Re: Frustrated about current dieting advice from medical professionals and the like
From: Amelie (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Mon, 23 Dec 2002 13:52:50 -0600 (CST)
Okay, I just wanted to say "I know where you're coming from". I quit
ediets last year. Just didn't do it for me. I got annoyed with their
success stories and pop up ads showing flat tummies that would never be
mine.
I am following a regimen that I think is pretty low, but not "no" carbs.
No carbs is crazy. I worked it out with an RD over the phone. She was
aware of PCOS and low carb issues. It averages out to about 105-115
carbs per day, really, not much at all, but WAY more than atkins. I can
fit more in the more fiber they have. Also, I am avoiding refined
sugars and eating carbohydrates that come in a more complete form, like
long grain brown rice and beans cooked in a crock pot, and only about
1/3 cup of each (which is pretty damn filling with a small piece of meat
and a salad). I don't eat "more protein" like the zone diet says (I
think it's gotta be crap, those people that it works for? They are
olympic athletes and work off all their extra protein calories. Your
body will turn anything you eat "more of" into glycogen, and then store
it. Apparently our bodies are really well equipped to hold on to fuel.
You are beautiful and smart for questioning the answers. They are all
up in the air anyway. It's obvious to me, if not the med community,
that different things work for different people. I certainly am new to
this, and I value the fact that you made a statement to Ediets to ask
them to be more educated about a problem so many of us have.
I thought this was funny. Hopefully, you'll laugh. My favorite was
'bland'. My friend is going to New Zealand and is trying to pick a
meal. Here are her choices:
Baby, Toddler and Children's Meals
Bland
Diabetic
Fruit Plate
Gluten Free
Kosher
Low Calorie
Low Cholesterol/Low Fat
Low Sodium
Moslem
Seafood—Hot and Cold
Vegetarian—Ovo Lacto, Asian (Hindu), and Pure Vegetaria
At Sun, 22 Dec 2002, J.W.J. wrote:
>
>Just an update on how I'm doing; I haven't posted for awhile.
>
>I decided recently to cut down to only two servings of the
>bread/cereals/grains group per day. That way, I wasn't cutting
>something completely out, which makes me want it more. I was able to
>lose ten pounds. I have reached a plateau; I need to lose ten more,
>mostly on the abdomen like so many others here. I'm not sure if I
>should keep doing the same thing, or if I should cut something else out
>or completely cut out my breads. I'm just afraid that if I try
>something that I can't do forever, as soon as I go off the "diet" I'll
>gain all the weight back plus more, like happened last time I
>low-carbed. Anyone have suggestions for getting off this "plateau"?
>
>I recently saw a doctor and told him what I'd been doing. Herein lies
>my frustration. He told me, as I have been told by doctors so many
>times before, "Low-carbing is only a way to lower your total calories.
>There are other ways to lower your calories besides low-carbing." I
>tried to explain to him that, no, the normal diets touted by the medical
>community, with high carb, low-fat, don't work for me. I was even
>eating mostly whole grain breads, rice, and pasta and it STILL didn't
>work for me. If losing weight was simply a matter of calculating
>calories, I doubt that many of us would have problems.
>
>To top it off, I keep reading these newsletters from ediets.com, and
>getting the same advice; "Just don't eat so much, and exercise, and you
>will lose weight! Just motivate yourself!" So, I wrote this short letter
>to ediets:
>
>I have been reading your newsletters, success stories and etc. for a
>few months. Almost all the success stories say that before e-diets they
>ate too much fast food or too much junk food, or just too many portions
>of food. Everything you read on e-diets makes it sound like there is a
>one-size fits all-type way to eat that will give everyone the slim body
>they desire. I just thought I'd mention that there are people out there
>(myself included) who have been eating healthy for many years and
>exercise regularly (3-5 hours a week), don't eat junk food or fast food,
>and STILL have a struggle with weight loss; those pounds won't BUDGE. I
>belong to a PCOS forum on OB-GYN.net and so many of us have this
>problem, even WITH taking glucophage. It seems like with this disorder
>I have to lower carbs and raise fats or I am in big trouble, although
>this seems to be in direct disagreement with so much of the stuff I read
>on e-diets. And, if weight loss is all about calories, like so many
>people say, why are so many of us who are eating so few calories still
>gaining so much weight? I just thought I'd let you know that there are
>MANY of us struggling out there with this problem, and wish that more
>research would be put into helping us and more articles on your
>newsletter addressing the weight problems that we face, also suggesting
>solutions. It makes me so depressed to read the success stories you
>publish where all people did was eat healthily and exercise and WAH-LAH!
>the weight starts dropping off! because that just doesn't happen for so
>many of us. If help for us was offered on this site, I would definitely
>consider joining. Jessica Jepson
>
>I wish so badly that I could eat normally again; that someone would
>figure out just what changed in my body at age 36 or 37. I always had
>irregular periods. I had acne starting at age 11. I used clomid to get
>pregnant. But I never had this abdominal weight problem until my
>mid-30's. Oh, and all the doctors I've seen will just use the old
>"you're getting older" line on me. Okay, again, if that was all then I
>would still be able to eat normally, but just not as much volume. I
>hate that line.
>
>I realize that complaining of my mild problems when so many out there
>have more serious ones may be irritating, but I know that everyone also
>realizes that there are many levels of PCOS and no matter what level
>you're at you still wish it wasn't there.
>
>Thanks for listening, and letting me "air out".
>
>Jessica
>
>--
>J.W.J.
>
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