Jenny Craig Review

Jenny Craig is a well known program that has been around for 20 years claiming a high rate of success. Jenny Craig is ranked #7 on the Overall Best Diet rankings by the U.S. News & World Report (1)

Rather then selling itself as a rapid weight loss diet it places more of an emphasis on establishing a healthier lifestyle with steady weight loss and maintainable long term results. The program aims for a healthy maximum weight loss of 1kg or 1% of your current body weight per week.

Jenny Craig Consultants

One way the program heavily markets itself is through the idea of having a one on one consultant. Similar to Weight Watchers, the consultants are often people who have lost weight through Jenny Craig themselves then undergone some training to receive the certification to be a consultant.

The program is predominately undertaken by the dieters independently with the help of written, online and audio material/planning. The consultants are met with for 20 minutes each week to evaluate the status, progress and direction of the member's plan, whilst providing some motivation. The value of these consultants is debatable, factoring in the personality of the consultant, member and the relationship between the two.

Nutrition

Jenny Craig's food plans are aimed at teaching members how to eat sensible, healthy, well portioned meals. Based on six meals a day, this plan is more conducive to a faster metabolism, fuels the body more evenly throughout the day and more likely to keep dieters satisfied.

The menus contain Jenny Craig meals which are calorie and portioned controlled to take the brain work out of counting calories and eliminate the effort and inconvenience in planning and preparing meals. Opinions are split as to how they actually taste this being purely subjective. Progressively through the program, as members reach specific weight goals in their program, they are given more control and responsibility over what they eat and prepare.

To further add to the convenience of Jenny Craig's program and meals, the material and food can be delivered directly to the home of members. A booking can also be made for the consultations to call you on a phone number and at a time of your convenience.

The Hard sell and The Costs

When looking at online material, advertising and general info released by Jenny Craig one thing they do not go into is the cost of food. As much as they go on about the menus, the Jenny Craig foods and the memberships (which many people already find expensive), they leave out the actual cost of the food. This is the aspect of the diet where the costs really start to build up with people spending roughly $90 a week on Jenny Craig Food.

The food supplied by the program doesn't cover all food in the menu either; this is in addition to fresh food and groceries members need to buy on their own. It appears that this cost involved in the program is the last one to be specified. Understandably, the consultant/sale people seem to focus on the benefits of the program, particularly the 20 minute consultation each week that involves the weigh in which is suppose to make a dieter accountable for their progress, or lack thereof.