The Jenny Craig UK Diet Review

By WLR's Food Information Executive, Laurence Beeken

Australia started it, America fell in love with it, and now we have it!  The Jenny Craig UK Diet Programme claims to be more than a diet with a unique approach to achieving your weight loss goals. It will teach you to make healthy lifestyle changes to lose weight and keep it off.

With prices at a premium this year, people are looking to lose weight without losing money.  We took a look at just what the Jenny Craig program has to offer us in the UK, and if it really is a different approach to weight loss.

What does the Jenny Craig Diet involve?

The Jenny Craig Diet programme has been around for over 25 years, and recent celebrity endorsement has meant that it is becoming more popular with UK dieters. Jenny Craig is a weight management service company with franchises all over the world. The program itself is aimed at weight loss through addressing three key areas: food, body and mind.

The main feature of the Jenny Craig system is their pre-packed meals which have been calorie counted and nutritionally balanced. The full diet package also gives you access to a personal coach whose role is to boost your motivation, give you tips and advice, and to offer support. 

What is the theory behind the Jenny Craig UK Diet?

Like most of the other dieting programmes available in the UK, Jenny Craig works by the universally agreed principal that to lose weight you need to eat fewer calories than you burn, and the personal coach just does the maths for you.

By improving your diet through the Jenny Craig meal plans and advocating more exercise, you will change your lifestyle and adopt habits that become part of your normal routine.

How do I follow the Jenny Craig Diet?

On joining, you are allocated a personal Weight Management Coach who creates a plan tailored to your goals.

Under the guidance of your coach, you learn portion control and nutritional balance, aided by the three Jenny Craig meals and one snack each day which are delivered to your door; you just need to add certain fresh fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products.

Your coach will help you devise an exercise programme suited to your level of activity and regular calls to with them will help boost your motivation, give tips and advice, and provide support.

How much weight can I lose?

The Jenny Craig Diet has been designed to give you a weekly weight loss of 1-2lb.

What if I have questions not answered on the Jenny Craig UK website?

While the web site offers many answers to a range of questions, there are many gaps in the responses so that you are encouraged to call them.  We’ve done all the hard work for you and compiled a list of the questions that you really want to ask (including the cost).

WLR’s Verdict:

Certainly one of the more publicised diet plans at the moment, the Jenny Craig Diet works along the same lines as many other diets out there:

• Eat fewer calories than you burn
• Exercise more
• Provide support and advice
• Set an achievable weight loss goal

As always, it’s a reduction in calories that will shift those pounds. The Jenny Craig diet is yet another way to do this and might suit you if you can afford the cost of the Jenny Craig Meals.  But ultimately, it’s just as easy – and much cheaper – to follow a 1,200-1,400 calorie diet based on foods from the four main food groups.