I bought this book some years back, and when I follow it I have great success with losing weight. It isn't dieting; it's sensible eating. And it's so easy!!
http://www.amazon.com/Jenny-Craigs-W.../dp/0761507868
She tells you what to buy each week for 2 weeks. For each week she gives you a list of foods to prepare in advance and freeze. IE: French Toast, Homemade Granola, Stuffed Spinach Shells and some other things.
Now that I'm back to work and can actually buy the stuff needed to make the food, last Friday I went and shopped using the first week's shopping list. However, because I only had one day off which was taken up by shopping and laundry, I wasn't able to get some things prepared in advance like I had wanted to. So today I did that part. I just finished making the French Toast.
Tomorrow I will make Beef Teriyaki for dinner and freeze 3 servings.
There are no "special" foods to buy. It's just every day type foods IE: beef, chicken, fish, pasta/noodles, spinach, salad, other fresh produce, yogurt, low fat cheese, milk etc.
Once you get through a full 2 weeks of menus you have quite a stash of prepared food in the freezer because you are cooking for 4 each time you cook a meal, but you are eating one portion and freezing 3 of them.
The food that you eat each day of the week for each week is so varied and tasty that you can just keep alternating between week 1 and week 2 over and over again.
By doing that, once you get through a full week of week 1 and a full week of week 2, you are left with frozen meals that will carry you through 6 more weeks without having to recook your daily dinners. So during those 6 weeks your shopping list is cut down considerably because all you are buying during those weeks are the perishable foods like dairy and fruits and veggies.
Once you deplete your stash of frozen foods, start all over again by doing a full shopping for week 1. Some foods such as stuffed spinach shells makes so much that you actually have enough for about 3 months, having it once every 2 weeks.
It is a bit pricey to initially start up unless you have a pantry that is stocked with basics such as a variety of spices, whole wheat flour, oat bran, wheat bran, oat meal, honey, walnuts and some condiments. But those things you don't need to buy every week, just as you run out, so future "week 1" and "week 2" shoppings will be less because you don't have to go out and replenish that each week.
Unfortunately for me I had to pretty much buy everything on the list because over 4 years my pantry was pretty depleted.
But I've put on so much weight while off work that I'm bound and determined to lose it again. Jenny Craig is great because it's portion controlled and there is no counting calories, fats, carbs or even food groups if you follow her 2 week menu plan, which I do. Like I said the foods are so varied and tasty that I don't mind eating Teriaki Beef, or Orange Chicken, or Stuffed Spinach Shells, or Lemon Chicken, once every 2 weeks.
I think in the USA you can also buy her foods in the store. We don't have a Jenny Craig up here so we can't buy the foods. But I'd rather make my own foods anyway because I can see what goes into the recipe.
One thing to be aware of though. Cooking for 4 and freezing 3 portions for future dinners tends to make you lazy when it comes to cooking!
You get so used to just taking something out of the freezer, thawing and adding a salad or whatever, that when it comes time to actually cook something again, you really don't want to!
http://www.amazon.com/Jenny-Craigs-W.../dp/0761507868
She tells you what to buy each week for 2 weeks. For each week she gives you a list of foods to prepare in advance and freeze. IE: French Toast, Homemade Granola, Stuffed Spinach Shells and some other things.
Now that I'm back to work and can actually buy the stuff needed to make the food, last Friday I went and shopped using the first week's shopping list. However, because I only had one day off which was taken up by shopping and laundry, I wasn't able to get some things prepared in advance like I had wanted to. So today I did that part. I just finished making the French Toast.
Tomorrow I will make Beef Teriyaki for dinner and freeze 3 servings.
There are no "special" foods to buy. It's just every day type foods IE: beef, chicken, fish, pasta/noodles, spinach, salad, other fresh produce, yogurt, low fat cheese, milk etc.
Once you get through a full 2 weeks of menus you have quite a stash of prepared food in the freezer because you are cooking for 4 each time you cook a meal, but you are eating one portion and freezing 3 of them.
The food that you eat each day of the week for each week is so varied and tasty that you can just keep alternating between week 1 and week 2 over and over again.
By doing that, once you get through a full week of week 1 and a full week of week 2, you are left with frozen meals that will carry you through 6 more weeks without having to recook your daily dinners. So during those 6 weeks your shopping list is cut down considerably because all you are buying during those weeks are the perishable foods like dairy and fruits and veggies.
Once you deplete your stash of frozen foods, start all over again by doing a full shopping for week 1. Some foods such as stuffed spinach shells makes so much that you actually have enough for about 3 months, having it once every 2 weeks.
It is a bit pricey to initially start up unless you have a pantry that is stocked with basics such as a variety of spices, whole wheat flour, oat bran, wheat bran, oat meal, honey, walnuts and some condiments. But those things you don't need to buy every week, just as you run out, so future "week 1" and "week 2" shoppings will be less because you don't have to go out and replenish that each week.
Unfortunately for me I had to pretty much buy everything on the list because over 4 years my pantry was pretty depleted.
But I've put on so much weight while off work that I'm bound and determined to lose it again. Jenny Craig is great because it's portion controlled and there is no counting calories, fats, carbs or even food groups if you follow her 2 week menu plan, which I do. Like I said the foods are so varied and tasty that I don't mind eating Teriaki Beef, or Orange Chicken, or Stuffed Spinach Shells, or Lemon Chicken, once every 2 weeks.
I think in the USA you can also buy her foods in the store. We don't have a Jenny Craig up here so we can't buy the foods. But I'd rather make my own foods anyway because I can see what goes into the recipe.
One thing to be aware of though. Cooking for 4 and freezing 3 portions for future dinners tends to make you lazy when it comes to cooking!
