Jenny Craig helps Seaford accountant lose weight, keep it off

Michael Katz recently wrapped up his 40th tax season, which for him means sitting at his desk for up to 15 hours a day, six to seven days a week. The 13-week season usually brought on a 10-pound weight gain. Katz says he’s dieted periodically but always gained the weight back. It was getting harder to find clothes, he said, and he didn’t like buying size XL.

“It got hard to tie my shoes with this basketball sitting on my lap,” Katz says.

After initially dodging his wife’s encouragement to join Jenny Craig with her, he relented and signed up for its six-week program.

“I really didn’t think it would take, but after a while, I realized I was losing weight,” says Katz, who re-upped for the two-year package. He continued buying the Jenny Craig products, getting weighed in and seeing a counselor weekly.

“The counselors keep you motivated. They talk about any issues you’re having and keep you focused,” says Katz. Eight months later he was down 50 pounds and has been on maintenance since August.

He follows tips he’s learned: eating a salad before lunch, taking home half portions of entrees and desserts when eating out, and eating less potatoes, pasta and bread and more vegetables and fruit. All his size-40 pants have been donated to charity.

“It was my way of saying, ‘This is permanent.’” Katz says he’s off blood pressure medication and no longer has sleep apnea. “And I wear skinny jeans now. I can’t believe it!”

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Katz usually eats a Jenny Craig meal and a protein shake for breakfast and has a lunch entree at noon, always with a green salad first. Dinner is a home-cooked meal of either a lamb chop, steak, a pork chop or a bunless hamburger with vegetables on the side. He enjoys a Jenny Craig dessert periodically (triple chocolate cheesecake is his favorite).

In good weather, Katz rides a bike to work twice a week, a 10-mile round trip. He also runs errands on his bike. Now that tax season is over he says he’ll head back to Planet Fitness. And he and his wife just signed up for an advanced pickleball course.

“Don’t keep eating until you’re filled up — by then you’ve eaten too much. Fruits can be tricky because they tend to contain a lot of sugar. Try jicama or radishes, something crunchy.”