Medically Supervised Diet

sheldonklein

I am on a similar diet, albeit at 1300 calories/day. I have lost 40 pounds in 3 months. In the next few weeks, I will be transitioning off it to a more traditional calorie deficit plan (I,.e., drop the meal replacements and eat at about 1800 calories). It was the right decision for me. I understand the theoretical objections to meal replacement plans (are you going to eat that way for the rest of your life?; etc.), but for me, it taught me that I can function quite well at 1300 well-chosen calories and gave me tremendous positive reinforcement. After 1300 calories, 1800 disciplined calories should be easy and I am content to slow down my rate of loss, as I've still got a way to go.

999tigger

ana3067 wrote: »

You've posted a few times about plateauing. And in each case we told you that your logging is pretty crap. So really, I don't think you need to go this route: you simply need to log properly.

Sorry hadnt realised hes been on before. I wasnt looking closely enough at his diary, but there was a mismatch of logging 2000 calories, when his maintenance is 3000 and not losing. Yep his logging is rybbish or he just isnt logging everything. It would be better if he just did it the normal way, but whats coming across is that he is incapable of logging accurately, hence I dont think the supervised diet is a bad thing. makes me concerned what he might do after the diet and returns to real life though.

As everyone points out then its very probable that he will just pile it straight back on as soon as he comes off the diet and the advice as to get some therapy to change his mindset is good.

esjones12

A - I'd find doctors who are more concerned about your health and are interested in helping you find a way to lose weight.

B - The problem with any "diet" is when you stop dieting! If you decide to go through with this then you need to start setting yourself up for making correct food choices once you stop eating the bars and shakes and such. A true lifestyle change is the only way to be happy and have long-lasting results for the majority of people.

C - If you are going to follow a physician's diet then I would listen to just the physician, avoid posting on online forums with self-proclaimed fitness and nutrition gurus (refer to A)/

Best of luck to you!

SLLRunner

bokaba wrote: »

I can only give it a try. If I fail, I fail; not any worse off than before. I'm not planning on losing hundreds of pounds or anything like that. I am only hoping to lose about 50 pounds. I had my body fat measured at the doctor and it was something like 27%, which leaves me at a little over 200 pounds lbm including fluids and other non-fat substances. I would like to achieve this in 6-8 months if possible.

It might behoove you to get rid of "If I fail" from your mindset. Sure, diet is mostly cutting back on calories and sticking to it, but attitude and mindset and pure willpower is a whole lot of the battle as well.

999tigger

Not getting why you think the Dr isnt concerned about him losing weight? I get the feeling the Dr is concerned about his weight but also listens to the OP at his lack of success. The weaker link in the weight loss plan is the inability of the OP to control his calories. Makes it a really importnat suggestion what 0somuchbetter0 said about making use of the therapist. We can all see the battle will just be beginning when hes off the diet and has to make his own way.

dbmata

999tigger wrote: »

As everyone points out then its very probable that he will just pile it straight back on as soon as he comes off the diet and the advice as to get some therapy to change his mindset is good.

After having lost a significant amount of lean body mass, compounding the magnitude of the problem.

Serah87

I agree with ana3067. I have seen his posts also and his diary.

OP you need to fix your loggings first otherwise with this low diet plan, you will more then likely fail.

Good luck on whatever choice you make.

NK1112

Behavior modification ... that's what everyone is talking about when they caution you to have a plan for when you come off the 8-week supervised diet.

good luck, I hope it does the trick for you ... 8 weeks is not very long, but it may be the most advantageous amount of time at the low calories, with a break of more moderate cut in between for a period of time and then another go-round.

gothchiq

I've been under the supervision of a nutritionist for the past year. I wish I could continue but they are changing my insurance and it will no longer be covered. I think medical supervision is good so they can teach you sound habits to practice and get them learned so you can keep them up on your own later.

gothchiq

Oh... if yr hypoglycemic like me, get some glucose tabs and keep them on you. When you feel that shaky feeling coming on, eat 2 tabs.

concordancia

gothchiq wrote: »

Oh... if yr hypoglycemic like me, get some glucose tabs and keep them on you. When you feel that shaky feeling coming on, eat 2 tabs.

Only do this in coordination with your medical team, not as self treatment.

Without proper testing, it is quite possible for most people to convince themselves that they are feeling shaky, incapable of going on without sugar, etc. If, on the other hand, your diet is designed to control your blood sugar levels over the long term, popping glucose tabs will throw that off.

KeepTheFaith9

Good luck and I hope it works well for you! As others have said use the opportunity to learn while you lose so when the program ends you don't go back to the lifestyle that caused you (and me!) to end up overweight!

ana3067

999tigger wrote: »

ana3067 wrote: »

You've posted a few times about plateauing. And in each case we told you that your logging is pretty crap. So really, I don't think you need to go this route: you simply need to log properly.

Sorry hadnt realised hes been on before. I wasnt looking closely enough at his diary, but there was a mismatch of logging 2000 calories, when his maintenance is 3000 and not losing. Yep his logging is rybbish or he just isnt logging everything. It would be better if he just did it the normal way, but whats coming across is that he is incapable of logging accurately, hence I dont think the supervised diet is a bad thing. makes me concerned what he might do after the diet and returns to real life though.

As everyone points out then its very probable that he will just pile it straight back on as soon as he comes off the diet and the advice as to get some therapy to change his mindset is good.

True that. My assistant manager at work told me she did that 800 calorie diet thing and lost.. well got down to 180, and then put it all back on again. These diets don't teach you how to eat or how to track your eating in a sustainable way.

ana3067

Serah87 wrote: »

I agree with ana3067. I have seen his posts also and his diary.

OP you need to fix your loggings first otherwise with this low diet plan, you will more then likely fail.

Good luck on whatever choice you make.

Although based on his past resistance to opening up his log (telling us to just assume that he is logging correctly) I'm going to assume that he's in denial about his poor logging despite being told repeatedly that this is where he's failing. So honestly I feel like until he stops ignoring the advice, he's going to be stuck yo-yoing with these low cal diets and then gaining weight again due to poor logging habits or simply not logging at all and not having learned how to eat according to his energy expenditure.

AliceDark

If it's a medically supervised diet, go for it. But...ask your doctor NOW what the plan is for transitioning out of the diet, and what/how much you're supposed to eat for the rest of your life. Ask him/her what your plan should be to mitigate muscle loss. Ask him/her what the consequences would be if you were to gain the weight back after the 12 weeks (or however long you stay at 1200). If your doctor can't give you a solid transition plan or just tells you not to worry about gaining it back, find a new doctor.

obscuremusicreference

0somuchbetter0 wrote: »

I tried and failed and tried and failed many times before I "got it," and I still haven't "got it" all the time. If I may offer a word of advice...develop a relationship with a therapist or who specializes in eating issues or a nutritionist who understands emotional eating. Read The Beck Diet Solution and do the exercises in the workbook. Otherwise, when you get off this medically supervised diet you won't have the mental and emotional tools to change your eating behavior on your own and you'll go back to your old ways. You seriously don't want to do that -- it's demoralizing, not to mention the toll it will take on your body. Work on your head while the medically supervised diet works on your body.

+1

If you haven't fully committed to the idea of this diet, I think you should "step down" to whatever calorie level MFP says you need. Practice logging accurately before you rush headlong into a deep calorie cut. Cut a couple hundred calories every week or two until you are comfortable with the idea of weighing/measuring and eating at that level.

lisac195

You know what? I say give it a chance. But once the program is over, please come back here and make an effort to work this program also. Maybe once you have lost some weight you will be more motivated to try this again. Sometimes you need something like a set program to kick start the weight loss as it gives you exactly what you should be eating.

I know, I know... others will argue with me. But the ultimate goal is to take that first step to lose so you can get your health in a better place. Then the next step will be to do what you need to in order to continue losing or to maintain depending on where you are and where you want to be. No looking back at what happened or didn't happen in the past. We can only move forward. Best of luck to you.

NikonPal

bokaba wrote: »

While I know many here will not be supportive of my plan to go a medically-supervised diet in order to lose weight...I have talked to my doctor and the dietician from the referred weight loss program and we feel that it is necessary for me to at least try their medically-supervised program so that I can lose some of the weight I need to lose and help alleviate some of the medical complications related to my weight...I fully expect to be hungry, grumpy, tired, weak, etc., but I hopefully will be losing a lot of weight versus losing no weight and will likely have to give up weight training at least temporarily. I want to try this to save myself from having any weight loss surgery or taking prescription meds. I know most will probably think this is stupid, unsustainable, and dangerous, but sustainability hasn't gotten me any where yet. Please keep in mind that my weight is likely causing medical complications. Has anyone ever tried medically-supervised diets and did they work, even in the short run? Thankfully, I will not be wasting my money, only my insurer's money.

I have had no problems sticking with a low calorie eating plan for over one year! I am not (and have never been) “hungry, grumpy, tired, weak, etc.” Yes – there was some minor adjustment the first few weeks. I am very careful about eating nutritious meals.

I have 2 cardiologists and a rheumatologist that I see on a regular basis for various medical reasons that require reg. medical tests / blood work. All are pleased with my weight loss. Two had suggested Medifast (or surgery) – but I never could get past a few months and I knew my journey was going to last 1-2 years. Clearly my obesity out-weighed any low-calorie concerns. As it turns out surgery probably wouldn’t have worked out because I had another procedure stopped in the operating room for blood pressure issues about 1 year ago.

I have never looked at this as being a “diet” per se. I have learned a lot about nutrition, portion control, emotional eating, discipline / life rewards etc. While calorie-intake will increase a bit in the maintenance phase, I’ll leave “super-sized” eating to others.

Here is a link to another post I made – that has some photos of meals I make for myself.

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10024389/fast-food-frozen-dinners-are-tempting-but#latest

Wish you the best.

segacs

Just so long as by "doctor" you mean real medical doctor and not, say, 'naturopath', and by dietitian you mean certified and accredited dietitian and not something flaky like a 'holistic nutritionist'.

Too many quacks out there pretending to be doctors. Makes my head spin.

bokaba

I will probably try to limit my calories to around 1500 for a couple of weeks and see what happens before I go to the supervised diet. I've tried a few days at around 1000 or fewer calories, and while my weight is going down, it is difficult to do much. I was virtually unable to move the weights I usually can throw around with ease and I had trouble staying awake during cardio.

Missjulesdid

I tried calorie counting, weight watchers, atkins, calorie counting again, low carb, low fat... and always went back to calorie counting. It's what made the most sense to me.. It's also something that I failed at repeatedly... I finally decided to have weight loss surgery. I wanted to reduce my weight prior to the surgery and also get used to eating in a more controlled way before the surgery "forced" me to do it.. I did 13 weeks of a doctor supervised VLCD 3 protein shakes a day plus one "lean and green meal" plus option of having half a piece of fruit, an egg, half serving of nuts in any combination as long as all of my calories from proteinshakes/lean and green meal and the "extras" didn't exceed 900 for any one day. I lost 50 pounds doing this. Of course it's not sustainable and if I hadn't had the surgery, I surely would have gained it back if I went back to eating normally again, but yeah, it worked in the short term and helped me physically and mentally prepare for my surgery.

ana3067

I still highly suggest you taket he advice that others have given you about proper logging and clean up your logging. It will make sticking to a reasonable intake much easier.

bokaba

I think my logging has been decent the last few days though my calorie intake has been very low. I will sit with this for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I will adjust upward if necessary. I think the strict 1200-1500 calories a day for the time being will help to lose some weight because it is the minimum I have found that I can eat while still being able to function and not feel ill constantly.

ana3067

Issues with logging for today and yesterday:
1) Not weighing food, although if you are at least measuring everything then you will be within a few hundred calories of your actual intake. But "1 slice" for fruits is not a measurement. You once said you own a food scale, so use it. Same with "5 strawberries" is not a measurement/weight.

2) your goal is honestly still too low, although if you want to go about this the unpleasant way then that's totally up to you. Would be much easier to estimate your maintenance needs from a few websites, eat that amoutn for a month to see if it's correct, and then subtract 20% fromthat. Then you KNOW you will lose weight. OR you can subtract 20% from it right away and after a month lower the calories if you haven't lost at least ~4lbs. But this requires proper logging.

3) again, that generic recipe. althouhg that hasn't happened since Sunday, so at least that's a positive.

But overall you really don't seem to have internalized any of the recommendations you've received in the past

Christine_72

If you can't stick to the simple common sense advice given to you here, then I wouldn't bother starting this diet, as most probably you'll pile the weight back on when you stop and are on your own....

NK1112

bokaba wrote: »

While I know many here will not be supportive of my plan to go a medically-supervised diet in order to lose weight. ...

I know most will probably think this is stupid, unsustainable, and dangerous, but sustainability hasn't gotten me any where yet. Please keep in mind that my weight is likely causing medical complications. Has anyone ever tried medically-supervised diets and did they work, even in the short run?

Thankfully, I will not be wasting my money, only my insurer's money.

So Bokaba ... The only question I saw you asked was "Has anyone ever tried medically-supervised diets and did they work, even in the short run?" .... and you got 2 pages of mostly criticism about your food tracking that, in some posts, attacked your personality. ... did you really expect anything else?

Sorry ... I'm not being much better myself ... so let me get to what I really came here to say.

I do know someone who lost weight using a 'fat doctor' ... she didn't have as much to lose as you or I do ... her needs were more in the 40-50 pound range. She did have to learn how to eat differently to maintain that weight. What her doctor had her on was a 500 calorie a day diet, she got a B12 shot once a month, daily vitamin and mineral supplements, a lot of protein shakes and meal bars, and her calories came from the salads and stuff she was able to have at the one regular meal a day. She drank a lot of water ... a lot. She also was given stool softeners to take. My sis, who is this womans long time friend, tells me she looks great and has been keeping the weight off, mostly, for the past 3 years. I say mostly because she has gained some back very slowly over the past couple of years.

So my point is, she went through all that, spent a lot of money, got herself looking good but, did she really learn how to control her food intake and did she really address any issues that might be lurking behind her tendency to overeat? One more thing ... it wasn't for 8 weeks that she was with the that plan, but more like 5 months.

So ... along with most others on here, I wish you well. If you go that route or not.