Well, as promised, here's my update on what I've been eating all week on the Jenny Craig plan. This is week 2 so I'm well into my stride now - for my week 1 blogpost, you need to go here. I haven't been following the menu planner which tells you which meals to eat on which days because it's too restrictive and time-consuming. It's much easier to just grab the pouch, salad or tray meal that you fancy for each meal. jenny Craig also suggest you sit down with the hamper when it arrives to check that every item is in there. I didn't do that and am now really appreciating the fact that I'm still discovering meals I didn't know where in there, which helps prevent the monotony. It's all lovely food but it does seem weird to eat nothing but ready meals all the time ! So, here's what was on the menu this week.
Saturday
breakfast - Not feeling particularly hungry but had a bowl of chocolate coated and wholewheat flakes with milk, to stave off any mid-morning munchies !
lunch - Took the kids to McDonalds so they could play in the soft play and had a salad with diet coke - go me !!
dinner - I decided to go for one of the tray meals instead of a pouch for a change and opted for Beef Lasagne. I have to say, it's not as good as my homemade lasagne which has big chucks of carrot, mushrooms and red pepper in, but it tastes just like a regular ready-meal lasagne, not diet food. I treated myself to a Milk Chocolate Wafer Bar, which was smaller than a regular chocolate bar but tasted just the same.
Sunday
breakfast - Got up late and skipped breakfast today.
lunch - Decided to go it alone and eat the same as the rest of the family rather than be a Norman No Mates eating something different out of a pouch ! Had a healthy version of a roast dinner - roast chicken breast, boiled potatoes and a huge salad (lettuce, beetroot, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, sweetcorn, with 1-cal balasamic dressing spray). Even the kids tucked into the salad which was unexpected !
dinner - I went for Lentil Soup With A Hint Of Ginger, with a slice of bread, diet yoghurt and a satsuma. The soup wasn't really to my taste. I found it bland and added some Turkish chicken spice to liven it up and a sprinkling of cheese on top (my suggested protein portion) but, although I didn't hate it, I still didn't love it. I think that was down to the smooth texture though - I like my soup to be chunky.
Monday
breakfast - A breakfast energy bar on the way to the bus stop.
lunch - Tuna pasta salad Mediterranean style + clementine. Still very tasty but, as I'm eating either a tuna or salmon salad every day for lunch at work, I'm starting to find them a bit boring.
dinner - Creamy chicken fricassee and rice, which I served with some boiled carrots. Really lovely taste and texture and this actually tasted homemade.
Tuesday
breakfast - In a rush so just a quick glass of orange juice. Not great but there's no way I can snack while I'm at work anyway so it shouldn't make me give in to the munchies !
lunch - I sighed resignedly and pulled out one of the meals I really wasn't looking forward to eating, expecting it to be disgusting - Potato with Peas and Carrots. This looks like a pot noodle, containing instant potato/peas/carrots that you need to add boiling water to. Hmmm. Well, I was flabbergasted - it was absolutely delicious ! Really creamy, not at all powdery, and with a lovely flavour. I served this with a beetroot salad & a slice of turkey ham.
dinner - Beef goulash with chunky potatoes + salad with 1-cal salad dressing, satsuma
Wednesday
breakfast - Day off so more time to eat breakfast. I decided to try the Muesli with Raisins and Hazelnuts. I actually found it really bland so I'd definitely jazz this up with fresh fruit or yoghurt next time.
lunch - I decided to use up one of the pot noodle things, which still don't seem like proper nutritious food to me, serving the Thai red curry noodles, with a beefburger and Asian-style vegetables. I realised today that I really miss plain rice, not pre-mixed in with the sauce. It would be good to have some instant rice pots as well as the instant noodles.
dinner - I decided to try another tray meal for dinner because they're taking up too much room in the cupboard ! I tried Durum wheat with Tuna Ratatouille,finished off with a yogurt. You couldn't really taste the tuna much, which was a shame. The wheat by itself was a bit dry and chewy but mixed in to the ratatouille was quite nice.
Thursday
breakfast - Finished off the final breakfast energy bar.
lunch - French style tuna pasta salad (again), clementine. Same old same old.
dinner - Prawn korma with basmati rice, with a side serving of Asian vegetables, and a yogurt. Wow ! Absolutely gorgeous and definitely not what I'd call diet food.
Friday
breakfast - nothing at all, naughty naughty !
lunch - Last day of term so decided to stop being a social recluse and went to eat in the school canteen with my colleagues. On the menu, beef lasagne & tomato salad, yogurt and an apple. I actually thought to myself that the lasagne looked identical to the one I'd eaten earlier in the week from the Jenny Craig meal !
dinner - Chorizo and Mixed Bean Soup, topped off with a sprinkling of cheese. I was still a bit hungry so I finished off the salad that I'd made for the kids with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, gherkins, beetroot and 1-cal balsamic dressing. I treated myself to a packet of Thai Chilli Flavour Potato Bites - I still can't believe how satisfying they are for under 100 calories.
Weightwise, last week I dropped from 86.1kg to 85.5kg. Midweek this week I weighed 84.9kg but went back up to 85.4kg this morning for my official weigh-in. I think that could be due to - ahem - the time of the month though. Jenny Craig say that as a rough guideline, you should aim to lose between 1-2lbs a week so that actually seems quite accurate.
If you are planning on trying out Jenny Craig, I actually noticed on the website earlier that they're doing their 2-week plan at half price at the moment, so that it costs £38.50 a week instead of £77. That works out at £5.50 a day instead of the usual £11, and I have to say, having seen the quantity of food you get, that's not bad value at all.
for more information : http://www.jennycraig.co.uk/
See you next week for another update !!
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Oooh I didn't know you were doing Jenny Craig too. The foods looks lovely, and some of it, very different from when I did it. The lasagne was one of my favs though!
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
The foods looks lovely
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip off on the special offer. may just give it a try as desperate to lose some weight!
ReplyDelete