Hi Everyone,

I'm just starting out, calorie counting using MyFitnessPal. Something that is important to me is moving towards eating whole foods, which for me means taking one step at a time and still using up the stuff I have in the pantry. I've moved from 2% milk to whole milk already, and we're adding more vegetables (pre-cut in trays from costco, but it's a start), and once we run out of white rice (right now we eat white and brown alternately), we'll be moving entirely to brown. I've never eaten white bread, just whole grain.

Anyway, I remember visiting a dietitian last year (I had already moved to whole milk and made a few other changes at that point, not for weight loss, just for general health) and everything she talked about was "buy low fat Greek yogurt" and "switch to skim milk" and "try sugar-free options." And of course I'm sitting there, wanting to argue, but she's a skinny woman with nicer skin than me and who am I to argue with someone who looks like her, right?

I don't think I have THAT many hangups about modern food, but I just really don't want to eat chemicals. I went to the dietitian feeling really happy that someone would help me eat healthier food, and that's just not the feeling I was left with after. I know I have to eat less. I know that. But can't I eat real food, just less of it?

Anyway. Do any of you guys work with a dietitian on your meal plans? If so, did you have trouble with finding one who was respectful of your wish to eat a diet based on whole foods, such as full-fat dairy products, and cutting out artificial sweeteners? Is there any other advice you can give me?

Thanks,

-Fai

I haven't been to a dietician, but I had a similar conversation with my doctor. My husband and I have been moving toward clean eating as well, and had just switched from margarine to grass feed butter, coconut oil, fresh fruits and veggies, greek yogurt, etc and all the sudden she tells me to switch to low fat yogurt, and margarine. She also told me to add oatmeal, and other hight fiber foods. I essentially compromised. I still eat butter, coconut oil, and greek yogurt, but I also eat flax, oatmeal, and even more veggies than before. I keep my healthy fats to no more than 2 tablespoons a day (usually more like 1 a day) and my calorie intake around 1350. I also have been exercising more. I have another check up in november. I've already lost more weight and am healthier, so I don't think the doctor can yell at me for that!

The opinion that all saturated fats are pure evil is still pretty widespread in the medical commununity, but if you're not happy with your dieticians direction, I would suggest looking for another in the area, unfortunately I don't know of any myself. I wish I could help more with that.

Everyone is different. I just think you should take all advice with a grain of salt (especially mine, I'm no dietician!) But you should also eat whole foods in moderation, and if you want feel free to add me on my fitness pal, my username is claygirl1518.

Good luck!

Dieticians are generally taught to work with patients based on their needs. If someone wanted to gain weight, it would be a different story or if they had a disease or what not. Dieticians shouldn't have the same answer for everyone. If you went to a dietician and purely said "I want to lose weight", then I imagine the suggestions would be what the dietician gave you. If you said that you wanted to focus on whole foods and lose weight, they'd probably tell you to count calories, watch your portions, limit the high fat foods but not eliminate them, etc.

That's a good point, actually. The one I met was via a heart-healthy program (I have congenital heart problems, nothing to do with my weight gain) so the context was weight-loss and heart health. It did seem like she just gives a standard set of advice to all her patients, and hands them the Canada Food Guide. So it wasn't exactly a personalized response, other than her reading my food diary.

And I have good cholesterol levels and low blood pressure, which is probably not the case for most of her patients.

Maybe I should just see another dietitian outside that context, tell them my goals and preferences and health problems, and see if they would be okay with a different approach. I just don't want to go looking for the person who'll say yes - know what I mean? It feels like running to dad because mom said no.

Oy. Yup, it's tough when you think you're doing something good, and somebody tells you to change it all.

I've started eating steel-cut oats in the morning, with just a dab of honey. I never liked oats so much before... I think eating more whole foods is making me enjoy them more.

You know what I'm finding though? I only started in the past week, but I can't actually get up to my maximum calorie intake (per myfitnesspal) eating whole foods. I feel satisfied with a lot less. I haven't even made all the changes I was planning on making, yet (by which I mean, I haven't run out of white rice). I'll knock on wood but... so far this is going pretty easily, and I've lost almost 10 pounds. Which reminds me, time to update my weight on here...

faiora: I've been eating steel cut oats a lot too! I throw some ground flax in with my oats and recently started making overnight oats with greek yogurt, almond milk, and different added flavors (mango, mixed berries, etc) it's pretty yummy. I still like my oats warm though (esp now since it's getting chilly 37 the other day already!) so I throw them in the microwave.

And yes, I do find that whole foods keep you fuller (especially if you're drinking a lot of water), and I have a lot less sugar highs and low, I'm much more steady throughout the day which is nice too.

Hey that sounds yummy! By overnight oats you mean you leave the oats in the water overnight? ....you add the yogurt the next morning, I guess? I'm getting better at eating fruit so I could probably make them even yummier that way. Right now I'm just finding it amazing I can enjoy oats at all.

We have some ground flax with protein in it. I wonder if it's okay to add it after cooking instead of before. I like how it makes my smoothies crunchy.

faiora, I hope it's ok if I answer your question. When I make steel cut oats, I bring them to a boil on the stove and then cover them with a lid, turn off the heat and leave it on that same place all night. When I wake up in the morning, it's ready. I then have to add some water as I warm it up, but it's cooked through and is delicious.

No, I do not work with a dietician or anyone. In my opinion, most would be useless.

I just experiment with different foods to find ones that work for me.

Which I guarantee will be different to the ones that work for you.

Which is why dieticians/doctors are mostly useless when it comes to weightloss.

BTW, I also eat steelcut oats for breakfast, made with flaxseed milk, dried Turkish apricots, dried figs, a splash of vanilla, 1 teaspoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of Ceylon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of tabasco sauce. I used to add honey but have cut this from my diet (as from today as I was eating too much - 4 tablespoons every day!). Of course, I also wash my oats down with a can of sardines and a can of smoked oysters. I doubt a dietician would prescribe that combo. But it works for me.

When I read this I imagined Ian doing this:
I pictured myself waiting like this:
Then Trying a bite of the food and instantly doing a mix of these:
Meanwhile Ian is like:
Then I suit up:
And I'm sure later would be something lie this:

But that would last for a week before I would be like this:
And then I would go get this:

kurisitaru

I have also been known to eat

Hah! That was hilarious, kurisitaru.

Snails are yummy. The problem is, they're yummiest with about 4 gallons of butter and, more problematically, an entire loaf of french bread.

I think I'm coming to terms with doing things my own way. For instance, I have no intention of going to the gym. I get a very reasonable rate since I work for a municipality, but my membership just came up for renewal and I thought it through and said no, uh-uh. I commute on foot already and there are plenty of other active things I can do. I don't mind the gym, but it's not exciting, and I don't want to resent the weight-loss process by making it into a prescribed thing.

Same thing with the dietitian. I really want to trust all my doctors, but with all the conflicting advice and even conflicting test results (my heart function, which should be degenerating regardless of my weight because of congenital problems, hasn't gone down at all even after I gained 120 lbs, for instance), it's clear they don't have all the answers. Was I just exercising enough? Was I eating the right kinds of oils? Who knows. I eat a lot of sushi. Maybe that's it, in which case, great, because I'm still eating sushi just as often... in one-roll increments instead of say, 10.

Getting farther and farther off topic: Yesterday my husband and I set all our mini-goals and PRIZES so I'm really excited to keep going. I'll probably be even more exciting 9 pounds from now when I get to go to LUSH for a mini shopping spree. And when I get down to 200 I'm getting a (second) kitten!

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I can tell I'm going to like it here.

I made some last night, here's what I did:

Mason jar: add a half cup oats, half cup if greek yogurt (flavored, or whatever, I used a half cup of mango greek yogurt I made the day before), half a teaspoon of chia seeds, tablespoon of flax, frozen mango, dash of vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of date paste (pureed dates to sweeten, you can use stevia, agave, or honey too). Then I top off the jar with almond milk, mix with a spoon, put on the lid, shake it again, and put it in the fridge overnight. I ate half of the jar for breakfast. It's so filling I usually can't eat an entire jar, it's yummy though, and easy to change up each time. You can eat it cold or heat it up in the microwave if you want.

I like escargot. But... only the savory calorific kind. I actually have no idea how many calories they have.

This never worked for me. I used to eat sushi every day at my heaviest weight. Too much rice. If I had just had the fish (sashimi) I would have done much better.

On snails, 12 have 100 calories with 20g of protein which is pretty awesome. I pan sear them with a little spray of olive oil, garlic and parsley after washing them well. For a treat I will scramble them with egg.

A low fat, low calorie, high protein bomb. Delish.

And I would rethink the gym. Not yet. But when you get below 200lbs, it will give a real boost to your weightloss, physique, fitness and general well-being. Never say never.