Prepackaged weight loss programs - your experience?

My workplace is pushing Jenny Craig as a way to lose weight. Of course, they are offering discounts right now. I am so tempted to jump in but I really hesitate to take this route for a variety of reasons.  I wanted to know what this group's experience has been with these types of programs.  Let me know what you think about these program for losing weight and changing your lifestyle.

Thanks,

TV

Hey Tracy ... I have done it all ... last resort is to have the gastric bypass surgery because of my weight ... the bottom-line is small portions of anything you eat and exercise ... it can be done ... if you need a kick start ... try the foods ... but personally I have wasted a lot of money on Jenny Craig ... Optifast ... etc ... in turn afterwards reverting back to old habits ... has caused me not only to gain the weight lost back ... but more ... it has to be a lifestyle change ... I am still working on it ... need to work much harder ... I am running out of time at age 55.  ~Norma Jean

Hey NJ - Thanks for the reply. Your story sounds like so many I have heard about these type of programs especially about gaining more weight than lost. I do plan my own meals. It's working okay but working full-time with a 3 yo and a husband that works 3 nights a week, I run out of energy to make my lunch about mid-week so I am the one without lunch at work the next day and find myself at the vending machine or wanting a quick fast food fix just when I have had a very good 3 or 4 days of excellent eating. I also will skip working out. I have discovered this pattern in the last 3 weeks... I have got to figure out a way not to sabotage myself.  That's why JC seemed tempting... just so I don't have to think and work tas hard to stay on track. My husband also has a digestive disease that requires him to eat up to 5,000 calories a day because he only absorbs 1/4 of the calories. (yes, really.)  I can't eat what he eats so I have to make 2 different meals every night. It really takes discipline and I just need to try harder now that I know my pattern. I am thinking about cooking  and preparing everything on the weekend. Forget the prepackaged stuff.  Thanks for heading up this group and I'll being weighing in tomorrow!

Hi Tracy, I think the thing with JC is that it is temporary. If you are going through a rough patch right now and need temporary help with meals to get through it, then it could be a good idea. However if this is just life and probably going to be this busy and hard for a long time, I think it would be a better idea to put your energy into figuring out how to make things work for you and your family--eg, I think your idea of preparing food on the weekend for the whole week is great. Even if you just start with making your lunches for the week on the weekend. It would probably take about an hour total, and then you're set!

(I've done this before with suppers when I was going through a phase where I was just exhausted at supper making time.) Seriously it takes like 2 hours if you mass prepare things on the weekend, and really, I usually spend close to an hour every day making supper, so the time/energy savings are awesome!

If you can make a lifestyle change then it sticks, becomes a way of life and then you don't get the relapses. I think you are definitely on the right track with recognizing patterns that aren't working and figuring out solutions that work.

Good luck and keep up the good work!

Janice

Wow Tracy ... it is difficult to try to have any normality with your schedule and having to prepare different meals ... life would be so much simplier if everyone could eat the same thing, huh?

Like I said, if you want to give it a shot maybe 2 weeks and see if it helps with organizing ... go for it .. the only thing is you stillhave to have your fresh vegetables and fruit added in to the meals they provide.