Ya think it's a good idea??

I went to my Doctor for a yearly chk up and saw that he started a weight loss program at his office. He's been doing it a year now.
He spoke to me about it ..and it's basically this: he puts ya on a diet similar to Atkins but alittle more balanced,ya have to keep a journal of everything ya eat and once a week for 4 wks bring it in and show him,..also he gives you an appetite supresent,and a weekly shot of Vit B to boost metabo. After you've reached yur weight loss goal he puts ya on 3 diff diets that slowly allow you to reintroduce more carbs...and teach you to maintain yur weight .He says it's based on yur sugur levels,etc...When I mentioned this to my 80yr old mom,..she said ..it sounded very much like any diet docs put you on if yur boarder line diabetic...and that it seems fine,...What do you think?BTW, the whole program cost $100.00,...and he told me his more heavy pts.,like 200 lbs or more are loosing 15lbs-20lbs/per month.Is it something you would try?

Replies

  • divemunkey
    divemunkey Posts: 288 Member
    YOu can do it for free and without the added appetite supressant if you just follow a paleo or zone diet. Why pay him $100 when you can buy a book for $20 and use MFP to log you food as you have already been doing, most likely, and that will also teach you how to eat for life. Eating a little more protein and fat will decrease your hunger, so the supressant is likely a placebo anyway.
    It's really not a bad idea at all, but unless you need the extra motivation, it might be a waste of $.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    While a doctor is good at diagnosis, most are lukewarm in knowledge of actual nutrition and diet. Yes a "diet" will help you lose weight, but the reality is that most will restrict or cause you to abstain from foods that you really like to eat. That's when people end up hating their diet and "cheat".
    Better to learn how to eat in portions and moderate the food you like to eat, but making sure that you reach your daily macro/micro nutrient content and stay within calorie limits.
    And that's FREE advice.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
    No, especially the medication part.
  • SparkleShine
    SparkleShine Posts: 2,001 Member
    While a doctor is good at diagnosis, most are lukewarm in knowledge of actual nutrition and diet. Yes a "diet" will help you lose weight, but the reality is that most will restrict or cause you to abstain from foods that you really like to eat. That's when people end up hating their diet and "cheat".
    Better to learn how to eat in portions and moderate the food you like to eat, but making sure that you reach your daily macro/micro nutrient content and stay within calorie limits.
    And that's FREE advice.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    This!!!:flowerforyou:
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    I wouldn't try it, partly because I'm not particularly interested in low-carb diets, but I also don't see why you should pay for something that you can do yourself for free. I also don't think that losing 20lbs a month is ideal, even if you're 200 lbs.

    Ultimately, it's up to you. If you like the idea of the diet he's proposing (promoting) and you think you would be able to maintain the loss, and you can afford it, and you think that doing it through him would give you some extra motivation or something, then it's worth considering. Does he have any information on how successful his other patients have been at maintaining their losses long term?
  • wendylou224
    wendylou224 Posts: 40 Member
    No. Just stick with your calories on mfp and do some cardio like walking everyday. No need to ever take a diet pill. And I refused to pay anything to loose weight. I've lost 75lbs since last March and actually won $600 in various contests with friends.
  • bbgughj
    bbgughj Posts: 219 Member
    Sounds just like the diet Doctor , Where you go in take weight and Measurements , They give you a list of foods too eat , give you a shot and pills for a few weeks and bi weekly visits ... All they give you is appetite suppressant pills .
  • Dave198lbs
    Dave198lbs Posts: 8,810 Member
    While a doctor is good at diagnosis, most are lukewarm in knowledge of actual nutrition and diet. Yes a "diet" will help you lose weight, but the reality is that most will restrict or cause you to abstain from foods that you really like to eat. That's when people end up hating their diet and "cheat".
    Better to learn how to eat in portions and moderate the food you like to eat, but making sure that you reach your daily macro/micro nutrient content and stay within calorie limits.
    And that's FREE advice.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    so...you are saying she should take advice from a total stranger on the internet rather than her real life physician who actually knows her?......alrighty then
  • MyOwnSunshine
    MyOwnSunshine Posts: 1,312 Member
    He's trying to make money.

    I would have been for it, except for the appetite suppressant and b-12 shots. Are you deficient in b-12? Has he tested your serum b-12 levels? If not, why would he want to give you b-12 shots? (hint... $$$$)

    I've been a nurse for 16 years and have worked with lots and lots of docs from all specialties. I know one doc personally who is an excellent internist/hospitalist who also does some medically supervised weight loss stuff (... for the $$$ by the way) and he just provides support and information along with a body fit-type monitor to his patients.

    I'm not down on docs or medicine at all, but doctors are people and businessmen and with Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements being cut, they are looking for ways to bring in patients, especially patients who can pay fees or who have good insurance.

    While his program probably isn't harmful, it's probably not going to help you lose weight and keep it off any more than being an active and committed member of MFP would.
  • TropicalFlowerz
    TropicalFlowerz Posts: 1,990 Member
    Thank you for all your thoughts,..it's given a lot to think about. : )
  • Rogue_Minx
    Rogue_Minx Posts: 71 Member
    Nope. Rather just use MFP and do it for free.
  • Bentley2718
    Bentley2718 Posts: 1,689 Member
    I don't think the appetite suppressants sound like a good idea. Yes, you will lose weight, but what are you going to do when you go off them?

    Also, as others have pointed out, doctors tend not to have very good training on nutrition (these days they typically get less than a semester in med school), so unless your doctor has specific nutritional training, my feeling is that you would be better off seeing someone like a registered dietician. An RD typically knows more about nutrition, and is trained to help you create a diet that will be healthy for you long term (including helping you lose weight if you need to).

    Others have suggested buying a book or just using MFP as an alternative. I don't think seeing an RD (or an MD with nutritional training) means that you can't, or shouldn't read on your own or use MFP. You can do both. What you get with a professional is more personalized advice from someone who knows more about you. You also get accountability during the early weeks, which is often the most difficult time of a major lifestyle change, so if you are someone who starts a diet, and typically quits within a few days, then that might be really important for you. On the other hand, if you don't feel you need that accountability, then it's probably not worth meeting with someone once a week.

    Finally, all of what you are describing are fairly drastic changes to the way you eat. For some people, this type of change works great, for others (myself included) gradual change tends to be much more effective and lasting. If you are like me, and you can find a dietician or other professional who is willing to work with you long term to make more gradual changes, that might be helpful. Note: This might not be a good idea if your weight causing such immediate damage that you have to change your eating *now*.

    Edited to add that I have not have ties to any RD or other nutrition professionals--in other words, I'm not pimping anything. Personally I am someone reads books and makes slow steady changes, including adjustments based on what I have read. I have never seen an RD, but I have found books written by them very helpful.
  • Tricialew32
    Tricialew32 Posts: 96 Member
    While a doctor is good at diagnosis, most are lukewarm in knowledge of actual nutrition and diet. Yes a "diet" will help you lose weight, but the reality is that most will restrict or cause you to abstain from foods that you really like to eat. That's when people end up hating their diet and "cheat".
    Better to learn how to eat in portions and moderate the food you like to eat, but making sure that you reach your daily macro/micro nutrient content and stay within calorie limits.
    And that's FREE advice.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    so...you are saying she should take advice from a total stranger on the internet rather than her real life physician who actually knows her?......alrighty then

    Yes...in this case I would at least discuss this with a nutritionist/ kinesiologist that i don't know rather than my doctor because this is a program NOT designed to her needs but it's a blanket program designed to make money from as many people as possible. I don't trust any program that suggests drugs to all of it's users before assessing them and watching them NOT using suppressants.

    If you are hungry....YOU NEED SOMETHING like food....not drugs to stop it. The best thing her doctor could do is refer her to a nutritionist if he doesn't have time or knowledge to assess her individual case and needs.
  • wendylou224
    wendylou224 Posts: 40 Member
    oh and i forgot to say, take a multi-vitamin. I stake those vitacrave gummy vitamins. they gave me the B vitamin boost i needed
  • acogg
    acogg Posts: 1,870 Member
    oh and i forgot to say, take a multi-vitamin. I stake those vitacrave gummy vitamins. they gave me the B vitamin boost i needed

    Where can I find vitacrave gummy vitamins? I looked for a gummy multi at Walmart, but couldn't find any that weren't for children.
  • SparkleShine
    SparkleShine Posts: 2,001 Member
    oh and i forgot to say, take a multi-vitamin. I stake those vitacrave gummy vitamins. they gave me the B vitamin boost i needed

    Where can I find vitacrave gummy vitamins? I looked for a gummy multi at Walmart, but couldn't find any that weren't for children.

    Do you belong to Costco? They have them there.
  • DoingitWell
    DoingitWell Posts: 560 Member
    Firstly, good job going to the doctor before starting a diet. Secondly read through the entire program or whatever materials he gives you to see if this is something that is appealing to you. Weight loss is appealing to everyone but the means to get it is something else. If it is something that you feel you can't be consistent with, ask him for a different technique.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,029 Member
    While a doctor is good at diagnosis, most are lukewarm in knowledge of actual nutrition and diet. Yes a "diet" will help you lose weight, but the reality is that most will restrict or cause you to abstain from foods that you really like to eat. That's when people end up hating their diet and "cheat".
    Better to learn how to eat in portions and moderate the food you like to eat, but making sure that you reach your daily macro/micro nutrient content and stay within calorie limits.
    And that's FREE advice.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    so...you are saying she should take advice from a total stranger on the internet rather than her real life physician who actually knows her?......alrighty then
    She doesn't need to take my advice. But I bet I look better than her doctor.:laugh:

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • Several of the girls I work with see a dr for the vitamin B shots, appetiete suppressants, plus weekly weigh-ins. Its not a contest but on my own in 8 months I have lost more than all of them combined on this program.

    That being said I was impressed by the dr's scale wich not only weighs you but breaks it down to fat vs water vs muscle percentages. So when 1 girl lost weight by taking a diuretic the dr not only knew but called her out on it. If it was TOM and the water percentage went up the scale also showed that assuring that they were still on track but just bloated. Also one of them was really hitting the weights and although the scale went up it showed her fat percentage droppiing so she was still on the reight track as well.

    So no I wouldn't do it but I know about it and almost signed up at one point. Good luck to you regardless what you decied on doing!