Blog Archives
Day Six on Jenny Craig
I left my “Jenny Craig menu” at work yesterday so last night and this morning I have had to wing it, guessing as to what is next on the menu. (Note… I later found out that I could log onto the Jenny Craig website and download a menu)
Last night I had the Mac and cheese, two cups of veggies and later when I got hungry, I had a sandwich.
About that sandwich…. 🙂 I’m on a 2,000 calorie a day menu plan, which means that in addition to all the items on the “menu” I get an extra sandwich and a cup of milk a day. The sandwich is two slices of bread, 1oz of either meat or cheese and 1 tsp of mayo, spread very VERY VERY thin across the two pieces of bread. But on most days, I don’t eat the sandwich. I’m simply not hungry.
Also, with dinner every night, at least so far.there is a “soupitizer” which is 1 cup of a broth based soup. Most nights I don’t eat that either. Again, simply because I’m not *that* hungry.
I’m running late this morning. (like that is any different from any other morning?) So this has got to be short…. uhmmm… too late! No pun intended. Long story short, uhmmmm… too late. Anyway…. I had scheduled Monday as my check in but realized that I need to do grocery shopping on Sunday and if I do it on Monday, then I’ll have used all my food and I won’t have any for Monday. So… I’m moving my weekly check-in to today. In 1 hour. Which means I need to get in the shower now!
See ya on the dance floor!
Share with folks on the Interwebz :-)
Day Five on Jenny Craig
Ok, this morning I had my first “oops” with Jenny Craig.
The French Toast didn’t turn out right. Either my microwave is waaaaaay off, the directions on the box were wrong, or I wasn’t awake enough to understand the instructions. *sigh*
No matter what the cause, the result was a barely edible breakfast. The toast ended up being very dry and the “fruit cup” was a melted mass…literally. The smaller plastic cup was completely melted. I couldn’t tell where the cup ended and the fruit began. I’ll have to be more careful next time I have the French Toast. I’m pretty sure I was supposed to take the fruit cup out before nuking the toast. And I’ll have to check the Toast as it is cooking and take it out early so that it isn’t hard. The “Light Syrup” though that I put on the toast was very tasty. Yummy. 🙂
I go back to work today after two days out with a fever / cold. I still feel achy today but I’m going in anyway. This morning’s blog entry is going to be short because I still have to get my “lunch” together and gather clothes to drop off at the cleaners on the way to work.
The good news is that I’m on track to meet this weeks weight and Body Fat Goals. Yay Me!
See ya on the dance floor!
Share with folks on the Interwebz :-)
Day Four on Jenny Craig
I’m off today. I was off yesterday as well. I’m running a fever, mild cold bug of some kind but my muscles feel like they’ve been “tenderized” with one of those kitchen hammers. Ugh!
One thing I’ve noticed after three full days on Jenny Craig is that I’m AMAZED by the amount of food! There is so much that on two of the days I’ve not eaten everything on the “menu”. I’ve not eaten the whole menu, not because I’m trying to loose weight faster or because I don’t like the item, but simply because I’m not hungry. Wow.
The other thing I’ve noticed is how many veggies and fruits that I’m eating. I think I’ve eaten more vegetables and fruits in the past three days than I have in the past three months! Mental note to self: there isn’t enough varieties of veggies in the canned food section of the supermarket. I need to check out the Frozen section and I need to check out the sections that have the specialty foods like Chinese and Mexican and Indian foods to see what canned veggies are in those sections.
And to my horror, I learned that corn is not a vegetable!!!!! Eeeek! GASP! FAINT! It is a “cereal” like wheat or barley.
Generations of SUTHERNers have been duped! When I was growing up, it wasn’t a meal if there wasn’t corn on the table: kernel corn, creamed corn, corn on the cob and we mustn’t forget about cornbread or popcorn. Or Stews with corn in them or corn chowder. *sigh* Oh well….
On the bright side… one of my favorite veggies is beets and *that* veggie actually counts as a “free food” on the Jenny Craig plan. So I can have as many beets as I like. 😀
One last thing about being on Jenny Craig. The food actually tastes GOOD, very good! On the boxes, it is called “Jenny Cuisine” and it does indeed live up to the name. Even the photos and the colors of the boxes and packages make it look like an upscale food. Which is a good thing.
For the record, I don’t feel as if I’m on a diet. I feel more as if I now have a personal nutritionist and a personal cook on staff who are going to help me get back down to the size I was when I was at my thinnest and my healthiest weight.
Me at 275 lbs
Me somewhere between 155-165 lbs
Which brings me to the obligatory before and the “way back when” photos. The photo on the left shows how I look now, when I’m not sucking things in and when I’m not wearing clothes designed to make me look thinner than I really am. The photo was actually taken in July of 2008, but I look the same now as I did then. I’m going to do an “official” before photo soon.
The photo on the right is what I looked like when I was at my fittest and what I will look like again, only with less hair. 😉 And yes, I like the color red. What a fluke that the two photos both have me wearing a red shirt with black pants. The “skinny photo” was taken at the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, May 31, 1990 when I went out there to meet a friend of mine from school who was flying through town. This photo was when I was at my fittest, around 155-160 lbs. Of course, at that time, my hobby was cycling and I routinely rode my bike over a hundred miles each week.
My current goal is 190lbs with a 12% body fat. When I get to that goal, I’ll do an assessment to see how I look. A body fat percentage of 12% will put me into the top of the “Athlete’s”body fat range which will be awesome. If I feel and look like I need to either bulk up with some muscle mass or or loose a couple more body fat percentage points, then I’ll set up the appropriate exercise program then.
My goal of 190 lbs and a BF of 12% will give me a BMI of 28.26. According to the CDC, A BMI of 28.26 will still put me in the “overweight” category. According to the CDC, I should have a BMI of between 18.5 – 24.9 which means I should weigh between 126.5 – 166.5 lbs. And that does indeed match up with what I weighed when I was my fittest as shown in my “skinny” photo above. However, the CDC also says that BMI is to be used as only as one of several indicators of health and fitness. Also I’ve found several articles that discuss the ineffectiveness of BMI when applied to athletes. So for now, I’ll shoot for the 190 / 12% BF and then I’ll do the assessment when I get to 190. After all I am now 20 years older than I was in that “skinny” photo!
Well I’ve spent enough time blogging so I’m now going to go have lunch and nurse my fever…. Ugh I hate feeling under the weather. Bleech!
- A historical yo-yo of skinny and not so skinny photos… (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
Share with folks on the Interwebz :-)
Day Two on Jenny Craig
Well, I’m up and eating breakfast; have I mentioned yet that I am NOT a morning person. 🙂
I survived Day 1 on Jenny Craig. Actually I was very surprised by the amount of food that I ate yesterday. I wasn’t ever “hungry”.
In fact there were two things on the menu I didn’t eat simply because I wasn’t hungry. A cup of soup and 1 small apple ended up in the “not eaten” column.
Today’s menu:
Breakfast
- Blueberry Muffin
- 1 Fruit (small red banana)
- 3/4 cup Low-Fat Cottage Cheese
- 1 cup Nonfat Milk**
Lunch
- Beef Chow Mein
- Garden Salad
- Jenny’s Dressing
Dinner
- Turkey with Gravy
- “Soupitizer” (1 cup of soup)
- 1 cup of veggies
- 1 tsp Margarine on the veggies
Snacks
- JC Anytime Bar (AM)
- 1 Fruit (afternoon)
- JC Cheese Curls (afternoon)
- 2 Fruits (early evening)
- 6 oz Nonfat Yogurt (early evening)
- 2 Tbls Almonds (early evening)
Who knew there were so many Fruits and Vegetables?!?!!!!
When I went shopping on Sunday for the veggies and fresh fruit, I decided to expand my horizons and try out different fruits and veggies that I’ve never tried before. I shop at Whole Foods Market which is a little bit pricier than Kroger BUT shopping there makes me feel good about myself which makes the extra money well worth it.
Anyway, I bought a lot of fruits that I’ve never tried and will be experimenting with them. This morning I tried out the “Red Banana“. The final vote is still out but I don’t think I like it. The flavor is definitely different from the yellow Cavendish banana that most Americans see in their supermarket. I’ll give it another shot later in the week just to be sure but the first go didn’t bowl me over.
My “exercise” for yesterday was an hour and a half practice with my FAB-U-LUS dance partner Donna. We had a good practice. I think we’re going to do very very well this year. We’re learning lots of new things and if we can get them to show up in our routines then we will kick some serious booty on the dance floor! 🙂 I’m very lucky to have her as a dance partner. 🙂
Confession time…
I’m “cheating” on the plan. *GASP* only the second day and I’m cheating?!!! Well, it was actually the 1st day. I’m cheating in TWO ways. One is temporary. The other is permanent and there is no way I’m gonna change. It’s a very small cheat so I don’t think it will affect my progress a huge amount.
Cheat # 1 — the “temporary” one: I’m supposed to be using non-fat milk on the Jenny Craig “plan”. Well I love milk. I’ve been drinking Organic 2% milk for a long time. The organic milk is much better tasting than the “regular” milk. And 2% is a better choice than “whole milk”. So this week, I bought 1% milk instead of non-fat. I’m blending that with the remaining 2% milk in my frig because I just can’t bear to throw away perfectly good food. Next week the “cheat” will be smaller because I’ll buy a half gallon of 1% and half gallon of non-fat and “blend” the two. The third week on Jenny Craig, I’ll make the switch to Non-Fat milk. All organic of course.
Cheat #2 — the “permanent” one: Jenny Craig has a menu that you’re supposed to follow. And if you get “hungry” they have a very long list of “Unlimited Free Foods” which are all very low calorie and have a large “volumetrics” factor. Which is just another way of saying “it fills up your tummy without filling up your fat cells.” There is also a much shorter list of “Limited Foods.” You can have three of the ones on this list per day. For example, non-dairy creamer is on the list. With my morning coffee my “non-dairy” creamer is Silk Soy Creamer.
I use the French Vanilla Flavor. It is DEEEE-LIS-SHUSH! And there ani’t no way I’m giving it up. Even if it is higher in fat that my Jenny Craig “coach” would like me to use. I figure it is a good trade off because the non-fat non-dairy creamer that I would be using on the plan would require me to put so much of the gunk in my coffee that the amount of calories would end up being the same. And I’m only putting in a couple table spoons of the Silk Creamer. So there! In the grand scheme of “cheats” this isn’t a big one.
Ok friends, family and anonymous Internet folks…. time for me to move on to the next item in my morning routine… make the bed and gather the stuff I need for today’s lunches and snacks.
See ya on the dance floor!
Share with folks on the Interwebz :-)
Day One on Jenny Craig
![Feet on a bathroom scale [CC]](https://txcowboydancer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/loose-weight-now-feet-on-scale.jpg?w=150&h=75 "Feet on a bathroom scale [CC]")
Well, I set my alarm early last night and of course overslept.
LOL
So much for planning to get up early! What can I say? I am not a morning person.
Moving on…
Breakfast:
- Cranberry Almond Cereal — when I poured the serving of cereal into the bowl, I literally said “oh my” in reaction to the small amount of cereal sitting there in the bottom of the bowl. I’m used to having a “bowl” of cereal about six times larger. No wonder I’ve not been loosing weight.
- 1 cup non-fat milk. Ok, I’m cheating. I admit it. But I need a transition period. I love milk. And I’ve been drinking 2%. The menu calls for Nonfat Milk. Well, for this week I’m going to use 1% milk. Which tasted just fine this morning. Next week I’ll get a gallon of Non-fat and 1% and mix the two. Week 3 I’ll be on non-fat milk. So there!
- 1 Fruit (orange juice) — I guessed on the quantity, drinking only 5 ozs. I need to find out how much OJ makes “1 fruit”
- 1/2 Cup Low Fat Cottage Cheese. I actually like cottage Cheese. Yay! I discovered this morning that I had a set of pretty plastic “desert” serving cups way back in the pantry on the top shelf. They hold 1/2 cup! And it is pretty.
I gathered all the stuff for lunch, the mid-morning “snack” the afternoon “snack” and what I’m calling the “4th meal” which is a sandwich with 1 oz meat (or cheese), but not both, and 1 tsp of mayo. I’m on a 2000 calorie per day plan which means I get an “extra” meal consisting of a sandwich and 1/2 cup of milk.
I work today from Noon – 9pm and I have a dance practice from 10-11:30 so I have to take a bunch of food with me today. Well after I got everything gathered for the am snack, for “lunch”, for the afternoon snack, and for the extra meal all neatly tucked into their individual containers, it filled up my insulated lunch bag!
I plan on eating the “extra meal” which is the sandwich around noon when I get to work, after my practice this morning., “Lunch” will be around 2:30 or 3.
Lunch:
- JC Turkey Burger
- Garden Salad (greens, mushrooms, radishes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes.)
- Ranch Dressing (pre-measured packet from Jenny Craig)
- 1 oz low fat cheese
Then there is a long stretch before I get off work at 9…. so I’ll have the am and pm snacks during that time:
- Any time bar & 1 fruit (1 small apple)
- 2 fruits (1 banana)
Then when I get home tonight dinner:
- Spaghetti with Meatballs
- 2 cups of veggies
- 2 tsps Margarine (on the veggies I assume… LOL)
- JC Cookie
- 1 1/2 cup milk
I was VERY HAPPY to see that in the “introduction” booklet it says that it doesn’t really matter what time you eat. That whole “don’t eat after 8pm” thing that everyone takes as gospel truth is a bunch of bull hockey. I’m going to research that just for my own peace of mind, but given my schedule of work, dance lessons, and dance practices, I often do not get home until after 9pm, usually not until 9:30 pm so that means dinner is LATE. Then bed time is not far behind.
So here’s to day one on Jenny Craig.
Just for the record… I don’t really expect anyone to read this but me. After all, the boring details of what I’m eating and how I’m doing just are not that entertaining. But since I do better with an “audience” even if it is imagined, throwing my experiences out there for the whole world to see is a motivator for me. And since this whole diet thing is all about me…. well there ya go! 🙂
Related articles
- Day one on Jenny Craig… …again! (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
- Check out my new “Jenny Craig Tips and Tricks” Page (txcowboydancer.wordpress.com)
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 