Category: Blog

Thanks to Jenny Craig, I’m at my lowest weight in a long time.  I’ve lost over 10 pounds, and about to see a new decade on the scale.

However, I’m discouraged because I’m not seeing any pain relief and now am dealing with sciatica.  I’ve got an text message out to my chiropractic student.  The good news is that I’m scheduled for a round of doctor’s visits. 

So good and bad.  Though the TENS unit seems to be helping the sciatica.

I’ve been on Jenny Craig now for 4 weeks.  I’ve lost over 8 pounds, which puts me right where they want me – 1 to 2 pounds a week.

Here’s why it is working for me:

Portion control

most of the foods are prepared, the ones that aren’t I can’t really over eat on or it doesn’t matter – also the food is edible.

A list of foods to eat

Accountability but in a nice week

Now I lost the first sixty pounds with the lap band,but it didn’t give me any of the above, except for portion control.  I needed the list.  And the list has to be edible.

I tried an outfit here in town which was a total waste.  The accountability was very punitive – if you went off plan, they restricted you even more, and the plan made no sense?  What no Brussel sprouts?

I’ve tried things like MyFitnessPal, which I still use, but didn’t work for me either.  I’ve tried just pre-portioned food, again doesn’t work for me. 

If you are diabetic, be aware that you have to have your doctor sign a very detailed permission slip.  That’s important, because they really do change up the carbs.  I’m taking much less insulin then before.

Here’s what is working for me.  I have a list each day from Jenny Craig.  I check off the food.  And it’s a lot of food, especially for a lap band gal. 

Breakfast is usually a Jenny shake – great for me as I can’t get anything solid down then.  About an hour later, I eat the Jenny breakfast entrée of the day.  Then yogurt or cottage cheese and fruit.  I have to split up all my meals and sometimes I don’t get them all in.  That’s okay.  I make sure I get enough protein and I’m good.

And just in case you want to give it a try – I have an email with a $25 off promotion.

If you are diabetic, you won’t be able to start right away.  You go in and they fax your doctor a permission letter.  You want that.

I didn’t lose weight the first week because my insulin needs changes drastically and I had to tweak my pump.  Now that it’s closer to right I’m losing weight.   I’ll have to rinse and repeat, as my insulin needs change.

I started on Jenny Craig Monday lunch.  We’d faxed a permission form to my Endo on Saturday, they indicated to Jenny Craig that they would return it on Monday morning, so they called and I was able to start.  My scales say I’ve lost around 3 pounds in the two days.

I like that I have a planner that I just check off what I’ve ate.  That’s one way DietToGo could fix things.  I didn’t really see that kind of tool.  I also like have those extra meals around.  Last night, when I just had to have something else, instead of pulling out random junk food, I pulled out a DietToGo meal and ate some of it.  Tossed the rest.  I do have another week coming today.  My husband is eating some of those meals too.

I’m on the 20/20 plan and my consultant has been quite available to ask questions – so it’s all good.  No – just check the website when I have a question.  She actually answers it.

Food is good but expensive.

First, the people on the Facebook Group are down right snarky.  I called one out for cyberbullying Friday.  Seems more people complain than encourage or uplift.  You try to make things better and you get bullied.  While I got some positive reinforcement from the employees of Diet to Go, it didn’t off set the snarky.

Second, support doesn’t support.  When I made a legitimate complainant – the nutritional information isn’t on the meals, I get this:  go out to the website.  Okay, so it’s Sunday at noon, and I need the carb counts on a meal.

I go to DietToGo.com 

Login to MyDietToGo

I see Week 3 (oh, it’s Week 2)

No back button so I have to click “Next Week”

Now I’m on Week 4

Click “Next week”

Now Week 5

Click “Next Week”

Now Week 1

Click “Next Week”

Now Week 2

Oh, I made a meal substitution so it isn’t showing, so I have to find the missing meal, and redo the substitution. 

I can FINALLY click on nutrition and finally get the carb count.

Not counting the time to find a device that will let me do this (it’s even this way on the mobile device) – now my meal is cold and unappetizing.  Especially if it’s ground turkey.

I’m supposed to be getting a spreadsheet. Hey, print out all the information needed on the labels, not just the minimum requirement. 

The second best answer is not to roll off the meals until two weeks after they expired.

All easy fixes.

There is still the shipping issue.

There is one last local solution – Jenny Craig, which I visited on Saturday.  Bad news, if you are a diabetic, you need to go by there, have them fax your doctor to get permission, and wait until he gives it.  I remember why I’m not on it now, the doctor I had wanted me to get a lap band, probably for some type of kickback and wouldn’t sign.  I am pretty sure this doctor will sign. 

Cons:

The whole shipping thing.  However, neighbors are wanting the coolers.

Nutrition information isn’t on all the packages. This is a BIG deal for diabetics.

Some of the food is difficult to microwave and the directions aren’t clear.  Those are the foods with out nutrition information.

Pros:

Food is good.  Even the breakfast is working.  Food is medium easy to eat which is a good thing.  And it tastes good, but sometimes too spiced.

Blood sugar is smoother.

I had Egg Cheese Pesto pizza.  I’m usually not good with solid food in the morning, but this worked well.  Baked apple as a side which the Facebook group complains about.  It liked.

My blood sugar has been fairly smooth according to the CGMS.  No big excursions.  I still have trouble with evening eating, but will be working on getting better food in the house for that.

Dinner tonight was Portabella Lasagna.  It was good.  It was only 20 carbs and was lasagna accompanied by vegetables.  It was very filling and quite good.  Easy to eat with the lap band.

I've decided to get a second weeks food.  Husband is going to buy his own food as they don't have a dinner only plan.  The cooler situation is a bit unwieldy.  I'm looking for some place to take it for recycling.  A neighbor is picking up this weeks cooler.

My blood sugar has been very smooth.

I am disappointed that the nutrional information isn't in MyFitnessPal or Fitbit log.  I called the 1-800 number about it, and they suggested I use the website.   I'm not sure where I was supposed to go –it's been a few hours and really not finding it.  I'm going to keep pushing on this. 

I’ve already posted this on Facebook, but to be honest, I feel both a bit inspired and a bit of a fraud.

http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/manage-type-2-insulin-16/video-manage-diabetes-kathleen-weaver

First, I haven’t been the person with my diabetes under control for a long time.  One of the reasons I’m retired now, is because the diabetes had been out of control for several years before I left the classroom.  But seeing the video makes me remember that person and inspires me to get it back under control.

More when I get back from Waterworks class.

I went out to to the website – http://diettogo.com/ and went through the initial signup process, but stopped at the actual checkout since it was set up to automatically start Monday and I already have that week coming.

That whole process was very easy and straight forward.  If multiple people in the household want to sign up, each has their own account which makes sense because of the support. 

The website is very pleasing to the eye, loads fast and is easy to navigate.  I think my mom could figure it out and she is technology challenged.  They also have a 1-800 number but I haven’t used it yet.

They do give a 10% discount which just about covers the shipping.  Pricing wise is pretty comparable to someone who eats out of the time, about the same if we do a lot of prepackaged meals, which we have been doing lately.

They have a higher calorie level for men, which is probably what I’ll order for my husband if we like it.

For me, shipping FedEx isn’t a problem – I use an attended mail service which emails me when things arrive.  It’s safer since we live on a busy street.