Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem are weight loss programs designed around pre-packaged menus of food. While Jenny Craig requires a signing up fee and offers regularly scheduled counseling sessions, Nutrisystem only involves the cost of the food and has free counselors available on request.
Comparison chart
 | Jenny Craig | Nutrisystem |
|---|---|---|
 |  | |
| Diet Program | Members follow planned menus using prepackaged Jenny Craig food and have counseling to change their lifestyle and eating habits. | Members eat prepackaged meal plans and are encouraged to increase exercise. |
| Cost | An enrollment fee of about $360, plus the cost of Jenny Craig food – about $100 a week. | About $230 per month plus purchase of vegetables |
| Average weight-loss | Participants typically lose 1-2 pounds per week. | Participants typically lose 1-2 pounds per week. |
| Support | Private individual counseling sessions. | Free telephone or email support; online community |
| Endorsed by | Queen Latifah, Mariah Carey, Carrie Fisher | Marie Osmond, Billie Jean King, Janet Jackson |
| Percentage still in program after 4 weeks | 73% of participants. | Unknown |
| Long-term assistance | Members stop attending counseling sessions and eating the prepackaged foods once they reach their goal weight. | Does not offer long-term support |
The Program
Jenny Craig provides all new members with one of several planned menus, based on its range of prepackaged food. Once a participant has reduced their weight by half of their goal, they can eat non-program food 3-4 times a week. Once they reach their goal weight, they stop using the packaged meals entirely.
Nutrisystem has several meal plans available to members: Basic, D (diabetes), Silver (over 65s) and Vegetarian. Members eat home delivered pre-packaged meals and supplement them with fresh fruit and vegetables. They are also encouraged to increase their physical activity.
Cost
Jenny Craig has an enrollment fee of about $360 plus the ongoing cost of Jenny Craig food, which is about $100 a week.
Nutrisystem has no enrollment fee. The food costs about $230 per month plus purchase of any recommended vegetables.
This video compares the total cost and other features of Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem diet plans:
Counseling and Support
Jenny Craig offers weekly private, individual counseling sessions to members over the phone. These sessions focus on changing a client’s eating habits and lifestyle so that they will eventually no longer need to rely on the program’s rules.
Nutrisystem does not offer face-to-face interaction, but offers free access to trained counselors via telephone, online chat and email. It has online resources to promote motivation and success, as well as self-monitoring tools and an online community.
Effectiveness
Both the Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem diets are much more effective with regular exercise, like jogging or hiking.
In the video below, Consumer Reports analyzes Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Slim-Fast, and other popular diets.
Availability
Jenny Craig is available in the U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, France and Puerto Rico.
Nutrisystem is only available in the United States through major retailers as well as online distributors like QVC and Amazon.com.
Completion rate
One study found that that 73% of Jenny Craig participants were still in the program after 4 weeks. No information is available on Nutrisystem retention rates.
Jenny Craig 
Calories 
Calories 
Saturated Fats 
HDL 
Whole Grain
Comments: Jenny Craig vs Nutrisystem