Jenny Craig week 3

****STOP PRESS ! I told you about this offer on last week's update but just so you don't miss out : there's currently a 50% discount on a two week programme, which works out at just £38.50 a week/£5.50 a day for all your food and consultations. When you see the quantity of food you get (see my first Jenny Craig blogpost here), that's actually really good value ****

Well, here we are into week 3 of the Jenny Craig and I have to admit, I've been "cheating" slightly this week, introducing more home-cooked food as I'm on holiday this week and next so it's the ideal time for trying out new recipes and reviewing some of the foodie products I've been sent to review. The important thing about Jenny Craig is that, in any case, that's the way it's designed. You start off exclusively on their food, to give you a proper idea of portion size, then bit by bit, you introduce your own cooking back into the mix, so that ultimately you change your eating habits for life, even when you're no longer on the plan. 

Well, you've all been enjoying seeing what the food actually looks like so here's another week in images ! I won't republish photos of things I've already eaten so look back through my previous weeks' blogposts so see the other Jenny Craig photos.

Saturday

breakfast - Jenny Craig wholeweat and yogurt coated flakes - I'm still really enjoying these

lunch - salad and diet coke at McDonalds - this has turned into a bit of a routine now ! But whereas I'd eat the salad and then finish off the kids' leftover chips, I finish the salad and am now stuffed. It's surely the SlimPod magic again - they talk about it having a gastric band effect !

dinner - Jenny Craig Thai chicken curry & basmati rice - very nice indeed, although I must admit, I'm missing eating plain rice that hasn't been mixed into a sauce. They do noodle pots and instant mash pots so it would be great to see rice pots too

Sunday

breakfast - no

lunch - Joined in with the family roast dinner : pork, roast potatoes & vegetables. What was really lovely was that the kids asked for an "apéritif", a French tradition they've inherited where you have pre-dinner drinks with a load of unhealthy nibbles like crisps and peanuts. Well, not wanting to rain on their parade, I said OK and opened a couple of bags of Jenny Craig potato bites, as well as the Gourmet Raw vegetable crisps that I reviewed here, and topped the whole lot off with a glass of Eisberg alcohol-free wine which only contains 22 calories ! (I'll be doing a separate review for that shortly.) That means that the whole pre-dinner drinks, nibbles included, only provided about 100 calories - much better than pigging out on normal crisps, peanuts and alcohol !

dinner - Decided to go for a light option after a big Sunday lunch so had Carrot & Coriander Soup, followed by a yogurt. It wasn't bad but it was the first time I'd had carrot soup and I found it slightly bland, like eating a plate full of carrots.

Monday

breakfast - Jenny Craig porridge with raspberry - decidedly yummy and satisfying.

lunch - homemade chicken fajitas - one wrap stuffed with salad, cucumber, tomatoes, and a bit of guacamole and spicy chicken. Pretty healthy option actually - great to join in with family meals again as the one downside of Jenny Craig is that it's all a bit anti-social, eating ready meals for one all the time.

dinner - Jenny Craig  green lentil & vegetable dhal, which was very nice and spicy but a bit heavy on the peas, followed by an apple, and later in the evening a Jenny Craig cereal bar with white chocolate - still utterly indulgent and delicious. I really don't feel like I'm on a calorie-controlled diet.

Tuesday

breakfast - Jenny Craig chocolate coated & wholewheat flakes

lunch - Jenny Craig roast chicken with mashed potato - this was one of the tray meals and at first glance, it wasn't very inspiring. The mashed potato was in one solid lump and it reminded me of the food you get on aeroplanes ! However, once you fluffed it up with a fork, the mash was actually really nice and the chicken was lovely and tender, even if there wasn't a great deal of it. 

dinner -  Jenny Craig mushroom stroganoff with Camargue rice. This tasted really creamy so I glanced at the ingredients list and had a revelation - it actually contains proper ingredients like cream and brandy, not a watered down version full of artificial additives and sweeteners. That explains why the Jenny Craig food tastes so good - it IS real food. As I mentioned before, the porridge contains sugar - not sweeteners, sugar. But it's still low calorie because they've sorted out the portion sizes. Which just goes to show, you can eat anything you like - there are no forbidden foods - as long as it's all in moderation. That's why there are no cravings and that you don't feel like you're on a diet. Genius !

Wednesday

breakfast - raspberry porridge

lunch - Jenny Craig Noodles with Mushrooms and Cream Sauce and half a homemade hamburger (which always feels like I'm cheating but it's my +1 protein and +1 bread !) - now, I was blown away by the instant noodles. After turning my nose up the first time and then finding they weren't as bad as I expected, this time I found them totally delicious. The creamy mushroom sauce tastes really indulgent and makes the noodles much more filling - yum !

dinner - Jenny Craig chicken tikka massala with Basmati rice - nice and tasty, perfectly spiced, I would still love some plain white rice on the side rather than mixed in with the sauce though ! A bit of a small portion for this one, compared to the other pouches, but I topped it off with a yogurt and a satsuma.

Thursday

 breakfast - no

lunch - homemade Pan Fried Pork with Sage & Apple and rice (that I blogged about here ) - I found a great unexpected slimming ally in Pierre who kept asking for extra rice and mushrooms off my plate when he'd finished his !

dinner - Jenny Craig beef & red pepper chilli con carne and a side salad with beetroot

Friday

breakfast - no

lunch - Chinese restaurant eat-all-you-like buffet - this has turned into a bit of a school holiday tradition so I couldn't say no to the kids ! I had a plate full of crunchy salads for starter, a reasonable plateful of various dishes, avoiding the deep fried stuff, for my main and for dessert ... nothing ! Well, not quite true, I did eat the ball of apple fritter than Pierre shoved in my mouth saying "here Mummy, this is for you" ! Awww !

dinner - I can tell I'm getting into a better mindset about food because, knowing that I had a heavier meal than usual for luch, my immediate instinct was to reach for a soup in the evening. I grabbed Jenny Craig Winter Vegetable Soup which looked nice and chunky (containing beans) and was stunned to see it only contains just over 100 calories. Yay !

So am I losing weight ? Well, I'm happy to say that yes I am ! When I started the Jenny Craig, I weighed 86.1kg (having already lost 5kg by using the SlimPod since October). In week 1 of Jenny Craig, I lost 1/2kg, weighing in at 85.5kg. In week 2, I dropped to 84.9kg then went back up to 85.4kg at the end of the week, which I think was due to the time of the month. This week, I've lost the weight I put back on (probably water retention) and an extra kilo, now weighing in at 83.9kg. That means that I've lost over 2kg in 3 weeks of Jenny Craig and in total, I've shifted exactly 7kg - stone the crows, that's over a stone !

I honestly haven't felt hungry at all, despite not eating all the snacks that they count in to your daily plan - I don't know how much of that is down to the SlimPod effect though, although I haven't actually listened to it for ages. 

I have one more week of Jenny Craig to go - maybe a bit more because I've eaten a few non Jenny-Craig meals too - so I'll be intrigued to see if I lose any more weight before then. I'll tell you next week !

for more information : http://www.jennycraig.co.uk/

or phone 0800 088 2048.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

  

Meet my new best mate this month, Jenny (Craig) ! 

Jenny Craig week 1 

Jenny Craig week 2