The Jenny Craig Experience (honest 1rst week review)

You know how it is, life gets in the way and a month after month, year after year, life gets busy and we don’t eat as well or don’t exercise as much, or simply age or put ourselves at the bottom of the list of priorities.

So during a short trip to Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with our family South of the Border, Jan, the ever so lovely Jan, mentionned Jenny Craig quite a few time.

She talked about a friend of hers who had had good results following it.

Now you now me, I’m not into diet fads. I believe in cooking and eating as close to nature as possible, so I was kinda closed to this idea. But she mentioned it another time and my feeling was that she needed a push to go, so right then and there, I took out my phone and booked a consultation in Montreal for the following Friday and told her to do the same in Colorado, which she did.

Right then and there.

I’ll be honest, I thought I would go a week, maybe a month, top 3 months, but not more.

We both went at the same time, but in 2 different time zones. I began to feel excited that we were sharing this experience as a team!

First let me explain what JC it is.

Jenny Craig is a meal delivery service. Food is mostly frozen and you microwave it. There a few other teams you room emparature. If you are like me, you’ll imagine the never-ever-quite-good-food found in the frozen section of the grocery store. I’m a foodie and a darn good cook, so I really was going in imagining eating only this bland food week after week and, well, I was not too eager to begin, to say the least!

Second, I was convinced that I would get to choose meals, but to my surprise, I was told that all is pre-decided. From your breakfast to you snacks, all is on the program for the week that you have to follow…

And I kinda liked this…

See if you are a busy person, cooking and weighing food and portioning is a pain in the butt, so you end up preparing 2, maybe 3 different meals and end up eating the same food almost everyday because that’s what you prepared and well, it was the only day you had off, and you get so bored of that same food that you end up eyeing literally ANYTHING that looks different.

And if you have a family, you have to prepare different food for you and the rest of the family. It’s never a very pleasant experience

I got weighted (I refused to see the number on the scale and requested not to be told), took my food home for the week, and booked my next week visit at the same time.

My consultant told me to have my proverbial “last meal” because I was starting the next morning.

I had Thai, a Pad See Ew to be exact, went home, texted Jan to show her my frozen meals and went to bed.

On Saturday morning I got up ready to try my first meal, but first, Jan and I exchanged out “Saturday morning whatcha doing” pictures

Lady Snow White Von Puppy refusing to come out of bed – Montreal, December 1st 2018

Jade, Chili, Bravo with their human, Miles, in Colorado, December 1st, 2018

Jan clearly won that first photo round 😋

It’s funny see that our whole family connect even though we are 2900km apart 🐶🐩🐕

I went down and prepared my first meal, you know, took it out of the box and put it in the microwave expecting bland food with equally bland texture… And was flabbergasted.

IT WAS SOOo GOOD!

My first meal was a cheesy egg and bacon skillet and it was DELICIOUS.

I honestly did not expect this.

Jan and I spent the week texting back and forth sharing what we were eating and how good our meals were. We were both very surprised.

The only thing I didn’t like, was one day where I had a chocolate muffin for breakfast and a tuna salad for lunch (same day)

First, I’m not a sweet tooth. Second, for me a muffin for breakfast is not “eating well” it’s empty calories. And thirdly, a muffin followed by a very small tuna salad for lunch was not enough food, that day I was happy for snacks and did eye other food. A second day would have been hard to follow without getting off the diet.

But I can say that it was the only negative part of my whole week.

Everything else I ate was delicious and well balanced, mind you with every box I opened, my initial thoughts were, “it won’t be good and I’ll be famished in one hour” and each time I was proven wrong.

Jan and I had our first weight-in at the same time in our respective countries.

First week results: a combined 7.4lbs loss

(3.6 for Jan et 3.8 for me)

It may not seem much, but we lost 7.4x this picture in week one. #perspective

I got my food for week 2, expecting the same food again… Guess what, it’s a totally different menu!!! So it means I won’t be eating the same food week after week.

How awesome is this!

So here is my official rating about week one doing Jenny Craig

Price 9/10

(Note: it’s important to say that botg Jan and I have means, so for us it does not seem like much at all, but keep in mind that it’s a little under 200$ per week for food – every meals though you can add veggies, lettuce and good fats but it’s really complete. This rating could be different for someone with a smaller budget)

Value 7/10

This rating is based on the fact that it is frozen food. Fresh meals would up this note.

Taste 9/10

Based on week one. Taste are personal of course, but according to both Jan and I, it’s really good!

I did not do any exercise this week, and from what I can remember, Jan upped er routine and did over 20k steps over the weekend.

Hunger : 8/10

I felt full most of the week with almost no desire to snack/eat more

Difficulty 10/10

You literally have nothing to do!

So all in all, an overall rating of 86% for week one.

Stay tuned for week 2 and please drop a comment below to share your own experience, whether positive or negative.

And in the meantime, have a great week.

Josie