Does your doctor talk to you about your weight?

I had one who harped on my weight (I eventually left her because telling someone with visible abs to lose weight is ridiculous), but most never say anything. You can tell them you don't want to be weighed. They actually don't need to know your weight unless you are going to be having surgery because they have to know it for anesthesia purposes.

My doctor and I only started talking about it the last two visits -- because I was losing weight

My doctor never discussed my weight until I lost 20 pounds. I hadn't really been overweight, I was just at the top of the healthy weight range for my height. Once I lost weight, she started talking to me about the need to do strength training because apparently being slender and older at the same time can be bad for your bones if you're not strength training. That was the first time since high school a doctor even mentioned my weight (and in high school and below they were just telling me I was underweight.)

I've had great doctors. The doctor that referred me to the bariatric program was an uber-geek and correctly reminded me that my weight was a primary factor in my health conditions. It was true, but hard to hear. Other people in town were deeply offended by his frank approach.

When I moved back to the city, my doctor here has been very pleased with my transformation and told me I looked "perky" now. She asked me a lot of questions about what the experience has been like.

Family doctors are damned if they speak up, and damned if they don't. They don't get a whole lot of training on nutrition. My small town doctor was convinced I was consuming too many sugary drinks. Sorry, doc, my weight gain was not that simple (1/2 glass orange juice daily).

My doctors always tell me to lose weight but none ever gave me good guidance on how to go about it. A couple suggested basically fad diets that didn't end up working for me, like Atkins.

One sent me to a nutritionist who had me log my food for a week, told me I needed to lose 40lbs, and gave the advice that I wasn't eating enough calories and whole grains. She didn't address the fact that logic dictates that I was either a freak of nature, or my logging was woefully bad... It was my logging, obviously, and I needed to eat LESS calories.

All the time. Honestly, I think she's kind of obsessive about weight and body fat.

Mine takes my weight and notes it, but she doesn't really say anything other than that. Which is a good thing in my case, because I tend to be quite defensive and if she urged me to lose weight I probably would've done the exact opposite, and resented her on top of that.

Mine does but only because she has seen my weight go up so much over the years. She frames it in a way that's not offending, but more like, if you don't stop gaining weight you're going to have these health problems. I'm also pre-diabetic. I think if you're otherwise healthy, they don't need to discuss it, but when you start having issues due to being over or under weight, they have a responsibility to bring it up.

My doc knows it's important to me so we always talk about it and she always praises my for my losses.

I had lost 120# in the years time and that's all the doctor and her nurse talked about. Best yearly checkup ever!!

I went to my doctor in December and my A1C was 7.2. I'm a type two diabetic. I'm already on Metformin. He prescribed another drug, this one stronger and I was supposed to take one every morning with food. He didn't even mention losing weight. I haven't touched this new drug. I started watching what I eat and exercising more. Now my fasting sugar is down from 120 to averaging in the upper 70's and lower 80's. I've lost several pounds since that time. I can't wait to go back in June. I sometimes think doctors are too quick to prescribe drugs when getting in shape can be more effective.

When I registered at my new doctor I saw the nurse who took all the measurements etc, and she mentioned to me that I was in the overweight bracket, and my BMI should be a few points lower etc and advised that I could do with losing a few lbs (in a nice way). Nothing I didn't already know, but at least she had the courage to say something about it. I get the impression that most doctors are too afraid to mention it for fear of negative reactions.

Mine does. Always talks about how far I have come and looks up at old #s and shows them to me.

But I have been going to her for over 15 years - maybe close to 20 years.

How long have you been going to your doc?

I very rarely see the doctor, but I see the practice nurse regularly. I'm 73kg and BMI 27. She always "tells me off" (that's how it feels) about being overweight.


The ironic thing is that she's probably got a BMI in the mid-thirties...

I've been lucky on this one. My doctor talks to me about it in a positive way and when I tell her things I'm doing to improve it, she's given me very useful information. She was the reason I learned about how important my cholesterol readings were and how to improve them. She doesn't look down on me for being the weight I am and pushes me to do better. She has talked about how she struggles with her own weight and looks to be in good shape, too, so it gives me a bit more confidence in what she says. If you are over or under weight, I think your doctor has a responsibility to talk to you about it in an open and honest way. It's been proven time and time again that weight affects many aspects of our overall health and it should be addressed as part of a routine physical.