6 replies to this topic

[sdunkel1]

Alright, I am in a rather obnoxious predicament. My mother and I have joined Jenny Craig before, spent a great deal on our meals, etc and now that I am out on my own as a college student I am fighting myself to decide whether or not to join again. First of all, when I was doing the Jenny meals I was losing 1-2 lbs a week but I only could afford a month of the meals considering my family weren't and still aren't made of money. Only about after a month we had to stop, even after paying for a FULL YEAR of consultations, etc. I felt like it was just a big waste of money and not worth it if it was making my family and I suffer, financially. However, being in college now, I am almost in my second semester of my first year and spent about $600 on an 80 meal plan plus 150 Flex dollars. Though, when I pay for the Meal plans, it is PER SEMESTER. Which is, give in take, about five months per semester. From what I have gathered, it would obviously be more expensive to start on Jenny Craig again than to buy another meal plan like that. I am pretty much asking for opinions, real ones. I don't want anyone telling me that I should join just because they feel like they HAVE to because they are apart of Jenny's "movement" already. I want to be able to decide if I should use some of my student LOANS on Jenny or just get a personal trainer (who I have talked to and would be $350 to start a month, three times a week, but goes down by $25 every month), get the meal plan and watch what I eat.

Thanks a lot,
Stephanie

[I Called Jenny]

sdunkel1, on 29 November 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

Alright, I am in a rather obnoxious predicament. My mother and I have joined Jenny Craig before, spent a great deal on our meals, etc and now that I am out on my own as a college student I am fighting myself to decide whether or not to join again. First of all, when I was doing the Jenny meals I was losing 1-2 lbs a week but I only could afford a month of the meals considering my family weren't and still aren't made of money. Only about after a month we had to stop, even after paying for a FULL YEAR of consultations, etc. I felt like it was just a big waste of money and not worth it if it was making my family and I suffer, financially. However, being in college now, I am almost in my second semester of my first year and spent about $600 on an 80 meal plan plus 150 Flex dollars. Though, when I pay for the Meal plans, it is PER SEMESTER. Which is, give in take, about five months per semester. From what I have gathered, it would obviously be more expensive to start on Jenny Craig again than to buy another meal plan like that. I am pretty much asking for opinions, real ones. I don't want anyone telling me that I should join just because they feel like they HAVE to because they are apart of Jenny's "movement" already. I want to be able to decide if I should use some of my student LOANS on Jenny or just get a personal trainer (who I have talked to and would be $350 to start a month, three times a week, but goes down by $25 every month), get the meal plan and watch what I eat.

Thanks a lot,
Stephanie

Hi Stephanie!

I just noticed that you posted this in three places and no one has answered you (including me but this is the first time I saw the post). Anyway, no, I won't give you the "company line" about why you should do Jenny - at least not yet.

First, I have a bunch of questions to ask you before I suggest anything because you're working on a very limited budget so I am not totally sure you can afford to do the plan with your money without going into a hole.

Yes, it's going to sound like you're doing a test, but it's the only way any of us can give you some honest advice.

So here goes:

Are there healthy options (besides just salad) for you on your meal plan? In other words, are there things like grilled chicken or fish or other non-fat-filled foods? What types of food is offered for breakfast and lunch?

Do you go out eating with friends a lot and, if so, will you be able to stick to a diet plan even while going out?

How much do you have to lose?

Do you drink alcohol? If so, are you willing to cut drinking out of your plans?

Are you willing to drink 64 oz. of water (or water with Crystal Light or Mio flavorings) a day?

How much exercise do you do now (without a trainer) and that includes walking or any type of gym classes, tennis, bowling, dancing, etc.?

Does your campus give you free access to gym equipment (elliptical, treadmill, weights, etc.)?

How much exercise are you willing to do without a trainer? (There are a ton of ways to get exercise tips online or through options like Wii and other game players if you have access to that.) So how disciplined are you to do this without someone on your back and "making" you exercise? Please be honest with me (and more importantly, yourself).

Do you have easy access to a microwave and a fridge for all of your meals?

Can you get to a supermarket to buy foods (veggies, snacks, etc.) to supplement Jenny or other weight loss alternatives?

When you're talking about using some of your student loan money, are you talking about money in addition to the $600 for the meal plan and the $150 flex dollars? Or is that $750 meant for food, books, supplies, etc.?

OK, that's all for now. If you can be as thorough and honest as you can be with these questions, I promise to give you my suggestions on what you can and/or should do. (And then I'm pretty sure I can get some more of us to jump in on this discussion with their thoughts.)

It's just that right now, I don't have enough info to give you any intelligent suggestions.

Let me know and I'll answer you as soon as I can.

Phyllis

[dijarm]

Look, you've done JC before right? Did you learn anything from your first go around? I for one don't think you need JC meals to be successful with weightloss. They don't package magic, they just package protion controlled meals and use a food exchage system for maintenance.

If you've done this before you should have learned about volumizing your meals, eating smaller portions and limiting certain food groups, these are all skills you can apply to your eating habits and keep weight loss affordable. Buy frozen meals light WW or LC when they go on sale at the grocery store and volumize them, buy healthy cereals and limit your portion to what the box tells you is a serving size and add ff yogurt and a fruit. If your having a sandwich for lunch use WW brand bread and a smartones soup or a salad with ff dressing. For dinner your meat portion is the size of your palm and only 1/2 c of starch like rice or potato and load up on veggies. Drink lots of water, snack on your free foods every 2 hours and fit in exercise when you can. If your at a calorie deficit you will lose. I find these websites helpful


http://www.livestron...-diabetic-diet/

http://www.exrx.net/...dExchanges.html

[PishiCat]

And stay away from Cheesecake Factory.

[I Called Jenny]

PishiCat, on 29 November 2011 - 06:00 PM, said:

And stay away from Cheesecake Factory.

That's too funny! This poor girl is coming to us for advice and you're being a smarta-s! LOL

Stephanie, forgive her. She's a funny lady and there was this whole shocking discussion that you might not have seen about just how fattening the foods are - all of the food - at the Cheesecake Factory.

Phyllis

[Dshireman]

hmmm tough to say. to cut to the short of it ... the great thing about jenny is prepared meals that are easy to cook, consultations and the great support here on the forums. that said, it is very expensive and your education is more important in my opinion. if you can manage the foor portions, then you can do well on your own. i've never had a personal trainer, but it always seemed to me like paying someone to be your gym buddy so that you can be accountable to yourself and your goals. personally, i get that accountablity from the weekly meetings with the consultants and also from the forums. but I do wish that I could have someone to regularly work out with. even though I am just wandering around in circles in the mall most of the time, it is still better to have company than to be on my own. sounds like with a personal trainer you'll be in a gym, so that would be good.

in my opinion, try the less expensive route which sounds like the non-jenny choice. if you don't see the results you want in a few months, well then you can rexamine your situation and see what you can do to put together more money and take up a jenny plan. i promise, jenny craig will still be here if it comes to that, as will many of us who are working the program. I wish you weight-loss success and good luck with your education.

[moula]

Being in college myself, I completely understand where you're coming from. It's much cheaper to get on a meal plan, but unfortunately you get more unhealthy options.

On the other hand, you will be significantly increasing your debt if you switch over to Jenny. It's a trade-off which you only can decide whether it's worth it or not. Personally, I would try to eat healthy on my own and get the personal trainer, at least until I'm in a more financially secure place. Get an account on Myfitnesspal or some similar website, and record everything you put in your mouth and track how many calories you eat in a day. I've also seen a personal trainer, and it's a great way to stay motivated. I hope this helps a little.