About ready to give up

Wow

I just sent a 30 day log to the nutritionist who works at my endocrinologist's office to see if she could spot anything that I was missing.

Her response

[/b]"I reviewed the nutrient distribution and totals. Excellent work at tracking and measuring.
If no weight loss has been achieved, I would consider a more drastic Calorie restriction between 1200 - 1500Cal per day, 120 to 140g of carbs per day"[/b]

That is borderline starving when working out 5-6 days a week? Right? That would have me netting, at 1200 calories per day, approximately 920 calories per day (on average). At 1500, I would be netting 1220 calories on average per day. I am lifting heavy 3 days a week, doing cardio/HIIT stuff 3-4 days a week.....my jaw literally dropped reading this

I started my 'get in shape journey' last September just to get rid of some flab. My wieght had been stable for years, I just wanted to lose a tad. After a few months of actually getting in shape (and eliminating evening glasses of wine/beer during the week at home), I upped my workout game and really started tracking calories (though one would think if my weight had been stable, and I then started eating less and working out, I would maybe lose a few).

(snipped)

I weigh almost exactly the same as when I didn't do anything (watch what I ate or exercised), as wehn I ate 1400 calories a day, as when I ate 1800 calories per day....it is MADDENING.

I DO have other health issues- Type 1 diabetes (which means even before I started weighing my food, I was really really good at eyeballing servings since my insulin doses depend on figuring out what I am ingesting) and Lupus, and have read anecdotal evidence that the higher your bloodsugar runs, the harder it is to shed weight...but I am in very good control (any insulin dependent diabetic will usually still have sugars running a tad higher than normal) and my doctor says that probably isn't true.....

So a few weeks ago, I moved my goal back to 1700...and nothing

(snipped)

I do wear a HRM, I do own and use a foodscale (any concerns about 1 cup, etc- please know that if the serving is 1 cup and it also notes in in grams on the label, often when I scan the barcode only the cup quantity shows- so I weigh in grams and convert to cups). I do drink more than 8 glasses of water per day (other than black coffee, it is all I drink on a regular basis)

And yes, there are 'not great' days- mostly when I am traveling for work, but I have really been trying to keep it in control- those days usually involve me waking up at 3:30 AM for an early flight and getting home at 8 PM...so a very long day.

I just do not know what to do anymore

Alli;

You've received just about every single pearl of "conventional wisdom" the low cal / low fat / exercise lemmings have in their arsenal - not the least of which the "nutritionist" so dutifully parroted. (Not her/his fault, necessarily, as that is likely the result of the "training" they received but it IS their fault for not having questioned the results of their recommendations and asking "why?"

Is it possible that the paradigm (low cal, low fat, exercise) is simply WRONG?

Possible that the fact that there were NO studies that proved (even close to) conclusively that it made sense and produced the desired results?

Possible that for every study you can show that exercise is a necessary component of LONG TERM weight loss and maintenance, I can show you 10 that show that it's not? (Not saying exercise isn't necessary, it IS, but for reasons other than weight loss/maintenance.)

Is it possible that your "doc" just plain doesn't know what s/he's talking about (or that you misinterpreted what s/he meant) when s/he tells you that body insulin levels (not injected or ingested) don't have "much to do..." with creation of fat and/or muscle - or the required levels of injected insulin?

Possible that it really IS all about diet and the proper balance of carbs, cals, fats, and proteins?

Possible that "insulin resistance" is at the root of weight control and not exercise or cal intake?

As a T1D (which is a completely different scenario than T2) there is no "cure" (yet) but recent studies have demonstrated that with proper diet (irrespective of exercise) it IS possible to reduce (but not eliminate) the need for injected insulin.

My advice would be (especially since you are T1D) do NOTHING, YET - as far as your current diet/exercise regimens are concerned (ie ignore just about all the "pearls" above).....

BUT, spend some time educating yourself about WHY many current researchers, doctors, and forward thinking, well respected, leaders in the field believe the paradigm IS simply wrong (not the "....it's the fat that's killing you..." pablum spouted by the lemmings), and you might want to consider a major change.

I haven't looked at your diet details but from the general tenor of the discussion, it's apparent that what you are currently doing (based on what you "believe" and have been told by the "experts"), simply isn't producing the results you were promised (or were led to believe it would).

If it's any consolation, you're not alone - there is a plethora of "evidence" that demonstrates that it doesn't work.

Rather than obsessing about how many "reps" you do, exactly how many cals you eat, or any of the hundred other useless "common knowledge" suggestions you've received - spend some time researching the available literature and THEN ask your docs (and the nutritionist) if THEY are aware of it and ask them to explain why what you've learned doesn't make sense and might not just be a better path for you to follow.

Ask them to "prove" to you where what you've learned is not valid - and more importantly, ask them to show you the "science" that proves that their recommendations are "right" and your new-found knowledge is "wrong" .

Here's a start:
http://eatingacademy.com/nutrition/how-did-we-come-to-believe-saturated-fat-and-cholesterol-are-bad-for-us

Yes, it's a "blog" - but he's also an MD and very highly respected in the field. Poke around the entire site and you'll find a wealth of information that, unlike much of that your current "experts" have professed, actually IS based on solid science.

If an open mind demands that you dig a little deeper I'd suggest spending what might be the best 10 bucks you've ever spent on this book first (and no, I don't have any financial interest or a "referral" link)
"Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It" - Gary Taubes (kindle book, or hard print, amazon)

Search for "Gary Taubes" (without the quotes) on YouTube and you'll find a bunch of excellent videos of presentations he's given to medical professionals around the world.

Best of luck