Silly nurse/obese BMI

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3laine75
3laine75 Posts: 3,070 Member
Not sure which categories I should have put this in but wondered if anyone else saw this yesterday,

http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/26/a-picture-of-obesity-nhs-tells-bodybuilder-she-must-lose-weight-and-exercise-more-4679903/

Unfortunately, a lot of people on here have been given ridiculous advice from doctors/nurses. If they are going to continue using BMI to judge health, perhaps some training on who and what the exceptions are would be prudent?

Won't hold my breath though, I think the NHS will be handing out unhealthy advice on nutrition for some time to come.
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Replies

  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
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    Not sure which categories I should have put this in but wondered if anyone else saw this yesterday,

    http://metro.co.uk/2014/03/26/a-picture-of-obesity-nhs-tells-bodybuilder-she-must-lose-weight-and-exercise-more-4679903/

    Unfortunately, a lot of people on here have been given ridiculous advice from doctors/nurses. If they are going to continue using BMI to judge health, perhaps some training on who and what the exceptions are would be prudent?

    Won't hold my breath though, I think the NHS will be handing out unhealthy advice on nutrition for some time to come.


    Just read the article it made me chuckle. looks like some retraining is in order. That lady looks great. She is right to be offended.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    never mind retraining... nurse needs common sense training.... you can see that she's not obese by looking at her. She obviously didn't go to the appointment wearing a fat suit. The nurse gave advice based on scale weight taking no other factors into consideration.
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    I wonder if the free advertising for her personal training business has anything to do with this story?
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
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    when you go for your regular checks with the nurse they will take BP and your weight
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    I went to see the nurse for the pill when my first baby was about 4 months old. I got told my BMI was high and I should only eat 1000 calories a day. I didn't look like this woman, who looks amazing, but I was working out 5-6 times a week, and 2 of those were hardcore PT sessions. My personal trainer was furious at the advice.

    A nurse in a GP's surgery is not a specialist dietician and isn't qualified to give out advice like that. I actually wrote a letter of complaint to my surgery.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.

    have you seen her pic?

    women bodybuilders may sometimes have issues with fertility, due to having a too low body fat percentage. Pray tell me how putting her on a 1000 cals/day diet and telling her to do more exercise will fix that....
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    This is not surprising. Unfortuantely the standard NHS 'questionnaire' read from a screen when attending a clinic will always includes height and weight and will calculate BMI. It does not ask about BF%.

    When attending for a check up I always get asked whether I smoke and how much I drink (alcohol) but there is never any question about my diet or exercise, on which I think there should be a much greater emphasis.

    There are many other factors that should be assessed before automatically telling someone to lose weight simply because they have an above 'healthy' BMI, not to mention that a body builder is likely to have a much higher knowledge and understanding of nutrition than your average GP or Practice Nurse.
  • lawlorka
    lawlorka Posts: 484 Member
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    She went to the nurse at the family planning clinic - she was probably just getting her pill renewed or injection done. Your BP and weight is taken every time. You don't have to have a medical 'issue' to go see the nurse.

    One of the reasons I started to lose weight - my nurse kept tutting me and telling me I was fat (actual words). I used to leave her office crying and feeling so rubbish about myself.

    Never mentioned my weight at all the last time- not even to make note of the fact I'd lost 20 odd pounds since the last time I'd seen her.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.

    have you seen her pic?

    women bodybuilders may sometimes have issues with fertility, due to having a too low body fat percentage. Pray tell me how putting her on a 1000 cals/day diet and telling her to do more exercise will fix that....

    It doesn't, once again I don't believe that's what happened. The nurse would be working completely outside of their training/education/standards of practice if they told anybody that.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Options
    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.

    have you seen her pic?

    women bodybuilders may sometimes have issues with fertility, due to having a too low body fat percentage. Pray tell me how putting her on a 1000 cals/day diet and telling her to do more exercise will fix that....

    It doesn't, once again I don't believe that's what happened. The nurse would be working completely outside of their training/education/standards of practice if they told anybody that.

    Of course, no-one ever cuts corners, and no professionals who don't do their job properly or who forget basic stuff or who make mistakes or even just don't give a damn exist at all... and no-one ever forgets what they learned in training, or is too rushed off their feet to do a proper assessment of their patients.... the Metro is a London newspaper, so it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out the nurse had way too many patients to see in a short time, at least half of whom should have been seeing a doctor rather than a nurse, but the doctor had a really long waiting list and could only take emergency appointments for patients who were actually not breathing so the nurses end up seeing them instead, because that's how it is in some parts of London these days.... patients getting the bum's rush from the NHS in London is unfortunately very common, and mistakes are far more likely in those circumstances...
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
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    NHS isn't alone. I've had several friends, myself included, labeled "metabo" while living in Japan, most of whom (myself excluded) are marathon and utlra-marathon runners.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
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    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.

    have you seen her pic?

    women bodybuilders may sometimes have issues with fertility, due to having a too low body fat percentage. Pray tell me how putting her on a 1000 cals/day diet and telling her to do more exercise will fix that....

    It doesn't, once again I don't believe that's what happened. The nurse would be working completely outside of their training/education/standards of practice if they told anybody that.

    Of course, no-one ever cuts corners, and no professionals who don't do their job properly or who forget basic stuff or who make mistakes or even just don't give a damn exist at all... and no-one ever forgets what they learned in training, or is too rushed off their feet to do a proper assessment of their patients.... the Metro is a London newspaper, so it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out the nurse had way too many patients to see in a short time, at least half of whom should have been seeing a doctor rather than a nurse, but the doctor had a really long waiting list and could only take emergency appointments for patients who were actually not breathing so the nurses end up seeing them instead, because that's how it is in some parts of London these days.... patients getting the bum's rush from the NHS in London is unfortunately very common, and mistakes are far more likely in those circumstances...

    Nope. Sorry. Nurses are perfect creatures who never make stupid mistakes, because "medical profession"
  • Therealobi1
    Therealobi1 Posts: 3,262 Member
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    She went to the nurse at the family planning clinic - she was probably just getting her pill renewed or injection done. Your BP and weight is taken every time. You don't have to have a medical 'issue' to go see the nurse.

    One of the reasons I started to lose weight - my nurse kept tutting me and telling me I was fat (actual words). I used to leave her office crying and feeling so rubbish about myself.

    Never mentioned my weight at all the last time- not even to make note of the fact I'd lost 20 odd pounds since the last time I'd seen her.

    Oh bless you, the nurse should nt be like that.
    My nurse also told me to lose weight as well but she was professional, I guess its a good thing someone says something. No one else in my circle ever told me to lose weight.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.

    have you seen her pic?

    women bodybuilders may sometimes have issues with fertility, due to having a too low body fat percentage. Pray tell me how putting her on a 1000 cals/day diet and telling her to do more exercise will fix that....

    It doesn't, once again I don't believe that's what happened. The nurse would be working completely outside of their training/education/standards of practice if they told anybody that.

    what do you call a nurse who graduated at the bottom of her class...a nurse.

    I've had doctors at an emergency room in the winter time to take my very sick son outside and to their office for a check because in Canada they only get paid if they see a patient in their office...so tell me again the medical profession is perfect...


    and yes that doctor did graduated as a doctor in the bottom 1/4 of his class...I know that for a fact because he dated my aunt through medical school and she went up one side of him and down the other for his behaviour.
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
    Options
    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.

    have you seen her pic?

    women bodybuilders may sometimes have issues with fertility, due to having a too low body fat percentage. Pray tell me how putting her on a 1000 cals/day diet and telling her to do more exercise will fix that....

    It doesn't, once again I don't believe that's what happened. The nurse would be working completely outside of their training/education/standards of practice if they told anybody that.

    Of course, no-one ever cuts corners, and no professionals who don't do their job properly or who forget basic stuff or who make mistakes or even just don't give a damn exist at all... and no-one ever forgets what they learned in training, or is too rushed off their feet to do a proper assessment of their patients.... the Metro is a London newspaper, so it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out the nurse had way too many patients to see in a short time, at least half of whom should have been seeing a doctor rather than a nurse, but the doctor had a really long waiting list and could only take emergency appointments for patients who were actually not breathing so the nurses end up seeing them instead, because that's how it is in some parts of London these days.... patients getting the bum's rush from the NHS in London is unfortunately very common, and mistakes are far more likely in those circumstances...

    It's possible a mistake was made by the nurse, or that this is a terrible, bumbling individual - we'll never know what actually happened. I didn't say what did or didn't happen, I just said what I thought was more likely.
    Given the fact that a fitness professional has run to a paper to embarrass her free health service and demonstrate how she knows better... to me it's more likely the person getting the free publicity has made 'the mistake'.
  • Seabee74
    Seabee74 Posts: 314
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    The BMI thing by itself is rubbish.. I have been eating 1600 - 1700 calories for the past 6 months and so far have lost 37 lbs.. And some bf %.. I go to a new doctor last month with the weighing and height questions already completed, and as I talked I told him how I have been working out, eating right and losing weight. The first words out of his mouth were yea you need to be eating at 1200 calories ?? Huh, what ??? I just told him what I was doing and he moved onto another subject !! Don't know where the magic 1200# comes from but it's OverUsed !!! Insurance companies in the US also use BMI so if you have too much muscle as it adds to your weight, you may pay higher premiums ...
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    Options
    I saw it. I doubt it's true. How do we know she didn't consult the nurse due to constant high BP and heart rate?

    because it said in the article she went to a clinic for fertility advice....

    Pfft! You expect me to read the whole thing?
    Still, that supports my hypothesis as to WHY she is having a medical issue, and that the nurse's advice was more likely correct, and bmi has little to do with it.

    have you seen her pic?

    women bodybuilders may sometimes have issues with fertility, due to having a too low body fat percentage. Pray tell me how putting her on a 1000 cals/day diet and telling her to do more exercise will fix that....

    It doesn't, once again I don't believe that's what happened. The nurse would be working completely outside of their training/education/standards of practice if they told anybody that.

    Of course, no-one ever cuts corners, and no professionals who don't do their job properly or who forget basic stuff or who make mistakes or even just don't give a damn exist at all... and no-one ever forgets what they learned in training, or is too rushed off their feet to do a proper assessment of their patients.... the Metro is a London newspaper, so it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out the nurse had way too many patients to see in a short time, at least half of whom should have been seeing a doctor rather than a nurse, but the doctor had a really long waiting list and could only take emergency appointments for patients who were actually not breathing so the nurses end up seeing them instead, because that's how it is in some parts of London these days.... patients getting the bum's rush from the NHS in London is unfortunately very common, and mistakes are far more likely in those circumstances...

    It's possible a mistake was made by the nurse, or that this is a terrible, bumbling individual - we'll never know what actually happened. I didn't say what did or didn't happen, I just said what I thought was more likely.
    Given the fact that a fitness professional has run to a paper to embarrass her free health service and demonstrate how she knows better... to me it's more likely the person getting the free publicity has made 'the mistake'.

    ....and she can't possibly be concerned about the danger to the health of people who are told, based on BMI alone, to lose weight when they have a low body fat percentage already...? Ya know, like me when I was 17 nearly getting an eating disorder after being told by an adult in a position of responsibility to lose 10kg (22lb) based on BMI alone when I was athletic and had visible upper abs at the time... of course there's no danger in people giving out such shoddy advice, and people given such advice who know just how potentially dangerous it can be should just shut up and not complain about it... Sorry but there are a lot of people out there who don't realise that BMI should not apply to everyone. I comment on most of these BMI threads because I know just how much damage can potentially be done when BMI charts are wrongly applied. I don't want people to put their physical and mental health at risk burning off a whole lot of lean body mass to weigh what a chart based on averages says the average person of their height should weigh....

    BTW the NHS may be free but that doesn't give it the right to give shoddy advice. It gets paid by the government and the funding comes from the UK taxpayers. It's not a charity. It's accountable for the service it gives.