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 just joined Jenny Craig last week. I had about 20 lbs to lose after gaining weight following a hysterectomy 4 years ago. I am only 5 feet tall and every 5 lbs adds one dress size… That same day I also joined a local gym. I was very determined to lose this extra weight!
I signed up for the platinum program at Jenny falling for the sales pitch and the discount on the food and so on. The sales counselor was very convincing and talked me right out of the 20 lbs for $20.00! That week I went to the gym 5 days out of 7 and worked out like a fiend, 1 hour on the treadmill at a good pace and 30 minutes with the weights.
The first week I came back to weigh in with my counselor. It was my first time meeting her and my first weigh in after signing up the week before. I was excited because I had followed the plan to a T!(and exercised) She did not even congratulate me for losing almost 4 lbs! In fact, I had to ask her if I had even lost weight and how much it was…she barely even looked at me.
My whole counseling session consisted of walking to the scale and purchasing Jenny groceries… Just enough time to get the following weeks menu and sell their groceries. They put me on a 1200 calorie diet which I thought was way too many calories for my size and weight. She also advised that I should eat the soup which she added to the menu. When I questioned her about lowering my calorie intake she just coldly stated “just eat all the food”.
I was very disappointed because I think most people do want to meet with a counselor to get diet advice and have someone listen and be a bit of a cheerleader. In all honesty, the first week I did not eat all of the food allotted to me; I found it to be too much. I believe along with other posters, that they just want to sell as much food as possible.
Good luck to everybody with their weight loss and I wish you all very much success!!
To the Jenny Craig employee on review # 129 - It’s not the fact that the counselors are thin and have never struggled with their weight. You’re absolutely right, I wouldn’t want my counselor to be struggling losing the battle at controlling his/her weight and then trying to give me advice.
Yet… You kinda have to practice what you preach. I would rather have my counselor been through the program and know what its like before she gave me advice.
I’ve read almost all the comments and have to agree with the majority of them. Going to Jenny Craig is like a trip to a car dealer. It’s about sell, sell, sell and using high pressure tactics and exploitation of what is for most, an emotional issue.
Their “counselors” (which they should not be allowed to call them) are salespeople pure and simple.