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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

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

126 replies

Finnwood · 12/09/2018 12:36

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?

OP posts:

glintandglide · 12/09/2018 14:44

Winter you are being incredibly patronising and seem to have a really weird chip on your shoulder.

You’re accusing people on this thread of being too stupid to identify obesity, with no basis.

Whilst i might make the mistake of putting someone with a BMI of 28 in the obese range, you seem to be indicating that most of us walk around seeing people with BMIs of greater than 30 and dismissing them as a big chubby. And you have no basis for that at all.

ARiverInEgypt · 12/09/2018 14:44

I got weighed for my over-40s health check, which will have caught a large and more or less representative sample of the age group.
A very large share of women between 18 and 40 will be on hormonal contraception and be weighed at each new prescription.
I also submit my height and weight every 5 years to the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Generations study which includes over 100,000 women linked only by a motivation to help with breast cancer research.
And of course there’s a bunch of data on pg women’s weight.

I’m not sure how they get data for men between 20 and 40 though. Army recruits is one traditional source.

OftenHangry · 12/09/2018 14:46

@Oliversmumsarmy hold up.
Why no smear test? It's a life saver

glintandglide · 12/09/2018 14:46

Oh and winter you also managed to link to completely incorrect links as evidence so well done there, smart arse.

Thanks Barbara that makes sense

piscis · 12/09/2018 14:46

the medical profession seem to go by BMI which I personally don't agree with

If you are a bodybuilder or go to the gym a lot and are really muscly, then BMI is not accurate. But if this is not the case, saying that one doesn't agree with BMI is an excuse for people who don't want to see they are overweight imo

allmycats · 12/09/2018 14:47

A bit off course but I am always slightly taken aback by how many medical professionals are very large. I am 5 foot 2" and a size 10 so neither thin nor fat but I got a right bollocking at my last annual medical for weight 8 stone 7lbs. - The doctor was about 5 foot 8" and at least
15 stone !!

ARiverInEgypt · 12/09/2018 14:47

X-posted with Barbara’s survey link.

piscis · 12/09/2018 14:52

I was never weighted during my pregnancy, which was a surprise.
Only in my initial appointment with the midwife I was asked my weight (which I knew), but they didn't check it themselves.
I was not weighted in any of my appointments after the initial one....

pennycarbonara · 12/09/2018 14:52

BMI which I personally don't agree with

Actually, for women the brackets for obesity may be placed too high in the BMI scale, where obesity is considered by body fat percentage, which appears to be a better measure of health risks. False negatives are more likely for women, false positives for men: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0033308
(another mumsnetter posted this study in an old thread)

It would be better if body fat percentage were used generally as a measure, but the difficulty of doing so routinely with current technology (calipers are more time consuming and intrusive, electronic scales not very accurate, scans very expensive and even more time consuming) means that doctors aren't using it.

pennycarbonara · 12/09/2018 14:57

There are a lot of studies about people's perceptions of what overweight and obesity are, though I don't seem to have those bookmarked and don't have time to find them just now.

It stands to reason that in an environment where it is statistically normal to be overweight, people will start to perceive that as a normal (healthy) weight.

glintandglide · 12/09/2018 15:01

That’s nice but don’t assume individuals are statistics pennycarbonara. I can assure you I have no problem identifying a normal weight.

Oliversmumsarmy · 12/09/2018 15:01

OftenHangary I am too old and never was weighed when I did

BarbaraofSevillle · 12/09/2018 15:08

Agree that ideally body fat percentage would be used as a measure of a healthy weight. Waist to height ratio is another good one. Also that BMI may be unnecessarily conservative for men due to usually having a higher muscle mass and lower body fat.

A 12 stone man is less likely to have too much body fat than a 12 stone woman of the same height.

But weight is easier to measure, so it's what we have.

Dbrook · 12/09/2018 15:08

I was weighed at the doctors for the first time about 6 weeks ago during a fertility appointment. Turns out I’m about 10 pounds overweight and my doctor said that could be a reason I’m struggling to conceive. It was a huge wake up call and I was shocked even 10 pounds could affect my health that much. I’d always been pretty slim up until fairly recently but the weight crept on slowly over the past few years as I haven’t been going to the gym as often. Obviously doing my best to lose it now!

AllDayBreakfast · 12/09/2018 15:10

I think there's no question that we're far too fat as a nation. However, they have collected the data, they've arrived at the correct conclusion.

arranfan · 12/09/2018 15:11

I have clinically low levels of muscle mass (aka sarcopenia) following an injury. When I got the results of the scan, the HCP gave me all of the standard advice for sarcopenic obesity.

At the time, my BMI was just at the borderline of being underweight at BMI 18.5. (We had established that because she'd measured my weight and height before the scan as part of the data necessary for the calculations.) My body fat level is 20%.

So, I simultaneously got advice for obesity and told to be aware that my low body weight range put me at greater risk for frailty fractures and osteoporosis.

actualpuffins · 12/09/2018 15:13

I was briefly in the obese range for BMI, (back to just merely "overweight" now). My body fat percentage was normal for a woman my age or only borderline unhealthy though even in the obese range for BMI, so I guess I have higher than average amount of muscle. Also my blood pressure was still normal and I have a low resting heart rate.

actualpuffins · 12/09/2018 15:19

I also meant to say I get weighed at least once a year in my pill check. Ended up getting weighed twice in a month earlier this years when I had my over 40s health check then a smear test. The doctor doing the health check could see my earlier weight records and was pleased that it was on a downward trajectory even though my BMI was 26.5. My heart age is a year younger than my actual age, and being normal BMI doesn't make it go down any further (when I played with the heart age calculator). Cholesterol level was very good.

Then when I went for the smear test I realised I hadn't had one for four years, but my weight was pleasingly 5kg lower than 4 years ago, so the nurse was very pleased with me too!

ratspeaker · 12/09/2018 15:28

Im currently on a nhs weight management programme.
I've lost over 13 kg and now get weighed every 4 weeks (in a group meeting but its never disclosed if someone has lost or gained)

ratspeaker · 12/09/2018 15:30

I mean its never disclosed to the rest of the group if someone has gained or lost.
I have a booklet with dates and weights and a rather satisfying downward heading graph

Sallystyle · 12/09/2018 15:45

The last time I was weighed by a HCP was in pregnancy 10 years ago iirc.

CoughingForWeeks · 12/09/2018 15:47

I've only been weighed at my GP once in the last nine years - last year when I went in for something else. I've lost a lot of weight since then though so I'm hoping to have to go in for something relatively minor at some point just so I can ask them to update my file

eniledam · 12/09/2018 15:52

I got weighed 3 months ago at my pill check-up. The doctor said "Right, I just need you to step on the scales so I know you're not obese." I'm 5"6, and I weigh 10st!! You can tell by looking at me that I'm not obese

OhMyGodTheyKilledKenny · 12/09/2018 15:53

I was weighed a couple of years ago when I went about a load of symptoms that were pointing towards the menopause, one of those being putting on weight.

She weighed me and looked back on my records to the last time I'd been weighed (no idea why on that occasion) which happened to be about 5 years before and interestingly I'd not put on as much weight as I'd thought (about 5kg)

EleanorAbernathy · 12/09/2018 16:04

I've been weighed loads lately! Had an MRI scan and they have to put your weight into the machine before it starts. I'm starting new medication and they work out the dose by your weight so got weighed then. I was asked my weight when I was admitted to hospital recently but they didn't actually weigh me - and I'm at the GP for a pill check tomorrow so they'll probably weigh me then too! (BMI is 21.5 - I only know this because they keep weighing me! )

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