My doctor's recommendation: 1000 calories a day to lose weight??

Sadly most doctors know nothing of nutrition. What he is telling you to do is highly unhealthy and u are right in thinking that you will be starving yourself which in turn will lead you to at one point just binge and gain more weight. Personally I would find another doctor. Also, exercise makes you fit, a calorie deficit allows you to lose weight. Make sure you are using a scale to weigh all your food as measuring cups are fairly inaccurate and cause you to eat more calories than you think you are. Don't go below 1200 calories and ditch that stupid moron of a doctor. Good luck to you!

OP, do you log here on MFP? Could you set your diary to public so we can look at it? When you say you're eating 1300-1400 are you trying to eat that or net that?

My suggestion is that you follow what MFP tells you to eat for your age, height, weight and day activity level (without exercise). Cut back on exercise and work on your food intake for the time being.
At your weight it is probably okay to try losing 2 lbs a week but there should be no reason for you to drop below the minimum reccomendation of 1200. You should be losing weight at 1300-1400 calories. If you aren't then I'd say you are underestimating your calorie intake or overestimating calorie burns. It is easy to do that.
Log as accurately as you can starting today. Get a digital food scale and use it. Weigh and measure everything you consume. Check that the entries you are choosing from the database are accurate.
Weigh yourself on the same scale at the same time of day under the same conditions- morning, after using the bathroom but before eating or drinking. Take body measurements.

I have the same knee issues and use the elliptical. There is not the same amount of impact as a treadmill. Then weigh and measure everything you are eating. You should have had a significant amount of loss by now. 1,000 calories is too little. I eat 1,200 calories a day and work out 5 times a week. I've lost a large amount of weight following that, but it wasn't until I bought a scale to actually weigh the foods. I was eating much larger portions than I thought. Also, start taking some glucosamine and chondroitin as well as turmeric. Both will help with the knee pain. PS... Your Dr sounds like a butt.

kommodevaran wrote: »

What I think he really is saying, is that you need to eat 300-600 calories less than you are now, which is your maintenance level.

Yeah, this. I think doctors often tend to be quite cynical (with reason) about how well people count calories.

The doctor isn't totally wrong. If I'm eat 1400 cal per day and I'm not losing weight I would eat 1200 calories the following week and so on until I start seeing the lbs, but even then I would not go below 1000 calories. As long as your are hitting your macros I don't see 1000 calories being a big problem. Now exercising is great, but diet is key. Make sure you are tracking what you are eating because "guesstimation" tracking never seems to work and most people don't realize they are going over on something. Hitting or staying close to your macros are very important in a diet. As someone mentioned elliptical is a great alternative to running. You could also incorporate weight lifting into your workout. In my opinion working out 2-3 hours a day is overdoing, but that's just me. Also make sure to get somewhere around 8 hours of sleep a day.

Weigh and measure your food. That will make a huge difference.

I wouldn't go any lower than 1200 calories per day.

So, first thing - ditch this doctor and get a new one. Like, ASAP.

Because here's the thing: if your doctor is not LISTENING to you, then how in the name of all that is holy can the doctor have any sort of diagnosis OR advice that is going to work for you? Because he doesn't actually know what's going on.

I mean, say that you aren't logging calories correctly. The first thing a professional should do is NOT to make that assumption and go from there. It's to give you some advice about how to accurately log calories and then come back in a couple weeks so he can SEE how many you are eating from your log. And to accurately log exercise to see how much you are exercising. And THEN he can see how that is affecting you, or not affecting you, you know?

So sorry you've had to go through this - I'm chronically ill, and in our community, we see this a LOT. Where you have something happening that would indicate a potential medical problem, and the doctors see it and simply make assumptions about what it means. Rather than a problem, it's you lying, you misrepresenting what is happening, you inaccurately jotting down what you are eating/feeling/doing. Or in other words, rather than trying to figure out why something is going on that doesn't make sense, they assume it's all something wrong with your mind and methods.


So, as someone who has had to deal with doctors who don't do their jobs, IMHO, I would suggest this.

First...take a day or two to really, really accurately log what you are eating and doing. I would really recommend getting a little food scale to weight portions (you can find some super cheap food scales to weight it at places like Target). See if the results are matching what you are logging right now already. If they don't, and you were eating more than expected, well, problem solved.

But if the results are what you expected - so in other words you are already pretty accurate in your logging - I would go to a new doctor. I would quite literally take a printout of a few 'typical' days of the food you eat and exercise you've done. Having your food weighed can help with this, because it can eliminate any of the 'you might have misjudged the portion size' crap, too. Or basically, you are getting as concrete a set of numbers as you can to give to the doctor, to try and eliminate any bias they might have that would cause them to make incorrect assumptions about you and your activities.

And then discuss your weight, and your concerns about how your food and exercise are not helping. There are a number of disorders and diseases that can prevent weight loss, or cause weight gain (thyroid issues come to mind), so if your logging is accurate, your doctor should definitely be doing some tests.

Sorry you've had to deal with this, but hope that you can find out what's going on soon. *hugs*

Your doctor is a sadist. No need to starve yourself!! Buy a food scale, set yourself up to lose 1lb a week on MFP, start weighing and logging RELIGIOUSLY. You are probably going to be shocked after the first few weeks, I know I was. Exercising is fabulous for creating a deficit, but it isn't the end all of weight loss. CICO is. You can definitely do this, Im still losing weight eating 1400-1900 a day, depending on that days workout. xo

If you really are only eating 1,000 calories you likely won't even have the energy to exercise.

I guess what concerns me most about this post is your cartilage in your knee wearing out at age 23. Perhaps it is your doc's main concern. If you are not losing eating 1300-1400 calories per day plus working out 2-3 hours something is not right. That may be why he is telling you to lower your calories to 1000 and no zumba. You did say he said 700-800 calories first then 1000. It is important to get the excess weight off your knee. It if was not happening at 1300-1400 he is telling you to drop the calories down.

As I said above, I would go to a specialist about your knee and get a second opinion. I don't think cartilage grows back and you are very young, do not take any chances with this.

Doctors are cool and all, but they don't now everything. He doesn't think about you as a whole. I wouldn't follow such a very low calorie diet, it will get you there sure but you know yourself better and if that will cause you to binge then go for slow and steady.

Yes taking off excess weight will help your knee, but reducing high impact exercise should be more priority. I'd agree with his bike suggestion but get a second opinion for calorie intake.

When I had my first visit with a new doc, he let me have a good cry over what I struggle with most. He listened to my preferences I can't give up and helped me make a few goals. He didn't mention a specific calorie count just that I should indeed be counting and keep counting. We made a goal to see a change in 3 months at my next visit. No 1000 calorie diets, no major ridiculous exercise plan (told me to get 30 mins *most* days), and no restrictive "lose 20lbs in 5 weeks". We talked and came up with a plan together and it was great, best experience with a doctor talking about my weight in my whole life. Some ignored the issue and didn't offer any suggestions, other gave strict rules I rebelled against. At the end of the day, you live in your body and you know it best. You can eat less without being miserable. For me, there is absolute misery in eating 1200 calories. Even 1400 is stressful.

Personally, if I were you, I would go see a sports nutritionist. Tell them what the doctor said about calorie intake, and see what they say.

I'm no doctor, but this doesn't seem right at all. I understand the joint aspect, as it very well may be due to excess weight on the joints over a long period of time.

But 1000 or less seems super low, especially if you're still working out... and depending on the nature of your job if you're up a lot, or moving a lot you may require more calories. And no, that's not true. You're body won't "eat fat storage" if you restrict your calories.

Did the doctor mention any corrective actions for the separation? If he/she didn't... then I would call them a quack, and go see another doctor. Everything about this doctor seems wrong.

Wow working out that much is intense! It's a good sign that you lost inches though. What happened to me when I was working out like you is I was over eating ( though I didn't want to admit it) because my body was so exhausted and I wasn't getting enough sleep. I was stressed out! Maybe just try weighing and tracking everything ( don't forget the oils if you heat up something I was forgetting that!) it wouldn't be a bad idea to relax for a bit. I took 2 months off from the gym, I went everyday and just used it like a spa to unwind in the jacuzzi and sauna etc. now I'm tracking everything, working out only 60-70 at the gym then going to relax in the spa for another 40min. Losing about a lb a week now.