High quality, affordable dietitian or dietitian app?

December 21, 2016 4:50 PM

Does anybody have any experience with working with with an in-person dietitian or subscribing to a dietitian app (like mydietitian.com or noom)? I'm looking to lose 10-15 pounds, feel better, and avoid overeating/snacking habits. I'm willing to pay for these services, but I'm not sure what's worth the money or how to get the most value for my money. Any suggestions, reviews, or relevant stories/experiences welcome!
posted by t-town to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

I lost more weight than that with a free account at sparkpeople and a food scale off of just Amazon. I've personally found that weighing and pre-parceling food did more than absolutely anything else for me, even cutting out bad stuff.

I also tried a free Mayo Clinic diet trial recently out of curiosity, and their advice was very similar to the advice given by the nutritionist my doctor referred me to. (I was curious if they had any additional tips, and canceled when it was clear the two sources mostly just agreed.)

Disclaimer: I'm more motivated than the average dieter because I'm diabetic.
posted by mordax at 6:12 PM on December 21, 2016

Where are you located? I worked with a nutritionist last year and dropped around 10-15 lbs. She's in the Bay Area though... We worked on weekly goals that were less about "don't do this" but "DO THIS" instead, which was very helpful. We also met weekly in person, and I think that was key. Each session was $75 -- we also emailed during the week if/when I had questions, or if she had ideas/suggestions for me. Entirely worth it IMO.
posted by hapax_legomenon at 6:19 PM on December 21, 2016

I've been to a nutritionist and a dietitian... Neither were worth the money. Both lectured me about portion size, not snacking, eating the 'right' foods (for one of them, the 'right' foods meant non- or low-fat versions of foods. Yuck), etc. Amount of weight lost thanks to the 'experts'? 0.

I've had better luck losing weight by being more active and dropping sugar and all things fake: so no non- or low-fat or 'diet' foods. Amount of weight lost on my own or with Weight Watchers? 80#.
posted by LOLAttorney2009 at 6:48 PM on December 21, 2016

My endocrinologist's office had a nutritionist on staff, which worked out really well. Because she was also a nurse practitioner, my insurance company paid for it like any other nurse practitioner visit at the office.

I saw her for a year, and it was quite helpful. One of my problems was that I tended to eat a lot of one food without a lot of variety, because it was just easier, and she broke me of that by finding equally easy alternatives. She was also good for when I had questions like, "I know all the books say I should be eating x, but here's reason y why I'd really rather not. Would a combination of A and B be almost as good?" I can't speak to the weight loss angle, because at the time I was at my ideal weight, occasionally dipping under. I wanted her to just write down menus for me by the month so I just wouldn't have to think about food anymore, but she said that wouldn't be good for me. So, I guess it was kind of a mixed bag.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:35 PM on December 21, 2016

Previously.
posted by anderjen at 9:05 PM on December 21, 2016

I had good success losing weight when I figured out that I needed to be eating a little *more* with the help of this thread on MFP. I think the advice in the thread, plus the tracking tools on MFP are all the fundamentals you may need for steady and healthy weight loss. Good luck!

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/974888
posted by phreckles at 11:11 PM on December 21, 2016 [2 favorites]

Have you looked at Lose It? I used the iPhone app for at least six months at the free level before upgrading to a paid subscription for more complex data crunching, etc. I believe it's functionally similar to MyFitnessPal, but for whatever reason when I was test-driving all the apps I found I liked Lose It much better. Two years on, Lose It continues to work well for me. Whether it works for you remains to be seen, people being unique and their responses to weight-loss approaches being widely variable.

Re your "feel better" goal, if you suspect you have an intolerance to something, Lose It isn't specifically designed to help tease that out. It's a food journaling app, so it'll serve as a good reference to what (and how much) you ate on a given day, but it doesn't correlate that against your mood/symptoms/whatever like a human dietician might.
posted by mumkin at 2:34 AM on December 22, 2016

I used Rise for about two months. It cost about $50 a month, which I felt was reasonable. You take pictures of everything you eat, and your registered dietician reviews them and comments. They're also available for feedback and do some coaching about activity and other goals.

I thought it was useful as a jump start, particularly given I was in a lot of situations (travel) where control over my food and using a food scale was nigh impossible. The pictures were so much better for me than a written tracker, because I hate looking things up in LoseIt and, in general, everyone sucks at estimating quantities. It was also quick, and I made the commitment to be totally honest - so I would take pictures of the handful of chips I grabbed from the break room, etc.

The dietician was able to work with me on better alternatives and information. Ultimately, I felt like the feedback was repetitive, and I knew more often than not what she would say. I discontinued once I felt like I was on the right track.
posted by quadrilaterals at 6:37 AM on December 22, 2016

I am currently using Rise. I saw no real benefit, so I asked them to switch me to a different dietitian. Since the switch, I have started to see some small benefits. I am encouraged enough to stick with it for a few more months.
posted by prefpara at 9:54 AM on December 22, 2016

Rise.us here too. Lost some weight. At the time I couldn't afford it easily but it really helped keep me on my toes.
posted by iNfo.Pump at 10:20 PM on December 22, 2016