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.

MN really does hate any woman that weighs over 7 stone and isn't a size 0

Wow that's a bit rude.
Plenty of nurses with weight struggles because they are continuously over worked and can only grab vending machine snacks to see them through a long shift of helping everyone else.

I had a very overweight doctor for many years who was overweight. Didn't prevent him being very insightful and doing a brilliant job for his patients. The fat midwife helping me in labour was also an absolute godsend and clearly very good at her job

When I trained, there were upper and lower weight limits for entry, based on the sound principle that a nurse has to be healthy to do the job, and that you were hardly going to be credible giving dietary advice if you were under/overweight.
So yes, when i observed a very obese nurse wheel herself on an office chair from her desk to the filing cabinet a meter away, i judged

I'm a nurse and used to smoke 20 a day, binge drink, and do party drugs. I still had to do my job and promote the government policy on all of those aspects to my patients. I don't do any of those things now, but I am overweight and still promote the same government policies. I think you have a problem with how public health and health education is delivered. You're correct it is quite ineffective, but, like teachers, we are bound by what the government tells us to do.

So they can ask questions about lifestyle. Isn’t that what normally happens? Then they can establish quite quickly that you exercise, don’t drink much, eat healthily and you don’t need their advice?

If l was working in the NhS atm l’d probably be comfort eating.

Be grateful someone was there to give you advice. Health fascism at its finest.

Many in health care work such long hours and deal with such stress that they often have unhealthy coping mechanisms.

It's a case of do as I say not as I do

My hairdresser is bald. Not sure most of them cut their own hair anyway 😁

How ironic that people who sneer at and judge ‘fat’ people reveal their own, much worse, ugliness.

They are doing their jobs, are overworked and underpaid. The last thing they need is another obnoxious patient!

You could have just taken the info and nodded along no need for a thread on mn on how you think it's hypocritical.

I think if you’re clued up on nutrition, exercise and healthy eating you don’t need dietary advice from the NHS. Are they still advising people to eat ultra processed margarine versus butter?

I guess some people are not educated on this though and need the advice.

So many Mumsnetters are obsessed with the weight and body size of other women. It's so weird.

So by this logic if you go to see a marriage counsellor I assume you will be checking to make sure they are in a happy marriage as someone who is widowed, single or cohabiting wouldn’t be capable of doing their job.

When I trained, there were upper and lower weight limits for entry, based on the sound principle that a nurse has to be healthy to do the job, and that you were hardly going to be credible giving dietary advice if you were under/overweight.

The majority of the overweight nurses I knew were slim or “average” build before joining nursing so that policy wouldn’t have prevented any of them from joining.

End of the day they’re nurses giving some basic nutritional advice which is probably written on a leaflet /website and will be the same advice given by a nurse of any size 🤦
It’s not as if they are giving you their own personal tips they’ve written down lol (and even then I wouldn’t necessarily write someone off due to their weight).

I take some of the NHS health advice with a pinch of salt for my own reasons (eg BMI is not fit for purpose IMO and they don’t stress the important of additional vit D for certain communities etc ) but it’s got zero to do with the size of the medical professional giving me that advice.

And again an overweight nurse may have lost weight before and be still in the process of doing so. You don’t know what their current eating habits are just from looking at them.

Standard advice is

1. Don't smoke
2. Don't drink excessive alcohol
3. Take regular exercise
4. Eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetable and not too much red or processed meat
5. Maintain a healthy body weight.

4/5 here. I acknowledge many of us aren't perfect

Previous comments would contradict you.
Apparently anyone overweight on MN is ill, they can't just be overeating although the NHS cites that as the greatest cause of obesity.

I think the UK is becoming a fat nation through bad eating habits and health professionals often have to eat when there's time which makes for bad dietary choices.

We all need to insist on a relaxed meal time daily as in France. Fresh food, a decent break to eat in and cut out upf's and snacking.

YABU. We're all human. They are trained to a high degree but that doesn't stop them falling in the same traps that many of us do. Good luck on a skinny nurse recruitment

No, you don't know why they are overweight. Could be a health issue but that doesn't stop them from knowing about a healthy diet, so can of course advice you on that.

YABU. Health has more to do with behaviours than body size. An overweight person who walks every day and has an overall healthy diet is likely to have better health markers than a skinny person who never exercises and eats loads of junk. There are many reasons why people have bigger bodies and you shouldnt make snap judgements and assume they don't know what they're talking about.

When I trained, there were upper and lower weight limits for entry, based on the sound principle that a nurse has to be healthy to do the job, and that you were hardly going to be credible giving dietary advice if you were under/overweight.

Ah yes let’s return to the days when a woman’s competence was directly related to her physical appearance.

Seriously though! I really don’t understand how the OP expects them to ‘admit’ anything. How else would they start the sentence😂

Such defensiveness.

my friend is …a larger lady. She is always complaining that every time she sees a doctor they go on about her weight. “Everything is always attributed to my weight”

I mean she is a size 28 and 5’2. It is quite feasible this is actually damaging her health. But rather than listen to the advice and actually taking some action, she just shuts it all down and pretends it’s some kind of mad conspiracy.

Ahaha god my BED is loving this.
Sorry I’m fat, hope I’m skilled enough to care for dying loved ones with more kindness and dignity than you grace us with. Christ.

Here we go again…not even a day has passed since the last fat bashing thread.

I never cease to be amazed at the way women judge each other.