Does your doctor talk to you about your weight?

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  • SciranBG
    SciranBG Posts: 97 Member
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    Yup, I get a lecture each time. It's understandable since I am still in the obese weight range, but it is discouraging when he is dismissive of my progress.
  • kclay1021
    kclay1021 Posts: 56 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    When you go in for a check up or even an illness, does your doctor ever mention your weight?

    I'm asking because my doctor never does and I think it's odd. Last year when I went in for my annual exam he asked if anything had changed and I said that I had lost 30 pounds. He looked at my chart and said "well I guess you did." I just got out of my annual exam for this year. I've lost 25+ pounds since last year and he never said a word. It surprises me that a doctor wouldn't note this. Why do they weigh me if they aren't doing anything with the data?

    My doctor has literally NEVER mentioned not a word about weight to me!!!! I've been anywhere from 189 to 135 and have bounced up and down and now am teatering (and looking to stop that) around the 150 range. In all of that time, I have been in to see him multiple times and he has seen me at all points in this range and NEVER mentioned anything. . . many points in this range aren't within my BMI range and I was unhealthy at various different points in this journey. . . again he said nothing. I guess you don't truly want to touch on weight issues when someone comes in with another problem but I've been there for physicals as well and he hasn't mentioned. . .

  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    jemhh wrote: »
    When you go in for a check up or even an illness, does your doctor ever mention your weight?

    Absolutely. If nothing else, significant weight change is a symptom of many serious conditions - if the scale is showing a big weight change, he damn well better find out if its me being awesome or if "i dunno, it just happened"!
  • praksindiafit
    praksindiafit Posts: 526 Member
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    My doc always advices as well suggests healthy lifestyle rather than having to opt medicines
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    Unexpected weight gain or unexpected weight loss could be symptoms. If they didn't know you are trying to lose, shouldn't they be asking when they notice the loss? What if you are a new type 1 diabetic... have lost a lot of weight recently because it is untreated, are in severe DKA... wouldn't they want to further explore the reason for weight loss? If not, you could die.
  • TheVirgoddess
    TheVirgoddess Posts: 4,535 Member
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    mamapeach910 wrote: »
    TheVirgoddess wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    TheVirgoddess wrote: »
    zyxst wrote: »
    Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
    TheVirgoddess wrote: »
    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.

    I absolutely agree.
    I find it relieving that my GP doesn't ask. 30 years of doctors harping on my mom and me about how me being overweight/obese is going to kill me is tiring. My GP is more concerned that I don't use birth control.

    There's a difference between harping and mentioning though.

    So tone of voice is the difference then, rather than having it said "You need to lose weight. Your body will thank you" every single time you see a doctor. Sorry, but I'll take the "You need birth control because you're married".

    I don't really see that as harping. I'm sorry it upset you though - I probably would have asked my doctor to make a note on my chart that I'm not interested in discussing my weight.

    I had a doctor when I was younger that blamed EVERYTHING wrong with me on my weight. He even wrote in my file that I was a hypochondriac because he wouldn't look further than my weight when it came to any medical issue. My migraines got incredibly bad because they went undiagnosed for so long thanks to that sitting in my records.

    That's the sort of thing that's counterproductive. There's somewhere between not mentioning it and the doctor being an idiot about it that's a happy medium.

    Absolutely agree. Some doctors are really harsh or ignorant about weight and nutrition and can cause more harm than good - I consider myself very, very lucky to have the doctor that I do.
  • rabe99199
    rabe99199 Posts: 12 Member
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    Yes my doctor would bring if up most visits. He would generally shoot me pretty straight about it. Would say that im healthy and about average but slightly overweight and lose 15 pounds to be in healthy bmi. I was about a 30 ay the time but more muscle leading to higher bmi. I appreciated him talking to me about it when i consider it the largest factor to my health. If i had a reason togo id love it so he could see the improvment into the healthy range. If you are obese and your doctor isnt mentioning it you need a new doctor.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    edited April 2015
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    I've had 4 in 12 years, and 2 of them have mentioned it. The second one told me to switch to granola bars as snacks and whole grain everything, which makes me laugh now, because we all know how calorie-friendly granola is... I started losing weight after my first appointment with my new one though, so we still talk about it every year... Last year I had two appointments and had gained back a little for the second one (it was after my vacation, so yeah), but she said she wasn't worried about it, as long as I'm in the normal BMI range she's happy.

    I really got to stop planning my doctor visits after vacations though.
  • Redbeard333
    Redbeard333 Posts: 381 Member
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    My weight is always a discussion with my doctor for years, especially since I see him every 6 months to check up on my blood pressure meds. I had lost 16 pounds the last time I saw him and he was really happy and supportive about it. I'm totally psyched to see him in September, since my weight has been an issue for decades.
  • peleroja
    peleroja Posts: 3,979 Member
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    I don't think I've ever had a doctor mention it at all in a checkup or anything, but I've always been "normal" per BMI. My family doctor used to ask me if I wanted to see the number or not and would let me weigh backwards if I said no, though.

    I was in the ER a couple weeks ago after a fainting spell and the ER doctor did say something about how my too-low blood pressure is pretty common in slim people, but he recommended more salt in my diet, not more calories.

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