Monday, February 25, 2008

Appointment with the nutritionist

I just got back from my appointment with the nutritionist. She was really nice but she seemed a little nervous and unprepared. I told her about my weight loss and she was very impressed that I've done it all on my own, without subscribing to a specific "program."

She got some basic information about me and chatted with me while doing some calculations. I explained the main reason I was there was to determine the maximum number of calories I can eat per day and still maintain a 1-2 pound weight loss per week. She told me that in order to maintain my current weight with the amount of exercise I do, I could eat 2200-2400 calories per day. So to lose 1 pound per week (which is recommended at this late stage in the weight loss game), I would need to create a deficit of 500 calories per day, which would take me down around 1700-1800.

This pretty much falls in line with many of the online calculators I've been using, give or take a couple hundred calories. I shared my fears with her about upping my intake and seeing a gain on the scale. She told me to go up gradually and not freak out if I temporarily gain a couple pounds. She said to go up to 1500 for a couple weeks and see how it goes.

So, that's what I'm going to do. Sadly, I paid $55 to have someone tell me what I basically knew already. I guess I needed to hear it from someone with credentials, and not a dot com.

We also discussed the fact that I have high cholesterol. I told her about my dad, who can't weigh more than 160 lbs. soaking wet, eats well and exercises, and still had a triple bypass a few years ago. She told me I need to add more healthy fats to my diet and watch the saturated fat. Now that I have more calories to play with each day, I won't feel bad about doing that.

Tomorrow I'll put the "1500 Plan" into action. On March 15th I'll evaluate the situation and see how things are going.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi

Have only just started reading your blog from the beginning, so don't know how things 'finish', but I was a bit concerned re your cholesterol and the advice you were given. If your father is slim and has high cholesterol, and you've lost loads of weight and still have high cholesterol, it might be that you have genetically high cholesterol.

Here in England this is treated with a statin, which you take daily, for life.

Sorry for sticking my nose in, but I was just a bit concerned!

D x