So, I went to a dietician....
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LiminalAscendance wrote: »According to you, you already know what to do; your issue is adherence. Therefore, it doesn't matter what the dietician recommends, since you're not going to follow his advice anyway (I love these "bash the so-called-professionals" posts).
And I wouldn't worry about losing muscle mass, if you're not losing any weight.
Considering a dietitian has no professional training/schooling in weight lifting, I wouldn't take his advice on it. I'm a professional, would you take my advice on something I have little to no knowledge about?
Also, why is losing muscle mass ok? The object is to lose fat tissue. Not just anything to make the scale go down.
OP mentioned shrinking when doing weights - that sounds like some progress was being made.5 -
I have a rule with getting haircuts that I won't let someone with a bad haircut touch my hair. I would feel the same way about an overweight dietician.13
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There are so many better dietitians. Can you see another one with those free consults? Of course I'm not saying that you need to always seek someone who agrees with your own beliefs as sometimes they will have different opinions. However, It is important that you feel they are giving you sound advice. Advising you not to lift weights may help the scale read less sure, but you will also lose muscle and possibly bone mass over time. Maybe see if you can find a trainer or a dietician with a fitness background? Having good role models has been motivating for me. I have also had doctors telling me to do an hour of cardio, eat 1400-1600 calories a day and no lifting, low fat vegetarian etc and it contradicted a lot of things i know my body does not respond well to. Seek 2nd opinions, and 3rd, etc.2
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MarilynCurves wrote: »crzycatlady1 wrote: »I'd just enter your current stats here into MFP and then follow the calorie deficit that it gives you (I'd chose the 1lb a week option). Make sure you're using a food scale, set to grams, and then track all your food in the tracker.
As for exercise, it's nice, but it's not what matters for weight loss-eating at the correct calorie deficit is. If you haven't been losing weight then you've been eating too many calories.
As for meal frequency/timing-that's a preference thing and again, is not important for weight loss. If you do better with more frequent, smaller meals/snacks then do that. If you do better with a couple bigger meals, then do that. All that matters is that at the end of the day/week you've hit your calorie deficit target.
Many thanks for your advice. You're right. MFP has worked for me just fine in the past. I need to get back to basics. It just feels like everything got LESS effective when I joined the gym. I'll have to pick it all back up and stick with it!
I went to a dietician once. I bought months worth of my food log to see if she could help me by making recommendations on eating more of this or that, eating a little less of this or that... and all she did was pull out the toy foods and ask if that was the portion size I was eating. She didn't even glance at my food diary. When I said that I have a food scale in response to the toy haunch of steak, she just said "Oh, well, you're doing everything right. Why don't you go see an endocrinologist and he'll probably put you on metformin?"
Well, I refused, because I wanted to make sure that I was doing everything I could before turning to a medication. Although my weight loss is stalling to a painfully slow rate (which is my fault) my pant size keeps dropping. They're dropping because I've been doing Strong-lifts 5x5. YAY SQUATS!
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I'd bet the reason the scale wasn't moving when you were going to the gym was because you were eating more than you thought. Exercise tends to make most people hungrier.
I'm a (hopefully) former yo-yo dieter myself and one of my problems in the past with logging was I always log after I eat, but sometimes I would mean to do it after a snack and forget and forget I ate said item. I would make sure you are logging every piece of food and liquid that goes in your mouth and weighing everything accurately.
I've always felt personally that dieticians were a waste of time unless you had a special circumstance were you couldn't eat a lot of fat or gluten or had to be low carb. Otherwise, what exactly are they suppose to tell you ? My best friend who is heavily obese went and saw one and the advice was basically, "eat less move more."2 -
it can be frustrating when you are working out and trying hard and then don't lose! I can relate. I agree with getting a food scale. Also for your height 132 is pretty aggressive. Maybe shoot for 150 or make mini goals...3
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Did you ask why he suggested to stop lifting?2
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You already know exactly what you need to do, which is why you're questioning what the dietitian told you. Limit your calories, workout, and you'll lose.
You have a problem with hunger because it takes a few days of restricting your calories before the cravings will go away. Some also have success in limiting cravings by eating fewer cards and more fat/protein, or by chewing gum, or by drinking zero-cal beverages.
It sucks for a short period, and then it becomes the new normal.
Really, the way to do it isn't to study it, or by talking to a doctor, or by looking for shortcuts. You do it just by doing it. It sucks, and then it's easy.7 -
You sure this isn't a personal trainer being marketed by the gym as a dietician? What are his credentials as a dietician? Almost all the advice he gave you was exercise related -- what does advice on weight training have to do with nutrition?
You're paying him, you're his employer -- the relationship isn't working so it's time to fire him. Just as you would get rid of a mental health professional who wasn't helping you, or a financial advisor who was giving you bad advice.3 -
This doesn't sound like a Dietitian to me...6
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I agree that he's trying to set up a plan that you will notice quick results. You would be surprised how many people give up too soon because they don't see immediate results.
Having said that if you are already questioning him I would say find someone else or work with him as long as you are able to articulate what you want out of the experience.1 -
Look, I don't want to be narrow here, but the man is significantly overweight (or over-fat), right? Even if his advice were solid, it would seem he himself is not able to follow it. So how is it supposed to work for you?
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The reason why you got sick at that point was maybe because you lowered your calories too much and so your immune system got weak. Also, the reason why you don't see the scale moving much when working out might be because you tear down your muscle and then while it repairs itself it retains water. Once your muscles are repaired the water is flushed out of your system, but if you workout consistently you might not get to see that... which gets demotivating. I would suggest perhaps adding more ways of tracking progress, such as measurements?
There are a million ways to go about it of course. You might want to train from the start, but I think if you have a lot if weight to shed you should maybe focus on weight loss and then on body re-composition to see faster results and stay motivated. I have found myself that dieting while working out is kinda hard since it makes me feel ravenous. It's easier to lower your calories when you're less active. Faster isn't always better though... but most importantly just find what works for YOU and do that. The only way to figure it out is by trial and error!
Ultimately, it's all up to you, but it is true that to maintain the most muscle mass as you can while you lose weight you should maintain a good amount of protein in your diet and strength train to ensure you look the best you can once the weight is gone. You won't be building muscle though since you would need to be in a surplus and muscle takes very long to build (like 1-2lbs per MONTH!) so that wouldn't be the reason why you don't see the scale moving. More like water retention as I was explaining.
Hope this helps, good luck on your journey! And remember, it's not about being perfect, it's about progression! Keep grinding and you'll get where you want to be inevitably oxox1 -
LiminalAscendance wrote: »According to you, you already know what to do; your issue is adherence. Therefore, it doesn't matter what the dietician recommends, since you're not going to follow his advice anyway (I love these "bash the so-called-professionals" posts).
And I wouldn't worry about losing muscle mass, if you're not losing any weight.
It wasn't my intention to "bash" anyone. All I meant was that his advice contradicted so much that I'd seen and read in the past, that I came away feeling confused. I also think he should've addressed my concerns a little. Part of my referral for him was to seek help with reflux. He didn't mention it once.
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Great advice here. What a tool. Also, 132 lbs seems low for 5'8".
Also the reason you lost 3 lbs a week at first is because you lost water weight. It's not sustainable at all. Stick to losing 1 lb a week.1 -
Look, I don't want to be narrow here, but the man is significantly overweight (or over-fat), right? Even if his advice were solid, it would seem he himself is not able to follow it. So how is it supposed to work for you?
If the advice is solid then I don't see how the physique of the person giving the advice is relevant as far as the value of the advice.
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Thanks so much to you all! This is why I went ahead and posted - I knew you would give sensible advice and get me back into the right frame of mind. He threw me for a loop. I'm supposed to go back to him for 4 more sessions but I might give it a miss and stick to what I know. Thanks again!4
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LiminalAscendance wrote: »According to you, you already know what to do; your issue is adherence. Therefore, it doesn't matter what the dietician recommends, since you're not going to follow his advice anyway (I love these "bash the so-called-professionals" posts).
And I wouldn't worry about losing muscle mass, if you're not losing any weight.
One can lose muscle mass from disuse, even if one isn't losing weight. It's basically doing a recomp in the wrong direction.0 -
You sure this isn't a personal trainer being marketed by the gym as a dietician? What are his credentials as a dietician? Almost all the advice he gave you was exercise related -- what does advice on weight training have to do with nutrition?
You're paying him, you're his employer -- the relationship isn't working so it's time to fire him. Just as you would get rid of a mental health professional who wasn't helping you, or a financial advisor who was giving you bad advice.
OP said it was a doctor referral.2
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