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Saturday, September 13, 2014

What do you do when your doctor gives bad advice?

I totally meant to have this post up yesterday morning. Heck, who am I kidding, I meant to write it in the early morning and hurry up and post it. Instead I woke up yesterday feeling like crap. I had a terrible headache that turned into a stomach ache. I did have an already planned doctors appt in the afternoon for a physical (get $30 off my monthly health care yo') Needless to say, I spent most of the day on the couch catching up on Netflix. I watched 3 hours of Battlestar Galactica and learned what happened to Bo Jackson.

In case you were wondering, Bo knows hip replacements.

And apparently sheep, Bo knew everything in the late 80s

I've been a little discouraged in my progress lately. I've been tracking my food and counting my macros and haven't seen much movement in the weight loss arena. My clothes are still fitting the same and my measurements are pretty much the same.

About 2 months ago I went to a holistic doctor for my stomach issues and we've been trying to find a cause of my plateau. We did some thyroid tests and she felt it wasn't producing as much, thyroid juice (?) as she thought it should. She suggested some supplements and I've been taking them for about a month. Still, not much movement and I decided to go to my regular doctor.

I'll be honest, I don't go to the regular doctor all that often. I don't really have any reason to go and she's kinda far away. I got her when we moved to NC and I lived and worked in Durham and now it's a hike to get to her office. Kev still goes to her and I'm too lazy to find someone else.

I brought all of my test results and I wanted to see if she felt my results warranted non-supplement thyroid medicine. We chatted for a while and here was her diagnosis.

1. You're getting older, it's harder to lose weight
2. Eat less protein
3. Reduce your calories to 1200
4. If you want to get pregnant, exercise less

I can't even express how annoyed I am with her right now. Basically she wants me to sit around, eat less and eat more carbs. ARGH!!!!

1. Yes I'm getting older, no shit. People get older. You know what, people lose and gain weight at all stages of life. Just because it's harder doesn't mean it's impossible and you should resign yourself to being overweight for the rest of your life. Sorry, that's complete BS. Regardless of your age you can take control of your health.


2. Eat less protein?? Protein is good for you. Protein builds muscle. Muscle metabolizes fat. More muscle, less fat, how is this a bad thing? It's all about balance. I'm not eating a low carb diet but I know I need to make a conscious effort to eat enough protein throughout the day.


3. Reduce your calories to 1200. No. no no no. If I sat on my ass all day, (pardon all the swearing, I'm pretty annoyed) 1200 calories would be fine. But I don't. I run all over the place at work and when I track my steps I'm easily at 7000-8000 steps during the work day. Add in the rest of the evening and I easily hit 10000 steps. I work out 3-4 times a week and easily burn 500+ calories during each session. Every, and I do mean EVERY time I've attempted to drop to 1200 calories I want to eat my face and my weight loss slows and completely stops. I lost the bulk of the weight on Jenny Craig at 1500 calories and when I dropped to 1200, it took months and months to lose the last 10 pounds.


4. This one made me really, really angry. We've been trying to get pregnant for a while now and she told me that I would never conceive at my level of activity. First of all, I'm by no means an elite athlete. I work out 4 times a week, run MAYBE 15 miles a week and I lift weights. Seriously? Health instructors and people who work out FAR more frequently than I do get pregnant every day.

Ugh. These ridiculous antiquated views make me so angry. I know better than to listen to what she has to say but there are a lot of people who rely on the advice of their doctor. How do they know when the information is absolutely ridiculous? Oh, then she offered me an appetite suppressant pill, which is also a stimulant. (hits head on table)

Here's the thing, you can lose weight regardless of your age and if your doctor gives you advice that sounds ridiculous, get a second opinion. There's a whole enormous internet full of people and forums and opinions. Get another one, find another doctor. I need to find a doctor who runs, lifts and eats meat, not one who wants to push her vegan agenda. (Not that there's anything wrong with being a vegan.) And I will.

In the end she gave me the thyroid medicine I wanted and a rant for my blog, so I guess mission accomplished.

BTW, I'm having trouble with the Rafflecopter results, I'll have them posted tomorrow or Monday.

Have you ever disagreed with your doctor?
What do you do when they give bad advice? 

3 comments:

  1. I currently have a doctor that I trust and we talk like normal people and he really cares so I don't really have that issue. He does think I drink too much water but all my tests come back normal and I'm healthy so he's ok with it.

    When I had a doctor that I did not trust and who never really listened to me I left them and found one I could trust.

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    Replies
    1. I was so angry, I just couldn't beleive what she was telling me. I need a doctor with slightly less antiquated views.

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  2. What a quack. I would totally find another doctor. If I only eat 1200 calories I want to sleep all day and never lose weight. Bump it up to 1500 and I'm losing a pound a day. Quacks!

    ReplyDelete