So, I’m down another half pound. The Jenny Craig app says that is a total of 4.9 pounds since starting on Monday. I started trying to eat healthier on 1/15/22 and have lost a total of 9.5 pounds. So, my portion control and emphasis on vegetables has been working. Yay me!
This morning’s breakfast is a Jenny Craig chocolate muffin. It is supposed to be paired with a Jenny Craig shake but they are not included in the $150+ meals. So I made my own smoothie.
Chocolate muffin
One thing I have noticed is my joint inflammation has improved greatly. This is probably a combination of losing weight and eating less of the foods that cause inflammation. I’m happy.
So, I’m very confused. This morning the Jenny Craig app said that I had lost 4.4 pound. Now it says I’ve lost 6.4 pounds. I’ll take either one.
Today’s food has been good, so far.
Breakfast was the Sunshine Sandwich – an egg white, Canadian bacon, and cheese on an English muffin. Smell/Taste – A, Serving size- B, Ease – A. This was a very tasty sandwich. I had some mixed nuts as a snack between breakfast and lunch. So far, I’ve stayed satisfied.
Lunch was the Margherita Pizza. IT WAS SO SMALL!!! It was very tasty. Smell/Taste: A, Serving size: C, Ease: A. I had this with a cup of lemon and ginger tea.
Stay tuned for my dinner review. I believe it is going to be Beef Stir Fry Bowl, a salad, and a S’mores Bar for dessert.
I can’t wait to weigh myself tomorrow morning! I don’t think I have EVER said that in my life.
I overslept so I’m already messing up this diet. LOL. I was supposed to eat a recharge bar 2 hours before breakfast but couldn’t eat Willkie I was sleeping. Oh well. Here’s breakfast.
Waffles. Please oh please let them not be disgusting. I put them in my toaster and immediately noticed that they smell delicious. If they taste like they smell oh boy I’ll be happy.
The syrup is very thick.
Jenny Craig Classic Waffles with Syrup – 195 calories
While they didn’t taste as good as they smelled, they were not horrible. I would eat them again. You can taste the artificial sweetener in the syrup.
Smell/taste: A+/B, Serving size: B, Ease: A
Jenny Craig Shake- I am supposed to have a Jenny Craig shake with my breakfast. Unfortunately, you have to purchase these separately. So, on top of the $185.56 ($142.64 with coupon) and the supplemental food from the grocery store, you have to purchase shakes from Jenny Craig. They are $3.50 a serving. WOW!
Smell/taste – don’t know. Didn’t come with the food I bought, Serving size – don’t know. Didn’t come with the food I bought, Ease – really easy since I didn’t have the shake mix. Overall score for the Jenny Craig Shake – F-.
The Recharge Bar – you are supposed to eat this two hours before breakfast. I other words, since I get up at 5:30 and have breakfast, I would have to wake up at 3:30 to eat this. Nope, not going to do it. Here are some photos of the bar.
Recharge bar up close
I am not going to lie, I was looking forward to eating this bar. Macadamia nuts, almonds, and pecans drizzled in honey? Sounds delicious. NOPE! I will not be eating these. I can’t imagine getting up extra early to eat this mealy, flavorless bar. Not going to do it!!!
Smell/taste: F/F-, Serving size: C, Ease: A
LUNCH TIME!
Today’s Jenny Craig lunch is orange chicken. Hopefully it is good.
JC Orange Chicken
Three minutes in the microwave and this delicious little mean was ready. the flavor was great. The chicken was actually very good. Not rubbery at all. I’m supposed to have an additional healthy veggie but I think I will skip it.
Smell/Taste: A/A+, Serving size: C (I’m going to be hungry in about an hour). Ease: B+
Dinner!!!!
Tonight I am having Three Cheese Macaroni with Broccoli with Carrots! Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert! Looks good. Four and a half minutes in the microwave.
Mac n cheese and veggies: Smell/taste: B/A, Serving size: B, Ease: A
Chocolate Chip Cookies: Smell/taste: B/B, Serving size: B, Ease: A – taste ok but hard, hard cookies.
So, my final conclusion on day 1 is that the food tastes ok but is not worth what they charge for it.
I decided I was going to try 4 weeks on the Jenny Craig diet plan. I saw an ad and thought the coaching plus the set menu each week might help me lose weight. I was always reluctant to try this plan because you had to pay extra to join and also buy their food. The ad I saw said that you just pay for the food now. So, I thought I’d give it a try.
First thing I did was sign up and pay for my first week of food. During the sign up you have to answer a bunch of questions and it tells you which plan would work best for your situation. Of course I was steered toward the most expensive plan – the Max Up plan. 7 days – 3 meals a day plus some snacks. I had a coupon code, so I paid $142.64. Yes, that’s $142.64 AFTER the coupon!!! Regular price would have been $185.56. I placed my order on 3/9/22 and was then told to schedule my first phone consultation with my coach. I was able to get it scheduled for the very next day, after work.
After I paid I was provided with the menu for my first four weeks. Guess what!?!?! It turns out that you don’t get all the required food for the week with that $186 ($143 with the coupon). Nope, you have to provide fresh fruits and veggies, some healthy protein, and Jenny Craig Shakes ($3.89 per serving). Really??? They really got me there, I’ll find out more during the phone consultation in my coach.
So, the consultation call…sigh. My 6:20pm call was a little late. The “coach”, whose name was not understandable, started asking me the same questions that I answered on the computer and was very disappointed to find out that I had already signed up for the plan online. She wanted to know why I asked for a call if I was already signed up. When I told her that I set up the call because the website told me to after I signed up and paid for my food. She suggested 800 calories more for me than the online plan suggested. Great program, huh? She then proceeded to tell me that, since I signed up online for auto ship, I am not allowed to have the phone consultations. Apparently, only people who sign up and order their food through a coach are eligible for the phone consultations. She tried to convince me to cancel the auto ship and have HER order my food for me. I refused. Her response was “That’s too bad.” At this point she quickly finished the phone call and basically said “good luck”.
Needless to say, I’m not happy with the dishonest advertising and the pushy salesperson/coach. I cancelled all future orders with customer service…I hope. I have decided to eat the food according to the menu they provided and post my thoughts here. Stay tuned for Monday 3/14 when I will be posting my review of Week 1, Day 1 on the Jenny Craig Max Up food plan. It should be a hoot!
Change is a touchy subject for some people. For me, it depends on the situation. It can be positive when the change is your choice. If it isn’t and you have no control over the change or the change doesn’t make sense to you, it is tougher to swallow.
Sometimes you have to choose between the status quo or drastic change. When this happens, you may need to make a Pros and Cons list. That usually helps me. You can always talk to a trusted friend or family member to get feedback on your thoughts. There is also the option to talk to a professional. Don’t be afraid to reach out.
Sometimes a change is needed to preserve your physical or mental health. These changes are usually ones that cause the most turmoil but end up being life changing.
Don’t be afraid to make changes in your life. Choose your change. Don’t wait for someone to choose it for you.
So, I say to my family and friends, if you ever want to talk about something in your life that needs changing, I’m here
Working on a new project that I can’t wait to share with you. One of my goals for 2021 is to pursue my creative passion, have fun doing it, and maybe make a little money. Brain storming and planning has started and I am so excited.
A lot of exercise programs assume that you are flexible and can get up and down from the floor with no problem. Well, I can’t. Because of this, I have been on the hunt for flexibility exercises and programs to help me improve so I can do the other exercises. I think I have found some good ones.
First of all, Mike and I have started doing Apple Fitness +, which start you off, in my opinion, as an advanced beginner. I am NOT an advanced beginner. I am a beginner. If there was something lower than a beginner, I think I’d be in that category. Ha ha…at least I can laugh at myself.
Here are some of the sources of the exercise that I started today.
Better5 – I can’t remember how I stumbled across this website but it has some excellent programs. There is a small charge for the classes (all prerecorded virtual programs) but once you pay, it is yours. Their website is www.better5.com. I started the 10 day chair Pilates class this morning and I feel fantastic. It took about 10 minutes for me to complete todays exercises. I think that is reasonable. Right now this class is on sale for $17. It is normally $47, so you can save $30 if you sign up while it is still on sale. Two of the other programs I have completed and still use are – Foot Strength for Mobility and Balance as well as Hand and Wrist Flexibility Restoration. So, if you need to get yourself ready to do those harder workouts, Better5 is a great place to start.
DailyOM – I found DailyOM when I was looking for some relaxation exercises to help with my stiff back. They have so many different courses on their website www.dailyOM.com. There is a charge for most of their classes but they give you a choice on how much you pay, usually $15, $35, or $50. The two courses that I have participated in are Chair Yoga for Healing, Strength, and Mobility and Overcoming Body Stiffness. I guess you can see a pattern in my class choices. Over the years, my body has grown extremely stiff for many reasons (car accident, laziness, need to lose weight) and I am trying to remedy that. They have more than just exercise classes. You should go and check them out.
BodyGroove – I generally hate exercise that is labeled as exercise. You know the kind where you are grunting and sweating and just not having fun. What if you could get some great cardio exercise and have fun at the same time??? YOU CAN! Body Groove was started by Misty Tripoli. If you sign up and take the 30 day challenge, you will learn the story of her fight with bulimia and how she ended up starting Body Groove. You can purchase her videos to watch at home or you can join Body Grove On-Demand and get access to 200+ routines. You can also download individual classes. Check out http://www.bodygrove.com. The workouts are fun and they really get you moving. If you are looking for a fun and funky workout that doesn’t feel like a workout, you should try Body Groove.
I hope you all are well and that your New Year is fabulous.
(P.S. I will only recommend programs that I have tried. I am not compensated in any way by these sites. I just believe in them enough to share.)
I haven’t stayed up until midnight on New Years Eve in years. Since 2020 has been such a dumpster fire, I have decided to stay up until midnight to make sure that 2020 actually ends. I’m sort of worried that I’m going to wake up tomorrow and see that the date is December 32, 2020. That would be so 2020!
During the month of December I have been working on plans for 2021.
Health – I’ve started what, so far, is a helpful way to lose weight. NOOM. Someone I know lost 100 pounds using this service so I thought I’d try. So far I am down 6 pounds! It is a very different approach towards weight loss. More info to come in the new year as I chronicle my journey. Mike and I are also starting to exercise more and plan to make it a habit in 2021.
Career – Since work has changed so much this year, I have been feeling uninspired and unfulfilled. I have decided to work on taking my passion for crafting to the next level. I’ve been listening to the “Don’t Keep Your Day Job” podcast and have really been inspired to find how I can make the world a better place through my passion of crafting. Things currently in the works:
Craft videos on YouTube in the hopes of getting a good enough following to monetize my craft videos.
Creating a plan to sell my crafts on Etsy, Facebook Marketplace, craft shows, etc. I am making a list of what to make in preparation for upcoming holidays and celebrations.
Planning a way to start doing at-home craft parties once we all get Covid-19 under control.
Collaborating with two friends on a really cool videography project.
Reading – Increase my reading and book review blog posts by creating a calendar to remind myself to post reviews to my blog twice a month.
Brainstorming on a podcast idea I have.
So, those are my big plans to make 2021 the best year ever.
What are your plans for 2021? Do you plan to stay up until midnight? Do you have a craft you would like me to create a video for? Do you have any book recommendations for me? How about a healthy recipe or an exercise for me to add to our getting healthy plan? Please drop me a note below and I promise to send you a great big thank you!
This {_______} life 