It's nice to see there are some fellow vegetarians still here. I was on the program about a year and a half ago and lost 20 pounds. I got pretty bored with the limited foods and decided to go on my own. In a year, I gained half of the weight back.

So here I am again and I've lost the 10 pounds I gained and I'm back on track to lose the 16 more that I have to lose.

Does anyone have any helpful hints to not get burned out? I've found the new soupitizers help a lot. I'm also getting veggies that come in those steaming bags. They are so easy, pop them in the microwave and then I dip them in the new Kraft 25 calorie packets of dressing. The balsamic vinegar is wonderful. I'm also buying those sugar free jello snack packs and put a little fat free whip cream on them. Those items help me when I'm having one of those "I'm so hungry" days.

Hi, Kristy! Glad that you are back, but not about your gain. Good for you coming back before it got really out of control!

To keep from getting bored, I've been relying on my veggie side dishes and my own soups. I wasn't going to go out for dinners until halfway, but that's so slow in coming. We've started dining out every other week or so. That's helped so much, except that the restaurant food tastes so darn good, it's hard to maintain my composure!
SO glad that DH likes the same foods and we can share entrées/appetizers. He's my rock. (He's also eating JC so I don't have to cook two sets of meals every day.)

V8 has become my best friend. It's amazing how one little glass tames the growlies.

Wishing you success on the return visit. See you on the boards!

Hi all! I am back after 2 years away. I lost 20 or so pounds last time, but got really burned out on the food. I talked to the director, and I am supplementing some of my own this time. We will see how it goes.

On the down side, I was very upset with my new counselor this week. She told me that if I was serious about losing weight, I needed to commit to eating the preplanned menu, which includes meat. I don't think she understands the committment we make to a vegetarian lifestyle.

However, I am not going to let her get me down. I live in small town Arkansas, and vegetarians are rare here. I often get asked "why would you do that?" I just smile, and say it is not for everyone.

Hope your journey is a good one!!

Lisa

that's awful! this is my first time on jenny and the person i spoke to over the phone just let me do the personalized menu right away. i'm 25 years old and have been a vegetarian for half my life, but i've admittedly been a junkfood vegetarian, relying on easy frozen food and fake meat substitutes and consuming very little actual vegetables. i remember going back to iowa and nebraska and visiting my relatives, and the frequent "what? you're not eating the ham? well, someday you'll be normal again" comments. once i ordered a "veggie burger" while there, and received a meat burger...with vegetables on top.

anyway, i'm almost closing out my first week on the program, and while i'm sure it will get boring soon enough (although i generally eat the same 3 things over and over anyway, so hopefully the burn out won't hit for awhile), i've found a few things that help. one is portobello mushrooms, which are a free food. sometimes i marinate them with some jc dressing for half the day and then cook them, simmering them in some balsamic vinegar until tender, or grilling on a george foreman... they help fill out a lot of foods. i also just read somewhere on the boards about making a portobello pizza (they used reduced fat cheese on it making it not a completely free food, but if you just used tomato paste and veggies and garlic, it'd be a free food, i think). there was also a recipe for carrot "fries" that i'm anxious to try.

v8 juice is also great. i like the reduced sodium "garden patch" vegetable juice from trader joe's. i like to heat it up and drink it like soup. spaghetti squash, which apparently IS a free food afterall, is also very tasty and easy to make. you could even mix up spaghetti squash, a portobello, garlic, tomatoes (or tomato paste), fresh basil, and some s&p to make a free spaghetti meal. that would satisfy a lot of between meal cravings!

i received a TON of cookbooks for christmas this year, which was great, but then i decided to do jenny. i'm going to spend some time revisiting them today though, because a lot of them are vegan/vegetarian books, and i'm sure there will be recipes that are great for free foods, or that can be tweaked to be free. i'll post if i get anything good.

i think keeping the vegetarian forum active would be a great thing, as i'm sure plenty of us have spent the majority of our time as veggies being singled out or being the only veggie in a group of friends. and in a program like this that is so structured and limited in what veggie choices we have, it'll be nice to have an onslaught of recipes available to us to keep us motivated and interested.

best of luck!

-lch

I made spaghetti squash with a spicy tomato sauce last night.... We must be on the same wavelength! I also got some great cookbooks for christmas. One has a great tomato basil soup that is all free foods. I have been making it up and putting it in small batches in the fridge. In cooking spray and a non stick skillet saute 4 cloves of garlic and one finely chopped onion. Transfer to a soup pot, and add 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes and 1 16 oz can of veg broth. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then cut back heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Chop 30 basil leaves (I use less if they are large - I have been adding one of those plastic package of fresh herbs from the produce section). Stir in. It is so much better than the soup they have, and all free foods!

I had a really good week last week. Lost 6 pounds, so I am at 9.4 total. To get to goal, I have 19.6 to go. I really could lose a little more than that, but I needed a realistic goal.

Hope you have a good week!

Lisa

I am not a full-time vegetarian but I lurk in these conversation because I, like you would like more veggie options in JC. In other of threads someone suggested the Amy Kitchen line of prepared foods. They have a whole section on their website that focus on making an eating plan out of their lower calorie items. You might want to supplement your JC plan with some of these items.

Not to throw a wet blanket on your tip, but gelatin is an animal product. The sugar free pudding is only 35 calories. I haven't looked at the ingredient list of the pudding, but I don't believe it has gelatin in it.

(p.s. the jenny craig cheesecakes often have gelatin in them and the vitamins came in gelatin capsules the last time I looked)

I agree. I can't stomach jello for that reason. I also use my own vitamins. Didn't know that about the cheesecake, but I don't eat much in the way of snacks anyway. I make a cup of decaf coffee with a teaspoon of sugar free torani syrup - either caramel or vanilla. Sweet treat, lo cal. Some veggies don't know to watch for gelatin, or maybe don't take it that far. You really have to watch for that one. Even sour cream!! The daisy fat free doesn't have any. It is the only one I have found!

Lisa

I'm 26 and have been vegetarian since I was 14. So I have a lot of practice dealing with people who don't understand vegetarianism. But I got lucky with my center and consultants because they were very understanding and allowed me to use the personalized menus from the beginning. I have been on the program for 4 months and have lost 25 pounds, so I have been very happy. Every now and then I do get bored, but when that happens I allow myself to eat out. Once I get that out of my system, then it's easier to stick with the menu. It might not be the best way to handle boredom, but I'm still losing weight, so I guess I'll continue to do it. But, like you said, before Jenny, I ate the same things over and over again (and it was typically Taco Bell and Papa Johns!)

Even though there isn't much variety for vegetarians, try to stick it out. It's worth it.

I love Amy's foods - and I never knew they had pulled together a menu like this! I will definitely supplement with this since my usual Jenny foods are getting boring (can you say enchiladas, rising crust pizza, penne pasta, mac n cheese, lasagna and pasta fajole???) after being on the program for over a year.

Thank you for the tip!!!!!

Now if we could just get JC to look at other meatless options that are NON-pasta based ...