Should we stop calling people 'overweight'?

10acity

Sorry, my post above was not an angry rant (despite the brief caps)... it was me pleading with the many people who go through life thinking its time to remove everything offensive from the planet so as to avoid anyone having self-esteem issues.

I liked it.

lizziebeth1028

good lord....we've gone from politically correct to out right coddling. I see no problem referring to someone as overweight or obese. It is what it is...the truth. Sucks sometimes but hey tough love.

yksdoris

now if someone called my kid a name, I'd more than likely end up with an assault charge.

There's not much a kid can actually *do* about his/her own weight, so I agree with you. HOWEVER, I think strong words are needed with the parents of these kids. Being in the normal weight category isn't about dieting, it's about lifestyle and lifestyles are learned, primarily at home. Changing one's lifestyle (as the people on this particular website know firsthand) can be horribly hard, and we can't expect a kid to even begin to know how... enter eating disorders.

I really wish my mom and dad had handled my weight differently: their approach was to snark about miss chubs. I can't honestly say that they endorsed or ignored my weight but they REALLY didn't help either.

lizziebeth1028

Its called SELF-esteem cause it's your own SELF's responsibility and having no one damage it is not your human right.

Strengthening it is your personal responsibility.

Especially if you have children and people who look up to you. If everyone avoids telling you the truth so they dont hurt your feelers, then humans are going to walk around vulnerable, expecting everyone else to always protect them instead of actually investing in their own resilience and sense of self as their armor against unhealthy influences.

Having a doctor tell you that you have allowed yourself to fall so far from the healthy mark that you've become obese and put your organs in danger and shortened your lifespan (or at least the length of your existence with a good quality of life) is not a toxic influence that your sense of self needs to deflect at all costs.

THATS WHEN YOURE SUPPOSED TO OPEN YOUR EYES AND LISTEN or cover your ears and prove just how selfish you are.

But its got jack to do with self-esteem.

Your self-esteem = your problem. No one can give it to you, build it for you, expand it, demand it, crush it, pump it up or solidify it for you.

Everyone out there is a influence, an action or an event. You react.

Get a stronger body and a stronger spirit and quit whining about what words people use. Prove youre no coddled little over-sensitive baby.

Amen Sister!!!!!

amdahwd

I used to work for a general practitioner in a small town. After I left the practice, I went back one day as a patient. When he came in the room, he looked very surprised to see me and I said "If you would read those charts better before you come in the room, you would have known who was in here." His response to me was, "I read the chart just fine and knew it was you - just cannot believe how fat you have gotten!"

I was not there for weight loss, but believe me, when I left there, I began a lifestyle change! We have to quit sugarcoating things for people because they become complacent and accepting of it.

Laces_0ut

my god we are such a soft society.

LindaCWy

I dont' want to hear from my husband "Have you put on weight"?

I WANT to hear from my doctor "You are overweight"

See the difference?

My MIL wouldn't go to the doctor for years because he kept telling her she was obese and she didn't want to hear it, so I guess thats the downfall, if we don't ignore it or sugar coat it then obese people will start avoiding the doctor and dropping like flies.

kahlee2000

Facts are facts. Mollycoddling people won't change that -- and in the long run could do a lot more harm when they start accusing doctors of not warning them about the dangers they were facing because they were what? This reminds me of the book 1984, and double speak. That or Shakespeare's famous saying -- a rose is a rose.

I have found that if we quit making people emotionally uncomfortable and allow them to feel true feelings then they just might get uncomfortable enough to change what is making them uncomfortable. But as long as we sugar coat everything they will never feel the need to change.

Darlingir

numerically challenged?

Linda_Darlene

It is what it is! Overweight is overweight. Sugar coating it does not make it any better.

paint_it_black

I think Doc's need to watch who they call obese, a trainee doctor recently screwed up doing a lumbar puncture on my hubby, it took 5 attempts. His excuse was that it was a difficult procedure to do on obese people. Since when did 172lb @ 5'11 constitute obese?

kaetmarie

I think it's worse to dance around it and worry about trying to make people feel okay about it. You never hear a doctor worry about what saying someone has cancer or diabetes is going to do to their self-esteem, because it is what it is ... like it or not. The "beauty" of being overweight or obese is that it is not set in stone. If you don't like it, it is totally in your power to change it...

Krissy366

I don't think either term (from a medical professional at least) is offensive, however, I also don't think it's strictly about political correctness or coddling people. I think it's about using the terms that will be the most effective in encouraging action. I don't know specifically what those terms are (and it likely will vary from person to person), but it's nice to see someone trying to figure it out. The last thing that is effective is anything that makes the patient tune out what the doctor is saying.

Erisad

Don't sugarcoat the truth, some of them will try to eat that too. :laugh:

yoovie

Next thing you know- obese, politically fanatical, religious zealots are going to be lobbying to have words removed from the dictionary.

hallie_b

I don't think the idea that "if the shoe fits" or the like is the best way for me to look at it but, I want to know if I am in a danger zone, I don't care what you call it.
It is depressing to hear or read "overweight" "obese" on your BMI chart. I'm not overweight now because I lost weight ( and forgot about that evil scale) but when I read that for the first time I was devastated, it broke me...

for about 5 minutes until I pulled myself together and got on track to lose that weight. So if it hurt to hear or read, GOOD, scared me enough to log back into MFP after a year.

Call it overweight, unhealthy weight, or elephantitis of the fat cells, I am just glad I was pushed by seeing it in my face in such a blunt way and I think a lot of people can relate.

lizziebeth1028

my god we are such a soft society.

^^^^^This!!! Seriously get a backbone and grow a pair. Life is not all flowers and butterflies. There is going to be adversity....be the better person, stand up and fight it!

misscristie

I don't know what the replacements would be? Healthy, fluffy, fluffier, too d@mn fluffy?

People put way too much stock in words. I was always a chubby kid. If I went to my doctor and he told me I was "fluffier", I'd still go to school and get called a fat @ss. What's the difference?

Hellbent_Heidi

When I was at my heaviest, a doctor used the term 'obese' in a conversation with me, and it was a huge wakeup call. I knew I was overweight, but NEVER considered myself as obese till then. Were my sensitive little feelings hurt?...hell yes. But...did it make me get off my @ss and go to weight watchers and the gym?...another resounding 'hell yes" to that one!

I think this article is ridiculous and a sign of policitcal correctness gone way too far. Overweight and obese is what it is...there no reason to sugar-coat (no pun intended) something that so seriously impacts peoples health!

mrmanmeat

I dont' want to hear from my husband "Have you put on weight"?

I WANT to hear from my doctor "You are overweight"

See the difference?

My MIL wouldn't go to the doctor for years because he kept telling her she was obese and she didn't want to hear it, so I guess thats the downfall, if we don't ignore it or sugar coat it then obese people will start avoiding the doctor and dropping like flies.

Well,

Who better to ask that question? Your husband.

misskerouac

I agree and I don't agree.

I hunk it depends on how the Dr. is, my doctor would tell me I was overweight when I was 5 lbs more than the BMI tells me I should weigh, but clearly I wasn't unhealthy, and I was wearing size 8/10 pants (I'm 5'7") and that I thought was a bit harsh.

He still tells me I'm overweight everytime I see him. And I tell him I'm working on it, but I see his point when I'm 180. I guess for me it's all about how the doctor approaches it. Even at 150 I still weighed too much in his eyes even though I WAS in he healthy BMI range.

gabriel3194

Part of the reason I'm getting healthier is because I've been called fat. The other part is that I've seen myself in the mirror and I'm a blob. Knowing that other people think that about me too feels bad but has been a motivator; it's making me better looking and, more importantly, healthier. I'm becoming the best physical me I can be. So, my opinion is that, whether or not it seems crass, we've got to keep addressing the elephant in the room (so to speak) when it comes to obesity.

hallie_b

I dont' want to hear from my husband "Have you put on weight"?

I WANT to hear from my doctor "You are overweight"

See the difference?

My MIL wouldn't go to the doctor for years because he kept telling her she was obese and she didn't want to hear it, so I guess thats the downfall, if we don't ignore it or sugar coat it then obese people will start avoiding the doctor and dropping like flies.

Well,

Who better to ask that question? Your husband.

And who better to get away with homicide, than his wife...

10acity

I dont' want to hear from my husband "Have you put on weight"?

I WANT to hear from my doctor "You are overweight"

See the difference?

My MIL wouldn't go to the doctor for years because he kept telling her she was obese and she didn't want to hear it, so I guess thats the downfall, if we don't ignore it or sugar coat it then obese people will start avoiding the doctor and dropping like flies.

Well,

Who better to ask that question? Your husband.

And who better to get away with homicide, than his wife...

bahaha

Il_DaniD_lI

So what should we call them? Overweight and obese are weight category's, these terms are crucial in identifying the probability in current or future health issues of an individual. There is nothing rude about these terms.

yoovie

I don't know what the replacements would be? Healthy, fluffy, fluffier, too d@mn fluffy?

extra-medium

Jenncoc86

healthy weight challenged?

misscristie

I don't know what the replacements would be? Healthy, fluffy, fluffier, too d@mn fluffy?

extra-medium

I like it!

saxmaniac

This is the most ignorant thing I've heard in a while! So if doctors stop saying the words "overweight" and "obese" then WHAT words are they supposed to use to describe people who weigh too much?!?! :explode:

Like George Carlin said, you have to add syllables or extra letters to make it sting less. "Fat" is meaner than "obese" which is meaner than "overweight". Of course, there is no end in sight. Eventually "overweight" will be deemeed mean, so then we have to call it "abovepounds" to make it nicer. But then that will become mean, so we will have to change it "horizontally challenged" or maybe "adipose-lossage-intolerant".

PC is stupid.

Di3012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18262887

I was interested to read this article on the BBC news website. They suggest we get doctors and other public health professionals to stop using words such as "overweight" and "obese" as they think the terms have a negative impact on body image and self-esteem.

On the other hand, someone in the article points out "I don't want to make people feel bad, and appreciate some people may have problems with self-esteem, but when it comes to it, as a doctor, if you are too careful, you run the risk of people not understanding the health implications."

They go on to say that:

"It depends on who comments are being levelled at - to a class of children, where there will be a distribution of body sizes, it is important to know being overweight can lead to diabetes, but it is more of a psychological issue than a health issue - and children can be extremely cruel,"

For me, I can see both sides of the argument, but I think if people are putting their health at risk then the doctors should tell them in as simple way as possible, which probably would involve using the word overweight. It's then up to the individual what they decide to do with that info.

What does everyone else think? Anyone been in this position and if so did the choice of words used influence you at all?

It was realizing that I was overweight that forced me to accept that if I wanted to fit back into my slim clothes, I would need to shift my *kitten* into gear and lose the excess.

Why is it nowadays that the "PC" brigade keep trying to "not offend anybody", by doing just that they are not actually doing anybody a service. Everyone is walking around like they are treading on eggshells, it is ludicrous.

I wish the PC brigade would just bugger off to be honest, let people be people and teach each other. This is how kids learn social etiquette, via their own peers and as cruel as they may be to each other, each kid don't half learn quickly when subjected to the extreme measures taken by others when one falls out of line - I am not talking about down and out bullying here by the way, that is something totally different and unnecessary.

If a person is overweight or obese, why try to shield them from those terms just because it might hurt their feelings - hell, they will be even more hurt if they do not suddenly realize and become ill because of their weight!

People are more hardy than given credit for, but at the rate the do-gooders are going, everybody is going to eventually end up so sensitive and weak to criticism that they will be rendered useless.