my appt. was set for 2. i showed up early, they let me in quick, i was thinking, "sweet! i've never been in and out of here in less than an hour... this rocks!"
and then i had bountious time to read an entire magazine (true story) sitting in the exam room. oh well.
so she comes in. first she wants to check my birth control (implanon) and asks how my periods are doing. i blah blah my way through it because, remember, i was there for weight loss. but thanks for checking...
then i brief her: "interval walking program, diet plan, really motivated, keeping a food log, awesome friend is helping me, trying to get my calories up to 1200 because right now they average around 700 a day. i want phentermine." that's basically how it went down. i just vomited all that info. out in 30 seconds flat and then sat and stared and waited for ... what? for something... i don't know. praise? "GOOD JOB FOR WALKING EVERYDAY!!" or "WAY TO STICK TO A DIET!!" or "GEE, 700 CALORIES IS MIGHTY LOW THERE KIDDO." or "DAMN YOU'RE DOING FANTASTIC!! SIGN ME UP!"
yah, not so much.
"why would you want to increase your calories if you're trying to lose weight?"
"um, because i only average 700 a day... that's ... kinda ... um ... kinda low ...."
"oh... well, ok. and walking? what's you're heart rate when you're walking? how long do you walk for? walking really isn't going to do anything for you."
"it's speed walking... intervals ... interval training is better... burns more fat. sometimes i jog a little, but mostly walking... it's really fast walking.... fast."
"heartrate?"
"oh, i don't have a monitor. but i can buy one... my heart rate gets up there pretty fast pretty easily."
"and for how long? cause if your heart rate isn't in the cardiovascular zone for more than 40 minutes, you're walking isn't doing anything."
*crickets chirping*
tears welling up
"o. k. so i need to add more exercise. i can do that!" (side note: and i have)
"and eat less."
"less than 700 calories?!?!"
"eat less. exercise more. it's all about calories in, calories out."
here she drew a picture of a cup, or a tube, with arrows pointing in and arrows pointing out, in case i didn't understand.
"so my net caloric intake should be negative??"
"way negative. not including your base caloric output. (what it takes to pump your blood, get air through your body, keep your brain functioning, etc. it's you're weight time 10. that's what the typical person should eat to maintain their current weight ...) what you eat should be less than what you burn doing exercise."
"so if i do an hour walk, say that burns 450 calories. i should only consume 300?"
"well, i don't know the numbers..."
"what about all of the research about low caloric intake causing all sorts of problems?"
"that's not science. gastric bypass patients, basically they have caloric restriction. they might not have the energy to get off the couch, but they're losing weight."
silence. long, awkward silence.
"can i have the medicine?"
"no. your insurance wouldn't cover it anyways because you have low blood pressure, low cholesterol, and low sugar. you're not a health risk."
"but i'm obese!"
"but you're a healthy obese person."
and that was that. i left. no phentermine. feeling like my sore muscles and increased walking speed were unworthy of this butt munch's praise. i cried. a lot. for a long time.
and then i decided i'm going to get a new doctor, and then go work my hind parts off for the next year. and then next fall i'll go back to dr. butt munch for her to check my birth control, and tell her,
"oh i just increased my calories and took some phentermine. worked like a charm."
9 comments:
You are silly. Let's replace phentermine with some weight training. That'll give your metabolism the boost it needs. Sorry I have been a workout party pooper. Life is a little hecktik I guess at the moment...and it doesn't look like it's going to stop soon. Jonathon has a bad illness/fever. But, you keep up the good work. I praise your effort. I can't believe your Dr. actually drew you a picture...are you kidding me? I'd like to go talk to this lady. Though I do appreciate her not giving you drugs... i really don't think you need them. ;-)
...and I just don't trust them. I don't want them hurting my friends.
Ok. Chris is going to call you tonight about a wellness plan.
I'm a big believer it's more what/how you eat, then exercise/drugs. I KNOW he can help you. I know it.
On top of that, check out menus4moms.com ... You had mentioned at some point in time (I think??) you don't like cooking. This place sets full dinners for a week at a time, WITH a shopping list---so you shop once a week, with just the ingredients you need for your dinner for the week. It can't get any easier. And it's not stressful, because you know exactly what to cook EVERY NIGHT, and meals are super quick, healthy, tasty, and time efficient. It's help me stop eating out, when I get crunched for time, because I know I can whip something up that I've already planned for.
Don't fret. We will get this all figured out.
If we all had the motivation you do, girl!! My goodness.
And Chris really is going to call you. Tonight.
"Healthy obese person"! Ha where did she get her medical degree from???
Skip the meds though- that stuff has some scary side effects!
I hear ya 100% on the weight loss though- I'm in theh smae boat too- maybe we can be blog buddies.
Hey, Jordan speaking. I just wanted to reiterate everyone else by saying skip the drugs. Phentermine is an amphetamine just like the "ice" your neighbor uses so it can be addictive. It also has other side effects that are not good for a mother like impaired driving, dizziness, impaired thinking, possible fetus killing, etc.
so.. You should probably calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate aka "base caloric output" so you know how many calories you are actually burning just by living. Then you can add a few to that as long as it is less than what you burn exercising.
I agree with Taylor by saying that it is the majority of what you eat. So it would be a good idea to have Chris figure out a wellness plan for you. Then make sure you are calculating your calories correctly because a lot of people make the mistake of not measuring right and other things like that.
Your dr. wasn't right about much but she was right by not giving you phentermine. But I am not sticking up for her in the way she treated you. Bad Dr! That's all.
Seriously, how many careers are there where you can be a complete @#$%^& to your customers, get paid a crazy amount of money, and people come right back for more?
My dr told me the same thing..."According to all the tests you are perfectly healthy, just overweight." I could scream! I'm so proud of you for doing this. My fat blog is private so if you want to see it let me know, I'll send you an invite. I talked to my trainer today and she told me not to EVER go lower that 1200 clories a day. Good luck and way to go!
since my bod is solid steel and, like, perfect, i'm gonna agree with the doc and everyone else about phentermine or whatever it's called. these drugs that claim to help you lose weight are kind of quick-fixes. not healthy. bad for your heart. you don't want to use it. continue doing what you're doing: exercising and watching what you're eating. cardio is good for the heart, weight-training allows you continue to burn calories even when you're done working out. work the big muscle groups. it takes time. time and patience. and i already see a difference, stefanie. sometimes it takes a few weeks or even months to kick up the metabolism and see a difference. and now i am going to try and start practicing what i preach...
oh, and as soon as you get off the drugs if you ever get on them, which you better not - the weight jumps right back onto your bones.
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