Seemingly Sketchy Recommendation from Nutritionist

Kipperdoodle13

Hi All,

I was hoping someone could help me, or at least provide thoughts and suggestions. I have been seeing a nutritionist from my doctor's office for several months about every other week. I have over 50 lbs to lose. She put me on a high protein, low carb (100 carbs or less per day) diet of 1380 cals per day. At first I was consistently losing 2 lbs or more per week, and the past 2 weeks I have only lost 0.4 lbs each week. I exercise quite a bit regularly. She suggested the following:

1) lowering my fat grams intake
2) lowering my calorie limit to 1280 (this seems so low to me! I am 5'7)
3) exercise less so I am less hungry and do not eat back my exercise calories/carbs.

This seems to me like sketchy advice! Any suggestions from experience would be helpful. Thanks a bunch.

AbsoluteNG

I don't know why it would be sketchy if you got it from a doctor's office?

dgoradia

1) lowering my fat grams intake
2) lowering my calorie limit to 1280 (this seems so low to me! I am 5'7)
3) exercise less so I am less hungry and do not eat back my exercise calories/carbs.

This seems to me like sketchy advice! Any suggestions from experience would be helpful. Thanks a bunch.

1. What is your current intake
2. What's your current weight, age and activity level

A certain level of skepticism is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in the fitness/nutrition industry.

Edit for grammer.

Kipperdoodle13

Current intake is 1380
Current Weight is 206
I exercise about 6x per week, 30-45 minutes or so per day cardio workouts.

AbsoluteNG

Well, she isn't selling her anything. Working with your nutritionist is a game of trial and error until you get something that works for you. If 1380 calories isn't working for whatever reason, you go back and ask for a new plan. The nutritionist is probably asking you to exercise less because she believes you are unknowingly eating more than you think you are, hence going from 2 pounds a week loss to .4.

dgoradia

Current intake is 1380

Current fat intake?
Age?

kornaco

So, is #3 net calories then?

If you are restricting calories consumed to said number regardless of exercise, then exercising less will only inhibit your overall loss....right?

cmriverside

Weight loss is not linear.

Often you will lose very little for a few weeks and then WOOSH - you'll lose five pounds all-at-once.

Stay the course with your nutritionist. They take long-term approach. If you make too many changes at once (up and down with your calories too frequently) you don't have an accurate baseline to work with. Trust the plan...or make your own...but stick to one for a while so you have data that's applicable.

Kipperdoodle13

Current fat intake is supposed to be under 54 but is usually between 40-50 grams. I am 27 years old and female (obviously.)

I do not use net calories, only how many I actually consume, so 1380 is how many I actually consume in a day not counting exercise. If I exercise my net calories are usually much less than 1380.

TallGlassOfQuirky

I am not a fan of such a small number of calories, but if she is an actual nutritionist through a legitimate medical office, and if you've been regularly seeing her and being monitored, you are in that "under medical supervision" bubble that can get away with lower calorie diets without adverse effects.

That being said, eating that few calories over time is not usually sustainable or maintainable (what happens when you start eating a "normal" but healthy amount of calories? Most people will gain it back). If you are uncomfortable with eating the small number of calories the nutritionist has recommended, then you should be free to tell her that and address the issue, although 0.4 lbs is a healthy loss, especially if you've been pulling big numbers.

Many of my very successful friends subscribe to the "Eat more to weigh less" philosophy, and a good rule of thumb for an average person trying to lose weight is TDEE minus 20% or so.

Anyway, talk to your nutritionist. See what she has to say. You don't have to starve yourself to get healthy but if you have access to a qualified nutritionist, use that resource and find what is going to be the most effective (and maintainable) method for you.

Kipperdoodle13

Weight loss is not linear.

Often you will lose very little for a few weeks and then WOOSH - you'll lose five pounds all-at-once.

Stay the course with your nutritionist. They take long-term approach. If you make too many changes at once (up and down with your calories too frequently) you don't have an accurate baseline to work with. Trust the plan...or make your own...but stick to one for a while so you have data that's applicable.

This seems like sound advice - thanks. Thats why I'm asking - is she changing the plan too soon (after only 2 weeks of a 0.4 weight loss?) Also, not eating back my exercise cals or exercising less seems like a bad idea especially if I burn more than 600 in a day as it is now. Seems against "MFP rules." haha

HaleyxErin

Sometimes the best way to beat a plateau is to eat something "bad" have a little splurge.

mindymh78

I also worked with a nutritionist and she was also ok with me eating a range btwn 1200-1300 calories and NOT eating back exercise calories. She said in her experience of working with people who,eat them back by doing moderate cardio ( not weight lifting), people don't lose weight as quickly. Doesn't sound too sketchy.

RobinvdM

Your nutritionist is a riot. A regular joker. WHEN you get to your ideal weight your TDEE is going to be around 1600/1700 (not including your workout calories.) I am 5'7" - I've done some homework on it.

You should check over what you are eating, how much you are working out, if you are/not eating back those calories what does that leave you with for a deficit? If you are consuming too little your body is going to release the weight slower. Do you use a scale and other measuring devices to ensure you are getting the portions you think you are? Else get on that track.
Are you sure to log every scrap you eat?

Are you eating high salt foods? Sodium screws me up hardcore if I eat over the 2500 recommendation, and stays in my system for almost a week at a time.

Are you sure your workout calories burned is as accurate as possible? Overestimating your burn could be causing you issues.

If all that checks out, then understand you may be in the verge of a plateau. The fact that you ARE still losing, albeit slower than you'd like, is still a good thing. You didn't gain it all quickly, it isn't going to jump off every single week (as nice as that would be!)

__

I say all this from experience. Earlier this year my nutritionist and I had a serious falling out because I was eating 1500 cals and was plateauing going on 4 weeks and she wanted me to hit 1300 cals and questioned my food intake and when I explained to her that nothing had changed (we had been working together for a year by then, you'd think she'd trust me!) she got huffy and "broke up" with me. I did some homework, and upped my cals to 1600 and within 2 weeks lost 3 lbs. I didn't change anything else - maintained my regular workouts, ate what I usually did, etc. I admit I was freaked about taking 2 weeks to see loss when I upped my cals, but it worked.

the TL;DR version? You need to re-evaluate what you are doing right/wrong and ignore your nutritionists advice to eat less and not eat your cals back. That is asking for a world of unhappiness unnecessarily. Good luck.

ETA: Nutritionists are not fool proof, they make mistakes too. Do your own homework, and go to her with your findings if you think she is mistaken. I My nutritionist but she really wound up being a bad fit for me when I started demonstrating a desire for more info and asking the reasoning behind her logic.

Kipperdoodle13

Sometimes the best way to beat a plateau is to eat something "bad" have a little splurge.

I ate two double chocolate milano cookies tonight!

dgoradia

You sure you're calculating your intake kcals correctly? If you're a healthy individual, your daily needs at sedentary would be just over 2k, not taking into account the 6 days per week you exercise.

You said your doctor sent you to the nutritionist. Did your doctor run any testing for metabolic issues prior to the referral?
If you have none, take a long hard look at your intake diary and make sure it's accurate. That's a good start. Then come back and let us know... Good luck

AbsoluteNG

I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

babyshroom

I wouldn't call losing about a half a pound a week a plateau. Weight loss isn't linear, and you always loose faster right at the beginning. I think her advice is fine if you're not happy with what you're currently doing.

Kipperdoodle13

the TL;DR version? You need to re-evaluate what you are doing right/wrong and ignore your nutritionists advice to eat less and not eat your cals back. That is asking for a world of unhappiness unnecessarily. Good luck.

Yikes, this is what I was afraid of. I have some thinking to do....more to follow up on this post later.

Remo_Williams

I have read #3 from several different sources recently. I'm not saying I agree/disagree, but here's the basic theory:

1. The old school wisdom is that you "work up an appetite". Your body naturally wants you to eat more when your expend more, thus the hunger.

2. The other thing that happens is that after you exercise, if you don't eat more, you may subtly expend less calories in other ways, like sleeping more, being less active outside of the exercise, etc. So even though you expend more calories during the workout, the net you expend for the entire day doesn't move as much.

dgoradia

the TL;DR version? You need to re-evaluate what you are doing right/wrong and ignore your nutritionists advice to eat less and not eat your cals back. That is asking for a world of unhappiness unnecessarily. Good luck.

You make some very useful and valid points in your your reply but suggesting the OP ignore her nutritionist is irresponsible advice, especially as she mentioned a doctor sent her there. We obviously don't have the full story here.