Week 2 - The medium isn't always the message

Time on the Dr. Poon Metabolic Diet:  2 weeks
Total weight lost this week:  3 pounds
Total weight lost to date:  10 pounds

Hey everyone!  It's cold, it's miserable, but at least I'm losing weight!  I think that's going to be my new thing.  (insert bad thing here)...but at least I'm losing weight!

Week 2 was more challenging for me than the first.  The loss slowed down and I actually had indigestion on a few days.  That was pretty disheartening, until I realized that I'm not dieting - I'm changing my whole life.  I'm sure there will be some more growing pains but to be honest, I'm glad the weight loss is slowing down a bit.  If it continued at the pace it did last week I would have been worried about the sustainability of this plan. 

I'm finding that my biggest challenges are pre-planning meals and actually taking time out of my day to eat.  I've never been a big eater and I can easily go all day without realizing I'm hungry until I end up with a big headache and a bad attitude.  This plan requires me to actually think about food, which is something I don't always do. 

I went out to a party on Saturday night, which was my first big challenge.  I ended up with a plate of meat and salad - I felt like the poster child for Atkins.  The way I look at it, I can't control what the meat is cooked with so I just had to roll with the punches.  I just scraped as much of the sauce off the meat as I could. 

Today I had my first appointment at the doctor's office since I started the plan.  Dr. Barsoum wasn't there, so I had my appointment with Dr. Pat Poon himself.  This was the first time we met.  And here's where the title of this week's blog becomes relevant.

Let me just say first off:  I think Dr. Poon has developed a great way to help people who are struggling with weight and its associated complications.  I give him all due respect for that.  I also know that everyone is different and some peple must love his approach with his patients.  But honestly, HONESTLY...I don't like his bedside manner.  I found him to be abrupt, quite dismissive and far, far too defensive of his plan. 

When I go to my other doctors, I expect (and usually get) a frank, open conversation about my issues and struggles, lightly seasoned with some empathy and understanding.  What I got today was an "all or nothing" approach with someone who refuses to accept even the slightest insinuation that his plan is not automatically God's gift to perfect health. 

Case in point - I told him about the indigestion, and his immediate, snippy answer was "not because of my plan".  I then mentioned that I had vomited once last week and again, "not because of my plan".  I haven't thrown up in the past 7 years until last week, so the lowest common denominator here was the plan. With that being said, there was a chance that I was doing something wrong so I wanted to discuss it with him.  But he was completely unwilling to even listen to any critique of "his plan" that I just let it go. 

I then mentioned that I was going away on vacation next week and he said that I'll switch over to Phase 3 for that period of time.  I asked him to explain it to me and he said, "Did you buy my book?  It's in there".  Are you kidding?!?  But I just decided to choose my battles and I left, fuming with anger.

After meeting the goal of 10 pounds of loss (4 pounds water, 6 pounds fat) over the past two weeks, my appointment with Dr. Poon left me upset and resentful.  I refuse to have another appointment with him as I think his beside manner will be counterproductive to my success.  Once again though, this is not a commentary on the plan itself.  It works - I know it works because it's working for me - and you don't have to love the man to love the message. 

Please don't let this discourage any of you.  If you are thinking of giving this plan a try, do it.  If your body responds to it, it will change your life.  I am committed to this for the long haul because I've seen the results.  But here's my pearl for the week:

Pearl #1:  If you don't like any doctor that you saw for an appointment, don't book another appointment with that doctor.  Everybody's different and there are enough doctors in the office for you to find a personality that works for you.  Remember - your OHIP is paying for your plan and you have the right to be comfortable and supported by your physicians...all of them.

That's it for now.  My chicken stir-fry is still sitting on my tummy so I'm going to watch some Seinfeld and hopefully laugh it into digestion.  As always, I love your comments and can't wait for more of them.  See you next week!