taking vitamins discourages fat loss??

Hi everyone,

A doctor told me something, and I'm trying to find out how true it is.

She said that if I'm looking to lose weight, I should stop taking multi-vitamins.  Because if I stop taking them, it will encourage my body to burn excess fats and get the stored vitamins from there. 

Put that way, it sounds reasonable, but I've never heard this before.   Any thoughts?

Thanks!!!

Huh, that's the complete opposite of anything I've ever heard. What kind of doctor was this (general practice, ob gyn, etc.)? Just wondering. It'll be interesting to see what others have to say.

That is the complete opposite of what every doctor has ever told me...ever.

I'm curious to find out what kind of doctor you have as well, because his/her advice sounds fishy.

ok,  I tried to digest that on so many levels.  First let me make this clear,  I am not a doctor or medical personel of any kind.  I am not giving advice.  This statement made know since to me.  First of all,  What vitamins we don't need that we have ingested through pill or food is urinated out.  If we stored viamins in our fat and it stayed there tell we needed them then we would'nt need a daily vitamin.  Good nutrition and any supplementation is on a day to day basis.  I am sure there are some vitamins or supplementations that stick around for a certain amount of time.  Like  I get a b12 shot every two weeks.  But, for a doctor to tell you to not take a a multi-vitamin while dieting is a new one for me as well.  I am going to have to look into this.  I love stuff like this,  where you have to figure the logic in that statement.  I will definitely get back with some facts ( still matter of opionion) Sorry for the covering my butt remarks,  I have been petty jumped so many times by sharing things of experience or what works for me.  It's made me not so comfortable to share ideas and opinions without stating what should already be understood while you read threads or bloging.

my guess is that it was a natropath?? they have some pretty crazy ideas (lol) like ceritan diets for certian blood types (yuck!)

well im not sure. the only objective of loosing weight should be to become healthier what better way to do so than getting a wide variety of vitamins in your diet! stored fat (adipose tissue) doesn't contain all the vitamins you need. healthy is a wide range in diet, i suggest checking this out with a different doctor.

Fat, or excess stored energy, is used up when you use more calories than you eat, hence your body taking what youve missed out on from your stores.

1pound = 3500cals <thats fact though

1kilo = 7700cals

1kilo = 32340 kilojoules    < i think thats right, just my conversion skills :)

(yays for metric ^^)

so theoretically to loose weight you eat less than you burn, say you burn 1900cals daily, if you ate 1600cals daily, thats 300 less a day *thinking 3 x 7* thats 2100cals a week which is nearly a pound! this ssooo didn't work out for me i lost faster and i say thats because of water etc.

or you could excercise 'X' amount of calories extra a day so your eating less than you burn

but anywho, personally i can kinda see what your doctor would mean, maybe change multi-vitamin tablets? i say he's just said that based on your diet assuming that you eat pretty much your burn and not excercise much so very little fat is being burnt in the first place. or hes referring to the tablets having a calorie value??

personally he's confused me and i think he's an idiot, either that or he's smarter than all of us haha! ^^

nah, i reckon you should see a different doctor

you know what though....  What sounds really similar to that statement,  is to let your body go after its stored fat for energy.  I have heard from so many doctors that if you eat to many calories or like other diets to many carbs, your body doesn't have to go after it's stored fat for fuel.  Maybe he meant that and he had a brain  ~f%rt~ and said multi vitamin. lol!!!!

that would make more sense than his original statement.

+ calories than you burn = gain weight/excess energy in fats stores

- calories than you burn = loose weight/energy taken from fat stores

simple, unless the tablet have calories, what the doctor said has no logic!

he's either a) mad scientist or b)one of those uber-crazy natropaths

Interesting. I would like to look into that more. I use to take a lot of vitamin and mineral supplements but have recently changed my way of thinking about that. I noticed that when I did take them I was more bloated and hungry. I stopped taking everything and started looking into getting all of the vitamins I need from foods. I feel much better but don't know that vitamins lead to weight gain. I am definitely less bloated and not as hungry.

hahhahah it's lil miss sexy muscles ^^

yeah, that makes more sense, and as i said before, just see if you can change tablets, and ultimately discuss it with your doctor

Original Post by holbee:

my guess is that it was a natropath?? they have some pretty crazy ideas (lol) like ceritan diets for certian blood types (yuck!)

That's a pretty insulting comment.  I have both friends and family who are naturopaths.  In "real" medical school doctors get a couple hours of nutrition information in their entire training.  It barely even registers.  Naturopaths take numerous courses on food, nutrition, herbs, vitamins etc, and I would never suspect a naturopath of making a statment such as the one made by the OPs doctor.  They believe in treating the patient, not just sticking a band aid on the problem, and this includes carefuly examining the patients diet and lifestyle.  My cousin who is in school now to be a naturopath has finally started taking a range of vitamins for her health, all under the guidence of her naturopath.  MY doctor, when I mentioned i was concerned about bone loss in my family, suggested taking TUMS.  TUMS are calcium carbonate and can cause kidney stones; calcium citrate (with D) is much more easily utalized by our body.

Not all naturopaths suscribe to the eat right for your blood type mentality, although if you read the book there is some interesting scientific data supporting the theory. 

Sorry to hijack the thread but I think the statement about naturopaths was uneducated and I wanted to correct that assumption.  And as much as people say "Go to your doctor," most MD's don't have a solid background in nutrition.  Its just not considered important in med school.

I'm a fourth year medical student and dovelette is correct: we are not taught a lot about nutrition in medical school beyond common sense stuff that we should know anyway. We are taught "refer to dietician"

It's all about the multidisciplinary team, people. Heh.

I have never heard that. I think we all need vitamins.

I'm not an expert, but from my own experience, I do seem to gain or at least maintain weight when I take vitamins regularly. I would disagree with the notion that weight loss from reduced vitamin intake would be primarily from fat. More likelt it would be water, since many of the minerals commonly included help to regulate cell water concentration. Also keep in mind that you are more likely to become deficient in some vitimans when you are reducing your food intake. If you look hard enough, I'm sure you can find useful information on this subject on line. 

Original Post by kthompson2:

I have never heard that. I think we all need vitamins.

 Yes, we do all need vitamins but not necessarily from supplements. It is best to get your vitamins and minerals from the foods you eat,  not from a pill. Vitamins do have their place. Some people have conditions that prevent them from properly absorbing and using vitamins and they must be monitored and placed on a supplement but for a normal, healthy person you should try to eat balanced and get your nutrition that way. Vitamins do not work the same way food does and you don't get the same benefit when taking a supplement that you would getting your vitamins/minerals from food.

I also agree that most doctors are not trained properly on nutrition and exercise. That is a specialized field of study. Just like not all Doctors are trained on Womens health, pediatrics, surgery and so on. They may cover the basics in medical school but to specialize in those fields requires further education.

Seems silly to me, I have dropped 172 pounds in about a year and have taken vitamins the whole time, I would think if there was any merit to this idea that I wouldn't have lost the amount of weight that I have, and honestly I feel that I have more successful weeks when I do take my daily vitamins than when I don't.

As Ever

Me

There are fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) and water-soluble vitamins (B vitamins and C). If you consume too much of the water-soluble vitamins you will uriate it out. If you consume too much of the fat-soluble vitamins then it is stored in the liver and in fatty tissue of the body. They are eliminated from the body much slower than water-soluble vitamins. So, the statement above that any extra vitamins that we don't need are urinated out is not entirely correct. I think we need to be careful about the information we post in these forums.

Maybe you should discuss this issue with your doctor more in depth maybe there is another reason he/she didn't fully explain. Or maybe discuss it with another doctor. This doctor obviously has a medical opinion about this and you need to dig a little deeper w/ the doctor.

Interesting thing I have also heard is that Vitamin C helps lower cortisol levels which can help reduce belly fat.  I've been taking some Vitamin C supplements just in case this is true.

Well, to be contrary...

I'm not a doctor. But all my life, when I take Multi-Vitamins, I gain weight like CRAZY. I've tried many different types, but they are all the same.

So I do avoid them, personally. But it is NOT something I would recommend for everyone. I only speak for my own personal experience. And everyone's body is different

Cherylsy just skip the multi vitamin for 60 days and see what happens.  You will be ok with out it for now and if it works out then toss them nasty tasting pills away.

I have heard the exact same thing from several sources.  But hey it is exactly the same as everything else that is thrown out on the post and in dieting articles.  No matter what you are doing and no matter what you are told about weight loss some one else has a different theory and opinion. AND to make it better each side is equally as passionate and has medical data to prove their point.  I have lost a crap ton of weight but apparently I have done it all wrong.  All of you are doing it wrong according to some one some where. 

It's infuriating (to say the least) but at least we know that is how this weight loss racket goes.  The differing opinions/doctor recommendations seem to be exactly the same as how different people/doctors/experts claim what is the right way to take care of an infant.  For instance, since it is an odd numbered year we all need babies to sleep on their back, next year they have to sleep on their stomachs at all times since we are in an even year.  (that may have been a bad example but I hope you get my point)

I took the advice of both of my doctors and doctor friend (just normal doctors) and stopped taking multi-vitamins.  As a matter of fact I have always been under the belief that multi-vitamins are a huge waste of time but choose to take some for a while to try and be as healthy as possible.  I got duped and i will again.

There are SOME vitamins that are fat-soluble and I guess it's logical that when losing fat, a little would be released back into the bloodstream. But assuming you're not overdosing, taking a vitamin will not hinder weight loss efforts or hurt you; it might, at worst, be less necessary for a few particular vitamins.