An Elephant Never Forgets...

No more forgetting my weigh-in day! I just gave up two days to celebrate that I've lost another 2.4 pounds! That puts my total weight loss at 7.8, which is very exciting! Despite my skepticism, this Jenny Craig program really works! I realize that I can't expect my weight loss to continue at this rate, but I'll ride this train as long as I can.

I've decided to join LA Fitness because I found this great deal online! It expires on May 31, so if you want to join me on my weight loss quest, act quickly! It's an online-only deal but at $7.99 per week (which is about $34.99 average monthly) and no sign-up fee, its relatively inexpensive compared to other gyms around; plus you can get access to all of the LA Fitness centers in your state. This will definitely make it easier to find classes at convenient times. I'm planning to start out with Cardio Kickboxing, Yoga, and Aqua Fit, but hopefully once I'm confident enough I really want to start taking Spinning classes. I've heard great things, but I'm still too nervous to try it (I recently got over a foot injury).

In the meantime I'm making good progress. I was even able to hold back a bit at a networking event I attended last night at Chima, a Brazilian steakhouse. Of course I enjoyed my free glass of wine (figured it was a safer and lower calorie option than a liquor and mixer), but I'm quite proud of myself for not gorging on all of the free appetizers (which smelled delicious, by the way). In fact, I waited until I got home to eat dinner and feasted on the Jenny Craig Rising Crust Pizza and a salad of sliced tomatoes with Italian seasoning and balsamic vinegar. I have to say, the dinner pizza is MUCH better than the lunch versions; maybe its because the sauce on it is traditional red sauce. It was a great end to a great night.

Only 42.2 pounds to go and only 7.2 pounds to go to my vacation mini-goal! Thanks for all the support! You are the reason I can do this!

How could I forget today was weigh-in day???

It's 3:43pm and I'm still trying to figure out how I could forget that today was weigh-in day! I've become so used to the Jenny Craig program that I'm barely even thinking about the scale. I guess that's a good thing since weigh-ins have stressed me out in the past. This morning, though, I had other things on my mind.

For the past few days, my dog, Jack, had been making this gagging noise and it was starting to get me a little worried. I quickly made an appointment with the vet. I turned out that the noise was reverse sneezing caused by allergies. Definitely strange but not overly harmful. The vet sent us home with antibiotics and also told me to give Jack benedryl. At least that's one less thing to stress about.

Back to my dieting! I know that I'm slowly inching my way towards the 10 pound mark, and I can't wait to get there. I have to admit, I wish that my "big drop" stage lasted longer as I'm assuming that I didn't lose more than two pounds this week. This past weekend I spent some time checking out some local gyms and got some week-long guest passes so I could check them out. Tonight I'm heading to a cardio kick-boxing class with a friend of mine at LA Fitness. Should be interesting since it's been awhile since I've taken a class like this. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes. I've narrowed my gym choices down to two different gyms but I'm definitely leading towards one. The grounds were so nice and everything looked brand new! The only issue is that it's a higher monthly cost than the alternative one. Guess that's a decision I'll have to make at the end of the week. Some of the classes I've been looking at taking are spinning, cardio kickboxing, aqua fit, and maybe a boot camp here and there. The only one I've ever done before is the cardio kickboxing, but it's been a really long time since I've done it.

I'm hoping that by adding physical activity to my routine will help me on my journey to losing weight. I really want to have lost at least 15 pounds by the time I go on a cruise with my family at the end of June. That doesn't give me much time but I do believe that I'm about halfway there.

Thanks for all of the motivational words of encouragement! It really helps! 44.6 (probably less!) to go!

When's the best time to eat dinner?

After reading through my many Jenny Craig manuals, they specifically say that it is okay to eat after 8pm (not that I ever really followed that rule anyways). I used to eat dinner as soon as I got home from work because that was when I was hungry. Now that I eat a snack around 4 in the afternoon, I'm not as hungry when I get home at 6:30pm. I've been trying to push off eating dinner til a bit later, usually between 7:30 and 8, so that I'm less likely to snack afterwards while I relax and watch TV, surf the net, or play with my dog. It's definitely working! Now I typically eat my dinner later, and have my one snack/dessert afterwards. Occasionally I will eat another vegetable as a snack if I'm still hungry, but that's less often than I ever thought it would be!

So far I've found most of the Jenny Craig dinners to not only be tasty, but also pretty filling especially considering their size! Must be from all the fiber (I'm learning!) Here's my ratings on the dinner selections I've had so far:

Turkey Chili
Flavor: 5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.75

Spaghetti with Meatballs
Flavor: 4.5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Chicken Carbonara
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Meatloaf with BBQ Sauce
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Cashew Chicken
Flavor: 5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.75

Cheese Ravioli
Flavor: 5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.75

Traditional Lasagna
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Chicken Fettucine
Flavor: 2
Filling: 3
Overall: 2.5

Salisbury Steak
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Turkey with Gravy
Flavor: 5
Filling: 5
Overall: 5

Penne Pasta
Flavor: 4.5
Filling: 4.5
Overall: 4.5

Even though all of the Jenny Craig Dinners are so good, I still miss cooking sometimes. Having the meals ready and prepared for me is great when I'm running late or don't feel like cooking, but there are other times where I wish I would have all fresh food that I prepare myself. I'm really looking forward to that part of the program where I can start incorporating my own healthy dishes that I create. I love doing that! I guess for now I'll have to stick with being creative when preparing my extra vegetable servings. Lately, my obsession has been adding broiled tomatoes to the side of my dinner plate. They are so yummy and really filling! All I do is slice a beefsteak or vine ripened tomato in half, sprinkle a little bit (and I mean a really small amount) of salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. Then I stick it under the broiler for 15-20 minutes. They are great tasting just like that, but if I'm feeling fancy i'll add a bit of balsamic vinegar for some extra flavor. They look really fancy too! Next time I'll take a picture and show you all my creation! I'll have to think of some more healthy ways to prepare my veggies. Any suggestions out there?

Work temptations at Lunchtime...

No matter when i've tried to lose weight in the past, a huge factor in my failures has been lunches at work. Many of my co-workers choose to eat out for lunch which adds temptations to eat unhealthy food. Who wants to order a salad with lowfat dressing when your friends are sitting across the table eating a hamburger and fries?

The Jenny Craig options for lunch have not only helped me enjoy the healthy foods I've been eating so I'm not tempted to go out, but I've been saving a ton of money. I know that people have been detered from joining Jenny Craig because they think the food is expensive, but I actually think I am spending less by eating the Jenny Craig meals.

Over the past two weeks I've tried to sample as many of them as I could to get a feel for the ones I liked versus the ones that weren't quite my favorites. Just like the breakfasts that I blogged about last time, I rated them based on taste and fillingness (is that a word?). Here's how they stacked up:

Cheesy Potatoes and Chicken

Flavor: 4

Filling 4.5

Overall: 4.25

Creamy Chicken and Corn Chowder

Flavor: 3.5

Filling: 4

Overall: 3.75

Zesty Tortellini Soup

Flavor: 3.5

Filling: 4

Overall 3.75

Rotini with Meatballs (one of my FAVORITES so far!)

Flavor: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

Chicken Stuffed Sandwich

Flavor: 4

Filling: 4

Overall: 4

Swedish Meatballs

Flavor: 5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.75

Meatball Stuffed Sandwich

Flavor: 5

Filling: 4

Overall: 4.5

Personal Pizza

Flavor: 3.5

Filling: 4

Overall: 3.75

Tuna Salad Kit

Flavor: 4

Filling: 4

Overall: 4

Beef Chow Mein (my other new FAVORITE!)

Flavor: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

I have a lot more lunches to try still because there is so much variety on this program. When I try them I'll let you know what I think as well. Look for my next post when I talk about dinner selections (and probably how much I actually miss cooking sometimes)

Jenny turned me into a breakfast person...

It's unbelievable but it's true! Jenny Craig has turned this not-so-morning person into a breakfast eater! I've always like breakfast foods, but never the waking up early to make them. I'm the kind of person who leaves herself JUST enough time to shower and get ready for work and get there. There's rarely time for me to even eat cereal with milk. Before Jenny Craig, the extent of me eating breakfast, if I ate breakfast, was a granola bar, dry cereal, or sometimes a yogurt; but most often I just skipped breakfast.

I know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and that it kick starts your metabolism daily, but for some reason I still skipped it...well, not anymore! Thanks to Jenny Craigs yummy breakfasts, I've converted into a breakfast eater. Now, instead of running out the door empty-handed, I grab one of the Jenny breakfasts and take it with me to work! I guess it's a good thing that I work at a desk!

Since I've been on the program for over two weeks now, I've had a good sampling of the food so far and thing it's time I let you all know what's what; what's good that is! Below I'm listing the breakfast items I've tried, how I think they taste, how filling they are, and an overall score (average of the two). Have you tried any of them? Let me know if you agree!

Oatmeal Breakfast Square

Taste: 3.5

Filling: 3

Overall: 3.25

Banana Nut Mini Loaf

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 3.5

Overall: 4

Blueberry Mini Loaf

Taste: 4

Filling: 3.5

Overall: 3.75

Cheddar Cheese Omelet

Taste: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

Blueberry Pancakes and Veggie Sausage

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.5

Breakfast Scramble

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 4

Overall: 4.25

Frosted Oats Cereal

Taste: 4

Filling: 4

Overall: 4

Sunshine Sandwich

Taste: 4.5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.5

Stuffed Breakfast Sandwich

Taste: 5

Filling: 4.5

Overall: 4.75

French Toast with Berries

Taste: 5

Filling: 5

Overall: 5

Look for my next food reviews of the Jenny Craig Lunches!

Second time's a charm...

It's been a busy week for me between school, work and attempting to have a social life! Needless to say food has been the last thing from my mind lately; but I guess that's a good thing! This morning was my second time getting up on that scary thing we call the scale. The thought of it has been the bain of my existance because even though I have been losing weigh, I don't really feel it yet. This kind of makes me weary of weighing myself on weigh-in day because I'm always afraid that I won't lose anything, or worse, I'll gain weight back.

Luckily for me I was suprised this morning. I lost another 2.4 pounds! I'm sure this number might have been a bigger victory had I not have splurged over the weekend. My food consumption was great! I was able to eat out socially with friends but I was confident that I made healthy choices because I planned them in advance with my Jenny Craig consultant, Hillary. Where I lacked a little discipline was the "adult beverage" category. I know, I know, all drinks contain calories and I'm better off sticking to water or diet soda, or tea...but what fun is that?! I'm definitely not the person to go out and binge drink, but being able to drink socially with friends is what I like to do! I don't want to give that up! I did my best by mixing clear liquors with diet sodas and sugar free fruit juices, and one of the nights I just stuck to two glasses of white wine. I'm sure I could have cut it back more, but I was happy that I thought about it instead of just ordering a usual vodka and cranberry juice (sounds good but so full of sugar!)

I mentioned last week that I was looking for a new gym so I can start adding exercise to my weight loss plan. So far I've narrowed it down to two. I plan on taking advantage of the free week pass that both gyms offer so I can see which one I like better, and also see which offers a better deal! I'm all about saving money too! (I guess that's what working at Consolidated Credit Counseling Services does to me!) For now though, I'm sticking with walking with my dog Jack, who definitely doesn't mind the extra time outside...until it gets too hot!

It's been another great week on the program full of surprisingly yummy food! Next time I'll be sure to give you guys a review of the meals I've tried so far. I'm definitely forming a few favorites!

44.6 pounds to go!

~Anessa

With loss comes learning...

Why is it that the minute you try to do something good, so many things go bad? I'll I've wanted to do lately is stick to the program and lose weight. I know that there will always be temptations out there and things getting in my way, but so far I haven't had much luck avoiding the situations. I do however, think I've done well overcoming my obstacles so far.

Something I forgot to mention on my weigh-in day post was that this past Sunday, on Mother's Day, my neighbor passed away after being in a large car accident. At first I didn't realize how much it might affect me, but especially after going to the funeral yesterday, I realized how sad I was that I would never be able to walk my dog with him and his two dogs every morning like we used to. Of course it's not like losing a family member, but it's sad nonetheless. This morning my dog even tried to pull me up to his house and started wimpering. Poor puppy. He misses his friend.

Avoiding temptations was difficult, especially with the family inviting neighbors over to share the food brought over by others as a thanks for all of the caring and support (I live in a very friendly community). I'm proud that I avoided the temptations and stuck to my Jenny Craig meals and left the food for the family and well, anyone else who wanted some. Score one point for me and my will power!

It's really tough to lose someone, be it a friend, or a family member. I was speaking with a friend of mine yesterday about my weight loss goals and she said something that really stuck with me. When we were talking about how I put weight on after my grandmother's passing because I didn't know how to deal with the loss, she said that was excusable; as long as I didn't let it happen again. The important thing is that now that I have experienced it and begun to overcome it, I can't go back. The next time I am faced with a loss like this, I now have some experience in dealing with it and can hopefully prevent it from having a negative effect on my life, like gaining weight. Definitely a good lesson to learn.