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Does your doctor comment on your weight?
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Being overweight isn't as much of a concern for me as the consequences of being overweight, such as hypertension, type II diabetes, high cholesterol, etc. If my A1C is high and is a risk factor for heart disease, then I want to know how to respond. I expect my doctor to look the data at and help me understand risk factors. If losing weight helps, great, I need to know that. What I want is the truth. My doctor is helpful in that regard.2
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I don't think I've been there since 2014 so no lol0
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No, but I've never been to the doctor for a weight-related issue/something that could potentially be caused by my weight or fixed by losing weight. I once had a doctor ask if I wanted to be weighed backwards/not be told my weight. I was normal weight at the time. I know people who don't want to go to the Dr. because they don't want to be weighed. Maybe they were thinking it's better for people to come in and avoid that vs. not coming in at all?
My mom lost a lot of weight and her doctor asked her how she did it. She tracked calories (old school in a notebook, not on MFP). He said, "You know, writing down everything is what people seem to have the most success with." Of course her response was, "Then why didn't you tell me that years ago?!"2 -
My primary care doc said that we need to discuss my weight at my visit last year. So we discussed it. And, when I went to another doc - she just put on my chart that i was obese. Aaaaaaah.... I hated that. I was only 2 pounds into the higher category. Now that was a year ago. And, I can't wait to go back - so she can see that I'm only overweight now. I really want that obese designation off my chart. And, if I wait long enough for the visit, well, I'm only 7 pounds from a normal BMI.1
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It is funny I saw this topic this evening. For the past few years my doctor has told me to lose weight. I had an appointment in a few months, I thought it would be great to have lost 30 or so pounds and walk into his office.
Something came up and I went into the doctor's office today, I have lost 20lbs/9kgs and he said nothing about it. I was very disappointed he didn't say anything. My blood pressure is much lower, and he said nothing about it it either.1 -
DoubleUbea wrote: »It is funny I saw this topic this evening. For the past few years my doctor has told me to lose weight. I had an appointment in a few months and I was planning to weigh a lot less. Something came up and I went into the doctor's office today, I have lost 20lbs/9kgs and he said nothing about it. I was very disappointed he didn't say anything. My blood pressure is much lower, and he said nothing about it it either.
Well, that is downright disappointing !!! No congratulations job well done from the doc. I would have been like - did you know, I lost 20 pounds from last visit? And, wow - my BP is much better than last time, right?????1 -
Yep, even when I was skinny as anything I weighed high on my BMI, I assume it was down to my muscle, I was riding horses a lot for work and very strong and toned but still above the average BMI. I told people and they all told me if I had lost any weight I would start to look sick. So don’t know how that worked 😅
Now I’m further up in my BMI and not in that same shape, iv been told I need to loose weight and now I can actually say she is right.0 -
I have a follow-up in two weeks after I have some tests done, maybe I will say something if he doesn't.1
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I remember going to a doctor's appointment for my mother when I was about 21-22 and the doctor actually looked me over (when I was obese) and said something like, "You're pretty overweight too, you don't want to end up like your mom here do you?" It mortified me. No doubt it encouraged me to lose weight, but I can't say it was healthy or done in a good way.
Another time I was weighed (at 116 lbs...much lower than the weight I was in the last paragraph) and the nurse decided it was her duty to tell me about when she was 96 pounds -20 lbs lower than me- that she was forced onto an eating plan and she looked "waaay skinnier" than me. This was completely unprompted and definitely triggered some bad eating habits afterwards.
It seems like whether I am large or small, someone has SOMETHING to say.2 -
Yes, he said he wishes more patients would watch what they eat and not just ask for a pill to resolve issues.
When he suspected me of T2D, I did ask about Metformin in the short term, as it's pretty effective, and he agreed that it would be appropriate as a temporary measure for now.
After losing ~40 pounds, my fast BG has dropped from in the 170-180 mg/dL range to 95-110 mg/dL range since Valentines Day. A1C dropped from 7.3% to 5.4% in the same period. After I lose another ~20 pounds, I'll probably come off the Metformin.
I already, with his approval, skip the daily dose if I wake with a fasting BG of less than 100.3 -
Well, if you're being objective and non-cynical about it, doctors theoretically shouldn't care about being right as much as they should care about treatment compliance and health outcomes, which is the point many posters in this thread are missing. The big faulty assumption is that always telling the truth 100% straight and bluntly actually helps most people. Part of practicing modern medicine effectively is using a little bit of psychology to your advantage. It's something that was absent from medical practice for a long time and is just now starting to be understood.
It's true that being overweight is unhealthy, but you have to think about what effect you realistically have on your patients by plainly telling them so. Most fat people know they are fat and have been told at least once that it's not good for them. If repeating this to them in practice changes nothing and does nothing but kinda piss people off, why say it? Just to be right? Isn't there another, more measurably effective approach you could take? Doctors used to tell their patients for decades (and in a lot of places still do so) that being fat is unhealthy, and it certainly didn't stop the obesity epidemic. Why then would we be led to believe that this practice is important to continue, when it objectively accomplishes very little? This is like telling people that drugs are bad for them -- no *kitten*, dude. That's not actually gonna help an addict.
Most people at this point will stop and say "well the patient should've listened, and then it would've been helpful to them". Okay, but they didn't. Now what? Are you gonna throw up your hands and decry human nature? For whatever reason, you made a poor argument to them. You didn't convince them enough that they can or should do this, or they didn't understand what you were saying fully, or perhaps there are roadblocks in their way unbeknownst to you that you didn't address, be it financial, emotional, educational, physical, etc, etc. Whatever it is, you still haven't progressed past Square 1. In the end, you did about as much for them as if they had never gone to see you at all. Maybe you're a doctor in the US and your visits are packed tight and you simply don't have the time to debate this stuff with your patients. Fair enough, personally I think that's reason #34523 this system doesn't work, but in that case why waste any time saying anything at all if you know it won't make a difference?
You can be right until you're blue in the face and I'm sure it's very satisfying to your own ego, but if what you're telling your patients isn't helping them and you can observe this through your patients' health outcomes, you're not actually doing what you set out to do and need to rethink your approach. This is probably why a lot of doctors don't bother to do this anymore unless it's actually directly related to the condition being discussed -- most of the time, it really does nothing of much good for anybody. Even if it is true.10 -
No but I definitely discussed losing weight, since I got a new doctor and he tells me I’m underweight which I’m definitely not.0
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Most people at this point will stop and say "well the patient should've listened, and then it would've been helpful to them". Okay, but they didn't. Now what? Are you gonna throw up your hands and decry human nature? For whatever reason, you made a poor argument to them. You didn't convince them enough that they can or should do this, or they didn't understand what you were saying fully, or perhaps there are roadblocks in their way unbeknownst to you that you didn't address, be it financial, emotional, educational, physical, etc, etc. Whatever it is, you still haven't progressed past Square 1. In the end, you did about as much for them as if they had never gone to see you at all. Maybe you're a doctor in the US and your visits are packed tight and you simply don't have the time to debate this stuff with your patients. Fair enough, personally I think that's reason #34523 this system doesn't work, but in that case why waste any time saying anything at all if you know it won't make a difference?
You can be right until you're blue in the face and I'm sure it's very satisfying to your own ego, but if what you're telling your patients isn't helping them and you can observe this through your patients' health outcomes, you're not actually doing what you set out to do and need to rethink your approach. This is probably why a lot of doctors don't bother to do this anymore unless it's actually directly related to the condition being discussed -- most of the time, it really does nothing of much good for anybody. Even if it is true.
Can't really blame the doctor if the patient doesn't follow the advice.
Just because the patient doesn't follow the advice doesn't mean it's poor advice.
What roadblocks are in the way of Eat Less, Move More?
It certainly doesn't take more money to Eat Less. There may be some road blocks for moving more, if there are other issues.
Yes, I tend to blame people for not following the advice presented.
We know smoking is bad for you. The best course of action is DON'T START. Yet people choose to smoke.
It's human nature to help people who seem interested in following the advice and following the plan. If the patient doesn't wish to follow the advice, at what point is it in the best interests of everyone for the doctor to just let them be who they've chosen to be and spend more time on those willing to follow the advice?
I work in IT service and have customers. They can choose to follow the advice I provide, based in 30 years of education and experience in the field, or they can choose to do their own thing.
I cannot do it for them, much like the doctor cannot be there to replace the little chocolate donuts with a healthy breakfast.
I don't doubt there are bad doctors. However, with the sum of human knowledge at the fingertips of most, I have to believe that if someone wanted to eat right and lose weight, the information is there for anyone who is sufficiently motivated to learn and adopt new habits, behaviors and strategies.
How can people in North America not know that eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer fat and sugar dense processed foods is the better course of action?2 -
Well, if you're being objective and non-cynical about it, doctors theoretically shouldn't care about being right as much as they should care about treatment compliance and health outcomes, which is the point many posters in this thread are missing. The big faulty assumption is that always telling the truth 100% straight and bluntly actually helps most people. Part of practicing modern medicine effectively is using a little bit of psychology to your advantage. It's something that was absent from medical practice for a long time and is just now starting to be understood.
It's true that being overweight is unhealthy, but you have to think about what effect you realistically have on your patients by plainly telling them so. Most fat people know they are fat and have been told at least once that it's not good for them. If repeating this to them in practice changes nothing and does nothing but kinda piss people off, why say it? Just to be right? Isn't there another, more measurably effective approach you could take? Doctors used to tell their patients for decades (and in a lot of places still do so) that being fat is unhealthy, and it certainly didn't stop the obesity epidemic. Why then would we be led to believe that this practice is important to continue, when it objectively accomplishes very little? This is like telling people that drugs are bad for them -- no *kitten*, dude. That's not actually gonna help an addict.
Most people at this point will stop and say "well the patient should've listened, and then it would've been helpful to them". Okay, but they didn't. Now what? Are you gonna throw up your hands and decry human nature? For whatever reason, you made a poor argument to them. You didn't convince them enough that they can or should do this, or they didn't understand what you were saying fully, or perhaps there are roadblocks in their way unbeknownst to you that you didn't address, be it financial, emotional, educational, physical, etc, etc. Whatever it is, you still haven't progressed past Square 1. In the end, you did about as much for them as if they had never gone to see you at all. Maybe you're a doctor in the US and your visits are packed tight and you simply don't have the time to debate this stuff with your patients. Fair enough, personally I think that's reason #34523 this system doesn't work, but in that case why waste any time saying anything at all if you know it won't make a difference?
You can be right until you're blue in the face and I'm sure it's very satisfying to your own ego, but if what you're telling your patients isn't helping them and you can observe this through your patients' health outcomes, you're not actually doing what you set out to do and need to rethink your approach. This is probably why a lot of doctors don't bother to do this anymore unless it's actually directly related to the condition being discussed -- most of the time, it really does nothing of much good for anybody. Even if it is true.
It doesn't matter whether the patient listens to the doctors advice or not, it is still the doctor's responsibility to point out potential future health risks. And what about cases where the patient's current health problems may be rooted in them being overweight? Should the doctor in that case just treat the current health issue without attempting to treat the underlying cause? If the patient chooses not to listen then its on them, not the doctor. You are making the assumption that nobody ever listens to their doctor's advice because there is an obesity epidemic, and that is absolutely incorrect. You are also basically asserting that all doctors are being blunt about the conversation and don't have good bedside manor and that too is incorrect. Are there some doctors that are more blunt than others, absolutely, but if you don't like your doctors bedside manner then you can find another doctor. Even if it only helps a small percentage of people, then it is worthwhile. In my opinion, saying nothing is far more harmful to the patient, because hearing the advice of a trained medical professional could be the push the patient needs to actually do something about it.5 -
Mine never has - I saw my GP or a nurse yearly for about 4 years due to my BC, and also saw a couple of other nurses/drs for gynecological appointments (NHS, UK). Nobody ever commented, I was only weighed a couple of times, even though I was overweight and gaining.0
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Yes, but in a good way. Happy to see that the LC/HF lifestyle has greatly improved weight and cholesterol #s!
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Most physicians don't comment on your weight even after they write it down onto your chart for all of the reasons stated above. When someone says my doctor told me to do some specific eating protocol I know they're making it up or fabricating tales. Doctors seldom if ever tell you to eat in any particular way. I've worked for a few doctors in my lifetime. The staff is usually back in the breakroom with cupboards filled to the brim with multi-cr@p. During the holidays, patients bring in plates of goodies and boxes of chocolates. There's always red licorice hanging around somewhere. It gives me a pinch to say this but you will find some of the unhealthiest people working in the hospital, doctor's office, including the doctor. There's brutal shiftwork which is really tough on sleeping patterns. They eat food to stay awake.
Some refer to their nutritionist or life coach as their doctor and they will give you a food protocol to follow.4 -
tbright1965 wrote: »
Most people at this point will stop and say "well the patient should've listened, and then it would've been helpful to them". Okay, but they didn't. Now what? Are you gonna throw up your hands and decry human nature? For whatever reason, you made a poor argument to them. You didn't convince them enough that they can or should do this, or they didn't understand what you were saying fully, or perhaps there are roadblocks in their way unbeknownst to you that you didn't address, be it financial, emotional, educational, physical, etc, etc. Whatever it is, you still haven't progressed past Square 1. In the end, you did about as much for them as if they had never gone to see you at all. Maybe you're a doctor in the US and your visits are packed tight and you simply don't have the time to debate this stuff with your patients. Fair enough, personally I think that's reason #34523 this system doesn't work, but in that case why waste any time saying anything at all if you know it won't make a difference?
You can be right until you're blue in the face and I'm sure it's very satisfying to your own ego, but if what you're telling your patients isn't helping them and you can observe this through your patients' health outcomes, you're not actually doing what you set out to do and need to rethink your approach. This is probably why a lot of doctors don't bother to do this anymore unless it's actually directly related to the condition being discussed -- most of the time, it really does nothing of much good for anybody. Even if it is true.
Can't really blame the doctor if the patient doesn't follow the advice.
Just because the patient doesn't follow the advice doesn't mean it's poor advice.
What roadblocks are in the way of Eat Less, Move More?
It certainly doesn't take more money to Eat Less. There may be some road blocks for moving more, if there are other issues.
Yes, I tend to blame people for not following the advice presented.
We know smoking is bad for you. The best course of action is DON'T START. Yet people choose to smoke.
It's human nature to help people who seem interested in following the advice and following the plan. If the patient doesn't wish to follow the advice, at what point is it in the best interests of everyone for the doctor to just let them be who they've chosen to be and spend more time on those willing to follow the advice?
I work in IT service and have customers. They can choose to follow the advice I provide, based in 30 years of education and experience in the field, or they can choose to do their own thing.
I cannot do it for them, much like the doctor cannot be there to replace the little chocolate donuts with a healthy breakfast.
I don't doubt there are bad doctors. However, with the sum of human knowledge at the fingertips of most, I have to believe that if someone wanted to eat right and lose weight, the information is there for anyone who is sufficiently motivated to learn and adopt new habits, behaviors and strategies.
How can people in North America not know that eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer fat and sugar dense processed foods is the better course of action?
You might as well ask why people ever do things they ought not to, or don't do things they should. There are plenty of roadblocks for plenty of people on a number of fronts, if there weren't then it wouldn't be a problem, it wouldn't be a multi-million dollar industry, and no one would ever be even the least bit impressed that someone lost a substantial amount of weight. Any permanent change of habits and behavior is somewhat to very difficult for the average person. Psychological, environmental, knowledge roadblocks are legitimate roadblocks to achieving this, whether people want to acknowledge it or not. But, this is getting very off-topic. It's not the point of the thread, and I doubt we'll agree if the above doesn't convince you, so I'll leave it at that.
I mean, you kinda made my point. That's exactly what I'm trying to say. Why should the doctors tell them that if they don't seem interested? They do already know, as you concluded with your post, so why tell them again? What do you think trying for the 1001st time will do that the first 1000 times didn't? This is a tired tactic. I know fat people, smokers, financially irresponsible people, addicts, etc, etc who rationalize and ignore their problems up and down all day. They've got their reasons, I guess, whatever they are, and if I don't think I can say anything that'll actually have any net positive effect, because I don't know what to say or they don't want to hear it, then I don't. What's the point? We can quibble about who's to blame all day as well, but in the end blaming people will probably solve nothing and we have effectively done nothing about the problem.
And another thing -- I don't blame the doctor, in fact I'm trying to point out exactly why many doctors no longer choose to bring this up with their patients unprompted. They have their non-cynical, non-nefarious reasons for no longer pointing this out to people. To them, it's very rational -- the tactic largely doesn't work, it generally doesn't produce better health outcomes, so abandon it. Maybe it could if they had more time or were better at convincing people, but it's certainly not their fault if they're not. Most people are not very good at convincing others of their point of view, and doctors are no exception -- they didn't train to be orators or lawyers, they trained to be doctors. If a patient wants to lose weight, then yeah a doctor should encourage them and provide them resources, but if a doctor doesn't think it makes sense to bring up a patient's weight problem unprompted, I don't blame them.
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Most physicians don't comment on your weight even after they write it down onto your chart for all of the reasons stated above. When someone says my doctor told me to do some specific eating protocol I know they're making it up or fabricating tales. Doctors seldom if ever tell you to eat in any particular way. I've worked for a few doctors in my lifetime. The staff is usually back in the breakroom with cupboards filled to the brim with multi-cr@p. During the holidays, patients bring in plates of goodies and boxes of chocolates. There's always red licorice hanging around somewhere. It gives me a pinch to say this but you will find some of the unhealthiest people working in the hospital, doctor's office, including the doctor. There's brutal shiftwork which is really tough on sleeping patterns. They eat food to stay awake.
It is very true that many in the medical profession are not taking care of themselves. Do as I say, not as I do... One doc in 2000 recommended to me to eat "more like cavemen did", which I personally feel is sound advice. Avoid process foods, bread, pasta etc., eat meat, veg. He was obese! He says, while rubbing his stomach, something along the lines that he would be thinner if he followed his own advice, but he has too many people bringing in donuts to him! HA!4 -
Well, if you're being objective and non-cynical about it, doctors theoretically shouldn't care about being right as much as they should care about treatment compliance and health outcomes, which is the point many posters in this thread are missing. The big faulty assumption is that always telling the truth 100% straight and bluntly actually helps most people. Part of practicing modern medicine effectively is using a little bit of psychology to your advantage. It's something that was absent from medical practice for a long time and is just now starting to be understood.
It's true that being overweight is unhealthy, but you have to think about what effect you realistically have on your patients by plainly telling them so. Most fat people know they are fat and have been told at least once that it's not good for them. If repeating this to them in practice changes nothing and does nothing but kinda piss people off, why say it? Just to be right? Isn't there another, more measurably effective approach you could take? Doctors used to tell their patients for decades (and in a lot of places still do so) that being fat is unhealthy, and it certainly didn't stop the obesity epidemic. Why then would we be led to believe that this practice is important to continue, when it objectively accomplishes very little? This is like telling people that drugs are bad for them -- no *kitten*, dude. That's not actually gonna help an addict.
Most people at this point will stop and say "well the patient should've listened, and then it would've been helpful to them". Okay, but they didn't. Now what? Are you gonna throw up your hands and decry human nature? For whatever reason, you made a poor argument to them. You didn't convince them enough that they can or should do this, or they didn't understand what you were saying fully, or perhaps there are roadblocks in their way unbeknownst to you that you didn't address, be it financial, emotional, educational, physical, etc, etc. Whatever it is, you still haven't progressed past Square 1. In the end, you did about as much for them as if they had never gone to see you at all. Maybe you're a doctor in the US and your visits are packed tight and you simply don't have the time to debate this stuff with your patients. Fair enough, personally I think that's reason #34523 this system doesn't work, but in that case why waste any time saying anything at all if you know it won't make a difference?
You can be right until you're blue in the face and I'm sure it's very satisfying to your own ego, but if what you're telling your patients isn't helping them and you can observe this through your patients' health outcomes, you're not actually doing what you set out to do and need to rethink your approach. This is probably why a lot of doctors don't bother to do this anymore unless it's actually directly related to the condition being discussed -- most of the time, it really does nothing of much good for anybody. Even if it is true.
It doesn't matter whether the patient listens to the doctors advice or not, it is still the doctor's responsibility to point out potential future health risks. And what about cases where the patient's current health problems may be rooted in them being overweight? Should the doctor in that case just treat the current health issue without attempting to treat the underlying cause? If the patient chooses not to listen then its on them, not the doctor. You are making the assumption that nobody ever listens to their doctor's advice because there is an obesity epidemic, and that is absolutely incorrect. You are also basically asserting that all doctors are being blunt about the conversation and don't have good bedside manor and that too is incorrect. Are there some doctors that are more blunt than others, absolutely, but if you don't like your doctors bedside manner then you can find another doctor. Even if it only helps a small percentage of people, then it is worthwhile. In my opinion, saying nothing is far more harmful to the patient, because hearing the advice of a trained medical professional could be the push the patient needs to actually do something about it.
The whole reason I started here almost 6 years ago was because I went in to see my Dr for my 38 year physical. I came out of there with all 5 markers for metabolic syndrome. I wasn't even particularly huge...just over the BMI line for obese.
My doctor at the time (also my dad's doctor) told me that given my current state and hereditary factors, things didn't look good for me and that I'd likely be very ill and possibly dead by my early 60s if I didn't get things straightened out.
He told me very matter of factly that the best thing I could possibly do for myself was to lose the excess weight and start exercising regularly. I was off that very evening to the grocery store to load up on fresh produce and took my dog for a walk that night for the first time in a long time.
Almost 6 years later I'm down 40ish Lbs and have more or less kept it off for about 5.5 years and continue to cycle regularly and lift and eat like my life depends on it...because it does. All of my markers are now good to optimal save for my high blood pressure which is controlled with medication. I have a now 8 & 6 year old...at the time they were 3 and infant...the road I was heading down was unacceptable and had my doctor not said anything, I'd probably still be on it.
That Dr. has since retired and my dad has since passed away at the ripe old age of 62...so I think my Dr. was on to something there.5
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