To expect fat nurses to have some insight?.

[Vikingess]

Just had a routine health check today at my GP surgery. Two nurses - both considerably overweight - dispensing advice on diet. I
am not overweight -AIBU to expect health professionals to demonstrate the the standards they recommended or at least admit to falling short.

Dieting is just a word. But manipulating your body to be smaller by any means of restriction is dieting. If you watch the video, she explains it.

They need Alevels to do a degree. It's not like the old days when 3 Olevels or gcses equivalent were enough to get them onto a basic nursing course. Now it's a uni course so I don't think we can say they are academically inferior

I do however think there is a lot of obesity when you go into any healthcare environment. More so than other working environments.

I have regular checks as I am diabetic.

I have to guiltily admit one of the first things I check is how fat the nurse is, I kind of feel sorry for them as there is probably a lot of judgement going their way. It is also not easy giving out advice as they have to deal with so many different people from the utterly clueless to those who have read everything under the sun, tried hard to lose weight and failed. I have tried hard and lost some, enough to put diabetes in remission but still wish to lose more. When I see nurses at check ups it is more just like a general chat about how things are going, with all respect there is not a whole lot more they can tell me after years of these things

'But manipulating your body to be smaller by any means of restriction is dieting'
Well I disagree. Re-educatimg yourself to eat less and that feeling hungry occasionally is normal and ok is not a bad thing.

You can disagree all you want. Doesn’t make you right. The neuroscientist with the PhD explains the science behind it all in the video I linked.

You assume all fat people just stuff their faces all day and never say no to a piece of chocolate cake.

As part of recovery for my ED, I learned to eat intuitively. I eat when I’m physically hungry and stop when I’m satisifed (not full as that makes me feel ill). I hardly snack. I eat fruit and veg and a wide variety of other whole foods. As well as some processed things. I have privilege to be able to afford to do that. Not everyone does which is also a good thing to remember. I usually have breakfast around 9, lunch around 1 and then tea around 7/8. Occasionally I’ll have something in between but not often. THIS is healthy for me. Healthier than going back to my ED but that’s not good enough for you fat bashers is it?

I agree. Although your divorce was a situational stressor. This post is about nurses who are potentially under moderate stress continuously, particularly if their shift patterns include nightshifts.

But the OP wasn't asking for diet / weight loss advice either.

Maybe I should quit my job because I sell mens watches and cannot demonstrate the recommended standard of having a penis.

Eh?

'You assume all fat people just stuff their faces all day and never say no to a piece of chocolate cake.'

I haven't spoken disrespectfully about fat people at all. I said I used to stuff my face for years then at peri when weight creeps up realised something had to change. I mentioned cake to illustrate controlling your consumption is not 'dieting' no matter who on YouTube says otherwise.

I never see any overweight people just saying 'yeah I eat a lot because I like it'. It's always medication, stress, life problems, other people. That is just life in general and strategies need to be developed to control ourselves before 90% of the population has type 2/lifestyle induced diabetes.

Nursing (and health care in general, esp in hospital settings) are just areas that really ruin your healthy eating and exercise plans.
You wind up doing 12-13hr shifts, rushed off your feet and get a break if your lucky but often you just chuck anything in your gob.
Work is the only place I actually put sugar in my coffee and thats because Im fueling my nightshifts with caffeine and sugar to get me through!
It stresses you out, messes with your system and alot of nurses work extra shifts to make ends meet so are too shattered to exercise on rare days off.

I figure that makes them extremely well qualified to advise you on weight loss and health as they really know all the stumbling blocks and the chubby ones arent going to judge you too harshly if you are struggling to lose weight!

They're nurses, not saints. They wouldn't be doing their job if they didn't give you the correct advice. Unfortunately, there isn't really a way for HCPs to advise people to lose weight without sounding patronising, but it needs to be done.

At high school, my Home Economics teacher was obese. Admittedly, it was a bit ridiculous to hear her advise us all on the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. But that didn't mean that what she was saying was untrue, even if she wasn't the ideal messenger. (Come to think of it, she gave us leaflets about weight loss - the title was "It must have shrunk in the wash!" This was the early 2000s. I don't think that would go over well nowadays!)

YABVVU
Health care staff are there to treat and advise their patients. Their own weight/health is none of the patient's concern.

Also, I can guarantee that those fat nurses will be getting given advice about their weight when they have their own appointments.

Did you fat shame them while you were there or just come online to do it?

But didn't they fat shame her, for no reason?

She's said in her posts that she was polite and thanked them, but I can understand why she would find this a bit galling in the circumstances.

It's an extension of a preposterous position.
Saying overweight people cannot dispense healthy eating advice because they are overweight is like saying that male GPs cannot dispense menopause advice because they don't have a uterus, or in my case, I shouldn't give advice to men about their accessories because I am not male.

Any form of restriction with the intention of losing weight IS dieting. And as I said, the ‘who’ on YT is a neuroscientist with, presumably, more expertise than you. But if you can match her expertise, I’d potentially listen to you.

There are actually plenty of people who say they eat a lot because they like food - you just need to read yesterday’s fat bashing thread to find it.

And even IF people say it’s stress, medication, life problems, why can you not believe that that is true for the majority of people? Maybe there does need to be other solutions so that people don’t use food to cope. Or so that people can have time, money and access to cook from scratch with nutritious ingredients, but until those solutions are in place it is what it is.

Question - what do you fat bashers actually want from us? Does it make you feel good to continually put people down when you have no idea of an individual’s circumstances? And people wonder why fat people feel like shit and are depressed or turn to food for comfort.

Nurses and other medical staff are humans. They have the same reasons that why some of us are overweight or obese.

Some of you think they should have special bodies which makes them burn fat etc.

Look, I can give all the right advice on how to lose weight, what to eat etc. I just can't do it myself. It doesn't mean I couldn't offer guidance to other people - trust me, I know it ALL. I just don't have the willpower to do it myself.

No wonder all my colleagues are leaving the NHS.
Not only do we have to endure shite wages and conditions but we also have to be slim too.
Last night, on a 12 hour night shift in hugely busy A and E,my colleague was told to hurry up as " we pay your wages."
Well if you cannot wait your turn after a cardiac arrest and stroke, then take your stubbed toe to a private a and e clinic...except there isn't one.
I'm not excusing poor service in A and E but as an AHP, I am damn well going to demolish a large slice of birthday cake before my next shift tonight.

I was asking if she fat shamed the nurses there and then and if she did not why does she think it is any more acceptable to come here to fat shame then? Sorry you misunderstood.

Have you ever considered that no one )or nearly no one) is fat through choice. That the amount of bullying/shaming/discrimination that people who are overweight face means that it would be a very unlikely life choice.

Yes you are fat shaming. You are inferring that you are somehow superior because you cut down on cake at perimenopause. Great you could do this and it limited your weight. You should consider yourself lucky.

what you seem incapable of doing is considering that not everyone is as lucky as you. Am your position is, make no mistake, down to sheer luck. You no doubt would argue it’s because you had will power and worked at it. But the fact you were in a position to do that when many aren’t is sheer pure luck.

Maybe spend some time educating yourself about the relevant issues and then practice some gratitude about your good fortune. Chances are those people who you are silently scoffing at would also be thin if they had your exact circumstances.

I suffer from ptsd. Now I have been extremely lucky in my make up, physically, mentally and spiritually, in my background, my support network and my finances that I have been able to deal with it to an extent where it doesn’t really affect my life any more on a day to day basis.

someone else might not be in a position to do that. They might not be able to pay for the right treatment. They might lack the mental capacity to trawl through multiple studies looking for the best treatment etc etc. I don’t look down on them because they aren’t as lucky as I am, I’m grateful for my luck and desperately feel for those who haven’t been as lucky knowing they need all of those things themselves to be able to sort out the issue.

And I'm equally sorry you didn't answer the question about why they fat shamed her - in real life!

Just pretend to have one- apparently it’s fine!

How do you know they fat shamed her?