To think that most health care professionals are hopeless at advising on weight

Unless this doctor was somehow specialised in weight management or eating disorders he has no business advising you.

Of course he does.

Or are you seriously suggesting that we need to see a different doctor for absolutely everything?

@TeaandScandal I was there for something totally unrelated and received this unqualified and unsolicited advice.

Your question does not come accross as genuine either. I am just going to assume that you aren't actually willing to see a different perspective and won't go into detail how I believe eating disorders should be dealt with. But certainly not by sending someone to a cult that will keep the obsession with food going.

How else do you think the gp could have helped you?

I have to laugh at the posters here who are clearly not obese but speak like they know the issue inside out. Unfortunately OP, with food everyone thinks they know what you are talking about and if they themselves were obese they sure could easily fix it.

Remember just a couple of decades ago ppl were blamed for being depressed. They just needed to lighten up etc. only now is society starting to see depression as an illness that needs treatment. It's going to be like that with obesity in 30 years time.

Unless this doctor was somehow specialised in weight management or eating disorders he has no business advising you. An ENT consultant wouldn't advise on how to deal with heart issues and this is just the same.

But in society obese people are just seen as greedy pigs who don't know anything about a good diet and need to be told the basics. I know it couldn't be further from the truth.

I got sent to slimming world by my GP. After I researched it I just laughed and never went.

Oh, yes, the eat more lard people!

@queenparrot I agree but if you go by some responses on here there are some people who will say that it is not correct advice. That's what I was trying to say (but clumsily)

OP said: He then spent around 30 seconds explaining how to do it, basically by eating less processed foods and more fruit and veg, lean protein, whole grains etc.

This is hardly controversial advice, though.

The advice they give will never be right for everyone. Just look on this thread- there are posters with conflicting advice on how to lose weight but are all acting like they are 100% right and everyone is wrong.

This is absolutely horrific. I'm so sorry you were treated in this way. A different subject, but very similar theme - the recent maternity services report (which was horrendous) had a very common theme from all the patients - they felt like they weren't listened to. And that appears to be a similar problem across all HCPs.

Right, but as mentioned above, shit diet caused the microbiome problems. Poor gut health isn't the excuse we all need to shrug our shoulders and say - meh, I'm just built this way. We (or our parents) caused it, and we can fix it.

Poo transplants proved the theory by showing immediate improvement, but it's easy to rehabilitate one's own microbiome with diet.

Microbiome, that's the word I couldn't remember.

Or if they stopped telling people their BMIs. Blunt tool though it is.

You forgot to mention that people's guts got into such a horrible state in the first place from not eating enough plants.

If doctors stopped telling people to lose weight, can you imagine how many overweight people would say, "Well it can't be that much of a problem, otherwise the doctor would've mentioned it".

Then when they get weight related medical issues, it'll be all the doctor's fault for not saying anything about their weight.

Rock meets hard place.

'In other words, they literally can't help putting on weight, their body just doesn't work properly.'

I guarantee if they controlled the amount they ate and did even a minimum of physical activity their bodies would indeed work properly and pounds would start to drop off

This 'it isn't my fault' narrative doesn't help anyone.

There's a very inciteful documentary on Netflix about obesity. It describes how a huge number of overweight people literally have different body chemistry.

It's not body chemistry! It was about the gut microbiome - which is changing on a day to day basis, and can be vastly improved with, guess what? More vegetables.

YANBU, but I suspect they are required to tell you that information.

Nope, sorry, I don't believe that the vast majority of British people are overweight or obese because they can't help it or they eat too many vegetables. Individual cases aside, on a population level it's because we eat rubbish
and too much of it.

There's a very inciteful documentary on Netflix about obesity. It describes how a huge number of overweight people literally have different body chemistry. They process food differently to thin people, and fat isn't burned off. Instead their bodies just immediately store it.

In other words, they literally can't help putting on weight, their body just doesn't work properly.

The solution identified was a "Poo Transplant". Where fecal material from a "normal" person was literally inserted into the nether regions of a "fat" person. This process changed the body chemistry of the obese person and reset their system, allowing diets to work for them.

It demonstrated fairly convincingly that for a huge number of people, obesity is actually a "medical" issue. They could eat like a rabbit and still gain weight.

It takes four years to train a dietitian (UK sp.). Doctors are lucky if they have a one-semester course throughout their entire degree, on health behaviours. Of course they can't counsel effectively on weight management.

In the UK, all GP practices are now part of groups called Primary Care networks. Many of them now employ dietitians, and Health and Wellness workers. Sadly, not all other clinical staff in the GP surgeries remember to refer people with weight management issues, so contact your GP surgery, ask if they have a dietitian, and ask for a referral if they do.

Also, the NHS has an online weight management programme for people who have been diagnosed with both obesity, and diabetes or hypertension. You can be referred by a GP OR a pharmacist.

To be fair, what else can they do?
We all know how to lose weight, but no one can provide the motivation for us (sadly).

A diet full of saturated fat and animal products is not the answer either. She is a dubious mouthpiece for the beef and dairy industry in America, not a scientist or a doctor, and not well-regarded by actual researchers in the field.

There is over 50 years of evidence showing a plant-based, Mediterranean-style diet is the healthiest diet for general health and also for longevity. People are obese for many reasons - it's not because of the healthy eating guidelines, which most don't follow anyway.

The doctors just say the general, 3 meals a day, no snacking. A lot of people are on medication and PUT UP weight by eating 3 meals a day.

Once someone said to me'no treats'. I had to ask them what a treat was, as I eat healthily and didn't eat takeaways etc

I think they should be trained more on telling people to avoid prepacked food, more protein, veg, with meal plans for quick healthy dinners. They should focus on getting people to build muscle to raise metabolism.

I think I have a different post code lottery to some posters. I can barely get my GP to even call me back, let alone see me. I have been on a waitlist for some surgery for two years ( not weight related).

Motivational interviewing to help me lose weight seems very distant to me.