To think a doctor telling you that you need to lose weight isn't "fat shaming?"

[FrankieDoyle]

Genuinely interested in opinions.
I follow a plus size Instagram blogger/influencer who normally posts about fashion, inspirational quotes etc.

Today she posted about a trip to hospital that she had. The doctors there were apparently unhelpful and told her that they couldn't operate on her because, amongst other reasons, her weight. They told her she would need to lose weight before they could consider it.
I think she's about a size 26-28, from her posts about her wardrobe where she's mentioned the size she wears.

So she posted a video stating that she was sick of being fat shamed, something needs to change, and the doctors don't take her seriously etc.

It got me thinking that actually I disagree with her viewpoint that it's "fat shaming" to inform a patient that they need to lose weight? The doctors have to check that it's safe to perform an operation on someone don't they?

I say this as an overweight person myself (currently a size 20 but following a diet plan and trying to lose weight. )

Maybe I'm wrong I don't know, but it seems unfair to criticise doctors on a public platform with thousands of followers, simply for doing their job.

I understand some doctors can be patronising or seem to focus on a person's weight, and that can't be a nice experience. But I really disagree that it's "fat shaming" actually I quite dislike the phrase being used to criticise these medical professionals.

have you not heard the stories of overweight people being more at risk from dying than those with a healthy BMI?

I thought we were all due to die at some point, if being a healthy BMI means you don’t need to, maybe I should take more notice then

@SoreusBacchus I get that, I really do. I have friends in the profession who are open and honest with me, and I have seen the effect on their mental health when they have suffered difficult losses. But the same people who refused me the surgery I need to be out of pain, would apparently happily refer me to have bariatric surgery, which would require me to be under anaesthetic for far longer and would be a much more complex and involved operation.

At the end of the day, I am a person. My pain is no less valid or worthy of being treated because of my weight. If they treated my pain, they would also be treating my mental health and I would probably lose weight because I was happier and pain free, and I would be able to go out and exercise! I used to dance 5 nights a week! Some days now, I struggle to spend more than 10 minutes standing at a time. If I had bariatric surgery, I still have the risks of the operation, and it's a much bigger operation with a much bigger wound site to heal, and my pain wouldn't be treated or changed at all. So I would then require a second operation, with all those associated risks, to treat that, along with all the medication and intervention required for my mental health as well.

As I said, I see both sides. I'm obviously biased against it because chronic pain is hugely life limiting and knowing people are out there who CAN treat it for me but refuse to, is devastating.

Right now, when the NHS is on it's knees, when essential, urgent life saving treatment has had to be postponed and lives have been lost because of it, those people who can be treated safely, quickly and effectively must be prioritised, I agree.

On the subject of this thread, I don't think the person the OP referenced was being 'fat shamed'. But having experienced decades of going into the doctors for unrelated ailments and being told I just need to lose weight (chronic tonsillitis for example and an infected insect bite!), I can understand how someone in her position was anxious and defensive before they went into the appointment and any mention of her weight was therefore taken badly.

For the people who think losing weight is as simple as understanding that you need to eat less and move more, there are some excellent documentaries on how weight is treated in healthcare situations, and particularly 'Obesity: How prejudiced is the NHS' from 2017. Again, I dont think the situation in the OP was fat shaming but there is a lot of fat shaming going on in the world (and on this thread - people who are overweight are not stupid, they know they are eating more than they need to - it is the reasons and reactions to this which make losing weight so hard and fund the multimillion pound diet industry even though evidence shows people who diet end up heavier on average. So reducing the issue to that statement is really insulting).

I am fat ..size 22/24 and I would not consider a dr telling me I'm fat to be fat shaming. But hey ho it's getting her followers talking.

The doctor should complain about FACT SHAMING from the silly bint.

@SoreusBacchus

It still confuses me how they'll recognise anorexia as an ED caused by poor MH but will not recognise use that overeating is the same - just an opposite effect

You must be very confused indeed because fat does not equal the opposite of anorexic. Most people who are overweight do not have any kind of eating disorder and its not usually caused by poor mental health.
Most people are fat because they eat and drink a bit too much and don't take enough exercise. It really is as simple as that for the majority.

I wish people would stop pathologising everything, its so unhelpful. To pretend that 65% of UK adults have an eating disorder caused by mental health issues is astoundingly silly.

You might think it is “astounding silly” but professionals who have investigated this have overwhelmingly found a strong correlation between poor mental health and obesity.

I’ll concentrate on the link between trauma esp those that have caused c-ptsd and ptsd. As that’s the area I know best. As I mentioned upthread research into the background of the patients at a Californian obesity clinic found a large portion of the patients had suffered child abuse, a survey of nearly 20,000 people who had suffered trauma found a very much above average incidence of obesity (as well as various addictions)

Stephen Porges in his polyvagal theory talks a lot about the act of eating being used to stimulate certain facial muscles to bring people out of fight or flight. It’s a calming, self soothing action.

Other reports indicate that some people use weight as a way to protect themselves from perceived threats.

Dissociation is extremely common amongst people with ptsd/c-ptsd which obviously feeds into how the body is treated.

Unfortunately ptsd and c-ptsd are extremely common.

I suffered from anorexia 25 years ago and using food as a means to control my world when everything seemed out of control seems very similar to the situations described above.

Obviously not every obese person has mental health issues, just like everyone who is underweight is not annorexic. In both cases it can be caused by genetics, medical conditions, hormones, etc as well as chronic under and overeating. Poverty plays a major part in both.

It’s not giving an excuse to not be a healthy weight to point out the multifaceted reasons behind unhealthy body weight but to solve the problem the true causes of these things need to be addressed rather than sticking a sliming world endorsed plaster over it.

To think obesity it caused by a persons greed, laziness and stupidity is both stupid and lazy.

You might think it is “astounding silly” but professionals who have investigated this have overwhelmingly found a strong correlation between poor mental health and obesity

In some people, absolutely. In everyone who is fat, absolutely not, and your comparisons have moved on from astoundingly silly to borderline offensive.

@SoreusBacchus

You might think it is “astounding silly” but professionals who have investigated this have overwhelmingly found a strong correlation between poor mental health and obesity

In some people, absolutely. In everyone who is fat, absolutely not, and your comparisons have moved on from astoundingly silly to borderline offensive.

How so? Why are they boarderline offensive? And I quite clearly say this isn’t everyone and that there are many reasons why people are overweight, I really don’t know why you are taking such offence over something clearly backed up by well respected research.

Any operative procedure comes with risks no matter what size you are.
Being overweight comes with even higher risks of complications such as:
Infection
Haemorrhage
Deep venous thrombosis
Death
Being so morbidly obese is an anaesthetic risk in itself.
The medics are duty bound to point this out. It's giving the client informed consent so that she understands the risks she is taking due to her BMI.
No doubt if they said nothing to her and it resulted in any of the above complications she would be suing them.

ateluvscats

Flatdisco
It's not actually proven weight has a negative impact on health but doctors have been taught this is true and have no reason to learn off their own backs so keep spouting this as truth.“

Nonsense. My best friend lost 4 stone through sensible diet and regular exercise in her mid 50s. She is no longer a type 2 diabetic after years on metformin, her blood pressure is now ideal after being high for at least a decade, she no longer has to spend days lying flat with back pain and she feels looks years younger.
My own husband has been obese then morbidly obese for over 3 decades. He bought an exercise bike during the last lockdown, he is now cycling for an hour and a half every day and already his 3 monthly blood results (life threatening kidney condition) are showing impressive improvements, his nephrologist is delighted.

If you continue to believe what you said you are doing yourself a serious disservice.