Looking for a dietitian and advice

Hey,

Haven't been around the forums much but back to ask a question.

back ground info:

I am about 1.5 years out. 100 pounds down (still a bit more to go but holding steady)

I work a very physically demanding job (I work in a warehouse where I am regularly lifting up to 60 pounds) and handily get over 15k steps in a day on top of the lifting.

Recently started running again. Got up to 5.5k and the aftermath killed me.

I have no energy. I have never gotten the "omg I have so much energy" that so many talk about after weight loss. I was super active before surgery (just fat lol) and I want to be even MORE active now but I seem to not be able to.

My blood sugars tend to run low. My Ferritin is in the toilet though my RBC count is fine.

My Fitbit shows I am sleeping decently.

The issue:
I am so low energy. I am tired all the time, even though I can force myself to do things most of the time all I want to do is sleep.

I actually get shaky and feel actually not ok if I don't eat regularly whilst I work (which I am not supposed to do) So I am hiding individually wrapped candy (like werthers) in my pockets to eat throughout the day. NOTE I do not want to do this. I still have more to lose (30-40 pounds) but if I don't I get shaky and unwell. I can't hide fruit in my pockets lol

I went to my Dr today. She is sending me for more bloodwork, a sleep study and wants me to find a nutritionist I can work with. (I greatly dislike the one at TWH, she gives impossible to follow advice that also goes against the current research and recommendations for bariatric patients) Does anyone know of any that are good and are familiar with the needs of a bariatric patient?

Does anyone have any other insights or suggestions?

Thanks!

sounds to me like you are not eating enough. what are your calories at? with the level of activity you are at you likely need to up your calories by a significant margin.

I'm in maintenance now and eating between 1,400 and 1,600 calories a day and doing a tiny fraction of your activity...even i will get shaky at the end of the day if I am lower than that.

Are you getting in enough healthy carbs? instead of Werthers can you do ziplock bags of nuts in your pockets, and or freeze dried fruits. or better a combination of both.

every body has different metabolic needs...you need to pay attention to what yours is telling you.

Nuts just don't seem to do much to help. Dried fruits might help. I just worry about getting caught. Tossing a hard candy in my mouth is so fast and non sticky (if you get what I mean) I will go look at my options. Dried fruit is delicious and just as high sugar as the candy :)

I might not be eating enough. I have wondered that. But the restriction is still real. I did recently get my breaks changed. We normally have a 15 and then a 45 min break in our 8.5 hour shift. I just couldn't eat enough if the 15 min break to amount to much. So now I do 30 min and 30 min and it seems to be helping.

I do worry about food options because if I eat dense protein then even this far out I can't get mu*****So for me at least carbonated beverages do NOT stretch the pouch! I do enjoy the odd diet coke) I can eat about half a sandwich in a sitting, for reference.

Not dried fruit like raisins and craisins...freeze dried...exactly like the original. Just smaller and crunchy. I Love freeze dried blueberries and strawberries. Easy to find in the us. In Canada I get them on amazon..whole foods.

also I've been eating a lot of marinaded and baked tofu...it's great and easier to digest than meat. Lots of recipes on Pinterest.

If you Ferritin is really low, it's no wonder you are exhausted. Ask you doctor to do a full iron panel - iron saturation, Ferritin, iron binding, iron. If it shows low then ask for a referral to a haematologist. There is a good chance you may need iron infusions. Fatigue is very common with low iron levels. They may say take more iron, but be a strong advocate for yourself and say you want a referral, that you have been tired long enough.

What is your hbA1C? If your blood sugars run low, eating a candy will only bring it up temporarily and then you may be experiencing reactive hypoglycemia where your sugar promets in reaction to a spike in sugar. Try low glycemic snacks - nuts, jerky, cheese sticks, pepperettes, HB eggs. I know you can't keep some of these in your pocket, but it's important to figure out what is going on with your sugars. Test your blood sugars regularly and try to make a correlation between what you are eating and how your sugars are reacting. I want you to have that wonderful full of energy feeling and I think with groundwork you can get there.

Thanks, Last time tested my Ferritin was 8. My hbA1C was 4.1mmol/L. So both still in the 'normal' ranges.

I did try nuts and pepperettes. The nuts weren't bad the pepperettes worked ok but I had to eat a LOT of them to keep going. (more risk to get caught and expensive).

I just want this fixed! (gahhhhh) I will see what this blood work says (I go next week on my day off to get stabbed) if anything is lower than it was a few months ago I will push.

Your Ferritin is low at 8. I know the reference range is 5-272, but you are really on the low side and you would feel much energy if it was higher. For your blood sugar, when you are feeling shaky, take a blood sugar reading. If it's low, eat a high protein snack. Tell your employer that you have been experiencing blood sugar issues so you are trying to get it under control and need to test it for a while. Explain that this will take less than a minute. A high protein snack is more slowly absorbed and will play less havoc with blood sugar highs. They have different flavours of roasted chickpeas which are not a bad snack that has lots of fibre. I think they are called The Good Bean.

The issue is even if the test is quick, I can't be quick as it takes time to put the order then the machine away and then walk back to the break room. I get what you are saying but it would take up to 20 min to complete the whole thing. They might tell me to just take time off work to figure it out (they are 100% on board with people being healthy, its a great company) as they might not want the disruption. Ie if I start going on 'breaks' all the time there will be other people who want breaks all the time too.

(I hate chickpeas lol. But I do my own homemade beef jerky)