Do doctors really know anything

Singlemama09

So I have done this program before and been quite successful however I'm having a harder go at it this time. I talked to my doc about getting some blood work done which she agreed to but asked me what I was doing. I told her exercise and calorie counting. and that if I exercise I up my calorie intake a little bit. She was like NOOOO keep your intake at 1400 if you work out that day great more fat will burn off. I'm HUNGRY at 1400 calories i told her. She told me to just distract myself. UGH so frustrating. Ill stick to this program since I know it works and if I workout I get to have a bit extra.

Susieq_1994

Doctors don't usually have any nutrition training whatsoever. I eat my exercise calories back as well--My deficit is already large without exercise, I don't need a bigger one! Do what works for you.

rstandrew

Doctors aren't nutritionist and she is probably hoping for you to lose the weight as fast as possible because it will improve your lab numbers. My advice go see a nutritionist they are the experts and will give you the right advice for your journey unfortunately their services aren't always covered under insurance. Your insurance might cover it if you get a referral from your primary care doc.

edellaSut

They often DO know, but the medical profession tends to work inside their familiar knowledge boxes. If you are in a coutry like the UK, where medicine is 'free' at point of contact, just tell them what they want/expect to hear, because medics paid by the state follow state guidelines. With some honourable exception, medical professionals here are keto and VLCHF friendly if you are paying them as a private patient. If you live in a more flexible system, get a doctor that is more sympathetic to your WOE. At the very least, don't volunteer info about alternative eating styles, because they are unlikely to agree or approve. And note that your doctor doesn't need to agree with your view on the subject to be useful to you. Just smile blandly and ignore any advice you don't agree with!

CockneyLady2014

Like everything some doctors know about nutrition and others don't. I've been to dietitians and all they did is show me a plate of food with no advice. How many calories have MFP suggested you have? What is this based on in terms of exercise? I never add my exercise into MFP and I don't adjust for it. However I've been with MFP for 3 weeks and once I have more of an idea how it is working I must adjust what i do. This is on the advice of my personal trainer.

zyxst

I say stick with what's working for you. My GP, when she asks about my weight, looks at me like I have an ED when I tell her I keep a food diary.

areallycoolstory

I dunno. They probably know some stuff As others have said, do what works best for you. The polls are pretty split on mfp regarding eating back your calories. I began by not eating mine back. I am losing weight at a comfortable rate, so I continued. Having said that, if I had started out by eating my calories back, and was losing weight, I would continue that way. Try it. Tweak it. Everyone is a little bit different. Best of luck in your journey:-)

CockneyLady2014

ZYXST. I agree with your comments but if you are new you may not know what works for you or even how you get there.

mathandcats

If you're losing at a healthy rate, that's what matters. If you're hungry at 1400, you could probably even eat a bit more. There is such a thing as losing weight too fast.

TheVirgoddess

Technically she's right. If you don't eat your exercise calories back, you'll lose more fat because your deficit is higher.

But, she might be thinking your intake already has your exercise factored in (TDEE) instead of it being a bonus that you eat back (NEAT).

TR0berts

Doctors typically know a little. Unfortunately, they usually don't know much, as they tend to have very brief (basically introductory) nutrition education.

Nutritionists tend to not really know much either, oddly enough. Their education seems to be based on older beliefs - not current science.

RDs tend to be the best, but there are good and bad ones there, too.

All that said, I'd say that your plan is correct, OP. Losing weight faster isn't always better. In some cases? Sure. But, if you're hungry at 1400 Cals, then you're probably less likely to stick to this. I'd recommend eating about half your exercise Calories back. See how you feel then, and after a few weeks, look and see if you've lost the amount of weight you expected to (based upon how many pounds/kgs per week you have MFP set up to lose). If so, then keep doing what you're doing. If not, then adjust as necessary.

amandabullock120

Actually doctors do know a lot. They are in college for 12+ years, not to mention their internship. You may want to seek information from a dietitian if you are looking on how to eat right, and to lose weight. If you are eating 1400 cals a day and feel that you are starving, this could be because you were eating a heck of a lot more cals before. fo example, If I were used to eating 2500 cal( the reason I gained wight) then went to 1400 cals, I would feel that I was starving as well. Things to ask yourself: How long have I been eating 1400 cals? How tall are you? Is 1400 cals enough for me? How many cals were you eating before? Are you eating nutrient-rich foods? When you eat nutrient-rich foods, your body releases a chemical to your brain that tells you are full. If you are working out and burning 500+ cals, maybe you should eat some of them back. Only YOU know YOUR body. Listen to it!!!

mwyvr

Singlemama09 wrote: »

I exercise I up my calorie intake a little bit. She was like NOOOO keep your intake at 1400 if you work out that day great more fat will burn off

I bet your doctor doesn't work out.

MsJulesRenee

Tweak it a little bit, try adding 100 cals until you are comfortable during the day and losing. Trying eating your meals a little later, like I eat breakfast at 9, hungry by 12, eat dinner at 5 and then I have no calories for night time. Try moving your eating schedule an hour later every meal plus a couple calories and see if that helps. Being hungry all the time isn't going to help you in the long term.

sympha01

There have been quite a few studies published in the last couple of years where the takeaways seem to be that exercise "does not help you lose weight" and that people who exercise may tend to overeat beyond the point of any additional exercise deficit. Your doctor may be thinking of these studies, and also misinterpreting you when you say you "eat a little bit more."

Personally, I find the way these studies have been reported -- at least in the lay press -- to be frustratingly simplistic. I know that there are a lot of people who simply refuse to count calories at all, and these people do often report issues of not losing weight when they exercise. Well -- duh! If you're not counting calories, it really is easy to think that you've earned a lot more food from a sweat session than you really have. And for me, I have never found a monitoring device that seems to accurately estimate calories burned from specific workouts. Between activity trackers and HRMs (not to mention online exercise calculators!), there's a strong tendency to overestimate calories burned, so that can hurt too.

I also have the impression anyway that many, many diet studies seem to be designed from the point of view of not counting calories. (E.g., how to get people to eat less without realizing it, essentially. Things like making people count carbs but not calories, or making people fill up on high-volume low-calorie food before letting them subsequently free feed, etc.). As if the researchers are specifically looking for answers to help the non-calorie-counting public. Which is great and all since most people do not in fact count calories every day their whole lives, but then the way these stories are reported should absolutely not give the impression that calorie-counting is taken into account in the study if it's not, or that the variables tested in the study somehow make calories themselves irrelevant, because they never do.

For whatever it's worth, I've found that while exercise may or may not be directly burning off a lot of calories for me, it's helped enormously with my weight loss in a lot of indirect ways. Yes, I also "eat a little bit more." I don't specifically eat workouts back, but I eat to fuel my overall activity level, and I feel much less deprived, which in turn has kept me on the path for a much longer time than I could have otherwise. I would totally have given up a long time ago with 200 calories less per day! Maybe my weight loss has been slower because of those 200 calories. So what? Almost 2 years in, >170 pounds down, and I'm still here: that's really all that matters. And exercising regularly has made me fitter and healthier in so many ways, which keeps me more active in general and must be helping, right? Not to mention all the great mood effects that have also contributed to helping me stay positive and on the right path.

But yeah, I eat more. It's not all about making myself suffer in the short term to get to an arbitrary finish line faster.

barbecuesauce

mwyvr wrote: »

Singlemama09 wrote: »

I exercise I up my calorie intake a little bit. She was like NOOOO keep your intake at 1400 if you work out that day great more fat will burn off

I bet your doctor doesn't work out.

That was my first thought. OP, when I didn't eat back any of my exercise calories, I got ill. You are doing right by your body.

It may also be that your doctor knows the answer but is treating you like you're an idiot who would overcount her exercise calories and undercount her food calories. If that's the case, sorry. I've had similar experiences.

Keep doing what you're doing and look that smug MD in the eye when she sees the weight on your chart next time.

jorinya

If its a GP, I doubt they would no much about nutrition for weight loss. I want with my friend, to support her, when she went to a gynaecologist specialising in weight loss to enable pregnancy. What he told her was fab! Eat at a deficit, reduce fatty foods and stay away from all that coke you drink!!. She drank 3 late bottles a day!!!!
The guy sounded like he had lost weight and knew what he was talking about! Unlike her GP, who told her there was no way she could get pregnant. My granny always said that doctors differ and patients die!! Well that was my granny!!!
My advise, see a nutritionist or a dietitian, they know what they talking about when it comes to weight loss. Good luck!

losingitseattle

Like anything, it depends on the doctor and how avidly they keep up on current research. But that's another debate/thread...

The first thing I would ask if is if have calculated what your TDEE is? If you are hungry, it's possible you are eating well below a reasonable deficit for your body. You NEED to know your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) because if you don't, you may eventually throw yourself into a nasty metabolic cycle by not eating enough whereby your body will learn to maintain on that lower level. This is why it is not recommended to lose weight quickly.

Consider joining the Eat More 2 Weigh Less board. Lots of great advice over there. At the very least, please research TDEE. Scoobys Workshop has a great calculator.

http://eatmore2weighless.com/how-do-i-find-my-true-tdee/

Also highly recommend the New Rules of Lifting for Women Book. Great workouts but more important, very sound information. I am not a big fan of existing on 1200 calories a day and that's what led me to TDEE. On days I teach I could eat a fair amount but then MFP (and other tools like it) would have me plummeting to 1200 calories on a rest day and I'd be starving. In a cycle where I'm cutting fat I can eat 1800-1900 calories a day and lose a lb a week. I can maintain on 2300-2400 calories. I only tell you this because I am 5'4", have 22-23% BF and try to maintain my weight between 138-143. If you are exercising AND only eating 1400 calories a day, you are likely in too much of a deficit.

DM if you want/need more info. And good luck. You can do this!! Knowing your TDEE helps you reset mentally what you should be eating FOR LIFE. Then it's not about a diet, it's about a lifestyle.

MissJay75

[quote="sympha01;32434754

For whatever it's worth, I've found that while exercise may or may not be directly burning off a lot of calories for me, it's helped enormously with my weight loss in a lot of indirect ways. Yes, I also "eat a little bit more." I don't specifically eat workouts back, but I eat to fuel my overall activity level, and I feel much less deprived, which in turn has kept me on the path for a much longer time than I could have otherwise. I would totally have given up a long time ago with 200 calories less per day! Maybe my weight loss has been slower because of those 200 calories. So what? Almost 2 years in, >170 pounds down, and I'm still here: that's really all that matters. And exercising regularly has made me fitter and healthier in so many ways, which keeps me more active in general and must be helping, right? Not to mention all the great mood effects that have also contributed to helping me stay positive and on the right path.

But yeah, I eat more. It's not all about making myself suffer in the short term to get to an arbitrary finish line faster. [/quote]

1000x this

lemurcat12

Doctors frequently assume that people can't track their calories competently and that they will underestimate calories eaten and overestimate exercise. They think this because it's common (and it's also common for people to lie about stuff, including what they eat and drink). This explains why so many (from what's been reported various places) tend to recommend the lower calorie goals.

However, when I started I must have been logging well or overestimating what I was eating while underestimating exercise/activity, as I consistently outperformed MFP's predictions. Thus, as I was already at a low calorie level, not eating back exercise would have been an overly aggressive goal. While I understand why doctors assume patients are basically lying or incompetent at this kind of thing, I would have been offended by such an assumption and I don't think doctors should make such assumptions about patients absent some reason to make a judgment about that person. If my doctor told me to eat 1200 (or some such) and not eat back exercise after talking to me for a while and knowing what I'm like and my exercise goals, I'd be offended and not trust/respect the doctor. (My doctor isn't like that, but because I tend to be self-directed and know that I have such reactions, I also didn't discuss weight loss with my doctor except to explain what I was doing generally. I saw no need to seek my doctor's help with eating choices or the like, which strike me as generally something that normal humans should be competent with on their own, absent a medical condition besides needing not to eat so much.)

I am quite happy with my approach, but people will have difference preferences. It sounds like yours is working for you, OP, so I'd stick with it!

Elise4270

If I'm hungry, I eat. Simple. Docs are human and have personal opinions just as everyone here does. Its your call, what works for you.