Has anyone been to a dietician for weightloss help?

[IrishMum]

I've been referred by my GP as I've been struggling to lose weight for almost a year now with no success. As far as he can tell (and he admits he's no expert) I'm doing everything right. I'm eating the right amount of the right foods, getting some exercise, and my underactive thyroid is under control so shouldn't be an issue. So this is my last resort to see what I'm doing 'wrong'. I've done out a food diary showing weights,cals, fat/carb/protein content, and have my last few blood test results to show them. What kind of questions should I ask? Is there anything they should ask me?
I'm really hoping they'll be of some use, and not just tell me I should eat less & exercise more! LOL!

 

[Silence]

I haven't been personally, but my Dad who's very overweight has. He's like you, he walks at least 30 mins a day, he eats healthily, he rarely eats junk and he never loses weight. The dieticien suggested various plans for him to try out but he didn't like someone else telling him what foods to eat so he stopped going.

Have you considered that you have a sort of "intolerance" to a certain food... like wheat for example? A friend of mine was a little overweight for a long time, and she got one of those food sensitivity tests done. It revealed that she was "sensitive" to wheat products and she was advised to cut them out of her diet. She did and the weight just dropped off her. It was amazing.

Hope it all goes ok for you.

~Silence~

 

[IrishMum]

Seriously? Would you not 'know' if you were intolerant though? I eat a LOT of wheat-based products (weetabix & wheaten bread are two staples of my diet! LOL!) It could be worth the money to find out? Where did she get her test done? Sorry for all the questions! I've a feeling this visit will be a waste of time, but I'm armed with 3wks food diaries and my last 4 thyroid blood results so she can't fob me off with meal suggestions, or 'eat less & you'll lose weight'! I may ask her about food intolerences though? Thanks!

 

[Silence]

Seriously? Would you not 'know' if you were intolerant though? I eat a LOT of wheat-based products (weetabix & wheaten bread are two staples of my diet! LOL!) It could be worth the money to find out? Where did she get her test done? Sorry for all the questions! I've a feeling this visit will be a waste of time, but I'm armed with 3wks food diaries and my last 4 thyroid blood results so she can't fob me off with meal suggestions, or 'eat less & you'll lose weight'! I may ask her about food intolerences though? Thanks!

She had it done at a health food place I think. It cost her around £40. I don't know why she chose to get one done, I think she'd been having some stomach aches or something.

Try to go see the dieticien with an open mind. They might have a suggestion further than "eat less - exercise more". It's worth a try at least.
Good luck!

~Silence~

 

[2.b.a.n.d.s.l.i.z]

when i was 1st refered they just patronised me and threw me a diet sheet, full of fruit and veg, personally they didnt help me ! just made me feel small.

 

[Silence]

When's your appointment IrishMum?
Hope it goes well!!!

~Silence~

 

[IrishMum]

Hi Silence- it was on Monday, so much for long NHS waiting lists eh?! I got two for the price of one- a student and a 'real' one! It wasn't as bad as I thought? They didn't lambast me for my lack of exercise- they suggested even just stretching in front of the telly for 20mins, or doing an extra burst of housework! I guess they didn't want to scare me off! LOL!
They said I was more or less eating all the right things- they couldn't suggest anything to improve my diet except adding a little more carbs (pasta, rice, potato) to my evening meal? And try & up my fruit intake- I'm not a fruit lover- give me veg anyday, but I'll take it on board- they said a glass of orange/fruit juice would be a start?
They estimated my BMR at 1535 (online calculators had it at 1550) and my daily burn at 2150 (BMR times 1.4- their standard sedentary?!) so by eating that I should lose just over 1lb a week? But I haven't been so far? I guess I'll just have to stick at it for a while? I didn't learn anything I didn't know already, but it was reassuring to hear I was doing the right thing now- I'll just have to be patient I guess?
Liz, the first time I went to a dietitian I was 7, and they gave me the diet sheet then too and told me not to eat sweets. I went in with plenty of knowledge about what I should/shouldn't be eating, and all that I'd tried so far, and to be honest they didn't have any clue why I wasn't losing, apart from my yo-yo history maybe being a factor? They said just to be patient and continue to eat around the 1500cals a day and the weight WILL start to come off. We'll see....

 

[charliegirl]

Many years ago I had the food intolerant test done at Holland and Barrett, they came up with a host of things I was intolerant to wheat being one of them. However, I never changed the way I ate and still had the bad foods. When I worked as a medical secretary my consultant said they were a load of rubbish and that the only way you can tell if your intolerant to a food is if you get an alergic reaction. I found this confusing hence my belief in them faltered. I do now believe that I am intolerant to too much wheat as if I eat wheat based pasta more than once every couple of weeks my stomach reacts badly.....I would love to know more about this subject though and will follow this thread to see if anything else comes up....xx

 

[coley144]

I went to see a dietician once and it was awful! She kept saying things like -'Have you considered having a slice of toast instead of chocolate?' etc. Didn't seem to grasp the point really. That's because they ignore the emotional side. I know my Mum has been to see one and it seems (although this is just my mum's recollection) that she was advised to eat less fruit! Odd!

Anyway one of the reasons why the toast thing would have worked out badly is that I am gluten intolerent. When I gave up gluten (wheat, rye and oats) I did find it easier to lose weight and lost 2.5 stone over a year but it didn't all drop off I'm afraid!

Someone asked how you get diagnosed. The answer is with great difficulty! I had a really bad time before I (not a doctor) figured it out. Without going into great details (that no-one would thank me for!) I had a very bad tummy for a few years and was diagnosed with IBS.

I was told to eat more wholewheat bread which made it worse. Then one day I was really poorly just after eating a lasagne and garlic bread. I figured out it was the pasta and bread so cut it out of my diet. I haven't been ill again (except when I've been accidently glutened) so my GP/consultant etc just call me gluten intolerent rather than Coeliac (which is an auto-immune disease).

If I were diagnosed as Coeliac I'd get food on prescription but in order to get it I'd need to eat gluten for 6 weeks so they can do a biopsy and I can't face being that ill. 1 in 100 people are Coeliacs (diagnosed or not) and 1 in 20 Irish!

Sorry that's very long but I hope it helps.

 

[IrishMum]

1 in 20 Irish people are coeliac! Thats amazing/scary! SO intolerences may be something to look into? I know a lot of health food places tend to diagnose people with 'something' so they can sell 'x,y,z' to help the newly diagnosed condition, so I'm not sure if I'd trust them too much?
Charliegirl, I'm interested that the consultant you worked for felt like that? What would they class as a reaction I wonder- bloating, nausea, weight issues...just wondering out loud?...

 

[charliegirl]

To be honest I think he just thought it was mumbo jumbo, he was a neuroradiologist and whilst very good in his field he just dismissed the tests....I would say he was in the wrong if I am totally honest but at the time I was more likely to believe what he said as I was working for him....there is a lot more to intolerances then we realise and GP's are not equiped to sort this for us...xx

 

[coley144]

Your GP can arrange a blood test to see if you have problems with gluten. All I'd say is that I'd hope you don't. It really makes life difficult!

 

[Silence]

The friend I was telling you about had been having stomach aches but at random intervals - maybe after eating too much wheat??? - I think she'd been to see her GP who didn't know what was wrong.

I should really contact her and get the full story... it was a while ago that she had the test done and I don't remember all the details.

Anyways, keep up the good work IrishMum!!!

~Silence~