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How to you tell someone they need to lose weight?
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I'm in an online group with lots of bigger women, and their reaction to a doctor saying something about weight is "find another doctor". They are offended. "Don't doctors know I'm overweight?, you can be overweight and healthy". IDK what the answer is... A doctor looking out is shunned for trying to help... but not doing anything isn't good either...1
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My doctor told me "Keep smoking and being fat so you can make me lots of money in the future." and "You aren't that young, you are already half dead." Those two things woke me up into action.3
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I work in the medical field and at least 50% of my patients are overweight if not obese. It is a crisis in the US and most of the Westernized countries. We counsel them on smoking and alcohol, but what about weight? What is your reaction to someone or a medical practitioner telling you to lose weight? Most of the responses I get are eye rolls (and I'm very delicate about how I address it), but what would cause someone to wake up and understand that its more than just aesthetics and more about health in general. The majority of the ailments I see can be directly correlated with being overweight or obese. Any thoughts? Any one who has had this happen and actually take the advice and be a success story? TIA
Since you're in the medical field, you can talk to people directly. You're not at a social event where you need to mind your own business or be polite. Health is your job. You might save somebody's life. Hearing the facts in the doctor's office is often what people need to wake up.
That's what helped me. My doctor told me last summer I was at high risk of a heart attack or stroke due to my high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and being obese. I could not forget his matter of fact words -- and still can't. I lost weight, began to exercise every day, changed my diet, and am a much healthier person now. Just give people the facts. What they do about it is up to them.
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I work in the medical field and at least 50% of my patients are overweight if not obese. It is a crisis in the US and most of the Westernized countries. We counsel them on smoking and alcohol, but what about weight?
"Your current body fat levels are correlated with increased risk of {insert chronic diseased states / sick aging phenotypes}. If you'd like help with reducing your body fat and risk, I can write you a referral."What is your reaction to someone or a medical practitioner telling you to lose weight? Most of the responses I get are eye rolls (and I'm very delicate about how I address it), but what would cause someone to wake up and understand that its more than just aesthetics and more about health in general. The majority of the ailments I see can be directly correlated with being overweight or obese. Any thoughts? Any one who has had this happen and actually take the advice and be a success story? TIA
Realistically, your job as a doctor is to inform the patient to your findings and prescribe as needed - whether the prescription is merely rest, antibiotics, chemotherapy, or exercise and nutrition.
There is also where your obligation ends. You can no more make a patient move more and eat less any more than you can made a type II diabetic lower their raw sugar intake, or get an asthmatic give up smoking.0 -
I was told my midsection was obese but a very thorough but very blunt doctor. I'm pretty sure he has Aspergers. He reminds me of the doctor on House, on;y less mean and more blunt.
I was shocked. I knew I was overweight and getting an apple shape but to have my midsection called obese was a real eye opener. It helped spur me on to follow his low carb advice.
I was a bit annoyed when he still called me midsection obese after I'd lost 30 lbs, was a normal BMI and a size 10. At that point it was some fat, but it is also loose and stretched out skin from having three children and getting as fat as 190 lbs (at only 5'8"). Skin doesn't bounce back as well in middle age, for me. Bikini days are gone. LOL
I would be blunt. "You are obese and that can cause A, B and C. To help yourself try D, E and / or F."0 -
NYCDutchess wrote: »I'm in an online group with lots of bigger women, and their reaction to a doctor saying something about weight is "find another doctor". They are offended. "Don't doctors know I'm overweight?, you can be overweight and healthy". IDK what the answer is... A doctor looking out is shunned for trying to help... but not doing anything isn't good either...
Well this is truly sad state of affairs.4 -
My doctor told me that I was about to fall off of a cliff and my obesity related health problems were going to really start damaging me. Oh and speaking of being blunt, I just had a plastic surgeon tell me to "quit being a *kitten*" because I wear a band over a big painful scar on my arm. That actually made me laugh.0
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"You are overweight." seems simple enough.0
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"You are overweight." seems simple enough.
Yes, because I am sure that most people who are overweight, to the point of it threatening their health, are blissfully unaware. The point is, a lot of people don't seem to realize how damaging it can be, until they are given a T2D diagnosis.0 -
NYCDutchess wrote: »I'm in an online group with lots of bigger women, and their reaction to a doctor saying something about weight is "find another doctor". They are offended. "Don't doctors know I'm overweight?, you can be overweight and healthy". IDK what the answer is... A doctor looking out is shunned for trying to help... but not doing anything isn't good either...
These people are just living in denial. Just because they don't want to hear it doesn't mean it's not a Doctor's place to tell them. Not "oh you're fat" but "carrying this much extra weight increases your risk of ..." - focusing on the health issue. I've been a big girl - morbidly obese at one point (123kg and 5'9") but I can't handle people who carry on about being big and healthy. Sorry but no, you're not. That excess body fat does effect your health, even if you are currently young enough not to be feeling the long term effects ... yet.
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In my experience, doctors never gave me useful advice about losing weight. What they told me ranged from somewhat helpful to straight up myth. Eat fewer white carbs. Shop around the edges of the grocery store and avoid processed food. Don't drink sugary sodas. Fill half your plate with vegetables. Eat several small meals a day, do snack, don't snack, don't eat after a certain time, always eat breakfast no matter what. Sometimes I was just handed a set of printed flyers about what to eat and not eat.
Not one of those things will cause you to lose weight. You can gain weight just as easily eating only unprocessed food as you can eating frozen dinners every night. You can also lose weight the same way. Losing weight requires a calorie deficit, not avoidance of a particular type of food or eating on a certain schedule. So doctors were not doing me any favors when they told me that the solution was to eat this and not eat that. I learned that their advice didn't work, and that weight loss was a big mystery. Further, I had absolutely no interest in giving up foods I liked. So I wrote off weight loss as something that I'd like to do in the future, but that would probably never happen.
No one gave me practical advice about how to start an exercise program without feeling overwhelmed or ashamed of my body. No one told me how to fit exercise into my day. No one ever mentioned that I could eat what I wanted as long as I was burning more calories than I consumed.
I started Couch to 5k because a friend inspired me to do it. She was older than me and not an athlete, but if she could do it, I could too. I started tracking on MFP because it was easy. There were no gimmicks about magic foods that promote or hinder weight loss. It was just numbers. It broke weight loss down into basic math.
My doctors ask me how I did it, and here's what I tell them: it's about building a healthy routine that works for you. You do not have to give up chocolate or cheese or bread. You have to budget your calories for those things if you want them. You have to track your calories even if you think you know what you're eating. There is no magic food group. You have to schedule time for exercise and prioritize it if you want to do it, and you need a routine that is beginner-friendly. I recommend C25K specifically because it's so accessible. I was morbidly obese and had never run a step in my life beyond gym class; now I'm training for my third half marathon and am 7 pounds from my goal weight. My gynecologist started running again after seeing my progress.
I hope they tell those things to the patients who ask. I hope they don't offer it unsolicited to those who aren't interested, because the biggest thing I tell them is that you have to want to do it. Being lectured or shamed does not make anyone want to do it. Having their medical concerns not taken seriously because they're overweight does not make anyone want to do it. Pointing to weight loss as the answer to all of their problems does not make anyone want to do it. What does make you want to do it is specific to you, but you need a goal that involves losing weight, and a sustainable routine that you're willing to keep up for the long haul. The motivation to lose weight has to come from you and you alone, because no one will keep up a routine for years if they're only doing it because someone else told them to. You can give your patients *factual* information about their weight (not the myths and trite slogans I was told). If they're interested, you can give them practical advice about how to do it. But you can't make it happen.5 -
My nurse was the one who told me I was obese. She told me to control my portions and get in 30 mins of exercise a day just by walking, She told me many of issues I was experiencing would go if I lost weight
I really didn't pay much attention to her, I thought I was just stressed and overworked
Along came group holiday and I decided to lose weight for that. Now I am less tired, blood pressure fine, no daily heart burn...
She was right I just wasn't listening to her.1 -
There are different stages of readiness for change. If someone is in one of the early changes, there is not much you can do except try to move them down the path a little.
Since this is kind of my job, I try to take a practical approach. First of all, I always treat people with respect and I try to assess where they are in terms of both readiness for change and having the knowledge/tools to effect change.
I have one advantage in that I am not some 20-something athlete who has always been 10%-15% body fat. I know exactly what it is like to struggle with job stress, busy schedules, physical issues, stress eating, you name it. So I can give them practical tips and tools, based on both research and personal experience.
I never talk down to people. They know they are overweight, and they often know in general what they need to do. So I talk to them with empathy and support. I acknowledge their challenges and struggles. Even if I know they are probably not ready to fully commit, I give them straight, matter-of-fact reasons why losing weight can improve their health, backed by research and presented in a way that emphasizes the practical benefits for them individually.
I do hit the exercise component hard. I do that because, even if they cannot lose a substantial amount of weight right now, they can improve their fitness. I know that with almost 100% certainty. And regular exercise will improve their overall health, regardless of whether they lose any weight. Sometimes the increased self confidence and self esteem that comes with feeling more fit can be just the catalyst to push them to take their diet more seriously.0
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