Jenny Craig

May 2, 2010 - 4:09 PM

I have lost about 11 pounds in the last month.

Again, I am on Jenny Craig. I have a lifelong relationship with this weight loss program-literally, I have a lifetime membership that only costs me $40 a year to maintain with a 30% discount on food. Not only that, but I started Jenny Craig when I was 14.

It's okay though. This is how it should be.

When I was growing up, kids used to shout, "Whitney, ‘Have you called Jenny yet?'" or "1-800-Jenny-20," in that cute little jingle the business used for several years.

It was painful, and when my mom first suggested I try the program, I felt like she was in the crowd with those kids, sticking her tongue out and torturing me.

But I agreed to go to a consultation. Once I agreed, it only took me one year to lose about 80 pounds. As an 8th grader, I weighed about 235 pounds. As a sophomore in high school, I was 166.

That year, I was homecoming princess.

Since then I have done the program off and on. The most significant time was my sophomore year in college, when I lost about 50 pounds-reaching 157.6 pounds, which was almost impossible for me to maintain.

Here I am, a senior in college at 180 pounds. Because it was so difficult to maintain a weight below 160, I have decided that my goal weight is 165-when I was there, my body told me that it was comfortable there. Some magazines call it your "happy weight."

So here I am, on the cusp of a graduation trip to Europe and beginning my master's program at Stanford. The last thing I want to do is show up in these situations feeling less-than-fabulous.

Since spring term started, I have been focusing on eating the Jenny meals, gradually increasing my exercise routine, and allowing myself little cheater meals on the weekends.

Like I said, I have lost 11 pounds. And I have about 15 more to go before I hit my goal weight. But after a lifetime on this diet, it has become clear that goal weights and dates are pretty silly because I am bound to gain five to 20 pounds again, and I am bound to take them off. So if I don't hit my "goal weight" before the plane takes off in June, I know that when I get back, life will still go on, and my goal weight will still be on the horizon.