your posts everyone!