Do some doctors just get a kick out of telling you to lose weight?

[Crawdle]

Saw my gp for the first time in years. He commented that I looked very well (told him I have lost 30 pounds with about a stone until I am in the normal bmi range).

Anyway, as we were talking about how to treat the issue I went in for he was looking at his computer when he said “okay and then we really do need to get your weight under control to bring you into the healthy BMi range, it will be extremely beneficial”

Like okay?? I told the gp I’m on track to be in the healthy range by my birthday (end of summer). We even discussed my plans to go on a special trip to watch a sporting event for a few mins!

He said all this whilst his gut (MUCH larger than mine) was pressed against the desk.

AIBU to find this very annoying?!

He just took on a very serious tone when he said it. No “you’re getting there blah blah”

It's their job to give you health advice! It's not your job to judge their body.

The obesity crisis has many factors. Main reason is people not eating healthy food. You eat crap and get fat it’s not that complicated. Education around food is also a factor but that doesn’t have anything to do with poverty. That would be like staying all poor people are uneducated which they are not. Plenty of resources out there you can access about how to eat healthy food, surely we are all taught this in school?

@Crawdle, having not seen you for so long, of course your GP is going to state the obvious. You also say he had a serious tone - being overweight is potentially serious; he's doing his job.

That's quite some projection on your part to imagine he's having laugh at your expense.

His gut is none of your business.

The gp could have said something along lines of - " part of the advice for this condition is to lose weight, but as we have already discussed you have already done well losing weight and are aiming to get in to the healthy bmi range in good time. Obviously there are ways we can support you to lose weight so please let us know if you have any concerns or would like to access support." And the op would likely feel heard and pleased that there is support if she wanted it.

Well that may be your experience but it’s not universal. Has every HCP you’ve seen really nagged you about your weight? Because you may indeed need to do something about it, as that seems excessive. The PP does not have to do anything, you can look at research yourself if you’re so bothered about it. Again I never said nagging. But who are all these people you are seeing that are nagging you? I find it hard to believe you were “nagged” about your weight if you had a verruca or an appointment for hearing loss. HCP of course need to have empathy when dealing with patients but they also need to do their job. What’s the alternative? Never discuss weight when it’s something that is affecting their health?

HCP of course need to have empathy when dealing with patients but they also need to do their job.
But they are not doing their job. The obesity crisis is getting worse, not better, despite people claiming that all this 'nudging' works.

Lol that's down to the individuals who aren't taking responsibility for their own bodies and that of their overweight children.

It doesn't mean HCPs aren't doing their jobs! 😁

I'm a GP. Part of our job is health promotion. I tell people they need to lose weight all the time but acknowledge it's difficult and that I'm carrying more weight than I shd be too, so I understand it's not the easiest thing to do.

I'm sure doctors get a kick out of patients responding positively to good advice and taking action to make themselves healthier.

I have a medical coming up next week (every 2 years) it's not with my Gp it's with an accredited Dr. He dose have a sense of humour and told me last time you need to grow a bit or lose some weight, replied that's a bit pot and kettle, I'm not the one here for the medical!!! Fair one.......

See gp soon after for different issue who said concentrate on changing shape and the weight will drop easier than concentrating on scales.

I'd rather they spent the (very short) appointment actually discussing the condition, making suggestions, giving advice, etc., rather than quick-firing questions that, if required, I could easily have answered via an online questionnaire (or even paper questionnaire in the waiting room) before the appointment. I object to spending most of the short appointment answering the same questions meaning there's little, if any, time left over to actually discuss anything useful!

Thing is that for five years, my HBA1C was increasing and it wasn't picked up. I trotted along every year for the blood test and inquisition appointment (of course, no appointment during the covid years!). Never heard anything back afterwards. Just assumed bloods were fine, as they had been for years. I "assumed" someone from the GP would contact me if there was a problem with the HBA1C results.

About a year ago, I went to see the GP for a different matter and just casually asked about the HBA1C to check it was still OK. He read out the readings of the last 5 years and each year was above my target range and getting higher. I asked him why no one had picked it up and he couldn't give me an answer. Just kept saying he'd get "someone" to contact me about it!

That started a train of events where there was a perceived urgency to deal with it! Starting with a phone call from a "diabetic nurse" who I'd never seen before, increasing a tablet, then another blood test a few months later, resulting in a phone call from a different "diabetic nurse" increasing another tablet, and then another blood test and another different "diabetic nurse" issuing a different tablet. No "lifestyle" advice. Eventually they stopped ringing and arranging new blood tests, so I assume the bloods are now within targets again. I did try to make a phone appointment with a diabetic nurse to find out, but told by the receptionist that they have no diabetic nurses anymore!

At the last annual blood test, back to the old ways again - lots of the same questions, blood test taken, but radio silence ever since. The GP surgery don't put the results on the NHS app. So I phoned up a few weeks later to ask the receptionist for the results - she'd only tell me the GP had marked them "satisfactory" like the previous five years had been marked that way, and she claimed she "couldn't" give me the actual reading!

I really don't think that's "great" or "correct" at all!

We get random texts from the surgery.

How to stop smoking, how to lose weight etc. they're not personalised.

The pharmacy next door offers the same advise.

@Badbadbunny you can try writing to the practise manager and asking for the actual results.

I dd that in pg all hell broke loose as it turned out MW had just outright lied to me - Dmum ended up doing the same for Dad as he was going for tests and hearing nothing back - wrote to practise maanger turned out the reception staff were filing results and no GP was seeing them - prompted a change in procudures at their GP.

Weirdly my GPs have never mentioned my weight, even though I was 17st, until I was prediabetic.
TBH I would of been more then happy for them to tell me I was too fat before that point! As it was I was already on a diet and successfully losing all the weight by then so the diabetic nurse just sat me down and told me to do a bunch of stuff that was actually less then I was doing already!

Health professionals should be mentioning it....so many conditions can be avoided or lessened with weight loss.

Tbh like a previous poster they have never commented on my weight but they do ask what exercise you do.

How should they do their jobs then? If all this “nagging” isn’t working what do you think they should be doing? Why can’t fat people stop blaming everyone else for their problems.

@Crawdle I recommend responding with 'what about you, fatty, how are we going to tackle your weight' to shut him up. He sounds tone deaf.

HBA1C levels can increase but not mean anything. We all have a target range so anything higher than that then yes it should be picked up. If it’s increasing but under the target range then it’s not usually an issue however they should have told you. Do you have any other health conditions to be getting blood tests annually?

The chubby one might eat the healthiest but is likely consuming more calories that the skinny one. You could eat lots of salad which is healthy but if you’re eating an excessive amount you will still put on weight. Agree not all slim people know how to eat healthy. But they will be eating fewer calories regardless.

Why would you say that? The doctor is literally doing their job. The doctor’s weight has no bearing on the Op. They are still doing their job if they are fat or skinny. You’re the tone deaf one

Agreed.

It's a vile way to speak to anyone, let alone someone whose job it is to help keep you alive and healthy.

I have asked what to they want HCP to do in this situation and no one has suggested anything. Whatever they do people will complain either way. If they mention the patients weight they get pissy if they don’t they’ll probably accuse them of neglect. Stop being so sensitive.

Sometimes they just don’t listen
i was being wheeled down for an operation, first time and obviously nervous/distressed
One of the staff took it upon themselves to lecture how my condition was worsened by smoking, it was only ever smokers who had it, basically it was all my fault

i did snap, that I was diagnosed age 12, my mum also had this condition as a non smoker, and I quit smoking a year ago and it got so bad AFTER quitting that I needed my first operation for it

Absolutely not the case. My slim, and has
alwwys been slim or skinny, child eats an enormous amount of calories per day. My slightly chubby child does not. My slim child is also the one drinking all the fizzy drinks.