Realistic diet

NewFola2012

My doctor told me to shoot for a 1200 calorie diet that consist of 60% lean protein, 20%complex carbs and 20% healthy fats. That is great in theory but in reality I like fruit. I have a stressful job and I like to sit and enjoy a crown and coke in the evening. A person can only eat so many egg whites in a day. I need a realistic diet that I can stick to and loose weight.

My doctor tested me for diabetes. I don't have it yet but I have developed an insulin resistance and there is a good chance I could become diabetic if I don't do something. I don't want that. I would rather gag on egg whites the rest of my long life.

Anyone have any advice how to make this work in reality?

jemhh

That was not good nutrition advice. Under that plan, you would eat 26 grams of fat, 60 grams of carbs, and 180 grams of protein. That's a very strange setup and I have to wonder how he came up with it.

What are your sex, height, weight, age, activity level outside of exercise, and what/how much exercise do you do?

GlassAngyl

60% protein!! You sure you don't have fat and protein switched?? That don't sound right.. Low carb diets and regular diets don't up protein like that..

AlabasterVerve

Treat it as a guideline and do the best you can. With those macros your doctor is pretty much telling you to eat meat and vegetables so do that. Pick the the meats and vegetables you like the most and eat those - don't eat food you don't want to eat (like egg whites). Keep the extras (like fruit and alcohol) to smallest amounts needed for you to be happy with your diet and see how you make out.

Getting the scale moving in the right direction is going to be good for your health no matter what you eat so try and keep everything in perspective and don't get too crazy trying to hit your macros.

deannalfisher

if your doctor is recommending a specific diet, then they should also provide you a recommendation to work with a RD to help design your diet

that being said 1200cal is the lowest amount of safe calories for a sedentary female unless you are on a medically supervised VLCD (which is not supported by MFP); and 60% protein seems excessive - normally recommendation for maintaining lean muscle mass while losing weight is .8-1g per goal weight

kommodevaran

That is a diet which can only work in theory - it's not even a "good guideline" or "ambitious goal", it's stupid. Doctors don't generally have that great knowledge of diet and weight management. MFP to the rescue!

Set up MFP with your stats. A good weightloss rate is 1% of your bodyweight (because it is a percentage, the amount will change as you lose weight, so you have to readjust your goal periodically). The calorie target MFP gives you, is what you should shoot for. MFP's default macro split is okay, but I personally think cutting most calories from carbs is the most effective for most people, because we need roughly the same amount of protein and fat all the time, regardless if we want to lose, gain and maintain weight.

What your doctor is trying to tell you, I think, is to eat better. You are adviced to cut down on "empty calories" (junk food, soda, alcohol), eat more "real food" (meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, whole grains), and not eat too much in total. Eating more nutritious food, and more varied, will help you not eat too much because you will be less hungry, but you have to balance "not being hungry" against "still craving all the goodies", so don't try to completely cut out everything you like. Set reasonable boundaries instead - this could be, for instance, "one pint of beer every Saturday instead of two pints of beer every evening". "Healthy fats" and "lean protein" is disturbing - in my opinion, the only unhealthy fat is man-made trans fat; naturally occurring fat is as healthy as it is tasty, and removing and replacing things at random is not going to end well.

Lillymoo01

I'd make an appointment to see a registered dietitian (not a nutritionist who can have questionable qualifications) to work out a diet most suitable for you and your medical conditions. The macros given by your doctor seem very strange indeed. I have never seen recommendations of protein anywhere near that high before. Not only would these macros be very difficult to achieve your grocery bill would be expensive with so much meat required.

rheddmobile

There's no need to go full keto in order to improve your risk for diabetes. In terms of insulin resistance, exercise is just as important as diet. On the diabetes support group here we have members who eat high carb, moderate carb, and low carb diets who are all well controlled - losing weight by any means is more important than exactly how you lose it.

Try to restrict the quick acting carbs (soda, etc) you consume. One crown and Coke per day shouldn't be a huge problem. Fruit, despite having a lot of sugar, also has enough fiber that it doesn't cause glucose spikes as badly as you might expect - in fact studies have found that eating multiple servings of fruit daily was associated with a lowered risk of diabetes.

In terms of exercise, high intensity exercise improves insulin sensitivity, so does weight training. If you can get in a short walk after a meal, that also helps. And lowering stress helps, since cortisol, a stress hormone, blocks the operation of insulin. Is there any way to make your job less stressful, or change jobs? My observation has been that stress is an even bigger factor than exercise or diet for me. My glucose levels rise thirty points and stay there if my husband and I have a fight over breakfast, or if I have a mild illness.

HeidiCooksSupper

Lately, I've noticed more and more folks getting these 1200 calorie recommendations from their physicians. Something must have crossed their paths, an article or just a side squib in something they read, a recent blurb on weight in a diabetes drug ad, whatever, and they are just going with it.

Very few physicians in the US (and in Britain, too, I suspect) have had much if any training in nutrition. They also don't have time to read up on it. After a long day of seeing patients, they have to learn about new diseases and treatments that seem more important than our weight. So, I cut them some slack. I have time to research the latest info on weight control. It's among my top concerns. So, quite honestly, I know more than my physician about something that concerns me.

My GP told me to cut out junk food and exercise and pooh-poohed calorie counting. He and I will have another battle when he checks my stats in 3 months and still insists that I must have cut out junk food and that calorie counting doesn't work. "Just exercise 15 minutes a day and you'll lose weight." I've told him for years that I don't eat junk food and that I knew I ate too much.

NewFola2012

jemhh wrote: »

What are your sex, height, weight, age, activity level outside of exercise, and what/how much exercise do you do?

I am female, 5'7", 285, 36, low activity due to a desk job. I just started the exercising but I plan on three days 30 minutes to start for now.

NewFola2012

Thank you all for your advise i am glad to know I am not crazy thinking that was a crazy expectation. I appreciate all the knowledge and advice given and I will take it into account with my diet. I will look into the dietician also.