Does your doctor talk to you about your weight?

The group I go to always mentions it except when I was between docs and had to see the PA. But my doc mentions pretty much everything - asks me if I'm still doing the same as I was doing during my last visit, how home life is, etc. Not the cheapest people to see but you get 1.5 hours of his time w/o interruption.

If your doc doesn't bring up the fact that you've lost weight, mention it to him. It can't hurt!

My doctor never mentioned my weight when I was overweight (though she did comment on how I lost a great deal since she saw me) and it kind of bothers me in retrospect that she didn't. I think it is a Dr.'s responsibility to make you aware of your health risks and what you can do to reduce them. Of course I knew I was overweight but sometimes you need a kick in the butt and who better than from than a healthcare professional. I'm not saying she should have said "hey you're fat" but she should have said "you're overweight, these are the potential risk factors that can increase due to being overweight and maybe these are some strategies you can use to get on a healthier path".

My doctor DOES mention my weight quite often. She has asked me several times if I want to see a nutritionist and has asked me to consider bariatric surgery. I signed up for the consult for the surgery but before I even went in, I knew it was not the right decision for me.

Since then, I have started seeing a personal trainer and I've lost 9 pounds in 2 weeks (plus the 30 I had lost before that) I go back in July and I'm hoping that I will be down at least another 25.

I know that she does it from a place of concern because I do have "morbid obesity" listed in my medical records and the whole laundry list of health problems that come with it; high blood pressure, pre-diabetes, etc. (My PCP is internal medicine and she is a huge advocate for a healthy lifestyle.)

I take no offense because I know that I have a weight problem and have had for a very long time.

I agree that some doctors are damned if they do and damned if they don't. If you have a concern and your doctor is not brining it up with you, mention it! They don't know things if you don't talk about it with them.

yes weight is always talked about and celebrated. she said if BMI <30 she doesnt talk much about it but when it is above 30 she goes the whole way and tell the patients what to do. Also refers to nutritionist if pt are interested. Told me to start with walking. Not all can be an athelete, that people underestimate the value of brisk walking daily

My employer offers a health clinic which is free for those of us who have insurance through work. Part of the benefit is an annual physical for which we are paid a bonus. Every year some of my co-workers get mad because the clinic doc tells them that according to their height and weight they are overweight or obese. "He needs to look in the mirror, " they say and so on. It baffles me that they would be offended that a healthcare professional who is helping them set health related goals would point out the most obvious way to improve their health. When I was a smoker I didn't get mad every time he told me I should quit.

ETA: We also get a bonus for completing our goals so if they would set their goal at a modest lose 10 pounds in a year, they would get paid to do it.

Mine does, he is trying to get me on a plant based diet.

My doctors have never said anything about my weight even though I am clearly in need of losing weight.

DeguelloTex wrote: »

Mine doesn't.

I asked what he thought I should weigh to try to steer clear of blood pressure meds, etc. and he answered, but he didn't bring it up even when I was gargantuan.

Same here, exactly. I tend to avoid doctors unless absolutely necessary but even when I was huge, my doc just said he'd recommend losing 30 lb. I've lost 140.

As a child though I was always overweight and unusually tall for my age and the family physician would harp on my weight making me sound like I was going to DIE and was a total FREAK, when in reality I was very height-weight proportional for an older teen (5'6" 130-ish at age 9-10)...that kind of scarred me for life and I always expect to be raked over the coals when I see any type of medical provider. Ugh.

I have a heart defect, so I see a cardiologist close to my home for a regular checkup annually and one in a bigger city for a more invasive checkup annually.

One cardiologist is super fit, runs marathons, eats well, etc. He started mentioning my weight as a potential issue around when I turned 16.

The other cardiologist is big all the way around (6'5", 250-300 lbs. probably) and has never said a word about it.

My family and I have always found that interesting. I will be going to the big city cardiologist at the end of May for the first time since losing 40 lbs., so I'm curious to see if/what he says.

Nope, never and I've been big all my life. Last time I went to the nurse (for a smear) I knew I'd lost about 30lbs so I was all, "Ummm, do you not need to weigh me?". She said she didn't but I said, "Yeah, you do!", got on the scales anyway and asked her to amend my record. I also got a sticker for being brave because I said women should get some kind of reward points for attending those damn awful appointments.

When I was at university (UK) I went to the doctor about my extreme low self esteem linked to my weight, and my issues with low mood after exercise. He diagnosed me with depression and sent me to 12 weeks councelling and 12 weeks cbt. Whilst at these sessions, all the councilors wanted to address was -parents divorce -one of many children -uni stress. When i tried to discuss issues related to weight or self esteem or bad emotional connection to exercise they said that it was a simple matter of eating less and exercising more, and not worth 'wasting their time talking about'

Right in a way, I guess.
I haven't been brave enough to talk about it to a doctor since.

My nurse has always made some sort of comment about weight over the years....shes very thin herself. When I was 135 at 5'9, she would tell me I was underweight, make sure your eating enough, etc. Now that I;m 206 pounds, she keeps asking me "what happened" and telling me I'm killing myself.....sadly, I never had an appointment in between!

jemhh wrote: »

I have pcos and a family history full of type 2 diabetes. Weight loss definitely helps with those issues, which is a big reason why I think my doctor should be at least mentioning weight.

(Aside--I don't mind getting weighed their but I don't like their height measure. It always has me at 5'5.5" when I've been 5'6" for ages lol.

I really do think that doctors that don't mention weight are doing their patients a real disservice.

When I was overweight, mine would always mention it briefly if I went in for a check up...simply telling me I needed to lose some weight. If I asked follow-up questions, they were always very responsive. I was healthy otherwise, so there was no reason to make it a focus.

They also always noted any substantial changes...up or down. Now that I am at a healthy weight, my primary care doctor and my GYN seem almost as excited about it as I do. It's kind of funny actually...I had a check up in September and was 40 or 50 pounds heavier than I am now. I went back in late January for a different reason, and the person who weighed me thought she had the wrong patient because the weight was so much lower from the previous appointment. The doctor then asked me a lot of questions about my diet, and said I did a great job and she was proud of me. It was kind of nice, actually.

I've had a terrible time with doctors when it comes to my weight. When I was heavy, every single thing was automatically attributed to my being overweight. I dislocated a disk playing softball and was told that if I lost weight my back wouldn't hurt (it took 3 doctors before someone realized I had a dislocated disk) When my gallbladder was infected, I was told that my symptoms would go away if I lost weight (it ended up being removed and I've been symptoms free sense) Before I was diagnosed with PCOS and placed on the proper medication I was eating about 900 calories a day and working out 6 or 7 days a week for an hour minimum. My weight kept ballooning. I saw countless doctors and dietitians who would not believe me when I told them what I ate and what kind of exercise I was doing. Once I started metformin I lost weight like crazy!