slow losers?

Hey guys.

I had my one month visit with my Dr today.  I'm a wee bit disappointed because I've only lost 8 pounds in the past three weeks, the Dr didn't seem too worried but the dietician started saying stupid things like "I wonder if he didn't do something he should have with your intestines"...which is moronic and I stopped her from going any further.

The truth is the Dr and the dietician contradicted each other from the minute I got there, I wish they did the visit with both of them in the same room so I could watch the celebrity death match unfold.

I've been eating between 550-650 calories a day, mostly proteins but some small amounts of veg/fruit and cream of wheat
I drink 64 oz of water or diet snapple/lipton diet drinks(sachets in water)
walk 30+ mins a day

this is what they had to say

Dr I said "I'd be happy if you ate 500 calories a day, never stop counting calories", "you only need to eat once a day, maybe twice"  "It'll happen"

Dietician says "Doctor I doesnt know what he's talking about, he only had three weeks of diet training in med school", "don't drink skim milk", "I would have thought you would have lost a lot more by now"

I am considering switching clinics for my after care, I mean no disrespect but what they heck are they thinking.

my points were

1. I'd prefer to eat three small healthy meals a day to model good eating habits for my children and so that I can maintain energy levels with my children throughout the day.

2. I prefer to eat whole foods rather than chemical laden ones if possible

3. I'd like to have some support

The dietician also said "most patients don't know or care about the type of food they eat after surgery, you are not the norm"   I said..."I think it would be beneficial if you could address peoples needs, whether or not they give a flying rats arse about food dyes or organic tofu"

I'm now dejected and confused by the complete opposite advice I got from the surgeon and the dietician.

p.s. I actually quite like the Dr, he's a nice man, but I am surprised by the lack of cohesive agreement in the post op phase.

Any suggestions for better post op care?

You do have to eat enough so that your body doens't think it is starving and hold onto every ounce.  I, too, would have been disgusted by the dieticians bone-head statements.    I went to Mexico, so have to rely on my PCP for all followup.   Best thing I did is bought Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies.  Give that a read and see if it answers some of your questions.   You have lost 30 pounds in a month, so you are doing something right!   Your body may just need to readjust itself and the weight will start coming off again.

Good luck to you!

Tuna

If at all possible, you should try to attend a PNC support group meeting.  Every program is different and of course I'm most familiar with my own, but any WLS patient from any program is welcome to attend, and you'll get some of the most consistant messages as far as what PNC recommends post-op.   And I, not being overly  organized or anal about most things, have found their recommendations to be VERY easy to follow!

It sounds to me like BOTH your doc and the dietician are a bit off - they need to find some common message to provide their patients!

I had a horrible appt with the PNC Dietician at 2 or 3 months out after my first WLS. I had lost 10 pounds that month and was feeling fantastic about myself. Well she told me it wasn't enough and what was I doing wrong? This skinny little bi%#$ was telling me that a 10 pound weight loss in 1 month wasn't enough. WTF?! Well I never went back. And for a while I felt horrible about myself. But all my fellow WLSers told me that she didn't know what she was talking about because she had never had a weight problem and since I was following the rules, I was doing fantastic. So, ditch the dietician. Either get a new one or work on this on your own. You know exactly what works for you. You're doing fantastic!

WAY TO GO AND STAND UP FOR YOURSELF

Howdy, neighbor!  (I live in Mound)

As much as I love the U program, the surgeons know nothing about our dietary needs, and I know that the nuts know nothing about mine with the DS.  I'm not sure how much they know about what you should be eating, but NO ONE should only eat once a day- that's absolutely ridiculous!  That messes up your metabolism!  I think your 3 points are dead on.  Eat 3 good, healthy meals of real, healthy food and get your fluids in.  Don't worry so much about your smaller loss- Your body is still healing and adjusting from the surgery, and maybe it's just taking you a little longer to kick your metabolism into gear.   

Yeah, I gave up on the PNC nutritionists pretty quick.  The anorexic woman I was seeing told me I should NOT snack on SF popsicles - because that would only lead me back down the slippery slope of snackage until I was consuming quarts of Haagen Daaz and pans of lasagne.

SF popsicles are a liquid, and they satisfy a craving.  It would take a special kind of stupid to think 'well, if I can eat these SF popsicles, a quart of Haagen Daaz couldn't be too bad, right??'  Duh... 

If I had enough discipline to eat ONLY 3 meals/day and NO SNACKS WHATSOEVER, I would have never needed WLS in the first place.  So until someone can develop a WLS that actually DOES re-wire our brains, I'm thinking I'm doing quite well sticking to snacks that are WLS friendly! 

I agree Darla,  I saw my surgeons colleague just prior to surgery, and he said something along the lines of "well, that's what got you into this mess in the first place", I was so peeved that I didn't have anything to say.

I have a family history of weight issues, until my first of EIGHT miscarriages, and fertility treatments, and bedrests etc I was at a very healthy weight, my cir****tances didn't help my wieght gain, but they did contribute somewhat to it.  Being talked to like a preschooler is not helpful.

I worked for a Dietician once, I looked after her twins once they were born.  She was 90 lbs wet.  She had to gain weight to become pregnant because she was so severly undernourished.  So...unless the dietician is AWESOME, I'm going to take the advice with a lot of salt!

I think treating WLS patients like idiots is just a trickle down effect of weight bias and prejudice. 

eating sugar free popsicles is a perfect alternative and assuming you will eat a tub of haagen daaz is beyond stupid.

This surgery is a tool...but IMO a lot of people who work inside the WL industry are the bigger TOOLS!

Don't treat us like idiots.  Just give us clear concise and EDUCATED RESEARCHED and PROVEN methods and advice.