What an experience I had today....

I went to my doctor for a follow-up on some medication, and asked her about doing Atkins. I've been on the plan for about 3 weeks and, despite staying on the program closely, have only managed to lose about 2 lbs. Considering I have some medical issues (PCOS to be precise), I asked her what she thought about other low carb plans or options. She put it to me as 'Well, Atkins is very unhealthy, and while low carb in general is good, why don't you just start making better choices?" I reexplained that I've been on Weight Watchers and other programs, but was always hungry and rarely happy. She told me that I just needed more willpower, and so long as I don't keep any 'bad' food in the fridge, I'll be fine. By this point, I'm so frustrated with everything, that this really upset me and I even started shedding tears. She responded "Fine, then, do a low carb diet. But you really need to just stop dieting and start eating healthy food in moderation." As if it were that easy.

Not sure if anyone else has had a similar experience, but although I know I am an extremely bright and competent woman, it's just NOT that easy. Food has been the one thing in my life I've never been able to completely control. I know that no one can make you feel inferior without your own consent, but I still ended up walking out of her office feeling like a dumb and weak individual. She finally consented to give me a referral to a weight counselor/type doctor. All I want is some help with getting off this extra weight, and I want to be healthy. I wish it really were as easy as my doctor says. (And of course, she's tiny.)

Just needed to share/vent. Maybe there's other people out there that understand that sometimes it takes more than willpower, and whatever 'it' is, we wish we knew, or at least our doctors....

NovaMusic9

Hi Nova,
I also consider myself "an extremely bright and competent woman," but nearly every doctor I've ever seen has treated me like an idiot. I think doctors in general are condescending. I used to think it was only male doctors, so I started going only to women, but they've made me feel stupid too. When I find one that doesn't, I hang on for dear life! Too bad they don't focus more on "bedside manner" in medical school.

What your doctor doesn't understand is that Atkins maintenance is pretty much "making better, lower-carb choices." It's just a structured plan to get you to that point. If low-carb in general is good, how can Atkins be bad? Duh! Now she's the dummy.

Well, my dr. is all for Atkin's. Like he and she said you still eat lots of different foods it not a starvation (sp) thing like other diets. You can eat and be full. Some dr. only believe in what they where tought in school and if they have never had a weight problem they will never understand. I would not worry about what she said. Weight trainers are even suggesting Atkin's. You are far from stupid just because you did not go to medical school. You do what you feel is right and what makes you feel good.

Oh ya,
you should start a journal on here and we will check it out to see what you are eating and maybe we can figure out why you are not losing weight. I could be a number of things. Lots of foods have hidden carbs and say 0 carbs on the lable. Low carb bars and shakes will slow and even stop weight loss if you eat to many. Be sure to be eating 3 cups of low carb veggies. Use fitday.com to help count your carbs it is a great tool. You can do it and we will help you. Everyone's body is different. Some just need to try different things and this site is full of information.

man..you should have head the nasty little lecture I got in the checkout lane about how I was killing myself my doing atkins. I feel bad because this person was NO doctor and she STILL made me feel bad!

I am discouraged that doctors say its bad..it really does make me wonder. However...I have never heard of anything bad that happened as a result of this WOL that was legit.

My doctor really suprised me. I was there for a visit a couple weeks ago. He looked at my chart and noticed how much weight I've lost since my last visit and asked what I was doing. Well, I told him Atkins and was waiting for "the look" But he said "good job, its working for you keep it up. Just make sure to get the blood work done so we can make sure everything is alright." I was really suprised. I guess not all doctors have their heads buried in the sand, lol.

I've recently had a run in with a skinny, evil nurse... I understand.

An old EMT joke about paramedics changed to "doctors"...

"What's the difference between God and a doctor?"
"God doesn't think he's a doctor..."

LMAO ...oh so true and I have worked with them. Well, my Dr. said do whatever works for you, but realize that at some point low-carb might not work because you will want the carbs. Ummm...whateeeever. I know that if I try anything else, that "some point" of wanting more foods would be everyday for the rest of my life.
I know my body better than some person who speaks with me for 5 mins tops every now and then. As for the medical community's support. I don't freakin need it! Pfffffftttttt!
Its just as Dr. Atkins talks about in the book, we can do so many great things as a society, yet they can't put together the pieces to figure out why we keep getting FATTER and FATTER.
I won't ever be sold again with the "you just need more willpower, clean out the fridge and cabniets, journal it, join a group of women for meetings where you have all suffered for 6 days to get to a meeting where you can line up and weigh like cows after clawing to hold, eating your "points" and staying hungry and tired, only to find you dropped 1/2 a pound"
Oh ferrrget that! Never again. Oh and while I'm on this soapbox, let's address those who think I eat because I wasn't a happy child. Good lord. Maybe I ate and thought about those things more as my depression reached deeper and deeper dephs because I was filling my body with poison, that made me feel like I was worthless. Its not my heart and soul that's the problem, I AM strong daggumit.
Okay ... ...I'm off it, sorry, had to vent.

Well,
I think, IthinkIcan, said it all. You go girl. I feel the same way about the God Dr. The know it all's of medicene.

NoVaMusic9 - I have been there also, don't dispair it was my dietician that basically said try harder!! and yeah it really knocked me for six - but do what you feel is right for you.

And yeah start the journal and don't fret over it - if you feel great then kepe it up.

I think the only time this can be bad is if you don't stick to it every day, ie eggs and stuff for breakie and lunch and then cake in the evening - that would just screw everything up.

As for not losing - the first 2 weeks I also didn't lose but found that I had to remove certain types of foods that might be ok for others but not for me.

Good luck and please do not give up

Nova,
It could be that you are metabolicly resistant, like Dr. Atkins talks about in his book. Or maybe you have a food allergy/intolerance. I suggest reading or re-reading the parts of DANDR that discuss this. It might be helpful. Don't give up!

About the Dr. -she isn't god. And med school maybe "alot of work, blah blah blah", but it doesn't give someoen the ultimate athority over everything. Drs. are busy people. The most likely don't have the time to read every bit of new research. Plus many have been brainwashed by our culture's constant high-carb/lowfat push.

You are not dumb or weak. The reason people can't stay on HighCarb/LowFat plans is they are starving themselves. Humanbeings are not ment to starve. Don't let this make you think less of yourself. That doctor isn't in your shoes, your life, or your blood stream. Listen to your body. Do what makes you feel healthy and energized.
Blessings,
~CindyLynn~

veggie and fruit fan said basically: "no, I don't really want to know wht you are eating. What matters most is that you are losing lots of weight and look and feel much better. Let's just see what the blood work shows."
When the blood work came back, his secretary/staffer called and said "everything looks great, keep up the good work."
So, not all doctors are the same and like anything else you buy, you should make sure you are paying for something you really want. Me, I'd change doctors if I were you.

Left a doctor's office once feeling DIRTY--whew, that was a hard one to shake off!! Wonder how effectively she worked with people who didn't have my demographic advantages... Also noted she worked in a university hospital, and so didn't have to have the same bedside manner skills that a private practice MD would need or else face an empty waiting room.

Then there was the Christian MD who didn't see why single women needed birth control... Or the guy who wouldn't give me a test for an STD because I didn't look like I was at risk?

Sigh.

I don't take financial advice from poor people and I don't take weight loss advice from tiny people. They have no clue. This fact is the reason all of the 12-Step programs work; we BELIEVE people who have "been there" because they KNOW what it's like. If trying harder worked for me, it would have worked by now.

One day, she'll get hers, maybe. She simply hasn't encountered anything that won't fall to willpower. But life is long and sometimes the lessons come later. Could be that your lesson is to carry away the memory of being on this side of someone's lack of compassion, and you'll be more understanding the next time you encounter a different situation where willpower hasn't solved it.

Good luck!

Nova, if it weren't for the fact that I do not have PCOS, it could have been me writing your posts - just about everything you said applies to me as well. I am at that stage where I am not really doing Atkins, but I haven't given up either, I just don't know what I am doing. Having "only" lost about 9-10 pounds in 6 weeks and having what the doc considers "bad" blood results, I am trying to decide which way to go. So I feel for you, and I hope it works out.

I get along just fine with the current staff, so I wouldn't be doing this. But after I posted the last item, I thought, "What she needs to do is write out a different response:"

"&%*# YOU! Just WHAT do you know about being fat, anyway? What have you EVER tried to do to lose this much weight? Is anyone in your life fat, or are you all picture-perfect yuppies who shop in 3-5-7 and Talbots? Do you have CLUE, or are you just being an over-educated SNOT with no foot in the real world? That advice is COMPLETELY useless to me and indicates that you have NO idea of what it's like to be me."

You probably don't want to send that letter. But it might feel better if you wrote it.

And as I write it, I think that maybe her mother is fat, and she hates it, and is terrified of fat, and lives in a world of restriction and fear because she doesn't understand her mother's life or why it turned out the way it did.

(No lack of imagination here.)

Again, good luck.