Has anyone seen a dietician?

I do through the VA (veterans hospital) we have a program called moves and its run by a dietitian who gives info and weighs you. A dietitian can give alot of advice on weight loss and can give weekly meal plans that you can follow. They are more trained in weight loss then a doctor

I have used several different dietitians and it really depends on the individual if it will be helpful or not. Just like doctors, there are really great ones out there and ones that just do it for the paycheck and don't really care or stay up to date on information.

Some of the really great ones I've used, have been able to give me recipe suggestions, give me ideas to up my protein intake or even just help me find foods I like that would work around my food plan.

Whatever you decide to do, just make sure they are willing to work with you. After all, at the end of the day, YOU are the one that has to follow their suggestions and actually prepare and eat the food.

i'm actively working with a group of RD's who specialize in sports nutrition to tailor my food for my training needs - although they do work with other folks too

they give me my goal macros to hit, i leave daily notes on workouts, how I feel etc, log weight daily and they check in with my every 2 weeks for reviews

yellingkimber wrote: »

I saw one through my university and she was absolutely useless. She basically printed out an outdated food pyramid and said "do this". That was it. Never mentioned calories. MFP forums have been way more helpful.

Holy moley! Same experience here with the sheet except it wasn't the food pyramid, it was that standard diabetic diet thingie (I'm not diabetic). I asked her if she had one without wheat as I am gluten free and she stared at me in puzzlement and then stuttered, "But our whole society is based on wheat. I don't think you can do this diet without wheat."

OMG! I mean literally...she could do nothing other than give me that one specific sheet. That was the full extent of the knowledge she was able to provide. BTW, the diet was 1200 calories. She informed me all her female patients were given a 1200 calorie diet. I asked, "Even if they're half a foot taller than I am? Or 20 years older?"

"Yes, because this is the average that has been found to work for the general population."

I seriously was looking around for the hidden camera, I thought somebody was playing a joke on me.

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

yellingkimber wrote: »

I saw one through my university and she was absolutely useless. She basically printed out an outdated food pyramid and said "do this". That was it. Never mentioned calories. MFP forums have been way more helpful.

This.

I saw one during my second pregnancy. She had no understanding that people of different weights had different nutritional needs. Her advice was vague and formulaic and, ultimately, completely inappropriate for my situation. Fortunately, I was able to figure that out quickly and adjust it to something that would actually work. The only good advice she gave was the sort of thing anybody with half a brain knows - stuff like "going for a walk is a good idea".

I'm sure there *are* good dietitians out there, but I have no interest in ever seeing one again.

Wow! I think I got lucky with a great dietician, our sessions last an hour maybe more, as she goes through my diary, prints recipes and writes down new goals for me every visit! I guess they really are all different!

Add me to the dietician love side. I mine. She works in the Wellness Center I use. I've had others in the past and never liked them, I was given info like the food pyramids, not given anything specific, like others here. This one is different. I explained that I am a nurse and how long I've been overweight/trying to lose, my weird 7P-7A 3x/week night schedule and my PCOS and she's personalized it all for me. I've been on here longer than I've used her and you can definitely do this without one, but she's been immensely helpful in getting me over plateaus and tweaking my diet with the PCOS. She gets my schedule and has tips on how to make things work for me.

I don't see her on a schedule, just when I need some help tweaking the numbers, or some tough love. She's a friend on here, so she can access my diary. I even bought Girl Scout Cookies from her this year - the subject came up when I was talking about being stressed and eating a full sleeve. I loved the idea of buying cookies from a dietician so I got more.

If it's in the budget and you can find one you click with, it's a tremendous tool and support. I got lucky.

I have mixed feelings about the dietician I saw Dec - March. Here's what she recommended:

1 Focus on protein first (she told me how much protein I should eat per meal.)
2 Focus on eating lots of cooked and raw veggies (non starchy) and small amounts of nuts or avocado.
3 On occasion, if I was still hungry, I could have a small serving of fruit, or 1/4 whole grains.
4 No sugar, no flour, no potato or corn, no diet sodas
5 Three meals per day, no snacks.

I thought it sounded impossible. In 40 years of dieting (and regaining) I had never tried anything so severe. However, after I followed the program for a few days, I began to feel better. My cravings for sweets went away, and as time went on, I felt mentally sharper, emotionally calmer, and my mild depression went away. The weight fell off more quickly than with any other diet I'd tried.

So I'm thankful to her for pushing me to do the "impossible" because I feel so good eating this way, I can see it lasting a lifetime. I'm not unhappy or feeling deprived as I have in all my previous years of dieting or maintaining. I've even felt deprived when I was gaining. I would have to say "no" to myself ten+ times a day and it was exhausting and I would eventually cave. Now I don't have to continually say "no" because I don't often feel tempted. When I do, it's manageable. Low carb agrees with me.

What I didn't like about this dietician is that she did not want me to count calories. She admitted she didn't agree with the 1200 calorie minimum rule, and also admitted that she didn't want me to know how few calories I would eat while following her plan. I counted anyway, and there were some days that I felt satisfied on 800 - 900 calories. If I hadn't been counting, I wouldn't have known I was eating too little.

No doctor or dietician is going to be perfect. You have to be ready to experiment, but also use your common sense.

I saw another dietician last month. She helped me identify my most vulnerable times so that I would recognize what triggered me to eat inappropriately. She taught me some strategies to help me relax and stay confidently in control when faced with temptation. Since I don't feel tempted often these days, I haven't had the opportunity to use it much, but when I have, it's been extremely helpful.