If you have tried Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers (or any other diet plan) can you tell me experiences good or bad? Also, what about the food and cost? Were the results long term? Thanks!
2006-09-12 05:16:57 · 36 answers · asked by rsf 3 in Health ➔ Diet & Fitness
My wife and I did the Nutrisystems diet about a year ago and have just recently started Jenny Craig. Here's my report on both.
Nutrisystems:
Nutrisystems is a diet based on the glycemic index, which is very good at help controlling your appetite and keeping your blood sugar from bouncing around. Go to their site, they'll tell you all about it.
The basic plan is that they ship you a months worth of prepared entres, snacks and desserts. Then every month after that, they'll automatically ship you (and bill you) for another months worth of food, unless you tell them to delay it or cancel. Cancelling was no problem when we did it.
The price was reasonable and comparable to buying Lean Cuisines or other prepackaged meals at the grocery story. Note, the Nutrisystems meals do not need to be frozen or refrigerated. You can just pull them out of the box and heat them up in the microwave for the most part.
The plan give you 3 meals, 1 snack and 1 dessert every day. If you are a guy, I think you get a second snack. You are expected to supplement your entres with other food that takes little or no time to prepare, so you are eating a balanced diet. This is important. If you don't add salads, fruit, veggies, milk, yogurt, breads, etc. you won't get enough calories and bulk, you'll be hungry all the time, and you'll fail.
The byproduct of this plan is that you really start to learn how to eat healthy. You get comfortable having small entres, accompanied by large quantities of veggies or salad or other healthy foods, which is a great way to eat normally.
Now for the bad part, and bad it is. Most of the food tastes terrible. At least it did for me and the wife. After 2 months, neither of us could do it any more, even though we were having great success with weight loss. I'd say 1/2 of the entres and almost all the desserts had protein powder (or something that tastes like it) added to them. It really made the food less than desirable. Here you are looking forward to a nice brownie or shake for the dessert, and it tastes like protein powder. Ugh!
I'm not sure what their deal is now, but if at all possible, try and get your hands on a few of the entres and desserts first. Try them. If you like them, then I heartily recommend Nutrisystems. If you don't like them, don't do it, because you'll just get sick of it and quit.
Jenny Craig:
My wife and I just signed up this weekend for the 3 months for $20 special. In fact, we just started Jenny Craig's plan yesterday.
The initial membership for both the wife and I, plus each of us getting a full week's worth of their food, was $280. You can figure spending around $120 or so a week for their food. Like Nutrisystems, you also must supplement it with other things such as yogurt, cheese, veggies, fruit, salad, etc. You do get to pick out what entres you want, and maybe 1/3rd to 1/2 of the food is vegetarian.
Yesterday, I had the French Toast for breakfast and Pesto Pizza for lunch, both vegetarian by happenstance. Dinner was Chicken Fettucine. So far I'm pleased with the taste of the food and the plan overall. Like I said, it's only day 2. Most of the foods are frozen, but some not. Make sure you've got room in your freezer.
You can go into their center once a week for a quick weigh in and consultation, and then pick up the next weeks food, or they have a direct shipment option if you aren't very close.
Once you reach the half-way point to your goal weight, they alter the plan and have you start eating less of Jenny's prepared foods and more of your own healthy cooking.
2006-09-12 08:42:24 · answer #1 · answered by Uncle Pennybags 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have been a Lifetime member (translate: free) of Weight Watchers for 7 years now, and worked for them for 2 years. I love their program. I never tried Jenny Craig, because I couldn't afford it, and I didn't want anyone telling me exactly what I had to eat. Weight Watchers teaches you how to eat real food, in real situations, anywhere you go. Your whole family will benefit, too. Just because I was the one cooking and picking out the groceries that came into the house, we all got thinner, and have stayed that way. I have not gained my weight back after being a member for almost a decade. The concepts they teach you can also help you handle any other behaviors you might have that are out of control. The support you receive at the meetings is invaluable. You don' t have to participate, either, if you don't want to. You can attend and sit in a corner by yourself listening if you are more comfortable that way. I even weighed in and skipped some meetings here and there if my schedule was tight. But staying for the meetings will become important to you if you are successful. Good luck!!
2006-09-12 05:41:27 · answer #2 · answered by sadiemylady 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
They're very different plans. Weight Watchers is basically a weight loss support group...they have three plans. One is for people who just want a diet...they give you a menu for every day for three weeks, and you repeat ad naseum. The second is their Core plan...it's a limited fat/limited carbohydrate diet focused on being able to eat until you're satisfied on any of the foods on the plan, and having very limited items from outside that plan. Their final and most popular program is the "Points" plan - they give you a number of points you can "spend" eating each day and assign a point total based on the nutrional value of the food for everything imaginable. You then earn extra points by exercising if you want to go over your daily amount. Weight watchers costs vary; it's generally less than $15 US a week to attend local meetings or about $30 US a month to do the program via their web site. I'm on this plan and enjoy it; I get to eat out a lot, and it was easy to pick up and handle.
Jenny Craig is a meal plan more than a diet; from my understanding you pay them around $150 US for a month, and they send you frozen meals that will constitute everything you eat that month. I don't know how or if eating out or exercise is handled.
I like WW as I said, and can't really say anything bad about Jenny Craig as I haven't tried it. I don't think I personally could eat that many microwave meals, but if you're not a cook and very busy I could see being on the JC plan. I'd suggest asking people you know personally though...they'll be able to give a better opinion as they'll know more about your personality...and personality is a huge factor when deciding what to do to lose weight.
2006-09-12 05:27:14 · answer #3 · answered by Gamerbear 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I did Weight Watchers a few years ago and since then I have lost a total of 70 pounds. They taught me how to portion my food and that helps me to keep the weight off. I can eat anything I want to. Of course I changed some of my eating habits like no fast food at all. It is not that expensive either. You pay for the weekly meetings and you are not limited to buying just their food. Also I added in at least 5 days a week of exercising. It really does work and it is a healthy way to lose weight. Good Luck if you do decide to do it.
2006-09-12 05:37:53 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I did Weight Watchers and lost 35 pounds. It was a really good program. It costs $10 a week where I live. I ate a lot of the things I usually eat, just less of it. The only problem was I gained all the weight I lost back in about 2 years. But I stopped going to meetings, that was my downfall.
2006-09-12 05:20:50 · answer #5 · answered by laurenw 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I lost 30 lbs in 2 1/2 months using the Cambridge Diet. I couldn't afford Jenny Craig OR Weight Watchers but I really wanted a diet that would teach me behavior modification, help me lose weight fast enough to give my impatient little self the motivation I needed and something healthy for my body. After extensive research I found that the Cambridge Diet was best suited for me because it has multiple programs available to fit each individual's lifestyle, it costs an average of $1.51 a meal, has a large variety of products to choose from (soups, shakes, oats, nutrition bars) and the distributor you go through becomes your personal "cheerleader" and they really help to keep you motivated. Each distributor is also a user of the product or former user of the product so they have a real understanding of where you're coming from. I became a distributor of the product myself after I saw the results it produced and after many "WOO HOO'S!" from my doctor. For more information see my website below. This diet really emphasizes behavior modification and has a long and outstanding record of people keeping the weight off long term. Best of luck to you in whatever you decide, you're already taking the first step towards good health!
2006-09-12 05:51:18 · answer #6 · answered by 'tisJustMe 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Weight Watchers is less about padding the corporate profits, and they teach you good eating habits for a lifetime.
My mom went when I was in high school, the entire family learned, and is still lean.
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