Question about dietitian
airforceman1978
Posts: 100 Member
Ok my normal dietitian has gone on vacation. So I had to see her intern today. She suggested I cut my calories even more then I have. Some context I am a 6.4 man I am big bone and weigh 372 pounds. Right now I am staying on a 2000 calorie a day and losing 4 to 6 pounds a week. She suggested I start only eating 1,500 calories a day now some days I am at 1,500 if I'm full but I would think this would be to drastic considering the pace of my weight loss is at now. What do you all think.
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Replies
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airforceman1978 wrote: »Ok my normal dietitian has gone on vacation. So I had to see her intern today. She suggested I cut my calories even more then I have. Some context I am a 6.4 man I am big bone and weigh 372 pounds. Right now I am staying on a 2000 calorie a day and losing 4 to 6 pounds a week. She suggested I start only eating 1,500 calories a day now some days I am at 1,500 if I'm full but I would think this would be to drastic considering the pace of my weight loss is at now. What do you all think.
If you are staying at mostly 2000 calories per day how are you creating an extra 1000 per day calorie deficit on your 6 pound weeks?
What is your average loss per week over the last 4 weeks?
To answer your question I assume your normal dietitian will be back next month. There is no reason to change anything before then.
I think it is a terrible idea. It is going to take you a long time yet to lose all the weight you need to lose. Sacrificing additional nutrition for speedier results is not wise.
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Did she mention why she wanted to you to lower your calories? Faster weight loss is not always better. At your height, 1,500 seems too little.11
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No she didn't. My sedentary bmr for 2 pounds a week is 2249 and I average 5 to 8 thousand steps a day2
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I say ignore the intern and talk to your normal dietician when she comes back.16
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You are losing a significant amount of weight now. It sounds like your plan is working. Why try to change it up now? 200 sounds like a good number for you. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.10
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The other thing to consider is that the holidays are coming up. Last year I went to a 50 percent deficit on the days right around the holidays so I could enjoy additional treats. On the actual holidays I ate maintenance plus 50 percent.
Going to a steeper deficit seems like a good way to end up feeling deprived and hangry.5 -
airforceman1978 wrote: »Ok my normal dietitian has gone on vacation. So I had to see her intern today. She suggested I cut my calories even more then I have. Some context I am a 6.4 man I am big bone and weigh 372 pounds. Right now I am staying on a 2000 calorie a day and losing 4 to 6 pounds a week. She suggested I start only eating 1,500 calories a day now some days I am at 1,500 if I'm full but I would think this would be to drastic considering the pace of my weight loss is at now. What do you all think.
If you are staying at mostly 2000 calories per day how are you creating an extra 1000 per day calorie deficit on your 6 pound weeks?
What are you getting at? It sounds as though you're asking the OP to account for the non-linear nature of weight loss, but I know you know better than that, so clearly I'm not understanding the point you're trying to make.
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airforceman1978 wrote: »Ok my normal dietitian has gone on vacation. So I had to see her intern today. She suggested I cut my calories even more then I have. Some context I am a 6.4 man I am big bone and weigh 372 pounds. Right now I am staying on a 2000 calorie a day and losing 4 to 6 pounds a week. She suggested I start only eating 1,500 calories a day now some days I am at 1,500 if I'm full but I would think this would be to drastic considering the pace of my weight loss is at now. What do you all think.
I wouldn't do it, and I'd tell/ask your normal dietitian about it when she returns from vacation, but she should know about the questionable advice her intern is giving to her patients, since she's likely got some liability exposure here.11 -
It’s not a horrible idea but, based on the context you have provided, it doesn’t sound like a very good one either. If you are truly losing 4-6 lbs a week I’m not sure why you would need to speed that up. In your case it would not be unhealthy, but I also think that fitting things into a lifestyle is important as well.
Kudos also for being one of the few people to spell dietitian correctly.8 -
If you are losing weight at that rate, I'm shocked she would suggest you lower your calories even more! I'm a 5'6" woman and when I was at 185 my dietitian had me at 1,500 (for a goal of about .5-1 lbs a week). For a man nearly a foot taller and 200 lbs heavier that seems crazy!
I wonder if she is super new and somehow thinks that 1,500 is just what people need to eat to lose weight and isn't taking individual factors into account?8 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »airforceman1978 wrote: »Ok my normal dietitian has gone on vacation. So I had to see her intern today. She suggested I cut my calories even more then I have. Some context I am a 6.4 man I am big bone and weigh 372 pounds. Right now I am staying on a 2000 calorie a day and losing 4 to 6 pounds a week. She suggested I start only eating 1,500 calories a day now some days I am at 1,500 if I'm full but I would think this would be to drastic considering the pace of my weight loss is at now. What do you all think.
If you are staying at mostly 2000 calories per day how are you creating an extra 1000 per day calorie deficit on your 6 pound weeks?
What are you getting at? It sounds as though you're asking the OP to account for the non-linear nature of weight loss, but I know you know better than that, so clearly I'm not understanding the point you're trying to make.
I do not make a point with questions. I will sometimes ask them to help the OP arrive back at the correct answer. Also, if you bothered to read the VERY next question you will see I asked for the average.
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »airforceman1978 wrote: »Ok my normal dietitian has gone on vacation. So I had to see her intern today. She suggested I cut my calories even more then I have. Some context I am a 6.4 man I am big bone and weigh 372 pounds. Right now I am staying on a 2000 calorie a day and losing 4 to 6 pounds a week. She suggested I start only eating 1,500 calories a day now some days I am at 1,500 if I'm full but I would think this would be to drastic considering the pace of my weight loss is at now. What do you all think.
If you are staying at mostly 2000 calories per day how are you creating an extra 1000 per day calorie deficit on your 6 pound weeks?
What are you getting at? It sounds as though you're asking the OP to account for the non-linear nature of weight loss, but I know you know better than that, so clearly I'm not understanding the point you're trying to make.
I do not make a point with questions. I will sometimes ask them to help the OP arrive back at the correct answer. Also, if you bothered to read the VERY next question you will see I asked for the average.
No, need to be hostile. I'm asking an honest question. And the question that followed the sentence I asked about is irrelevant to the issues I see in the sentence I asked about.If you are staying at mostly 2000 calories per day how are you creating an extra 1000 per day calorie deficit on your 6 pound weeks?
As phrased, the question assumes that the OP's weight changes must linearly reflect the energy balance in a given week. Perhaps the OP is not creating an extra 1000 per day calorie deficit in 6 pound weeks. Perhaps 6 pound weeks occur relative to water retention lows for whatever inflammation, hormone, or sodium issues might be relevant. Perhaps 6 pound weeks occur relative variations in food volume (not calorie consumption) that create variations in the amount of food in the digestive system.
The question sounds as though you're asking the OP to explain the specifics of the nonlinear nature of their weight loss, which if we're not living under laboratory conditions, none of us can do more than speculate about. Since the question seems so absurd, and since I've known you've been around long enough to know that weight loss is not linear, I am honestly at a loss as to what useful information you hoped to obtain from this question, or whether there was some aspect of the situation or your question that I was missing. So I BOTHERED to ask. Thanks for assuming good faith on my part.6 -
I am not having a great day so I am probably more annoyed than I should be at having a post dissected. If you know me then you could have just assumed the question was poorly worded or I was distracted when I wrote it... after all this is a message board.
Anyway I have no intention of rubbing you the wrong way further. if that has happened, and my unhappy mood remains so I am going to back away now.8 -
With a lot of weight to lose I would say sustainability should be at the forefront of your mind - if you evaluate any suggested changes against the criteria of making sustainability/adherence more or less difficult I think you would probably reject the suggestion of dropping your calorie goal.
I'm not really seeing why the intern would suggest an even faster rate of loss unless they believed you have an overriding medical imperative to lose weight at the fastest rate possible.2 -
With a lot of weight to lose I would say sustainability should be at the forefront of your mind - if you evaluate any suggested changes against the criteria of making sustainability/adherence more or less difficult I think you would probably reject the suggestion of dropping your calorie goal.
I'm not really seeing why the intern would suggest an even faster rate of loss unless they believed you have an overriding medical imperative to lose weight at the fastest rate possible.
Q.F.T.1 -
With a lot of weight to lose I would say sustainability should be at the forefront of your mind - if you evaluate any suggested changes against the criteria of making sustainability/adherence more or less difficult I think you would probably reject the suggestion of dropping your calorie goal.
I'm not really seeing why the intern would suggest an even faster rate of loss unless they believed you have an overriding medical imperative to lose weight at the fastest rate possible.
I don’t have the references at my fingertips, but there have been a couple of studies in recent months that have raised questions about the whole “sustainability” issue. In these studies, not only did the lower-calorie (like under 1000 calories a day) initially lose more weight, but they kept it off better and longer as well.
It kind of flies in the face of our conventional wisdom and seems so counter-intuitive, that I am having little trouble getting my head around it as well. As with all research, it is not definitive and doesn’t address all the issues, but it has certainly made me more cautious in my advice and it may explain some of the RD intern’s reasoning. (Although I still go back to —if OP is losing 4-6 lbs per week, why the need to speed that up?).
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Ty all for the help1
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With a lot of weight to lose I would say sustainability should be at the forefront of your mind - if you evaluate any suggested changes against the criteria of making sustainability/adherence more or less difficult I think you would probably reject the suggestion of dropping your calorie goal.
I'm not really seeing why the intern would suggest an even faster rate of loss unless they believed you have an overriding medical imperative to lose weight at the fastest rate possible.
I don’t have the references at my fingertips, but there have been a couple of studies in recent months that have raised questions about the whole “sustainability” issue. In these studies, not only did the lower-calorie (like under 1000 calories a day) initially lose more weight, but they kept it off better and longer as well.
It kind of flies in the face of our conventional wisdom and seems so counter-intuitive, that I am having little trouble getting my head around it as well. As with all research, it is not definitive and doesn’t address all the issues, but it has certainly made me more cautious in my advice and it may explain some of the RD intern’s reasoning. (Although I still go back to —if OP is losing 4-6 lbs per week, why the need to speed that up?).
I've seen some of the same and would surmise that there is an element of high motivation plus the reward of dramatic change reinforcing that motivation week on week. "I can stick with this hardship because I'm seeing results" perhaps?
A bit like project work - most people can achieve high motivation for a short time seeing the end goal coming tangibly closer but not everyone can chip away at a very long duration project when the ultimate goal is far in the future.
What is less clear is the drop out rate of different approaches. (Like many long term overweight people I failed many times before I succeeded.)
But like you when a very rapid weight loss is already being achieved for the OP I'm just not seeing the driver to change things. New broom syndrome?1 -
I would disagree with those who are telling @airforceman1978 to totally ignore the intern's advice. I believe he should ask about, understand the reasoning and ask if the regular dietitian is in agreement. Probably more likely than the intern going rogue and dropping his calories, was the regular dietitian reviewed and discussed his case with the intern and directed the intern to put him on 1500 calories a day in her absence.
Unfortunately the poster is currently morbidly obese (although congrats on making the steps to turn his life around and progress so far) which can be a different ballgame than losing a few pounds and we don't know if there are any other immediate health issues being addressed.
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »I would disagree with those who are telling @airforceman1978 to totally ignore the intern's advice. I believe he should ask about, understand the reasoning and ask if the regular dietitian is in agreement. Probably more likely than the intern going rogue and dropping his calories, was the regular dietitian reviewed and discussed his case with the intern and directed the intern to put him on 1500 calories a day in her absence.
Unfortunately the poster is currently morbidly obese (although congrats on making the steps to turn his life around and progress so far) which can be a different ballgame than losing a few pounds and we don't know if there are any other immediate health issues being addressed.
Surely that should have been explained at the time if that were the case. Presumably the regular dietician is going to be back in a week or two, so there would be no harm in staying with what is currently working for OP until they return for the sake of an extra 2lbs.5 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »I would disagree with those who are telling @airforceman1978 to totally ignore the intern's advice. I believe he should ask about, understand the reasoning and ask if the regular dietitian is in agreement. Probably more likely than the intern going rogue and dropping his calories, was the regular dietitian reviewed and discussed his case with the intern and directed the intern to put him on 1500 calories a day in her absence.
Unfortunately the poster is currently morbidly obese (although congrats on making the steps to turn his life around and progress so far) which can be a different ballgame than losing a few pounds and we don't know if there are any other immediate health issues being addressed.
None of that matters. He should wait for the RD to return and make sure that going faster and risk adherence is or advisable. Losing another 500 calories a day while already in a steep deficit is harsh.5
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