All this talk about obesity: when was the last time you were weighed by a medical person?

[Finnwood]

I know I must be missing something but ... we're always being told how fat and disgusting we Brits are. How do they know? How often are people weighed in an environment were these statistics will be passed on to the authorities?

The last time I weighed myself was about ten years ago. I don't own any scales and the doctor never does it. Whenever I need to give my weight I just put whatever it was ten years ago. I don't think I have gained or lost weight, not noticeably anyway, but I could be wrong.

The nurse wanted to weigh me at my last but one smear about 4 years ago and I didn't want her to, so she quite cheerfully said that was OK. 1 year ago I assumed she would want to weigh me, and was all prepared to go through with it and to hear officially that I was very overweight, but for some reason she didn't even offer.

My last operation was an ectopic which I don’t think is caused by fatness.

I was lasted weighed for my last smear - bmi 23. So I need a little drop - prefer 21. But I’m certainly not one of the those daft people who say I’m a size 26 but I’m not obese. There is a real problem with society as a whole failing to accept how big people are getting and the real health troubles it causes.

Can't remember so long ago, I did weigh myself in July 2012 as we were travelling and I had lost a lot of weight, but usually rely on my clothes fitting loose or snug.

When I went to my initial midwife appointment and then wasn’t weighed throughout my pregnancy which surprised me. I always just jump on the scales at the GP as I don’t have scales at home but they never ask.

I was on the pill on and off for 15 years, at multiple different GP surgeries, and many different Drs for annual pill checks. Not once was I weighted - is this a routine thing?

See I'm over 50 and didn't get weighed at a recent appointment with the HCA (she took my blood pressure and blood/urine samples)

And I've got an underactive thyroid that they're struggling to get the right amount of medication for, so I've had several appointments over the last few years with nurse and doctor but never been weighed.

I was asked at my last appointment how much I weighed when I requested a repeat prescription fort the pill. I'm sure if I said I didn't know I would have been offered the scales.

Never since becoming an adult apart from once before surgery. I have however been advised to lose a bit of weight on a few different occasions by various doctors.

Last Wednesday and then before that it was March and before then it was October / November time. I'm about to start a tier 3 weight management programme at hospital though so I may be weighed more than most normal weight people.

The weight percentages will have to be determined using a representative sample of people, so it has to include far more people than those who are weighed in various medical settings, and the data has probably been obtained separately, rather than use of existing data, because it would probably be too time consuming to check that the data came from a representative sample, which it wouldn't anyway if it is people who use medical services, who are by definition, not typical.

But yes, like others have said, you only have to look around to see that most people are too fat. And if they aren't, the people you are looking at aren't typical of the UK population as a whole.

I'm often considered to be quite slim and am definitely smaller than many family, friends and colleagues, people I meet etc. Yet I'm 12.5 stone and 5 7, so quite a bit overweight, so an illustration of how skewed our perception of what a healthy weight is.

Then, of course, the other determinant of whether we are overweight or obese, or not, is how tall we are. While we might be asked to step on the scales in the doctor's surgery, (think it may have been about 24 years ago for me) and many of us have accurate bathroom scales at home, the more pertinent question might be when was the last time our height was measured by a medical person.

I don’t have any problem recognising obese people. I have a BMI of 21 so no need to try the patronising “you’re deluded about your weight and everyone else’s” bullshit here please.

I never weigh myself Last time a medical person did was this may at a routine hospital appointment
I’m not overweight she just wrote the numbers down and gave the information to the consultant who didn’t even look at the paper!

Every 6-9 months when I have my contraceptive pill appointment (depends how long they give me at a time). Sometimes more frequently depending on if I have to go for something else

Barbara- sorry in reference to your post- are you saying it seems likely that a representative sample of U.K. residents were contacted to be part of a sample and would’ve consciously participated in supplying the data which formed the sample? This makes more sense to me.

I don’t have any problem recognising obese people. I have a BMI of 21 so no need to try the patronising “you’re deluded about your weight and everyone else’s” bullshit here please

Your own bmi has nothing to do with your natural inability to be able to accurately assess weight and height from just looking at people! Touchy much?
How many people in your office do you think are overweight, and how can you tell the difference between overweight and obese?

I have a horrible feeling that the real figures are even worse than statistics. Even clothes sizes are not a good representation as many people just squeeze into the size they want to be rather than the size they are. I refuse to buy leggings as you can gain weight quickly without noticing.

Quite a few times: during pregnancy; recently during appointments
Anyhow they can get data from the number of patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. If you have this they you are extremely likely to be overweight. Likewise they can gather data from people based on what is being prescribed. That’s how they know we are all overweight!!

Why would you think I have an inability to recognise obesity? What an utterly bizarre assumption

And I can’t tell the difference between overweight and obese by looking at people. I’m assuming anyone visibly overweight is obese. Pretty safe assumption.

About 6 weeks ago. I reached a significant birthday and was called into the GP for aa general health check.

Why would you think I have an inability to recognise obesity? What an utterly bizarre assumption

A bizarre assumption, that you completely agree with?

And I can’t tell the difference between overweight and obese by looking at people. I’m assuming anyone visibly overweight is obese

How very dare I assume you can't tell who is obese, when you say you can't tell if someone is obese!!

I was never weighed during my pregnancy.

I have never had a GA

I have never been on the pill

Don't have smear tests

Don't have regular medication.

Been to the doctors but I doubt they are that interested. They don't seem to be that bothered about most things.

I am sure they would be all over me like a rash if there was money involved

glint

This appears to be the source of the UK data:

healthsurvey.hscic.gov.uk/support-guidance/public-health/health-survey-for-england-2016/introduction.aspx

'In 2016 interviews were conducted with 8,011 adults aged 16 and over, and 2,056 children aged 0 to 15'

The people surveyed would have had to have been representative of the UK population, by age, socioeconomic group, sex, race and probably other factors or else the results wouldn't be anywhere near accurate.

So you can't survey young well off gym goers, where you'd find very few overweight people, just as likely as you can't do your survey at the GPs because the people there disproportionally have health conditions that are likely to make them overweight (or are older so more likely to be overweight).