UGHH ! need opinion

This seemed a bit off to me... I went to my nutritionist who i have been seeing for the last 2 months... My last appointment was yesterday and i asked her if i should eat back the calories that i work off( my calorie allowance is 1300) and she said no not if i want to lose any weight... She also has me oh phentermine... I was looking at peoples posts and reading some articles online and they say its not healthy to go under 1200 calories so does not eating back my calories count as this... I am so confused...

Replies

  • kr1stadee
    kr1stadee Posts: 1,774 Member
    My suggestion is to lose the nutritionist. You do not need phentermine to lose weight.
    Anyone can become a nutritionist (not very credible.. especially if she has you on drugs and eating very little!!)
  • Tatyana130
    Tatyana130 Posts: 30
    The best advice I got (that kind of makes sense to me) is to try to "burn" and extra 1,000 cals per day - 500 through exercise and 500 through calorie reduction. So, if you need 2,000 to maintain weight, you would eat 1500 calories and burn 500 through exercise, netting 1,000 total consumed. This way you lose 2 lbs per week (3,500 is required to burn 1 pound). Technically, you are eating some of your burned calories, but not all.. Hope this helps!
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Maybe your nutritionist knows something the random internet people don't.

    A lot of people have lost weight by eating back exercise calories. If your nutritionist thinks that general concept is wrong, your nutritionist is wrong. If it's a specific requirement for you, it could be valid.
  • alg42
    alg42 Posts: 45 Member
    I go to a nutritionist fairly often because I'm diabetic and she is rally useful for weight loss guidance. She told me to eat back the calories, especially if I'm following a low calorie diet anyway but to make sure you eat it back in things like pulses, fruit, veg ie all the good things I should be eating anyway. Hope this helps :-)
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
    Don't use phentermine.
    Your nutritionist doesn't understand the MFP method. So your choice is to listen to MFP, or listen to this person who is giving you bad advice (phentermine) right from the get go. And seems to want you to under-eat...which is ultimately damaging. Up to you...but I know what my choice would be.
  • Kristendcampbell
    Kristendcampbell Posts: 786 Member
    I agree with the above. I went to a nutritionalist 2 years ago,because I wasn't losing any longer and gaining. WHY? because I was eating 700 calories a day wasn't hungry. She said I should be eating 1500 or more at that point, so I worked on it and of course I messed up my metabolism so I did gain. I gained 17 pounds (some water) My body needed the fuel.

    My suggestion is checkout the Eatmore to weigh less and incorporate weights. I just got the book new rules for lifting for women and its very informative.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    The best advice I got (that kind of makes sense to me) is to try to "burn" and extra 1,000 cals per day - 500 through exercise and 500 through calorie reduction. So, if you need 2,000 to maintain weight, you would eat 1500 calories and burn 500 through exercise, netting 1,000 total consumed. This way you lose 2 lbs per week (3,500 is required to burn 1 pound). Technically, you are eating some of your burned calories, but not all.. Hope this helps!

    If that's the best advice you got, I'd hate to hear the bad advice. Netting 1000 calories a day is not good advice for anyone.
  • cadaverousbones
    cadaverousbones Posts: 421 Member
    Agreed.


    Use this http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

    and this http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

    to figure out how many calories your body burns just being alive... then subtract 10%-20% of the calories from that & that is what you should eat to lose weight healthy.
  • Alissakae
    Alissakae Posts: 317 Member
    The best advice I got (that kind of makes sense to me) is to try to "burn" and extra 1,000 cals per day - 500 through exercise and 500 through calorie reduction. So, if you need 2,000 to maintain weight, you would eat 1500 calories and burn 500 through exercise, netting 1,000 total consumed. This way you lose 2 lbs per week (3,500 is required to burn 1 pound). Technically, you are eating some of your burned calories, but not all.. Hope this helps!

    I think this is good advice. It's basically what I've been doing, and it's working. Personally, I would avoid any kind of drugs - why mess up your body with chemicals? Exercise and eating good food is what our bodies need.
  • andreamarieroberts
    andreamarieroberts Posts: 34 Member
    Drugs R bad, m'kay?
    Seriously, if you want to be healthy, lose the Phentermine. It will stop working after a while anyway. It is an amphetamine. Speed. Like Meth. It will kill your heart, cause you dizziness and give you the shakes, among other things. BAD BAD BAD.
    You CAN lose weight without drugs, and IMHO, it's the only sustainable way to do it.
    Good Luck!
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
    At the end of the day, you should be netting as close to the 1300 as possible, so if you eat 1300, burn 300...then eat the 300 more.

    The goal isn't to go under your calorie goal, it's to hit it and your macros as close as possible. Is this going to happen all day, everyday? Probably not, but if you're hitting it more times than not, then you're going to see progress. Give it time, stick to your goals and exercise as much as you, allow for some off days for parties, holidays, social gatherings, just "one of those days" days...and then get back to hitting those goals.
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
    Is this a nutritionist, ie through a gym or health food store or something, or is it a registered dietician who has MD after her name and works with other doctors/physicians? I wouldn't take much advice from the first, but would from the second (and have).


    Most people who say don't eat back exercise calories dont understand how MFP works. It calculates a deficit without taking exercise into account, so if you don't exercise, you're losing weight, and you should eat back exercise calories. Most other weight loss programs that include calorie counting (or points) already incorporate your exercise into your calorie amount, so you don't eat it back. Where did the 1300 come from - MFP or the nutritionist? If it's MFPs, then eat back your exercise.

    Also, I would get a second (medical -- dietician) opinion on the phentermine. There are a lot of risks involved, and most doctors will only suggest/prescribe weight loss drugs for the morbidly obese. Again, many nutritionists and pseudo-experts will suggest it for everyone -- and then sell it to you themselves. :huh:
  • laurenmanderson1
    laurenmanderson1 Posts: 113 Member
    Anyone can call themselves a 'nutritionist'. They can read a book and say, "Hey! I think I know a lot about these things, I should be a nutritionist!" and therefore they are.

    Look for a Registered Dietician if you want to make sure that the person telling you what to put in your body has actually done the schooling and training required to make those suggestions.

    Otherwise, do your research yourself! There are tons of credible sources out there about how to lose weight. You see something you like, try it. If it doesn't work, try something else! Weight loss is a journey and it takes trial and error because no two people are the same.

    I had about 15lbs to lose when I joined MFP and I typically ate a net 1200 a day. If i burned 500 working out then I would eat 1700 which would equal a net of 1200. If you have more to lose than I did then you might not want to eat so few calories. If you are still hungry at the end of the day, then you are probably not eating enough (although it took me a week or two to for my body to adjust to the fewer calories so take that into consideration when hunger is concerned).
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    The best advice I got (that kind of makes sense to me) is to try to "burn" and extra 1,000 cals per day - 500 through exercise and 500 through calorie reduction. So, if you need 2,000 to maintain weight, you would eat 1500 calories and burn 500 through exercise, netting 1,000 total consumed. This way you lose 2 lbs per week (3,500 is required to burn 1 pound). Technically, you are eating some of your burned calories, but not all.. Hope this helps!

    I think this is good advice. It's basically what I've been doing, and it's working. Personally, I would avoid any kind of drugs - why mess up your body with chemicals? Exercise and eating good food is what our bodies need.

    You'll avoid drugs, but starving is ok.

    Got it.

    You'll mess up your metabolism doing that just as easily as messing up your body from chemicals.
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    The best advice I got (that kind of makes sense to me) is to try to "burn" and extra 1,000 cals per day - 500 through exercise and 500 through calorie reduction. So, if you need 2,000 to maintain weight, you would eat 1500 calories and burn 500 through exercise, netting 1,000 total consumed. This way you lose 2 lbs per week (3,500 is required to burn 1 pound). Technically, you are eating some of your burned calories, but not all.. Hope this helps!

    If that's the best advice you got, I'd hate to hear the bad advice. Netting 1000 calories a day is not good advice for anyone.
    agreed, just terrible advice. Please read the links I provided in a previous reply on here.
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
    Agreed.


    Use this http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

    and this http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/harris-benedict-equation/

    to figure out how many calories your body burns just being alive... then subtract 10%-20% of the calories from that & that is what you should eat to lose weight healthy.
    Sorry are you implying that the OP subtract 10%-20% from their BMR, I think you mean TDEE.
  • bacitracin
    bacitracin Posts: 921 Member
    Maybe your nutritionist knows something the random internet people don't.

    A lot of people have lost weight by eating back exercise calories. If your nutritionist thinks that general concept is wrong, your nutritionist is wrong. If it's a specific requirement for you, it could be valid.

    More likely the nutritionist is uneducated and ignorant of factual science.
  • Lesa_Sass
    Lesa_Sass Posts: 2,213 Member
    OMG, WTF??? I would RUN from anyone that calls themselves a nutritionist that prescribes that horrendous drug.

    Are you going to a weighloss clinic or seeing this person by the way of your doctor or other recommendation?

    TDEE -20%, BEST way to get healthy ever.
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    Maybe your nutritionist knows something the random internet people don't.

    A lot of people have lost weight by eating back exercise calories. If your nutritionist thinks that general concept is wrong, your nutritionist is wrong. If it's a specific requirement for you, it could be valid.

    More likely the nutritionist is uneducated and ignorant of factual science.

    Most likely! But the OP is presumably paying for the service, and none of us know anything about the OP or the nutritionist.
  • Kai81109
    Kai81109 Posts: 52 Member
    no she is also my family doctor
  • bsuew
    bsuew Posts: 628 Member
    I'd have to agree lose the Phentermine! I took it years ago ~ yes I did lose the weight but didn't learn how to eat correctly and gained it all back and lots more! I don't have any proof but about a year after taking it for over a year I found I had a cyst on my overy. In a 6 month period of time it grew to a size of a large grapefruit. After reading (on line) and talking about what happened to my doctor he said I wasn't the first that had said this same thing. I was 36 at the time and had to have hysterectomy.

    But the biggest reason I say don't take it, is because you don't really learn how to change the habit you have gotten into. You can do it without the pills! Yes, it can be hard work but so worth it in the end!

    Good luck!
  • kr1stadee
    kr1stadee Posts: 1,774 Member
    no she is also my family doctor

    Run.. far away from her (and then eat back those calories you burned from running!)
  • caly_man
    caly_man Posts: 281 Member
    The best advice I got (that kind of makes sense to me) is to try to "burn" and extra 1,000 cals per day - 500 through exercise and 500 through calorie reduction. So, if you need 2,000 to maintain weight, you would eat 1500 calories and burn 500 through exercise, netting 1,000 total consumed. This way you lose 2 lbs per week (3,500 is required to burn 1 pound). Technically, you are eating some of your burned calories, but not all.. Hope this helps!

    hey Tat, who ever gave you that advice is really setting you up for trouble in the future, i'm sure that wasnt their intention, but think of it this way, do you really want to burn 500 calories per day in exercise for the rest of your life? or even until you get to goal weight? what would happen if you couldn't exercise like that anymore? It's almost a perfect recipe for failure.

    learning how to create a modest deficit,. 500 cals per day, through food alone will teach you to make better food choices, portion control, and other food lessons that will last a lifetime

    and yes, i love physical activity, but i know there's going to be periods in my life when i wont have time to exercise, heck, it's exactly how i got fat. by continuing to eat like a 20 year old while not being as active as I once was.
  • Kai81109
    Kai81109 Posts: 52 Member
    no she is also my family doctor

    Run.. far away from her (and then eat back those calories you burned from running!)


    lol
  • broox80
    broox80 Posts: 1,195 Member
    I dont want to discourage you, I am just sharing my experience. I was on Phentermine and could barely eat. I lost about 30 pounds and then my Dr. took me off because being on them for over 3 months can cause damage to your body. So I stopped taking them and could NOT get full. I tried just to use will power (this was before I found MFP) and just could not do it. I gained back all of the weight I had lost and then some. In my opinion it is a quick fix and does not last. My doctor also suggested I have a very low calorie diet. That is something I cannot sustain forever either. I am going to eat big meals, not so good for me meals, etc. I just have my cals at 1500 and try to exercise on an almost daily basis. The weight is coming off very slow, but its going in the right direction. Good luck to ya!!!!
  • Kai81109
    Kai81109 Posts: 52 Member
    thank you everyone for your information... gonna drop the phentermine and see about a new doctor/nutritionist... your opinions were very very helpful
  • MustangUSN
    MustangUSN Posts: 28 Member
    I went to a nutritionist too for guidance and she said that I could use my exercise calories to manage my food intake. She said that what she didn't want to happen was for my body to get used to just a specific calorie intake...that wouldn't lend itself to weight loss. Meaning, some days I eat some calories back and some days a I don't, but I don't make a concerted effort to eat them back if I'm not hungry. This has allowed me to eat the foods I love with some modification as to portion and type...and still get enjoyment out of the food. So far, I've lost weight and with a lot less exercise than I planned for. Though as other posts have mentioned, everyone is different. I do think it is time for a 2nd opinion...meaning, maybe a check in with another nutritionist. Yes, and not all nutritionists are the same, as different states require different levels of education for certification vs. licensing. I believe we know what's best for our bodies, or at least know instinctively when something just doesn't feel right....so trust your instincts and a bit of common sense.
  • amraf1024
    amraf1024 Posts: 74
    The way it was put to me when I asked about workout calories was


    The deficit in calories is already done when you figure your TDEE as your normal routine. Then if you add more exercise or activity the idea is to eat those calories back so you don't have too large of a deficit.


    This, this, and more of this.

    The number of calories that MFP or most online calculators give you already factor in the fact that you are trying to lose. They build in a calorie deficit so you would be losing even without exercising. When you do exercise, you're burning off even more calories so when you eat them back (to the number that you got from MFP) you're still in a deficit.


    Just copy and pasted made sense to me...