Tips from my weight loss clinic & a question

BubBerry

hi all, I am 3 months into tracking food & exercise on MFP as recommended by a medical weight loss clinic. With 30 lbs to lose my bmi was a little too low for injections and anyway I am wary of the side effects. (Age 70)

i’ve been keeping my cals at 1250 (mostly) and exercising for an hour 3-4 days/week. I feel much better and clothes fit better but my weight has barely budged. 2-3 lbs after 3 months.

My PA says I have to lower fat intake even when staying within calorie guidelines. I’ve been eating more eggs, nuts, meat, & dairy to hit my protein targets, and this may be the problem. Blood test is showing slightly elevated cholesterol. So more chickpeas, poultry, tofu, & tuna in water are in my future.

She suggested I think of each meal as a plate filled as follows: half veg, quarter protein, quarter carbs (including fruit.) Eat the veg, then the protein, and if still hungry eat the carbs.

However, she also suspects I may have to cut calories to 1000/1100 to see results. Yikes. I’m already too hungry to sleep half the time. She told me about an oral appetite suppressant called fentermine. Has anyone tried it?

ccrdragon

fentermine is BAD news… I am really surprised that medical staff are still advising people to take that stuff. Here is a link to the Mayo clinic page on the medication - https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/phentermine-oral-route/description/drg-20075169 - be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page to see the possible side-effects…

LiveOnceBeHappy

How are you measuring your food? You need to weigh and measure all of your food to know how many calories you are actually taking in. Food scales are really inexpensive on Amazon. Wishing you the best.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10941683/tips-from-my-weight-loss-clinic-a-question

I'm not a PA nor do I have any official expert credentials, but I think I don't totally agree with your PA. Maybe.

You might need to change your fat intake for some reason related to your personal health, but fat calories are close to similar in impact to protein or carb calories. It's true that fat requires fewer calories to digest/metabolize - has a lower TEF, thermic effect of food - than protein or carbs. But in the picture of an overall mixed and balanced diet, that calorie effect is quite small. If you're eating mostly saturated fats, it would be common mainstream advice to reduce those if you have high cholesterol. (There are some arguments about the validity of that, but more on the fringes of the nutrition world, TBH.)

Eggs, meats and dairy will tend to be higher in saturated fats. Things like nuts, seeds, avocados, olive oil are higher in unsaturated ones.

The plate idea is very mainstream, too.

If you want to lose weight faster than you have been, then yes, you will need to either eat fewer calories or increase activity (daily life stuff or exercise or both). Changes on the eating side usually have more impact, and over-doing exercise can cause counter-productive fatigue, so any exercise increase most likely should be gradual.

You say you have 30 pounds to lose, but don't say whether your weight itself is currently increasing your health risks, in context of your own health history. Slow loss generically is fine, but if excess weight itself is a threat to health, then faster loss - within reason - may be better. Losing around a pound a month, you'll reach your goal in a bit over 2 years.

I hear you when you're saying you're already feeling too hungry. You could try experimenting with what you eat, or the schedule of your eating, to see if you can improve that. Going back to the plate idea, if you tend to be short on protein, try increasing that. If you're not eating the suggested amount of veggies/fruits, try increasing that. Most people will find so-called "whole foods" more filling than refined or processed foods. If you're eating commercial prepared foods or white-flour versions of bread, pasta, etc., or refined grains like white rice, you could try increasing the fraction of whole grains you're eating.

Some of the veggies and whole grains even stimulate natural production in the body of the hormones that those weight-loss injections mimic. They tend to slow digestive transit, helping us feel more full for longer. However, the effect from the foods is more temporary, the injectable drugs more persistent. I'm not telling you should use the drugs - I didn't - but suggesting you consider increasing eating of the foods that can have that effect. Many of those are among the whole grains, veggies, fruits already mentioned, and a web search would give you more details.

Like others, my understanding is that phentermine can be risky. I'd exercise caution with that, especially since you already feel cautious about the GLP-1 injectable drugs.

Like I said, though, these are not expert opinions, just ones from my own reading and weight loss experience. (As context, I lost about 50 pounds at age 59-60, have been maintaining a healthy weight pretty happily since, now age 69.)

Best wishes!