Losing Weight...the right way?!So let it be said that as I'm on here, my plan is to lose weight. Not at an alarming rate, but at a rate that is suitable to my goals. Its funny because being
diabetic and having an endocrinologist, a general physician and a nutritionist it all seems that they have varying opinions on which way is the best way to lose weight given my condition.
*Let me preface this by saying I am in no way a health expert or a diet expert, but in my past I was as high in weight as I am now and went all the way down to 190 -200 lb range. The reason for my weight gain was a severe period of depression that I went through. *The Endo - I told him that my desire is to get back down to the low 200's and high 100's to be at a place where I feel comfortable. I explained to him that I was interested in just eating smaller portions, getting healthier, cutting out most processed sugars, and just enjoying my life the way I want. I found that he was actually VERY receptive to this and said, my only concern is your blood sugars and maintaining a low glycemic level, there is essentially no minimum or maximum when it comes to taking insulin and being diabetic is more about healthy choices than following any one diet plan. This made me really really happy, because for once, someone was seeing it the way that I did. Not to be restrictive and cut myself off, but to learn about portioning and maintaining healthy numbers by allowing myself to have that snack I want, but to be weary of my numbers and maintain a good level.
The General Phys - My General Physician is awesome. She's an older lady who tells me that my goals are well within reach. She encourages me without belittling me and she makes me feel like it's okay to work at the rate I do. She once told me, that losing weight is really about the numbers its 90% Diet and 10% Exercise (
Though she would never discourage such a thing because its healthy.)She then turned to me and said, "If you think about this logically, say you run/walk a mile....you are only burning 500 calories, and if you are on a meal plan that puts you in a caloric deficit then the gain of that exercise is pretty minimal." I thought about this for a long time, and it seemed to make sense.
Enter the Nutritionist - So I called to make an appointment with a nutritionist, and the first thing she explained to me was that I should go on a "Low Carb" diet. And I explained to her, that I would prefer not to actually go on a low carb diet but rather had a meal plan that was healthy, and balanced. I began by telling her that I prefer to lose weight slowly and that I want to be healthy when I do, not on some radical plan. She asked me, "Give me an example of your breakfasts and lunches. " I explained to her the following:
Quote:Breakfast: Usually a slice of toast, with butter. Black coffee. And 2 steam poached eggs with no salt but small amounts of pepper.
Lunch: A shake with protein in it. I do 2 Handfuls of spinnach, a handful of blueberries, 3 strawberries and half a banana with 2 cups of water and 1 full scoop of whey protein powder.
For the sake of the post I usually make Dinner - A Protein (Baked Chicken, Pork chop) No sauces only spiced with steamed veggies and a salad. And sometimes One bottle of Gatorade.
IMMEDIATELY - She says, "Oh no, you cannot have Poached Eggs, those are bad for you and your lunch smoothie has WAY TOO much sugar in it. " to which I was surprised and I asked her what she would recommend, and she told me to just eat scrambled, fried eggs in the morning, and cut out a lot of the fruit in my smoothie. I just didn't feel this made much sense, because my blood sugars which were what she seemed concerned with - have been steady in the 140-180 range.
So overall, I decided not to follow up with her, because I wanted to experiment myself and see if following an RDI of 1800 - if I could lose the weight myself, and so far it seems to be working. I only weigh myself once a week on wednesdays. And I make sure even on my cheat days not to go past 150% of my RDI. And So far Ive seen some great results.
Anywho, just spilling the T on here, and looking forward to continue dropping the LB's!