I need help - seriously. I've tried spending money on programs like Jenny Craig and WW and that still doesn't really help me. I'm thinking of going to my Primary Care Doctor for advice but wanted to hear other's stories on this - did you do this, what kind of info or help did you get? Can they help you with a full on plan, refer you to a nutrition expert, was it covered by your insurance, etc?

My fear is that I'll go in for help and get the basic "well you need to eat less and work out that will be 95$ please" - I already know this, obviously by now everyone knows this - but for some reason I just can't do it alone. I feel like I want actual medical advice. *sigh*

Lola
It can depend on your doctor. Some doctors are very helpful. They will give you ideas and might even suggest you see a nutritionist/dietitian. Some will say stop eating so much and give you no more help or encouragement at all. YOU need to say, YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO ME. I know I need to eat less, I know I need to exercise but HOW should I be doing this. Make them tell you what are some good ideas.

When I was finaly off all the meds that packed most of this weight on me and wanted to get this weight off, my doctor wasn't to helpful. I was told well you can TRY to lose the weight now but it could take forever. Eat less and get some exercise. Oh that was a lot of help, I didn't already know that lol. It wasn't until I decided what I was going to do, got lots of great advice from the people on this site and then changed what I was doing a few times until I found what works for me did I go back to the doc. I wasn't TRYING I was doing.

I told her YOU aren't very helpful, YOU are suppose to be my doctor and care about my health YOU need to help me know what I am doing is good for me. Loseing weight isn't always about me me me sometimes it is about those that are suppose to be helping us take care of our selfs doing their job. I told her about how I felt mentally with all this weight ( anytime I would say something before I would hear, nothing can be done about it, the meds are causing it ). What it was doing to me spiritually to go from 120 to 198 because ( mainly ) of all the meds she had packed me on. I do take some of the blame.

I blew up. Not like me, I don't tend to say much unless I am on my soap box for someone else. She looked at me for awhile and said I was right. She needed to start taking better care of those that entrust their health to her. We sat down and she looked at what I was taking in. What I was doing to change not only my lifestyle of eating ( it had gotten terrible after the first 50lbs of med weight came on) but to change how I felt about myself. She liked what she saw, made a couple suggestions ( she didn't think I wasn't taking enough fat in ) and then said she wanted me to see a nutritionist/dietitian to make sure I was getting the right abouts of calories and fat and carbs. She also had a full blood work up done to check levels of all kinds of things. The nutritionist/dietitian was great ( I have heard some aren't ) she asked all kinds of questions. Talked about day to day meals and how many times I was eating. Said what I was taking in was great and I should keep doing what I was doing. What a relief that was to me, I wasn't taking in to much or to little. I was eating the right abouts of the four basic food groups. Wasn't really anything I didn't know but I needed a professional to tell me I was on the right track.

I am not losing fast, about 1lb a week BUT I am losing. This journey I am on isn't about winning before someone else gets to their goal. It is about taking care of my body. It is about feeling good about myself. I will reach my goal one day. Won't be today and won't be tomorrow BUT it will happen. Along the way I have learned what is good for me. How to take care of myself. With this knowledge I will be healthy and thin for the rest of my life.

I got good responses and bad. My doctor was willing to run all the blood tests so that I could rule out diabetes, PCOS, Thyroid or anything else known to cause problems losing weight. When that was all done, it was much easier on me psychologically to get tough on myself, and realize there was nothing physically wrong.

But here is the thing, as to the actual diet, doctors are not taught anything about it in medical school. Personally I even think nutritionists don't know what they are doing. Most of the information they give me is obviously outdated. IMHO, doctors / nutritionists can even be a problem if they put you on a healthy eating plan that has too many calories. Which it is my personal believe that medical doctors calorie thoughts are too high.

I used to call myself an *advanced dieter* in that I knew all the normal advice and still wasn't doing losing. If you are one of those I think truly the most cutting edge advice you can get is 3 fat chicks or other internet sites. Or anything that *thinks outside the box*. If you do need *basic* advice I would go to a doctor and see what they have to say.

Thank you for the advice and your personal story!!

ermm..

going to my doctor was a double edged sword... I've actually seen TWO GP's who did generally the same thing..
both were women who have been naturally slim their entire lives. both ran blood tests and ruled out thyroid, diabetes, etc. I discussed with both of them how I felt depressed about my weight, and how hard I've worked to lose weight when it seems that nothing works but honestly neither really had much advice for me.
I discussed my diet with both, and how I felt (at the time) that I was making healthy choices ( I learned later on that the way I was eating was not so great, but when I discussed it with them it seemed fine to both of them)
one doctor told me to just keep doing what I was doing, as I wasn't "that" overweight (in the high 190s at the time) and that I was in better shape than she was so I was "fine" since I exercised regularly and my BP, choloesterol, etc were all great.
The other told me that I really shouldn't be as concerned as I am, and that it was possible that I was just genetically predetermined to be heavier since several members of my family are obese. She also told me that my blood tests were fine, and that I had nothing to worry about, just keep doing what I'm doing. She then suggested I attend a weekly nutrition group at the hospital the Dr was out of, at 20 bucks a pop, and prescribed me xenical.
I know xenical works for some, but it was definitely NOT for me... I took it for a month and lost 6lbs, great, but was gassy, bloated and uncomfortable the entire time and I did do everything the dr reccomended - count fat, i never went over the fat grams anyway, exercised, took a multi, etc. I've been 6months off and I still fear the medication damaged my colon as I have not been regular since, even though I am eating a healthy, high fiber diet.
so ANYWAY. a good doctor might be able to help with a plan or refer you to someone who can help you, but my experiences have not been positive because i really didn't feel like I was getting the support i needed.
I have now finally worked out my own plan after years of struggling and it is working, and this was without the advice of either of those dr's but i did discuss what I was doing with my girly dr, and she has been nothing but supportive and encouraging, so i feel like what I am doing is right (and finally working!) for me.

I agree that it definitely depends on your doctor. I would say most are not very knowledgeable in the area of weight loss. I went to my doctor last year about my weight, and she didn't know what to do other than refer me to a dietician. I went to the dietician and told her first thing that I already knew how to eat healthy. She seemed skeptical, so she asked me what a normal healthy day of food would be for me, and I told her. She seemed surprised to find that it was practically perfect (in terms of calories, types of fats, servings of fruits, servings of protein, etc.). She basically said she didn't know what to tell me.

My problem isn't that I need someone to tell me what to eat or how to exercise--I just need to stick to it. I often wonder if a psychologist/counselor might be a beter route than a dietician/nutritionist. I think for a lot of us, it's more the "why" than the "how." For me, it's the "why" can't I stick to it, not "how" do I do it, if that makes any sense

My sister is a dietitian, and in reading many of her text books, I think my years and years of dieting has given me the "self-taught" equivalent of a four year degree. I agree that getting the knowledge is a lot easier than putting it into practice, especially realizing that it has to be the "rest of my life" kind of practice.

For me, a support group helps with that aspect, which is why I love TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly, a non-profit organization that meets weekly sort of like Weight Watcher's, except that you can follow any diet you want to, it's much, much cheaper, and each chapter is mostly self-governing, and there are a lot of competitions, contests, retreats, conferences, and award and recognition opportunities for members)

A local college offers master's degree classes in nutrition for health and weight loss, and I'm seriously considering signing up for the class. I'm a little self-conscious though, as I know most if not all of the students will be pursuing a degree rather than wanting information to put into practice themselves. It's likely that I would be the only severely obese student.

Wow - I loved everyone's comments and experiences. I just found a new PCP. My Internist and my General Surgeon are amazed by my weightloss. Very nice guys and very encouraging but I can tell by the questions that they ask me, they don't have a clue about why people gain or how they successfully lose weight.

From my experience dieters tend to fall in different categories (I am sure there are more if I gave it more thought).

You have the guys that don't have a clue how to eat right - these individuals would benefit from a dietician. From participating in different websites I still see members that claim they are doing everthing right but when you see their food logs or get the whole truth you can quickly identify what they are doing wrong.

There are the individuals that have all the knowledge (sounds like most of us here) that struggle with sticking with the plan. I suspect that most of us are emotional/stress eaters and when life gets in the way our diets are the first victims. I agree support groups whether it be meetings or on-line is the key. The average dietician or doctor is not going to have any special traiing here. I have a friend that is a life coach. This has me thinking there should be a profession in diet coaches.

Finally there are the individuals that may or may not know how to diet or eat right but are looking for quick fixes regardless. This is probably the majority of people and why this is a multi-billion dollar industry and growing.

Lori

I agree with this statement a lot! I had a really long talk with my husband about this last night and I decided to go back on my meds (lexapro) and hire a personal trainer.

That sounds interesting, I'm going to start going to a personal training and maybe this TOPS would be a good thing too - I checked and there are several chapters in my area, I will check it out!

You know I Love my DR, but whenever I mention weight to him he cringes and says something like "we all want to be like movie stars, magazine pics, ect.." I told him flat out that I just want to be like 150lbs!!! Not 105 lbs! I just NEED help! He just doesnt get it! I know he thinks I want a miracle but I just want help to get where I NEED TO BE!

We had a similar converstation on another site and there were members there that are 100lbs over a healthy weight (I am not talking ideal - just healthy) and they noted that when they mention diet to their doctors, they have been told not to worry about it.

I don't expect doctors to be experts on this subject but they do need to be active participants in the discussion and at least know the basic advice or direction their patients need.

Lori

I know they need to at least direct you to where you CAN get help!
I see mine today....

Over the years I found doctors to be of NO help in my quest to lose weight. Some would give me a little handout of the USDA food pyramid or something similar & tell me to exercise more. I broke my leg, hip & back 7 years ago & typical cardio is not something I was able to do. They never had any suggestions either.

Finally back in '06, out of total frustration, I started searching the Internet for answers. I have learned SO much in the last 15 months from message boards like this that I think I annoy my doctors with MY knowledge & questions now!

Probably the most important thing I learned is finding a dieting program that will work for YOU. My eating was just out of control...not in amounts so much but eating the wrong things & wrong combination of foods. I needed extreme intervention in my lifestyle which is why I chose Medifast & other meal replacements. I was easy to follow...a certain # of their "meals" (shakes, soups, bars, puddings) + 1 healthy meal of protein & non-starch veggies. It gave me the break from regular food that I needed to desensitize my lust for fine foods & get my portions back in shape. After a few months I went to a regular type diet & have switched back & forth since.

That is what worked for me. I need a very structured program or I run amok. I'm not plugging Medifast or any other diet but finding one that will work for you is key. I think support places such as this are a great resource for that & finding exercise that is right for you. (I ended up doing WATP, strength training, tai-chi & yoga thanks to reading about it on the boards).

BTW, on my recent physical my doctor was amazed at my weight loss but commented that I will NEVER keep it off because I don't do enough cardio & that diet has NOTHING to do with being overweight. What the hello???

Good luck with your weight loss explorations & hopefully you will find what works for you too!