Dietician? Meal Ideas?

Hi everyone! I was going to have the RNY but to make a long story short, the cost exceeded my current budget (I was a self-pay). I am curious if any of you have met with a dietician. If so, did you find it helpful? Do any of you follow weigh****chers? How do you plan your meals? I guess I'm kind of clueless in regards to "healthy" things to eat. My main issue is sometimes I only eat once a day. I work as an ICU nurse (12 hour night shifts) and I have no appetite during the day....obviously this doesn't help with my metabolism. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Aimee

On the USDA website, there is a pyamid plan that tells you what types of things you need to eat for balanced diet....that's what I try to adhere to.  It also has a pyamid tracker that calculates your caloric intake and different vitamins and nutrients.  Some others on here use fitday, I think! You need to try to eat three balanced meals a day, your body thinks you are going into hibernation mode and hangs on to those calories and stores it up. I know it sounds crazy, but you MUST eat to lose!

Angie's post about the pyramid is the next best thing to seeing a dietician. That pyramid is the largest body of science-based research on nutrition! It gets bashed because people do not take the time to read about the portion sizes. 6-11 servings of bread sounds like a lot, but when you realize that most commercial bread slices are nearly 2 servings apiece, then you get a more realistic picture.  You will find that when you work at balance daily - eating fruits, veggies (especially leafy greens), lean meats, low fat dairy, whole grains, healthier fats - there is little room for the "other stuff".  Your body won't crave the so called "bad stuff" when you are filling it up with the dense nutrition it needs. When i worked at making sure I ate dark leafy greens and more berries, grapes, plums, oranges, it amazed me how much the cravings for food like coffee cake, cookies, etc, diminished.  Not to say i never eat stuff like that, but i have seen the difference in how I feel and what i crave when i eat FAR less of things like that! I'm a lot like you...i seriously don't have a lot of hunger all day long! But now, I work at eating something every couple hours whether I want to or not.  I buy the bariatric foods that are dry mixes in single portions and only need ho****er or short microwave balsts. These are high protein, low to no fat, very low calories items that are with me wherever i go. I bring along ready to eat fresh fruit or veggies and it works for me.  The fruit drinks are great, can be mixed in with my waters. here is the web page of the stuff I buy (protidiet items are great!)  www.carbessentials.net  i have a store in my town, so I don't have to pay the shipping. Good luck...there are lots of awesome items out there...start looking and bring some to work with you! Read labels and look for things with matched grams of carbs to protein, and ideally less than 5g fat. Calories do matter...so try to keep items around 100 - 150 calories each.

if you are really in the clueless category, meeting with a nutritionist would definitely be a very good investment. there is so much bad info out there about different foods/diets etc (much of which is wrong) so building a relationship with a professional is great. just having a knowledgeable resource around helps. they can also give you ideas about healthy snacks and info about meal planning - many will give you handouts, websites, all sorts of stuff that will help you put together a balenced meal plan.  it is a GREAT place to start. here is a link to help you did one: http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_4874_EN U_HTML.htm you can also look in the "locate a professional" list here on the OH site. as i'm sure you've heard, eating one meal a day is not a good idea. like lots of people don't eat breakfast because they say they aren't hungry. problem is you need to put something in your body to "wake up" your metabolism so you start burning calories. otherwise your body is just hanging onto everything all day "waiting" to be woken up. even if you can just grab a luna bar on the way to work, have a small easy meal halfway through your shift, throw in an apple or banana during the day then have a real meal when you get home at night. once you start eating on a regular schedule, you will start having an appetite during the day. good luck and keep us updated on your progress! andrea

I do have a nutritionist, and she fully approves of my current diet and exercise plan. Every day statrs with a multivitamin (with iron) and flax seed oil supplements. Breakfast is either a meal replacement bar, or cup of Dannon Light and Fit Yogurt and fruit-- or a Kashi bar---or turkey. I try to stay around 300 cals. Lunch is usually a Lean Cuisine, or some ham, tuna or turkey, a cup of soup. Again, I try to keep the cals low (around 300)  because I can't work well when full. Dinner is usually a wrap pizza with meat, turkey with veggies, whatever floats my boat. Usually followed with yogurt or fresh fruit, and a fat free Fudgesicle! I try to stay under 1300 calories a day (and usually do, easily)-- and get some kind of exercise-- no matter what type, every single day. Some days I do an hour, but always at least 30 minutes. I try to keep my food balanced a little heavy on the protein-- maybe 30% protein, 25% fat, 45% carbs, but 25/25/50 works. I used to eat only dinner too. Problem was it started around 5pm and lasted until 10! It's really crappy for your body, it turns out, so try not to. And my saving grace has been using FitDay.com so I can watch everything that goes in and out. That's what's making all the difference for me. Also--- GET BACK IN THE POOL! No one gives a crap what you look like in a swimsuit...I PROMISE! Caring too much about that is part of what is imprisoning you--- you have to let that go so you can do what needs to be done. You're gorgeous, and you're worthy-- so go play in the water!