May I rant about NUTs for a moment?

The people, not the delicious food items.

Last week I went to my centre and met with the NUT (and a different one). I said I didn't have as much energy as I felt I should (less than pre op).

She said it was because I was eating too little calories and not enough starchy carbs. And I had to get her to clarify starchy carbs. As I pointed to the veggies I was eating. And the berries.. She was no those aren't really carbs.. (wtf?)

FFS. On my food diary I had had my parent's birthday, whi*****luded a tiny bit of cake and mashed potatoes.... those are most definitely her definition of carbs.

I don't worry about how much I eat. The restriction is working well at 4 months out. I am not eating less on purpose, I eat as much as I feel I can and need too. I work hard to get protein in first. I get 60-80 grams in a day the vast majority of the time. It is not like I am getting crazy amounts.

So I straight up asked her. If I eat more carbs where do I get my protein (as she has already said that she wants to see me eating less bars and shakes.. FWIW I eat one a day or a shake. ONE)

She pointed to a meal I had that was just steak. By the time I got all my steak in there was no room for anything else. She said I could eat less steak there and add whole grains, or potatoes etc. I said that was 16gm of protein. If I was to eat less where would I make it up?

Like how can she not get it? She really pushed that my low energy was due to low carb (lies, I was low carb pre surgery and had loads more energy)

Then I saw the Nurse Practitioner. She echo'd what the NUT said. Said my ferritin was 'fine'. Sigh.

I did promise to eat more carbs for one week to see what happened.

Can you all guess what happened? More energy? No. Not making my protein daily? Yes. Stalled out my weightloss? Yes.

Gah!

/end rant

(I have an appointment with my regular Dr on tuesday. I want someone else to look at my bloodwork and perhaps get a referral to a hematologist)

Ahhh yes nutritionists of american pushing SAD as usual. I really wish they would update the nutritional standards. Starchy veggies are **** Are you getting enough electrolytes and potassium? I eat low carb and if im feeling low energy those are usually my culprits.

*America

You know.. I don't know about the potassium... I shall have to watch that and see.

What is your Ferritin number? NP at TWH told me a Ferritin of 4 was "fine". I was a walking Zombie and was close to passing out all the time and I had major side effects from it, scary stuff. They did not want to help me at all. Took mattes into my own hands and got 3 Iron Infusions myself, I feel like a million bucks now!

F the carbs, the NUT there pushed them hard on me too, ignored her... not only did I get to their goal of 150 lbs but I got below that in under a year by ignoring pretty much everything they said. The only use I have for TWH is they have great surgeons that are amazing at surgery, but that was just my experience.

Best of luck.

Ferritin is 28. I made enough of a stink they are checking my blood again in a month. Mostly because my A is low though.

I am with you. LOVED LOVED the surgical team. But the NUTs pretty much ignore their own hand outs..

Oh and the Nurse Practitioner.. She and the NUT were all 'oooohhhhh your vit B12 is high' and advised me to lower my supplementation. Now I went to school twice. Once for Forensics and then again for an honours degree in Biochem and Molbio. I am not dumb when it comes to this stuff.. I know some vit levels can get toxic. I was genuinely curious as to what would happen if I had too much B12. Her answer boiled down to 'it is bad because it is higher than the recommended level.' No actual reason. It is bad because it falls out of the numbers we have been given.

I have learnt that the other centres here in Ontario take the low ferritin much more seriously than TWH.

When I read something like this I am so grateful for my surgical team. They push high protein and low carbs. We are encouraged to get 10, 20 or 30 pounds under goal during the honeymoon period.

We have a very high success rate and people sometimes ask to attend our support meetings even though they did not have surgery with our group.

That is not allowed because they do not want someone coming in and giving our people the kind of advice you were given.

I have been going through the same thing with my NUT but I have refused to eat any starchy carbs. I do get a little through sf apricot preserves(1/2 tbsp.) and non starchy veggies, about 2 fork fulls of leafy greens a day.

Stick your guns!

Yeah. It's crazy. The NUTs at my clinic are good, really. But one I went to one with my nephew (we were raising him). He's autistic and very very picky, and he was gaining a lot of weight. I wanted information on how to feed him better. Her advice was to fix a big pan of sugar free jello and let him eat on that every day. Good grief.

FWIW, I am 7months out. My energy comes and goes. In the beginning it was harder. Sometimes now I think,"Ah, this is the energy everyone talks about, yay!" And then it goes. Very good water intake seems to help more than anything. And carbs seem to hurt my energy, not help.

My favorite NUT was a woman who had WLS herself. Unlike a former NUT, she did not set out a plastic piece of apple pie and plastic apple to "teach" me a whole apple is a better food choice than apple pie.