Does your doctor comment on your weight?

ythannah wrote: »

lois1231 wrote: »

Not only that they set the scales to weigh you 5 or 10 pounds heavier.

That's probably just the effect of clothing, stomach and intestine contents, etc if you normally weigh yourself in the AM unclothed.

At my dr's office the scale is in a hallway off the waiting room and you're visible to anyone sitting there so you're weighed (by the receptionist) clothed. Including outerwear and footwear. In winter here that can add a lot. One time the number on the scale was considerably more than I expected and I was puzzled why my clothes weren't fitting differently if I'd gained so much. Then I realized I was still carrying my purse. Put that down and lost 8 lbs instantly.

Haha, yeah. Even in the hallway, I always kick off my shoes and I wear the lightest clothing I can to the doctor’s office. I think the nurse thinks I’m nuts.

DebbsSeattle wrote: »

It does not benefit doctors to have their patience healthy. It is sick care not health care. They get paid more money to prescribe rX, which means the fatter and less healthy you become the more they make. The healthier you become the less your shopping supports big food. The healthier you become the less you support big pharma. The insurance companies pull a 15% profit no matter what (as per federal regulation/law on insurance industry) so they don’t care if you are healthy or sick. The healthier you become, the longer the social security will have to support you…they want you dead. You are the only one who will benefit by your being healthy. The individual must take control of their own being.

Since I'm seeing those from other countries saying this is not true where they are, but I haven't seen an obvious US person speak up yet:

There are many things wrong with the US health care system, but in my experience it is not the case that doctors or the system at large are universally cynical profiteers who want us to be unhealthy.

Even my for-profit insurer does some stuff that is clearly and reasonably formulated to try to make me healthier and keep me healthier - things that cost them money to do. (Example: They pay for and push home visits to alllllll seniors they insure to improve home safety and medication compliance. That has to cost a bunch. They have reward programs for exercise compliance.)

My doctors, generally, have been delighted when I make changes that improve my health, and often have done things that limit how much they get to bill my insurer (like, cure me of things via quicker, less expensive routes; or send me to other health care sources (unaffiliated with them financially) whom they feel can do a better job for me). I'd observe that in the case of weight loss specifically, my GP (and his med assistant) was utterly gobsmacked - in a good way - when I lost weight. I inferred that that was because it's super rare in real life that someone who says they'll try weight loss to avoid statins actually follows through.

Are there some bad actors here and there in the US system? Sure. But it's not the predominant pattern in my experience, not even close. If someone else has had uniformly bad experiences across the system, that makes me sad for them, of course. But it doesn't entitle those people to assert (unchallenged) that the entire system is corrupt, in the face of others with dramatically different experiences within the same system.

"Big food" exists to give us what we vote with our dollars to say we want to eat, and they compete to make it cheaper, more convenient, and more ubiquitously available. Probably due to long pressures of natural selection, we want things that are high in fat and sugar and salt, not very filling so we can eat MoreMoreMore, and fatty meaty cheesey things. That's what Big Food delivers: The stuff we repeatedly show we want to buy.

Products are formulated with heavy input from focus groups and taste tests. The components of those foods become cheap in part because there's huge competitive pressure to produce them more cheaply, in support of price competition. We get what we collectively ask for, cheaply made and marketed intensely.

Big pharma for sure has some perverse incentives in the US, and it's had its share of bad actors in recent years. I won't try to defend any of that. Yes, they do try to influence doctors, but countervailing forces - including legal strictures - continue to be implemented to limit scope of that influence, and the damage from it. To say otherwise is inaccurate. Further, my observation in my social context - which may not be representative - is that quite a few people just want - actively want - to visit the doc and get another pill for (whatever) rather than make even minimal changes in how they live their lives.

In the quoted post, there's lots of "they" language, not very specific: "They" want us ill, "they" don't want to pay us social security, etc. The implication is that there's a conspiracy of "theys" against the "us-es". Generally, no. IMO, that's denial. (Plus, the bigger the imputed conspiracy, the less likely it's real as an actual collaboration amongst some cabal.) The one thing I agree with the previous post about: We ought to take responsibility.

Cartoonist Walt Kelly's Pogo made the main point best: "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

Where does all this redirection and blame come from? I’ve read page after page of blame directed towards doctors for their obesity, or not telling them how to lose weight. It is your responsibility to get on a scale, learn what weight range is typically healthy for the amount of muscle you have, and make sure your blood work is fine. It is your responsibility to research your TDEE. You’ve been given the foundation for moderation since you started school- you just chose to ignore it. Why does everyone act like they didn’t know they were fat, obese, morbidly obese, and then blame everyone but themselves? I’ve been every size at this point, but I know every decision I made was because of me.

However, I’ve read comments stating they are happy their doctor told them the truth and they did something about it. I think that’s fantastic. Though, I think if you rely on your doctor to tell you that you’re fat, you’re living on autopilot and there’s a lot more wrong than just your weight.

I hate that my tax dollars are responsible for people that don’t take care of themselves when I work hard to not be a burden to myself and others. Health care support should be there for those who are in circumstances that their body or mind can’t control, and not for those who can. You should pay for your personal issues if you created them when you have all the tools to do so.

ETA This does not mean you are not lovable or that you are expendable. It just means you need to take responsibility for yourself and quit expecting others to fix you.