Have You Called Jenny Yet?

My good friend Kirstie Alley lost 30 pounds!

Okay... I don't actually know Kirstie Alley, but she's in my living room chatting with me about personal issues more often than any other person on the planet, so I figure I've got a case. Or not. But she did lose 30 pounds. What interests me about her weight loss success isn't that she's done it -- though, cheers! -- it's the marketing of it.

Two pounds per week is considered a healthy rate of weight loss, so if Kirstie has lost 30 pounds and we assume she's doing it healthily, we've also got to assume that she's been on the plan for 15 weeks. That would take us back to January, which sounds about right; but it seems like only yesterday that she was telling me that together we could get really, really skinny. And that's my point. She's been on the plan for almost 4 months, but who would guess that? For the first month or so before Kirstie announced "I lost 15," we were being encouraged to START the program with her while she was already kicking serious butt. And for the next month, while we were celebrating her 15 pound loss, she was losing another 15. It feels as if, in no time at all, the weight just melted away. And isn't that the way you want your weight loss program to look if you're soliciting buyers? Brilliant.

I've got to give the folks at Jenny Craig some credit, because my first reaction to Kirstie's 30-pound announcement was that it wasn't possible. That she hadn't had the time since we first saw her. I had to do the math to realize that JC wasn't pulling a fast one. Now, instead of suspecting they'd held back the first commercial to shorten the marketing span, I'm impressed that they didn't.

And I've got to give Kirstie some credit, too, for sticking with it for 4 months. (We'll forget here that the camera thrust in her face might add incentive).

I didn't join Jenny Craig when Kirstie asked me to. In fact, I'm not planning to join, ever. But Kirstie is cool with that. She's doing a good job on her own. That's what makes her such a good friend -- I can ignore her advice and she'll still tell me all about her success. Way to go, Kirstie! You're doing great.

Now pass me a doughnut.