Reader Question: Weight Loss

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I am trying to lose 50 pounds (my doctor says I have to) what is your opinion of Jenny Craig. I thought about trying it cause it’s easy to follow but I’m just not sure if the food is actually healthy.

Hi there! Thanks for your question!  First off, I think that it is awesome that you are being proactive and doing something with the information that your doctor gave you:  sometimes that can be the hardest part!  You should consider it a challenge, or really a way to better your life.  Knowledge really is power and now it’s up to you to do something with this power!

Fifty pounds may seem like a lot to you, but imagine how much better you would feel without the extra weight: that’s what you should focus on during this quest.  Fifty pounds is completely doable: you should aim for two pounds a week, taking about six months to complete this challenge.  Maybe set a goal date, aiming for something like Christmas Day: that would be the best gift that you could ever give yourself, and not only that, but a gift that truly did keep on giving.   By breaking this down, it may seem like less of an impossible task.  Focus on losing those two pounds a week or the eight pounds a months, rather than the large, overall number of fifty.

For any weight loss program, great results are promised, and they make it seem so easy; you and I both know that this isn’t the case.  However, the most important thing for a weight loss journey, is finding something that works for you.

I’m not too sure exactly how Jenny Craig works, however, if I had to guess, they make you spend your money on their expensive and overly processed foods.

If I make any point through this post I want it to be this:  we don’t need these processed foods to lose weight, we need fresh fruits and vegetables, which will greatly support your weight loss.

My best recommendation for you would be to spend your money on a new, clean eating cookbook or magazine (Clean Eating is awesome: this was my mothers day gift to both my mom and my mother-in-law because I love it so much), and clean, fresh produce.  You have so much power with this combination.

A few weight loss tips:

• Journal what you eat for about a week.  Look over this and see where there is area for improvement.  Is it nighttime that you overindulge?  If so, set a goal of no eating or choose a healthier snack, like a piece of fruit, after dinner.
•  Watch your portion sizes.  When will you need the most energy throughout the day?  Most likely in the mornings so this is when your biggest meal of the day should be.  We don’t need a ton of energy to sleep, so dinner should be our smallest.  I’m completely guilty of this.
•  Focus on eating only nutrient dense foods, meaning they pack a lot of nutrients without a lot a calories, for example carrots (or any fruit/vegetable).
•  Avoid calorie dense foods, meaning they pack little nutrition in a lot of calories, for example French fries.
• Don’t forget to drink your water!  To me, this is one of the most important!  Water will really help with weight loss because it will increase fullness therefore decreasing hunger.
•  Eat enough fiber, found in foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains.  Fiber will help promote satiety, increase fullness, and also help carry out bad toxic wastes from your body.
•  Choose the right kind of fats: avoid Trans fats at all costs (found in processed foods), limit saturated fats (found mostly in animal protein), and choose unsaturated fats, found in nuts, avocados, fatty fish, like salmon, and seeds (flax, chia, etc.).
•  And lastly, EXERCISE!  Just move! Taking a walk, playing with your kids or grandkids, anything, just being active, will greatly increase your metabolic furnace to keep burning calories throughout the day.

While there is no single, magical food plan, there is also no single, magical food that will guarantee weight loss, but remember, God made your body unique and special, therefore treating it like so is important.

I hope that this helps you!!