Is / was your nutritionist all that helpful?

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Looking back, I don't think my nutritionists (NUT) added all that much to my journey. Both of them offered very basic information that I learned in high school back in the dark ages and already knew from a lifetime of dieting.

I don't especially regret the 3-4 hours I've spent with them over the last year, but wish they'd offered more.

Plus, I see threads here from time to time that make me think some NUTs don't understand much about bariatric surgery or the differences in nutritional requirements for bypass patients and sleeved patients.

Your thoughts?

[FocusOnMeNow 599]

I couldn't agree more. Traffic in my area is really bad. I had to drive over an hour to meet with her for like a 10 minute consultation where she asked me all the same questions I had already answered on the initial questionnaire I had completed two weeks before. What medications are you on? etc. Total waste of my time. AND they did in fact give the band, bypass, sleeve folks all the same booklet. There are a couple of different things in there for band patients which I ripped out, but bypass and sleeve are lumped together. Not helpful. The only thing she told me that I did not know before was that I need to take B12 sublingually. Which I'm still not really sure if that's neccessary for sleeve or just for bypass.

[Bandista 7,466]

Mine was an idiot. Had my two required visits and got no information of use from that source. Took my husband along with me one one appointment and she announced my weight in front of him -- a statistic I had gone to great lengths to conceal (he didn't care but I sure did!). I wanted a different Protein Shake as the one they distribute for two-week pre-op was full of chemicals, artificial sweeteners and dairy-based, which would be a problem for me. I researched an excellent alternative and she fought it. Later when I remarked to the surgeon about the shakes he said, "oh, I'd never put that stuff in my body." AND when we were talking about Breakfast and I said I wasn't really a breakfast person she told me her little boys weren't either and she couldn't get them to eat their Cereal before school. A nutritionist sending her kids off to elementary school with no breakfast? Cereal? Like I said, an idiot.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I found that my nutritionist was very helpful. But you had to ask the right questions.

[onmywaytobeingfound 163]

Mine were great. One was extremely knowledgeable and was able to look at my food intake and kick my but into the right direction. However though... It wasn't until I was a member on here that I started reading about carb intake after surgery. Before surgery my nut encouraged eating couscous and sweet potatoes. Mashed potatoes after surgery as long as we get in our Protein. Long story short I had to ask my surgeon about carb intake as it was never discussed in 3 nut counseling sessions. It's rather frustrating. I still have yet to have couscous post op! That craps good????????????????

Edited July 31, 2015 by onmywaytobeingfound

[dhrguru 1,238]

My nutritionist smokes... It's hard to follow advice of someone doing something so incredibly harmful to themselves.

But I like that she is kind of causal about things...IE doesn't preach carbs are sinful. She uses a realistic, practical, liveable approach-- so outside of the smoking-- I'm good with her.

[IcanMakeit 1,318]

My nutritionist showed me examples of the actual serving sizes for the different phases. That was helpful. Otherwise, she didn't tell me anything I didn't already know and she recommended some sugary Meal Replacement shakes that I would never use.

[swimbikerun 1,038]

I had my first nut asking the people for suggestions. So you can imagine from there. I did my own research and its been a lot better than what I paid for.

[Djmohr 6,965]

I feel blessed after reading all of your posts!

My nut was extremely helpful throughout the process. I saw her monthly for the 9 months before surgery and I have met with her 4 times since surgery.

She helped me in the beginning by focusing on the right behaviors to modify. I was not a smoker, drinker nor did I drink anything but Water prior to surgery so we focused on slowing down, removing distractions and changing the rations of what I was eating.

Post surgery I struggled with lactose and I have several food allergies, artificial sweeteners being one of them. She helped me build a food plan that would take me through all of the stages.

Because I had questions about how your body absorbs both food and Vitamins after bypass, she helped me understand where in the newly routed digestive system nutrients are absorbed. It is different depending on the nutrient. For example a RNY patient will not malabsorb Proteins because that absorption happens below the reroute but Calcium is absorbed up higher. Therefore i have to take 2 to 3 calcium citrate per day vs. just one.

Mine was super educational and very supportive. She also believes in a balanced approach to eating. Meaning I am not only supposed to focus on Protein but ensure I get good carbs in as well. 2 bites of Protein for every one bite of good carbs. If I do have a craving for some food, don't deny the craving, just ensure I eat the good stuff first and there will only be room for a bite or two of whatever I was craving,

Her approach has really helped me to stay on track and I really appreciated her insight.

[TakeitorSleeveit 124]

I'm almost six weeks post op. I feel really blessed that my NUT is amazing. She is available to me via email or phone, in addition to the regular appointments when I see my surgeon. With my surgical center being a Bariatric Center for Excellence, I have FREE access to her and an exercise physiologist, FOR LIFE! Anytime I want to talk in person, I can just call and make an appointment. No charge.

She's been very helpful with the post surgical eating plan, as well as with my Vitamins, etc. I'm very pleased.

[SlimJill 291]

I never went to see mine, pre or post-op. I followed the diet the surgeon gave me, which was outlined quite well, and have been successful with my eating.

The reason I never went to see my NUT is because my surgeon's office is 4 hours away! I chose him because he was cheaper than my local guy by about $6,000. But from reading here maybe I did not miss out on much from skipping out on NUT visits.

[Sajijoma 1,324]

My NUT is a gem! She's been specializing in Bariatric surgery prep for over 20yrs so she really knows her stuff. She doesn't insult me with the basics of how to be on a diet. She's seen my extensive history and knows I know that crap. Usually we sit down and chat and talk about what's going on in my life and at home and then she mentions little ways to sneak in stuff. Like I used to skip breakfast because my bedroom is upstairs and I hate going up and down multiple times so I do all my upstairs work before heading down. That's getting the baby washed and dressed, cats fed, laundry collected, get the kids up and on their morning cleaning, make the beds, take a shower and THEN go down stairs and feed the kids first and then myself if there was anything left over. Sometimes it's nearly lunch time before I make it to breakfast at this rate, so she suggested a 20+gram Protein Bar. I keep them in my upstairs cabinet and have it for breakfast when I get up and it revs my metabolism up to start burning. We also talked about easy to do exercises that don't cost anything and we set goals on what we want to accomplish like Protein first, at least 20 grams of protein per meal, only eat 25-30 mins and not more(I'm a slow picky eater and can drag a meal out over an hour eating peas in single file) and we set a goal for exercises and that was it the first appt. the second appt we did a lil more and I'm already down 12lbs so that's pretty cool! The best part for me is that I don't feel like I'm dealing with a carb nazi. I mean, we talked about donuts and the various kinds and what makes them all so great even. It's just really friendly and helps make the process a lot easier than saying "go home and lose 20lbs over the next few months somehow".

[JamieLogical 8,684]

My nutritionist has been great! She checked in on me a lot in the early weeks/months and has followed up with me at least every three months. She gave me very thorough information about my pre and post-op diets. She answered all of my questions very promptly. Just about a month ago (so 10 months out), I emailed her because the formula of my Multivitamin had changed somewhat and asked if there was anything I needed to do differently because of that and she got back to me within a couple of hours... this was on a Sunday night!

I would say of everyone involved in my surgery, she is the one that has been the most helpful and useful through this whole process. I only met and talked with my surgeon the day of my surgery, but I have had a LOT of correspondence with my nutritionist.

If I had one complaint, it would be that she never gave me calorie goals, only Protein goals.

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

@@VSGAnn2014

I had four consults wit my dietician/nutritionist. It was good information for beginners in WLS. Protein and Water requirements. Vitamin supplements. food portions and stages.

My team from our hospital is great. With this exception. All answers are cookie cut for people in the weightloss stage. Its a one size fits all.

I talked to my dietician at a meeting. I asked about my blood sugars dropping to 35. I'm a type one diabetic. She did not know. Took my information and said she would call me...Never returned my call

I talked with the same nutritionist at another meeting. My hair loss is ridiculous at this point. I'm over a year out and its still falling. She gave me the cookie cut answers that we all get. Biotine, Protein intake.. i had to explain how far I'm out again and I have tried more that what she had mentioned. She took my contact information said she would call me back ....Still have not received a call back.

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

The NUT I had pre op and the first 8-9 months post op was AMAZING. She was not only well informed, highly communicitive but she was intuitive and helped guide me to finding a way of living post WLS that worked for ME.

However, she moved away and the replacement knew less about the sleeve and nutrition then I did. After our first meeting she thanked ME for informing her of so much as she had only seen patients in very early weeks post op so far. I was like...sigh.

I had gone through the preop process with a different surgeon (for bypass) before deciding on the program I went with. One reason I switched docs is that NUT was terrible, absolutely terrible.

Years before I decided I had an eating disorder (otherwise how could I be so fat, right?) and went to a clinic for that. They decided I didn't have an eating disorder, but rather disordered eating. Okay. So, I got to their nutritionalist and she had me play with plastic food - you know, like a child might have in a play kitchen. It was insulting, humiliating and made me think that the whole profession just thinks that FAT=STUPID. I can read, I can comprehend but what I couldn't do is overcome the all consuming hunger I was experiencing and playing games with plastic food did not help with any of THAT. Never went back.

So, a really good NUT is not only educated in food, exercise and the bariatric experience but is also intuitive and educated about "people" A good one seems rare and yet so worth it if you find one!