Doctor recommendation sounds crazy...suggestions

I think the recommendation is extreme, but not as impossible as you may think. I've been doing a low carb diet for about a month and it's really pretty easy to stay below 30 g carbs and 1200-1400 cal a day, although I do not make an effort to restrict fat. It takes your body a week or two to fully adjust to burning fat instead of carbs, but after the first few days I found I no longer had cravings so it's no great sacrifice to stick with three meals a day and eat reasonable portions. I don't count carbs too diligently, I just avoid bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, beans and sweets and eat lots of meat and vegetables. I can eat bacon and eggs for breakfast, tuna salad for lunch with fresh veggies and crackers, and steak and salad for dinner and stil be under 1200 cals and 25 carbs.
Your doctor may have suggested the very low carb plan to kickstarter your weight loss, but you can have some good results with a less drastic approach, but I encourage you to learn more about low carb. Look for some articles by Gary Taubes to learn more.

My husband is diabetic and his literature says a carb count is equal to 15g of carbohydrates, no wonder people get so confused.

To go against the norm here: listen to your doctor, at least for the most part. Don't go to a nutritionist; if you're in the US (and many other countries) "nutritionist" is a meaningless term. I could hang a sign on my door right this moment claiming to be a nutritionist and be doing absolutely nothing wrong, though I'm not qualified.

Your doctor is telling you that to lose a significant amount of weight in a short period of time, eat lower in carbs/fat and higher in protein. There's nothing wrong with that advice for the vast majority of people. Carbohydrates make up a massive portion of the diet of many people; they aren't satiating and people tend to overeat them, causing weight gain. Fat is not bad in and of itself, but all sorts of "bad-for-you" foods like McDonalds or processed/fried products contain a whole lot of it; cutting down on fat tends to cut down on a lot of other nasty things those foods contain. Protein tends to be filling and people seeking it often get it from minimally-processed foods when avoiding the other two macros. I don't see anything really off-base that your doctor is telling you, just things that they're hoping will stick if they say it in a certain way.

You don't have to stick to strict numbers; I certainly don't and I've had a pretty darn easy time losing weight this time around (while being strict was my downfall before). Aim for lower calories and better food choices; the macro levels suggested might cause you to drop the weight faster, but are likely not totally necessary.

Be balanced, pick a calorie level you can maintain and feel comfortable at. Eat balanced - a moderate amount of carbs, protien and good, heart healthy fats.

The whole food route isn't a fad, it works - 102 pounds in 6 months - at about 1,600 calories per day, and I am not hungry, because I eat more veggies than I know what to do with!

WOW!!! awesome job! How much exercise did you do to achieve this?


AND..I agree..pick a number you can live with. I am your size as well and I'm eating 1600 right now.

Your, body most definitely does need carbs. Your brain alone requires about 30% of your daily energy intake (converted to glucose). Some medical references state that 130g should be the minimum. If your doctor stated 10 exchanges then that would be around 150g. A good rule of thumb for macro nutrients would be 40% carbs/ 35% protein/ 25% fat. Not just diabetics, but everyone can benefit from eating 5-6 times per day to keep their blood glucose level stabilized and their metabolism fired. This can mean eating a few crackers with peanut butter or a palm full of almonds, etc. as snacks. Also, I have found that it is best to have protein with your complex carbohydrates in order to offset the insulin response. Protein takes longer to digest and requires more energy.

It is ideal to make gradual caloric reductions based on starting weight because if you make a drastic change your body may think it is starving and will tend to store more of your intake making it more difficult to lose weight. However, some doctors will put patients on very low calorie diets when there are other health concerns involved such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, etc. that may put them at high risk for heart attack or stroke.

I often work 12-14 hour days and tend to have poor eating habits and have put on a lot of weight. I decided to take the same advice I give my patients and the weight is coming back off. Good luck to you!!!

The Atkins plan starts with 30 carbs per day... but when I do it, I shoot for zero. You CAN lose weight this way, of course it's not balanced and some people hate it or think its life-threatening. It's just another diet plan. The good part of going no/low carb is that you don't have to COUNT. I hate all the counting and Atkins forces me to give up all sugars, breads, pastas...and ALL junk food. So mentally it works for some people.

But if that is not your cup of tea then it obviously won't work. Find what works for you.

Any diets that are super restricting like Atkins, South Beach, etc do not work for me. I'm 55 and have yo yo dieted all my adult life. This is working well so far. I like that I can come here and punch in my foods and exercise and it does the work for me.
I have Rheumatoid and Osteo arthritis, COPD, on oxygen 24/7 (RA meds damage and too fat).
THIS IS WORKING and I don't feel cheated. If I want ice cream, I eat it...i just make sure i measure and count it accurately.

I say give it a try at 1400-1600 and see how it goes. Drink alot of water....Good luck

Anybody suggesting she go against her doctors requirements of 1200 cal with 10 carbs needs to re-read her first post. She said exercise is nearly impossible. So if you suggest 1600 or 1800 cals she is going to gain more weight. Can't compare her to yourself if you ate 2400 calories a day and burned 6000 calories a week through exercise. She has to do it ALL through making good choices in her diet.

I don't even know how you would even go that low on carbs? What would you even eat. That pretty much cuts out all fruit. You'd be eating all veggies and meat. I think 10 carbs would be really hard to do. Most of the people I know on low carb do at least 50 carbs.

My opinion runs along the line of following your doctor's advise since they are the ones that went to med school. But I'll put a big BUT in there. Start following MFP and if you are losing weight at a steady pace your doctor will be happy with results and tell you to continue what you are doing. If you aren't losing at a good enough pace, your doctor will let you know when you go back for follow up. Bring your current MFP plan with you and you can both discuss tweaking it if need be. It will also be easier for you to tighten up your plan once you get the hang of calorie counting. It's a slower start, which will make things a bit easier even if you have to drop some calories later.