I am becoming a bit disenchanted with my WLS clinic. I'm losing at a decent rate (down 35 pounds since surgery 7 weeks ago). What I am not happy about is my clinic's mandate that I follow a diet that has me eating no more than 15g of carbs a day, less than 500 calories a day. Plus, this diet should be in place until I lose 75% of my excess weight loss (which, for me, is 100 pounds - or 65 now)

I met with the dietician yesterday and came out of the meeting very frustrated. She didn't like the fact that I ate a yogurt that has 80 calories, 0g fat, and 12g of Protein - why? It has 8 carbs. "You shouldn't be eating more than 5 carbs per meal" was her reply. Mind you, when I eat that yogurt I'm not going over 15 for the day - but no, it's not good because it's more than 5 carbs for the meal. And it's because I'm going over 5 carbs a meal that my weight loss isn't as fast as other people's.

I also mentioned that I'm a little tired of depending on Miralax on a weekly/biweekly basis and that I was concerned my constipation is being caused by a lack of Fiber. She said no, it's not a lack of fiber and that I just need to up my Water intake. Um, I'm already getting between 64-80 a day! And to say fiber isn't an issue is utter BS in my opinion.

It's not just the NUT who says this - it's in the clinic's aftercare manual. I am really tempted to find some other doctor/clinic's aftercare suggestions and follow those for a bit and see what happens.

Edited February 14, 201412 yr by Mel1071

500 calories, plus exercise?

No way. Where would your energy source come from?

Since I exercise 4 days a week, my Nut has me at 1200 calories per day with 80 grams of Protein and with that I don't have to watch carbs and fats because I'm too busy concentrating on protein, so my intake of those two are already at a pretty low count.

Run like hell. No. Seriously. Run like hell.

Just to give you a different perspective, at 7 weeks I was eating less than 500 calories a day. Didn't really get to 800 a day regularly until 3-4 months out. I didn't have a problem with it at all and could not have eaten more. Even now I stick with 800-900 a day without being at all hungry and I exercised from the beginning.

I don't doubt that your nut's program works, but i wouldn't want to follow it personally. If I were in your shoes i think I might look to switch nuts if at all possible. I get a lot of my Protein from dairy, which has carbs. I eat 40-50 g of carbs a day even with avoiding Pasta, bread, rice, potatoes, etc. because vegetables, Beans and dairy have carbs. I also take optifiber and use hemp protein, chia seeds, etc.

Also, the well meaning folks who insist that you have to have 1000-1200 calories a day are not correct. Many of us, such as myself, have slow metabolisms and don't lose with that many calories. I simply maintain at 1200. Wish I was one of you fast BMR folks! Remember, everyone is different and there is no one size fits all for this stuff, only general guidelines. That's why I like reading everyone's different methods. There are some gems to be found now and then, as well as info to avoid (for me at least - might be great for someone else).

Good luck with this.

Edited February 16, 201412 yr by NMJG

Okay, I'm going to keep it short and sweet..

Your Nutritionist, is bonkers.

I've found that most nutritionists are bonkers Well that's not true.. I just think they don't have a lot in the way of real guidelines. I think they're all taught something different, and they take what they've learned and rarely iterate on it.

I'm 6'3, but I was still told to only take in 400-600 calories per day for 6 months, with little to no carbs. It's the same thing they tell everyone, but NOBODY is the same! Hell, I can't survive on 600 calories, let alone 400! I was also told, with a straight face, to only take in that many calories and NO SNACKING W - T - F?! To me that just sounds like a recipe for failure.. there's a reason I got surgery, I've already proven that when I restrict myself too much I go nanners!

I will tell you though, what helped my 'movements' was adding some fat back into my diet. I get almost no Fiber, but with some fat everything is.. um.. smooth sailing?