Do some doctors just get a kick out of telling you to lose weight?

@IMadeSomeReal Well we can’t often refer to dieticians as they won’t see straightforward overweight people for weight management any more, but our HCAs are trained to offer advice. We can prescribe orlistat, which is not as effective as mounjaro but works for a lot of people. We can signpost people to reputable mounjaro prescribers. People with a high enough BMI can be referred to secondary care to go down the bariatric pathway. And of course we have leaflets, but in this age of internet such things aren’t really needed. We can refer to exercise classes and gyms.

But the hardest part is suggesting that someone’s weight is having a negative impact in the first place. This is often met with a barrage of excuses and denials, and also aggression. Recently I had a man get right in my face and scream at me that I couldn’t possibly understand what his life was like because I was a rich privileged doctor who had no idea about real life. And of course it’s evident from MN that any mention of weight is considered offensive. So lately I keep my mouth shut. I’m not prepared to take abuse just for doing my job.

Overweight and obese people know they need to lose weight. Unless your condition would directly benefit from weight loss, I don’t think it should be brought up and I think it can make people avoid going to see their GP.

A lot of these comments show how uneducated people are and have no idea what doctors and other HCP have to do when seeing patients. How do you know what their job entails? It would be like going to a bank for debt advice, then asking you questions, which they need to do for their job, then getting in a huff because they’re asking you questions and advising you on how to reduce your debt. Then making a comment about the worker having some debt. If you’re fat you know you are fat. Lose weight don’t lose weight. No one really cares.

Do you think that we don't notice that GPs seem to see us as a nuisance, and that they would prefer to commune with their computers than with their patients?

How could doctors losing weight prevent their patients getting Covid?

But surely that is subjective? We are talking about a stranger and how they viewed that conversation. Being fat causes A LOT of serious health conditions. In type 2 diabetes you can actually reverse it with weight and blood sugar level management.

It may have prevented some of Covid though, in those times it was quite apparent many were overweight.

@Sesma the only difference between a clinician and a non-clinician is that one has been educated and trained in medicine, and the other hasn’t. Clinicians don’t have magical powers to resist all the temptations that non-clinicians are subject to. Yes our increased awareness probably makes us more likely to be healthy, but ultimately we’re human, and we have failings, just like everyone else.

She didn’t. It was just by sight. I wouldn’t mind but my BMI was about 26!

I don’t understand how you can say that you talked about your trip and details of your weight loss but still think the whole thing was impersonal just because he told you that the condition you were there to talk about will be affected by your weight. He was just doing g his job and telling the truth.

You haven’t said that your problem was ignored completely or that you didn’t get treatment so presumably you were happy with everything else about the appointment. You also make a nasty dig about the doctors weight, so this seems like it’s more of a problem with you than the doctor.

Part of the appointment where he asked me what menopause symptoms I was struggling with - mostly weight gain despite healthy eating, exercise, PT, etc - he referred me to a dietician/nutritionist.

He then asked if the frozen shoulder I’d had previously was any better as he said he thought there were some indirect links to menopause. I said the previous times had resolved, but I had it again. He referred me again.

What kind of help would you like to offer?

Well done for your weight loss!
Its not an insignificant amount at all!

I hope you’re proud of it (and ignore the nurse!)

It also depends on how keen says doctor is on putting weight as THE reason for your symptoms…..

I think you should remember that a typical appointment is quite short 5-10 mins most Dr's/HCP's are in transmit rather than receive mode

See this is exactly what I mean ^^

So many posters incredulous that overweight doctors and nurses are telling them to lose weight.

But when a doctor isn't overweight, a poster is incredulous at being told they need to lose weight by a 'tiny' GP 😳

Meanwhile, it's all avoidance as the weight of the medical professional has nothing to do with the weight of the patient.

Again, if the medical professionals lost weight, it wouldn't prevent heart attacks and diabetes etc in their patients 🤷‍♂️

I have had something similar a few times. I had managed to lose 5 stone over the course of 18 months. I went to my GP's surgery to have my blood pressure taken and the nurse,who hadn't seen me since before I'd lost the weight,told me to stand on the scales. She tutted and said 'You could do with losing a few stone'. I said 'I have managed to lose 5 stone over the last year and a half '. She just said 'mmm right'. No encouragement,no well done for losing 5 of the 9 stone you need to lose. No wonder people get discouraged. And for the record,she must have been at least 3 stone overweight herself!

If your Dr is telling people who are deemed to be a healthy weight (based on their BMI and other indicators used by the NHS) then you should report them. However, I would also say that 'average' is also currently overweight so....

You saying he had a huge gut is not relevant though. It could be like someone saying they won’t want to take advice off a family lawyer if the lawyer is divorced or is single or doesn’t have kids. Not relevant at all.

Well it depends on how many times you’re going to see your GP for weight related issues. GPS/nurses have boxes that they need to take when a patient comes in, this is directly related to the amount of funding they get. So some questions will be about lifestyle. GPS don’t care if you’re fat they want to see you healthy. Fat people should take some responsibility.

What’s their insufferable tone?

Agree. The fact they don’t understand the average size is a size 16 because most people are fatter now 🙄 some fat people just don’t want to take accountability.

Very slim to average sized people I know have been told by her to lose weight so....

You don’t mention if you’re overweight. If you’re fat, then losing weight would make it better.

Yeah it is a bit odd seeing as though you discussed it, sounds like he wasn’t really listening and then doing a generic spiel