Doctor's advice doesn't seem right...

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  • NaomiJFoster
    NaomiJFoster Posts: 1,450 Member
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    My friend had a doctor tell her to eat only mandarin oranges, tuna, hard-boiled eggs, and saltine crackers. And to absolutely stay under 500 calories a day.

    My husband had a doctor tell him to never ever eat yogurt or cheese, but to always drink whole milk. And to eat three hard boiled eggs every morning, chicken breast and broccoli every lunch, and chicken breast and broccoli every dinner. And nothing else ever.


    Not all doctors know what they're talking about.
  • beautifulwarrior18
    beautifulwarrior18 Posts: 914 Member
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    Doctors aren't required to take very many courses in nutrition. Atkins is probably something that worked for your doc so he/she promotes it. If you really want tips on losing weight you'd be better off meeting with a registered dietician and a trainer (I only promote trainers that have bachelor's degrees in kinesiology).
  • vegwrangler
    vegwrangler Posts: 143 Member
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    Wow. I had the same exact conversation with a doctor once. At 5'9" tall and 225 pounds, he actually told me "you don't need to lose weight, but if you want to, you'll have to drop your intake to under 1000 calories per day." You're not alone in the confusion and fear that comes with trying to "do the right thing" and seek advice from a medical professional... and failing.

    You're not alone in this. There are many doctors out there that are more than able to help.
  • RetiredAndLovingIt
    RetiredAndLovingIt Posts: 1,394 Member
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    Wow, I am kinda lucky...I am older, shorter & my Dr told me to not go below 1500. ( I had told her I want to eat as much as possible & yet still lose. Although it is slow going! So yeah for me! lol)
  • Nery_Tay
    Nery_Tay Posts: 81 Member
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    :glasses: My weight has been a plateau for a couple months. When ever I go see the doctors I'm pretty sure they don't know what they are saying when they speak about weight loss.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,950 Member
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    I wonder how much of this is due to the doctor being wrong, and how much is due to the poster not knowing how to communicate with said doctor?

    While everyone is ready to jump on the whining about doctors train, the reality is, that most patients are freaking terrible at knowing how to talk to a doctor, and few people realize that a relationship with a doctor is two way. It's about conversations, working together to make things better, and treating care as a partnership.

    Even then though, yeah, there are good and bad doctors, that's why you should always give your doctor a thorough interview and have no problems challenging their suggestions when logic (not belief) dictates. Any doctor with his degree will review data, and make decisions based on sound research whenever possible, over trends, hype and bs.

    Took me three different doctors before I got to the one I have now. What I have with him is a partnership for health, he's well versed in sports medicine, and knows his limitations.
  • Gidzmo
    Gidzmo Posts: 905 Member
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    I went to the doctor yesterday for a physical, and the visit basically turned into a weight loss consultation. I told her what I've been doing and that I've lost almost five pounds in the past month (I'm at 166, trying to get down to 140).
    Despite my "success" she gave me a series of guidelines that I HAVE to follow or I will "NOT" lose weight. The primary one being that I should only eat 1000 calories per day, absolutely NEVER going over 1200...

    I'm currently set at 1380 per day by MFP and it seems to be working just fine. The doctor also told me that I should eat very little fruit and carbs because of the sugar (which in and of itself is an issue because I'm a vegetarian/almost vegan and eat a lot of fruit and whole grains).
    She's a medical doctor, so I feel like I should listen to what she says, but it seems crazy and impossible to follow. Am I being stubborn?

    She's an MD, but she is not God.

    Fruit has sugar, but it's natural sugar. You need some carbs for energy.
    BTW, you mention that you are a vegetarian. What are you doing for protein?

    I don't think you are being stubborn. You are the one that must live with the effects of following/not following the advice. If you don't think it will work or what IS working for you is good, then leave it (or go with it). Everyone's body is different.
  • MickeyCastello
    MickeyCastello Posts: 269
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    True many doctors aren't savy about weight loss strategies. I offer the following as a case in point.
    About a couple of weeks after I got to goal, I had my yearly physical. My doctor asked me how I did it, and said he really wasn't qualified in weight loss and usually refers patients to a nutritionist. I told him about MFP, and he said he'd heard of it, but hadn't checked it out. Since he was running ahead of schedule, due to a couple of no shows, we talked at length about it. He brought it up on his computer, and I showed him several days of my diary, and a few success stories. He still refers patients to a nutritionist, but he also suggests MFP.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    I wonder how much of this is due to the doctor being wrong, and how much is due to the poster not knowing how to communicate with said doctor?

    While everyone is ready to jump on the whining about doctors train, the reality is, that most patients are freaking terrible at knowing how to talk to a doctor, and few people realize that a relationship with a doctor is two way. It's about conversations, working together to make things better, and treating care as a partnership.
    I feel like also that for many of the 'my doctor said' stories, we're missing crucial pieces of the conversation or things were heard wrong, then re-reported here. I see it with college students all the time-- "My instructor said I need to do X then Y..." when they just heard wrong or read the instructions wrong.

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