Help!!!! Doc has told me to eat 1000 cals a day with no help.

[MyBloominMarvellousYoni]

My psychiatrist has told me to go on a diet of 1000 cals a day as the meds I am on cause huge weight gain and can cause diabetes. (quetiapine)

Where on earth do I start? Is there anyone doing similar? What do you eat?

Also, is there anything my gp can prescribe to try and counteract the weight gain?

I am already overweight which is why the psych has said this.

My fitness pal is a good app where you can log all calories & exercise. Good luck :)

That's ridiculous - they might be a good psyc, but they clearly aren't a good dietician or nutritionalist.

Have you read anything about low carb diets? They are the best way to get/maintain good blood glucose levels.

Do yourself a huge favour and go and order the book 'Escape the Diet Trap' by John Briffa - you wont regret it.

I have been diagnosed with T2 Diabetes as I had a HbA1c reading of 9.3, in 3 months I got it down to 5.8 without meds etc. I hope that means nothing to you, just trust me, it's really good.

Low carbing will help you to lose weight and keep your blood levels good - that is what you need, not a stupidly low calorie intake. Grr.

Oh and even though I don't think it matters one bit, my cholesterol has dropped down a lot too since I started low carbing.

Any questions, ask away.

I second myfitnesspal.

I have no experience of that specifically, but my fitness pal is a great website / free smartphone ap for tracking your calories per day. You can play about with differentmeal plans and see how it affects yyour calorie intake too.

For 1000 cals a day you'd be looking at something like:

breakfast: toast and a banana
lunch: soup and a yoghurt
dinner: white fish or grilled lean meat and veggies /salad. Small piece of chocolate and maybe small glass of wine depending on your priorities.
snacks: fruit, raw veg

Hope someone will be along with more help. Good luck, in any case. Its a shame your doctor couldn't give you some more pointers...

lots of cross posts!

That's awful try 5:2 diet as this is less of a shock to the system and has dramatic results

You have to be very careful with MFP and if you want to be totally sure it's right, then you have to log all your food under your own name yourself - or you can be using totally crap information (any numpty can enter data into it - so half the stuff on there is wrong).

There seems to be a bit of wishful thinking on some bits on MFP...but it is good as a general guide to make you appreciate what you put in your mouth.

Yes, MFP can be dodgy. I started using it last week, have found lots of entries for things like red wine - no calories (!) and chicken leg (incl skin) - 0 fat!! So if you use it enter your own values.

However I second Chipping In's Low Carb advice, it's the only diet that has ever worked long-term for me where I haven't felt constantly hungry and obsessional about food. Riverboat's menu would leave me climbing the walls!

1000 cals is a tiny amount, completely unsustainable. If you would consider low-carb, it is meant to be very helpful for those at risk of diabetes as it regulates your blood glucose/insulin levels. I'd suggest you do some reading up about it before. I think there is a book by Bernstein, sorry cant remember title! Briffa is indeed worth a read too. You won't be hungry on low-carb either which makes it MUCH easier to stick to than calorie counting.

I would have big doubts about your psych tbh. We may give out advice on here but we're not pretending to be qualified in the subject! His advice is pretty shocking.

Talk to a real doctor.

Go to your GP and request being referred to a Nutritionist. There is a lot wrong with a 1000 calorie a day diet, and it is hard to maintain. I would also recommend 5:2 but that does depend on proper medical advice (for anyone with health issues or a pre-existing condition), especially if you are on medication.

Do you definitely need quetiapine specifically?

You could talk to the psychiatrist about other antipsychotics, maybe? Aripriprazole or one of the typicals would be less likely to cause weight gain.

I'm quite small and I'd still struggle to live on 1000 calories a day. MFP recommends a minimum of 1200 cals a day which I find sustainable with a bit of planning. If you are tall or/and very active I would increase this to 1500-1600 calories.

Another vote for 5:2 instead of a daily diet. I have not been as slim as I am now since I was a bride.

. . . and that was nearly 18 years ago.

You can't eat 1000 calories a day. That's rubbish advice.

Go and speak to your Gp.

I think the psychiatrist is being unfair, just prescribing you something known to cause weight gain when you are already overweight and leaving you to sort it out essentially

They should be referring you to a dietician and considering alternative medications, not linked with weight gain. Given the health problems that excess weight can cause and the drive toward improving physical health amongst mental health service users, I'm surprised at the advice you got. Which frankly is shit!

If possible I would go back to the psychiatrist or at the very least talk to your gp.

You shouldn't have to go it alone.

I don't understand why he would recommend a diet of 1000 cals because your at risk of huge weight gain.

Surely you should be monitoring what you eat to make sure you don't have a huge weight gain but still be eating a normal, achievable amount of calories? I would get a appointment with GP.

Low calorie diets on a long term basis have been linked to gall stones and various other health issues.

Is your Psych a qualified dietician??
Its all too easy to tell someone to only eat x amount of calories/food to lose weight, but half of those people haven't got a clue what they are talking about.
I think most people would struggle on 1000 calories a day, completely unrealistic long term.

I would make your first port of call to your GP before starting any kind of diet. He/she will give you advice on how to go to go about it properly.

Are any qualified dieticians out there recommending low carbing?

Surely they'd be more likely to advise a balanced diet, loads of fresh stuff, cutting out the crap etc?

I don't like seeing low carbing held up as medically sound tbh as I don't think many doctors are recommending it.

And of course, what they all said about seeing a proper doctor.

Your doctor is awful. Have you asked him to refer you to a dietitian? I would be so hungry eating your sample diet river. I really don't know how to start to eat healthily at 1000 calories. I hope you get some proper help from a professional.

Just to clarify I have never done a 1000 calorie diet as I also know I couldn't sustain it. I was just giving an idea of how 1000 cals a day translates into actual food, since the OP had asked.