Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that if a surgeon refuses to operate until you lose 21/2 stone than you should br offered some support with said weigt loss.

234 replies

northernsoul78 · 23/10/2015 14:57

So I need an operation. I am not a fool so know that losing weight makes sense before going under thr knife. So I asked my GP for help. They told me I didn't qualify for help as I don't get free prescriptions. This is a complete turnaround as the surgery used to offer nurse led clinics. It now does Slomming World referrals for people in receipt of free prescriptions.
so whilst waiting to see consultant I managed to lose maybe 10lbs.
I basically saw the Consultant who basically told me to come back in 4 months and they will book op if I have lost the best part of 21/2 stone.
Now I know this is a great incentive to lose weight but they are expecting me to lose more than the recommended 1 to 2lbs per week without support.
yet on the NHs podcast there is a woman on there with a lower BMiI than me who had no major health issues. She didn't want to pay out fow a slimming club so she went to GP and they referred her to dietician and prescribed Orlisat.
So it seems that support is there but not in my case. Obviously I am not asking for medication but I would have hoped they could offer something.
Realise I am probably being unreasonable but just fed up.

OP posts:
AliceInUnderpants · 23/10/2015 15:02

YABU

There is plenty of weight loss support out there that is available. You need to find it yourself, not be spoon fed (no pun intended)

Do you think your weight is related to mental health issues? In that case I would recommend private counselling as it would take a long time for NHS referral to come through.

Panickingalot · 23/10/2015 15:04

YABU. You need an operation, the NHS will do it for free on the condition you lose weight. If that isn't incentive enough to eat less I don't know what is. I needed IVF but wasn't allowed it until I hit the bmi target they set me. I watched what I ate and funnily enough the weight fell off.

Make better choices and eat less. You don't need SW or a nurse to tell you that.

AnneSansTete · 23/10/2015 15:06

Most council gyms do free/ heavily discounted membership if you are referred by a gp. Have you looked into that?

TurnOffTheTv · 23/10/2015 15:09

How did you lose the 10lb? Can you not just carry on doing what you were doing to achieve that?

abbieanders · 23/10/2015 15:10

Support doesn't really help with weight loss. There is nobody who can monitor your intake all the time but you. It's not easy, I'm at my most magnificent myself and working to get rid of baby weight but depending on some external factor and putting weight loss off until you have that won't work.

Even of you go to slimming world or weight watchers, there's only so much they can do.

Fizrim · 23/10/2015 15:11

On the flipside, you successfully managed to lose 10lb by yourself once you realised the GP wasn't going to help, and the Consultant seems to think you can do it too. So I can see why you would be frustrated that they seem unwilling to help when it is vital to your procedure but it does look like you will be able to do it.

TurnOffTheTv · 23/10/2015 15:11

And depending how much you weigh now 2.5lb a week is do-able. The more you weigh the quicker it comes off.

Original poster
northernsoul78 · 23/10/2015 15:11

Part of the problem is not having accurate scales. Guess I will have to plan weekly visits to Boots to get accurate readings. Don't think it's MH related but I am always hungry. Trying to have more regular but smaller meals to help.

OP posts:
EdgarAllenPoe · 23/10/2015 15:11

My GP runs weight management courses for anyone who needs it, but you don't get a referral to Slimming World or free gym membership or anything like that. It's basically fortnightly weigh-ins and lots of leaflets. It was helpful but it didn't tell me anything I couldn't have found out online.

I found THE most useful thing was keeping a food/drink diary. Exercise is good of course, but you can't out-exercise a bad diet, and sometimes it's easy to think our diet is fine when bad habits have crept in.

Good luck!

TurnOffTheTv · 23/10/2015 15:12

Do you know what you should be eating? Portion sizes etc?

Original poster
northernsoul78 · 23/10/2015 15:13

Just counting calories and stepping up my exercise.

OP posts:
Chippednailvarnish · 23/10/2015 15:15

If you can afford to pay for slimming world / weight watchers yourself why bother taking more resources out of the NHS?

Just because the NHS might provide it in some areas, doesn't mean it's right that people who could afford it use it.

Original poster
northernsoul78 · 23/10/2015 15:18

That's all I really wanted edgar as I have lost weight before but did it using that service but sadly it is no longer available. I have downloaded 12 week plan on NHs site too. Will see what that is like.
Thank you for replies.

OP posts:
Marshy · 23/10/2015 15:19

Slimming world is great op and you can eat lots of nice food so not go hungry. I think the group support is helpful too.

Shame you can't get it from the gp but they often have offers on the joining fee ( look out for magazine coupons) and you can pay weekly or in blocks of 6 or 12 weeks which reduces the cost.

Maybe view it as an investment in your health? You have a great incentive to lose and could certainly make a big dent in that target in the time you have available.

Original poster
northernsoul78 · 23/10/2015 15:20

Personally I don't agree with Slimming world referrals either. Just think its a shame they scrapped the HCA based one.

OP posts:
Mistigri · 23/10/2015 15:21

You're being asked to lose 38lb in 14 weeks, which is about 3.5lb a week and well above what could be considered a healthy rate of weight loss. Losing weight that fast needs to be done under medical supervision really, so YANBU.

I'm not sure that slimming world would be enough to maintain that sort of weight loss tbh - unless you are absolutely huge it's going to require a very low calorie diet (with supplements to ensure adequate intake of vital nutrients) to maintain a 3-4lb a week loss over such a prolonged period.

Mistigri · 23/10/2015 15:22

Sorry, 3lb a week - but even so that's a lot of weight to lose in a short time.

Cheby · 23/10/2015 15:22

I feel for you OP. I've been waiting for a gallstones op for a while in significant pain. Consultant said I needed to lose 2-3st. I had lost 1st 12lbs when I went back to see him. I was thinking hoping that they would list me for the op (12+ week wait from listing anyway) on the basis that I had made significant progress and would easily lose a min of 2lbs by the date of the surgery.

Instead he told me he wanted me to lose another 2-3 stone. Which was frankly extremely disheartening, given that I am in almost daily agony.

As it happens, I saw another surgeon at a different hospital for something else. I mentioned the gallstones situation (this consultant also has a gallstones list). He was really cross that I have been left in pain for so long (and with the various risks of waiting for surgery) and has put me on his own list, with a 6 week wait, immediately. I even had my pre op on the same day.

Might be worth seeing if you can transfer care. Of course weight loss is important and helps surgery but depending on what type of surgery it is you may just have an extremely risk averse surgeon.

Original poster
northernsoul78 · 23/10/2015 15:24

Tbf it is probably about 2lbs a week but that seems hard especially as some weeks it is likely that I won't lose any and with Christmas coming it seems daunting.

OP posts:
SushiAndTheBanshees · 23/10/2015 15:24

YABU

Please take responsibility for yourself so you can take up this opportunity that plenty of people can only dream of. Nobody owes it to you apart from you.

Infuriating.

TurnOffTheTv · 23/10/2015 15:26

It's actually 35lb over 16 weeks which is 2.1 per week which is totally do-able if OP has a lot of weight to lose.

MrsJorahMormont · 23/10/2015 15:29

That's a huge amount of weight to lose in 4 months and I would imagine only one of the VLCD meal replacement things would work, which have to be done under supervision and are no doubt quite expensive.

If you could aim for 2lbs a week it's probably more realistic and they probably just want to see you making a step in the right direction but you could look at transferring to a different surgeon.

I have just started 5:2 and it seems to be diminishing my general appetite. I'm also logging everything in My Fitness Pal and it can help you set calories for a 2lb a week loss.

Runningupthathill82 · 23/10/2015 15:29

YABU. You know this, but the only person who can help you lose weight is you.
Eating less doesn't cost anything, and not does going for a walk or run. There's other help available for free too, such as My Fitness Pal.
You don't need free slimming world membership to lose weight. And if you've lost 10lb on your own already, you obviously know what to do.

MrsJorahMormont · 23/10/2015 15:30

Actually cross posted with Turn but she's right, if you have a lot of weight to lose it probably will come off fast so be encouraged!

pebbletime · 23/10/2015 15:30

OP.
If you were asking for help with stopping smoking or taking drugs you would get a totally different response.
But, fat-bashing is fine, it seems.

Sorry to hear you feel overwhelmed by it.
As Cheby says it can vary hugely by surgeon / GP.

Keep doing what you did to lose the 10lbs and don't let them judge you.x