Your doctor says you're obese!

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  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,708 Member
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    I'm not familiar with this particular butthurt, but people get offended by everything and like most things, they need to just get over it.

    If the checkout girl at your grocery store, or your gas station attendant calls you obese, get offended, If your doctor calls you obese, get determined.
    THIS. Some need to be smacked in the head with reality to get it.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • leahestey
    leahestey Posts: 124 Member
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    I would rather have my doctor tell me I'm fat. I actually didn't realize how big I was getting until it was summer and it was hard to walk up a short hill.

    Don't believe the doctor when he says "You will die if you don't make a change (or do that)." Everyone is dying sooner or later. I am supposed to be dead already because I have a disorder that doesn't have long lifespans, I had a VBA2C, and I was obese. So much for dying.
  • hollyann31
    hollyann31 Posts: 64 Member
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    i dont get offended..its a true statement and as his patient with him being my chosen medical professional that i turn to with almost everything i would want him to talk to me about my obesity rather than let me continue downhill
  • Hestion
    Hestion Posts: 740 Member
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    I wish someone had of told me! Even the nurse when i stood on the scales and had a wake up call and told her i am fat, didn't say anything! She was encouraging when i said i need to do something and when i see. her for another reason every so often she always has a chat and encourages me, buy nobody ever told me! Then again do many people listen when told? if its sugar coated people ignore, if its direct they get offended!
  • Ophidion
    Ophidion Posts: 2,065 Member
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    Yes sometimes tact can be helpful as generally the rules of physics implies if you push someone they tend to move away but that being said people tend to often go with the treating the illness as opposed to prevention...blood pressure meds, beta blockers etc when maybe losing the weight and being aware of the said risk of being in a dangerous weight range.

    Hence the hurtful but necessary realization from hearing "Your obese" from a medical practitioner.

    Well I guess I'll go with a coronary episode or a stroke will probably hurt a lot more than the truth.
  • thinklivebefree
    thinklivebefree Posts: 328 Member
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    I need that DR! I was 22 Y.O. and 390LBS and my Dr was still calling it BABY FAT!
  • 4homer
    4homer Posts: 457 Member
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    I need that DR! I was 22 Y.O. and 390LBS and my Dr was still calling it BABY FAT!
    wow, really?
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 21,738 Member
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    For me, its a wording issue. If he had said "you are morbidly obese" I would have been hurt and or offended. I knew already I was but said like that it would have stung. If he said "your weight falls into the morbidly obese range" I would have been more receptive to hearing it. One sounds like a personal label and the second sounds like a medical problem to me. Either way I'm 8 pounds from being in the normal range for the first time in 30+ years.
    I agree. It's the difference between saying to someone "You're fat" and "You have too much fat on your body." Likewise, the American Diabetes Association is careful not to call people diabetics. They choose to refer to them as people who have diabetes.
  • runnerchick69
    runnerchick69 Posts: 317 Member
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    I'm the type that needs blunt honesty! My doctor should have told me years before I started changing my life that I was fat and headed to all kinds of medical issues. I think we tend to try and be too politically correct and not hurt peoples feelings when it comes to this issue but all you have to do is look around you to see obesity is a HUGE issue in this country, maybe less tact and more honesty would change that just a little.
  • tm82001
    tm82001 Posts: 133 Member
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    Many years ago I was at the doctor and mentioned I was struggling with my weight. He looked at me and said with all seriousness "Why don't you keep your mouth shut more often". I laughed so hard that I almost fell off the examination table. It was exactly what I needed to hear to kick off my weight loss journey. I love my doctor and have been going to him for almost 25 years. He is brutally honest, but if he had called me obese it wouldn't have had the same effect.
  • ConnieM20
    ConnieM20 Posts: 493 Member
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    Its the doctors responsibility to tell you the truth, granted they can do it in a nicer way than flat out saying "youre fat". But if they read you your results off the chart and explain to you your levels and say your obese...then there is nothing wrong with that at all. There are some people who need to be told that point blank. It comes down to people just need to have a reality check about their weight and realize the truth, the doctor is there to help, not make you feel bad about yourself.
  • 5ftnFun
    5ftnFun Posts: 948 Member
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    In reading through some of the responses here, I can't help but think that doctors are damned if they do, damned if they don't. Some like the direct approach, others don't. Maybe people should, if/when they can, choose a doctor that "clicks" with them.
  • Stump_Likker
    Stump_Likker Posts: 2,059 Member
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    My doctor once said to me, "You're putting on weight. Don't ruin that pretty face by getting fat." I didn't get offended. I got off of my butt and started working.
  • SloRunner25
    SloRunner25 Posts: 89 Member
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    I wish my old doctor told me I was obese. I had to find out the hard way when I was curious about my BMI. Now I've worked my booty off (literally :wink: ) to get to overweight. I told my new doctor to never, ever sugar coat anything that may threaten my health after my experiences with past doctors. If my lifestyle will threaten my future TELL ME!! Some people want to live in denial and that's their prerogative. I prefer being in shape, not gasping for breath at the top of one flight of stairs. :drinker:
  • karlahere
    karlahere Posts: 79 Member
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    Then again do many people listen when told? if its sugar coated people ignore, if its direct they get offended!
    Amen, sister. I guess this is what's called a double-edged sword?

    That's why I love doctors who take the time to explain the standard scale and normal values for all the numbers they show me (bloodworks, weight, etc). It's a good way to say that, no, "I'm overweight" is not the doctor's personal opinion--it's the current consensus of the medical community. There's no point in getting offended with Science. :)
  • emmalzthompson
    emmalzthompson Posts: 275
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    I imagine that the people who do get offended by this are not on this site. Those who get offended aren't ready to change yet.

    Not True! I was offended when my doctor told me i was obese. Mainly because I looked in the mirror and knew I was overweight, fat .... but not obese, it did upset me, more so as my doctor didnt tell me my bmi, and so I figured it out for myself, and I was only one notch into obesity ... so a fine line between over weight and obese, I think my doctor should of explained this all a bit better for me.

    needless to say a few weeks later I was planning a new healthy me, but fell drastically ill with Meningitis and encephalitis. It knocked me for six and I was very very ill!! Since recovering ( which took months) I had this new sense of being, of life in me, and wanted to live a happy healthy life. So I started my journey on MFP with the up-most amount of Gusto! two months in and still as determined as ever. And truthfully I still feel a tad annoyed at how my doctor handed the situation esp as he started asking me about my diet, and I told him. he thought i was lieing as it was all very healthy! surely I must be a secret eater or have insanely large portions is what he was insinuating. Instead of stopping to think perhaps i under eat and have messed up my metabloisim! Which is the case with me. This is not a diet it is a change of life.
  • mike_ny
    mike_ny Posts: 351 Member
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    It's good to have a doctor who can be frank with you. Many doctors, especially ones in larger practices and HMOs have to be concerned that people not hearing what they want instead of what they need could lose their share of patients and then it becomes a business/financial issue.

    The simple truth is if most doctors were completely honest, they would have to tell most of their patients that they're too fat, are way too sedentary, and eat mostly crap for food and that they need to make some longterm lifestyle changes and lose some serious body fat before most medical options like prescriptions are even considered. Since their oath say to do no harm, it seems unethical to me to not have them warn you about how excess weight has several serious long term effects. Being tactful is nice, but I'd rather have a great doctor with so-so bedside manner than a really nice guy who has more misses than hits with his diagnosis of my general health.

    My doctor is great in both regards and I tell him I don't want him filtering anything he has to say. It turns out, he's into Paleo and is cool with herbal and non-traditional medicine as long as it doesn't pose any real health concerns. I'd be very surprised if most of his other patients ever saw that side of him at all if they didn't initiate the conversation and ask the right kinds of questions.
  • jdm_taco
    jdm_taco Posts: 999 Member
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    That should not come as a surprise to anyone. It should be as evident as skin color.
  • thatsillyshana
    thatsillyshana Posts: 141
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    The only problem I had was when I was 16 and 140 pounds and 5ft2in with buns, abs, and arms of steel and exercised daily because of sports and a nurse told me that I needed to lose weight. And she didn't even say anything before or after that, just "you need to lose weight." I wanted to slap her because i knew i was at a healthy weight and that she didn't even care that I looked completely healthy and was happy with my body.

    That's the only way I could see it being offensive. The last time I was at the doctor, they took my measurements and I told them that I'm trying to exercise more and eat healthier because I knew they were going to bring up my weight, but I wouldn't have been offended if they told me something I already knew.
  • Fuzzipeg
    Fuzzipeg Posts: 2,301 Member
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    I think It would be good if the medical profession came clean about "diet". Things which can have a bearing on some people being unable to take control of their "diet" because the approved "good" food is making them ill. Specifically those foods heavy in Salicylate. This is the mechanism some plants use to protect themselves from moulds and mildews which is also toxic to some people. I am fortunate now that I have found the information on my computer which helps me have a good life.

    To achieve this I have had to severely restrict many of the foods we take for granted in our modern lives. I have seen it here, People looking for the the pill to prevent them gaining weight when for some the answer could be to stop eating toxic food. At my worst I was 20 stone and 5ft 4 if I stretch upwards. Over 10 years as I have learned. I have become free of joint pain, excessive fluid retention, bladder issues, endless bouts of sickness and associated problems, with the exception of my fury at the "Holier than though" attitude of some people who know no better, my mental health is much more even than previously, and I have overcome the addictive power of salicylate . My biggest bonus came when I regained my lung function. .

    I have given up tea, coffee, herbs spices,many vegetables and fruit dried fruit, I still dream of Christmas cake!! I cant take I have given up conventional cleaning products, tooth paste and shower gels. I can't take vanilla, in anything, I don't got to large gatherings because You have the right to pollute the wider environment with your cleaning products, personal perfumes, everything must have a smell it can't be clean without smelling.

    I am an ordinary person in my 60's wanting the rest of my life to be full of activity. Only three more stone to go and that is why I am here. I want to climb that actual mountain or walk unaided in the some bleak wilderness.

    IF MY RANT HELPS ONE OTHER PERSON on this list IT WOULD MAKE ME THE HAPPIEST PERSON ALIVE. I truly hope no one else's experience mirrors mine.

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