Co-worker on scary diet

So, the other day at work someone brought in donuts (which is a topic worthy of a whole other thread, I mean really! Would they bring in cigarettes? Whiskey? No)... and one of my co-workers says "no, thanks, I'm on a special diet" so I ask her what and she tells me "medifast" which immediately sounds bad (the whole fasting thing) and I ask her what sort of diet it is and it's an 800 calorie diet!  I couldn't help it, I grimaced (I know, her weight loss plan is none of my business!) and she said "It's okay, my doctor put me on it" and I ALMOST said "and you've never met any unethical or misguided doctors?" but kept my trap shut. I think I said "Uh huh" or something then changed the subject.

Since it's totally inappropriate to lecture her about her dieting I thought I'd just rant here (by the way while she does have about 80 lbs to lose by my totally inaccurate eyeball estimate she doesn't seem nearly big enough to justify this kind of approach).

I don't even really want to congratulate her on her weight loss (she says she's lost 30 lbs) because it seems so unhealthy and I'd hate for several other of the overweight women we work with to see it as some sort of justification.  Does anyone think it would be appropriate to say gentle things like "does it let you eat plenty of veggies" and "what sort of exercise program are you doing" or should I just let it go?

i dont think its completely out of line to voice some kind of concern. I mean she IS starving her body, however some people can be very defensive when it comes to how they treat themselves. However, rather than telling her what shes doing isn't good for her, maybe bring up your plan and discuss how its working and what not.

by the way its really disappointing to see doctors advising their patients this way.

let it go. it really doesnt seem that bad:

http://www.medifast1.com/weightloss/5and1.asp


its a doctor supervised VLC diet and that is totally fine to do.
doing it on your own is dangerous because you cant catch potentional problems that can happen on a VLC diet on your own.

50+ pounds overweight puts you at clinically obese. shes almost 2x that. maybe there is something you dont know about her personal health that would make her do that. also when you are that big its hard to start losing wt because you are so hungry.
some people need an extreme thing to kick off thier fat burning to shut off thier appetite.

its safer than that stomach staple surgery.
would you yell at someone for that?

Don't assume every doctor is going to know anything about healthy weight loss. Some will, if they've gone to the trouble to learn. A whole lot won't.

I used to work at a med school and our students got *1 week* of training in diet, nutrition and "alternative medicine" in 4 years of med school. (why diet and nutrition are lumped with alternative medicine is a whole nuther topic). It's been a while but if I recall correctly, the diet and nutrition part was only a day or 2 of the week.

As far as I know about the medifast, it's a 'crash diet' method that doctors use for people who have to have extreme weight loss before surgery or something. They put people on it for weeks before gastric bypass surgery (if they're going to do that I don't really see the need for gastric bypass but what do I know?).

Back in the early 70's our family doctor...who was the family doctor to the whole little town we lived in...put my obese grandma on a 1000 calorie diet. She lost the weight and kept it off the rest of her life but it was brutal. Wonder why I didn't think I'd ever be able to lose weight??? That's what weight loss was to the medical profession back then and for a big percentage of the profession that's where it has stayed.

My guess is, unless she's got something else going on that she doesn't want to share with co-workers, her doctor has the same attitude that a lot of people have about losing weight..."let's get the weight off as fast as possible and *then* worry about how to live a healthy lifestyle". We all know how successful that's been.

A lot of people here know a lot more about *healthy* weightloss than far too many doctors. The doctors may know the mechanics of how the human body works and how to fix some of the things that go wrong with it, but that doesn't mean they are experts in *health*.

Our students used to say, "What do they call the person who graduates last in their class at med school??? Doctor!!" =/

I like the approach on the donut issue... cigarettes...... whiskey.... My kind of girl!!!!!

That is disturbing that her doctor prescribed it.  Although, I've known a couple of people on medifast and it worked well for them and they've kept the weight off.  So who knows!

I agree with amonaco that it's not out of line for you to talk to her about it.  Maybe you could offer to input her numbers into calorie count to find out her percentages for her.  Offer to take a walk with her at lunch around your building.  Just make your feedback to her positive.  If she's excited about weight loss, be excited for her and ask if she would like to join you in strength training sessions twice a week. 

I believe that everyone has to find there own way.  And she'll figure it out eventually.  Set a good example and try to include her on the good things you are doing for yourself.

It's a medically supervised diet for overweight and obese individuals....get over it.  This diet works and has been around for a while.  It supplies all of the nutrition that the body needs.  The main reason why a 1,200 calorie minimum is suggested is because it is difficult for an adult to maintain proper nutrition on less than 1,200 calories.  The shakes, however, provide that nutrition. 

Oh...and 1,000 calorie diet isn't exactly brutal.

a diet of 1,000 calorie diet is pretty brutal on ones metabolism.

i cant type by the way

I still think "medically supervised" is a load of crap-- some doctors are just as willing to get a piece of the weight loss industry as everyone else.  It's big bucks. Besides which, if you have the willpower and motivation to eat 800 calories of nasty shakes and nutrition bars, why NOT just go with 1300 calories of lean meats, whole grains, high fiber veggies etc?

And no, I wouldn't yell at either my colleague for her diet or someone who elected to get gastric bypass surgery. Nor would I yell at someone for actually eating the Evil Free Donut.  I'm just concerned since all the data suggests that crash diets lead to weight gain in the long run and I'm sure that's not her goal.

I like the idea of seeing if she wants to join me at the gym, but can you work out at 800 calories per day? Or would you keel over?

My aunt was put on a 1000 calorie a day diet by her doctor. She lived. She also had breast cancer and needed to lose weight to make the surgery safer. It was an extreme condition.

But it's best not to ask. I'd hate to hear thats why they are doing it if you asked...

liquid protein semi-fasting is one of the recommended weight loss therapies for the morbidly obese. To be done under doctor supervision.  Sometimes the health consequences staying overweight are worse than losing rapidly.  And the diet is usually limited to 12 weeks and followed closely by a doctor including medical testing. 

Please don't judge what you know nothing about.  It is between her and her doctor.   And maybe a better alternative to a surgical procedure.

It would be better to support and encourage her. It is a rigorous diet intervention that comes with a lot of emotions and issues from such rapid weight loss.

I was doing 800 calories and gained... :[

Hey there,

Same thing happened with my neighbor- 800 calories on some sort of cookie diet?  She explained it and it is totally a scam but her family got her involved with it so it was really hard to talk to her about how unhealthy it was/is.  I finally told her that I didnt think that it was properly teaching her how to change her lifestyle and that she wasnt eating nearly enough to support her life functions.  I also said that as soon as she went off of it then she would probably gain the weight back since she doesnt understand calories or portion control etc.  This diet even asked their clients NOT TO EXERCISE!!  Can you believe it.  I mean I am sure it is because of the low calorie intake but I mean that is just ridiculous!  She is still on it and still losing weight but I guess everyone has to learn for themselves- really I dont think anyone can maintain that for very long anyways- hopefully right?  Fingers crossed.  Anyways, enough of my rambling- I would for sure say something.  More like how you just educated yourself and dont think she is getting enough to keep her healthy.  Hopefully things will work out :)

Medifast is not a fad diet like a cookie diet or just very low cal type diet

semi-fasting with doctor supervision is a medical intervention diet done with a doctor.  Doctor supervised diets are the only time a very low cal diet is ok.  They are limited to the very obese or for other more important medical reasons that outweigh the risks of rapid weight loss.

Well....obviously you are not a doctor so really....I don't think your OPINION really matters.  Why not leave it up to the docs rather than thinking you know everything and butting into someone's personal life and making rude comments?

charde - are you saying you have to eat less than 800 calories a day?  Hope you are doing that with a doctor, because that is semi-starvation.

fallingstarz, Quack doctors are not mythical creatures...they do exist.

no, quacks are everywhere.  but semi-fasting for the very obese is a legitimate approach when needed and supervised by doctors.  I find it appalling that someone would be repulsed or be rude to someone who is doing this. 

Fallingstarz- other than a reflex grimace I did not share my opinion nor make rude comments.  You'll note that I threw the question out to the crowd to see what they all thought about making subtle healthful comments.  Thank you for your OPINION that I should leave her alone to do whatever she and her doctor see fit. I will take it into account (actually, I probably will do exactly that since subtlety is not my forte and I sure as hell don't want to lecture/scold/generally be obnoxious to someone who is making an honest effort to change).

glad to hear that noelle.  if you can't be supportive, at least you won't hurt her more during a difficult struggle.

I think that being supportive, feeling sympathy and empathy for someone else's struggles is important, even if we're not in the same boat.  Does it matter that it's weight loss, break up or divorce, illness, loss of a job. 

Seems to be more critical judgement and less willingness to share sympathy and support these days.  I'm not quite sure why.