Dear Jenny Craig:
I’ve lost 50lbs on your program in 20 weeks. I’m 5’7″ and have gone from 253.4 lbs. to 202.6 lbs. I plan on losing another 20 lbs. over the next few months. I wanted to write to you to thank you and to tell you why your program worked so well for me. I’ve tried a lot of different diets over the years and this is the first real success I’ve had. Here’s why.
For me, it starts with belief.
I am a software engineer and a game developer. Before I write one line of code, I have to believe that what I’m about to do is feasible. My wife Ana had tried some other weight-loss programs with a little success here and there. Ana decided to try Jenny Craig, and I told her that if I didn’t start losing weight again on my own in two weeks, that I’d join her. In those two weeks, I got a second-hand view of the Jenny Craig program and decided it would be worthwhile for me to join it too.
I dropped 10.4 lbs. in the first two weeks, and I was amazed that I never felt hungry or deprived the entire time. And there it was – belief. I knew it was feasible. I had proved to myself that it was possible. As I progressed, I started tweaking with little things to make the system even better for myself. The first few weeks I really liked the variety of the Jenny Craig meals. After that, I started honing in on the foods that I liked the best (while still keeping it all balanced).
The core principal of smaller portions, eating more often was perfect for me. There are other things that also helped me reach my 50lbs. in 20-week goal but that was definitely the driving force.
So here’s a few other things I wanted to mention…
• Raquel was great. Always enthusiastic, and always supportive and never judgmental. She worried whenever I deviated slightly (like honing in on only the foods I liked) but she was always supportive and stopped worrying when she saw the continued success. (For instance, I don’t believe I have really hit a plateau yet.)
• When deviating or “being bad”, I learned to be less-bad and I learned to be even more honest with myself of what I can and can’t do. So, two examples here. When I’m in a restaurant, I ask for a to-go-box at the start of the meal and divide it up right there before I start eating. When I go to the movies and do popcorn, I no longer do the larger sizes. Even if I get a large-popcorn for free, I’ll only fill it 1/3rd of the way up because I just know that if I bring it in the theater I’ll finish the whole bucket (no matter how many times I push it away).
• Love the evening snacks, especially Cupcake, Cookies & Cream Brownie, and the Lava Cake. I eat them all cold (almost always) (just really enjoy them right out of the freezer).
• Love the Cookie-Dough Anytime bar. It’s just great. (Ana loves the Chocolate Peanut Butter one.) Sometimes I want something sweeter (and actually less filling) and I have a couple of spoonfuls of applesauce instead. (I also do Yogurt occasionally as well or a few grapes).
The most amazing thing to me is that I have really never felt hungry in the 20 weeks it’s taken me to lose the 50 lbs. And I still don’t exercise as much as I should (mostly swimming), and I don’t drink as much water as I should be. It’s really all been the Jenny Craig program.
Once I proved (in those first two weeks) that I could do it, I knew it was just a matter of time.
Oh…and I feel great. I could write twice as much on all the ways I feel better since being on the program, but I won’t…I’ll stop here.
Thanks Jenny Craig.
For me, it was the perfect program. I have no doubt I’ll do at least another 10-20 lbs. before I even think of stopping.
Joe