to think this GP is a total idiot!!!

[ButterflEi]

hello

so i went to see one of the GPs in my practice today as i am wanting to take control of my weight issues and was looking for advice.

the GP asked me general questions about lifestyle etc and what i eat on an average day which i answered thinking to myself that finally i was going to get somewhere (i have struggled with my weight since i was about 15, im now 27). he said he would refer me to a dietician but that could take a matter of months for that referral to materialise.

the conversation went as follows:

me: so can you help with what i should do in the meantime??
idiot GP: i would sggest restricting your diet as much as possible
me: ok...meaning what??
GP: dont eat
me: huh? you mean eat less??
GP: no dont eat
me: dont eat??
GP: yes dont eat. excercise and dont eat.
me: is that not called ANOREXIA??
GP: no it is a medically sanctioned diet plan
me: no it is called anorexia...thanks for nowt.

i then stormed out in a bit of a huff and went home. i have since called the surgery and made another appointment with a different (nice lady) doctor for later today!!

i just wondered if IABU to think that doctor is a complete incompetent arse or is my fat addling my brain??

Moondog you are so right
I am a bit of a lard arse myself by the way. I know EXACTLY why this is the case.

paolosgirl thanks for being so supportive
hambo i realise that he may have been less able to offer any on the spot advice but sanctioning starvation as a weightloss plan is definitely NOT something that would be taught to any doctor at medical school!! i would have maybe have been less than satisfied with a handful of leaflets but at least it would have been good sound advice in my hands rather than what was shoved at me ie. stop eating altogether or you will always be fat!! NOT good advice in mine- or many other sensible peoples opinion!!

ButterE - am going to bed now, but good luck with your weight loss, and remember, not all GP's are like that. I meet a lot in my line of work, and most of them would be helpful, supportive and only too willing to advise you on how to help yourself. Changing GP's is another clever move you've made - hope it all goes well

thanks paolosgirl

EI - are you eating enough? I know that sounds utterly bizarre, but if you don't eat enough of the right stuff, your weight ain't shifting

And if you don't drink enough water - 8 glasses (4 500ml bottles) a day is minimum. You need the water to keep your blood properly hydrated and give your muscles the nutrients they need to work properly

Also, do you have a dvd player? If you can't get out to run or cycle (although as a very fat person, that would actually kill me... you have to be careful of the type of excersize you do!) you could get a pilates dvd or something that takes 20/30 mins of an evening perhaps? and is low impact so won't hurt your joints but will get your core muscles active...

Protein is good to shift weight - takes longer to digest so makes you feel full for longer; snacking on nuts and seeds is good as keeps protein levels up in a day.

I paid to see a nutritionalist along with a personal trainer not so long back and she said that 20 mins moving so that you sweat and get out of puff a bit (whether it be a walk, a jog or housework doesn't matter) will be enough to get your metabolism working and increasing fitness.

I fear I'll be shouted down in flames for that post, but I don't give a crap - it worked for me. I lost over 2 stone in 8 weeks doing that programme (high protein, low carb, eating 6 times a day, 20 mins excersise a day with 1 hour at gym a week)

Its not as easy as eat less, move more - there is such a thing as not eating enough. Even when you are fat.

Weight loss is quite simple.... eat less and exercise more. If you put in more energy than you spend then you will not lose weight.

If you are fat you eat too much, I have never seen a fat African in the middle of a famine.

There's a man in Bristol who just drank shakes for a few months and lost eleven stone.

Soup is more filling than a meal (even if it's the same food), protein stays in your stomach longer, a little exercise speeds up your metabolism for over 24 hours and stop making excuses losing weight is hard work, it's not supposed to be easy if you abuse your body by over feeding then you have to pay the price.....

what soup?what meal?sounds quacky to me

Butterflei, do you drink at all?

If so, you could try cutting out alcohol completely for a month and see what happens. It can make a huge difference (even if you were only drinking quite moderately).

Butterflei, you sound like you've made that important first step to committing to a long-term change in how you eat (and maybe exercise too). I'm overweight and know I need to loose some weight, and yes, I know that means eat less and exercise more. But I'm still breastfeeding and find that it is easy to graze at home. I also know that I am building up to the point where I will take control, start thinking about what I eat, make the effort to exercise more and loose the weight. But it's going to mean changing my day-to-life in lots of little ways, and sometimes that can be a big thing to face up to.

I hope that you make those changes and start to loose weight - once you do, it becomes so much easier to do. Being overweight does have an impact on self-esteem, I have personally found it akin to low-level depression and it is hard to a) be honest with yourself about how your lifestyle has had a negative impact on your health and b) accept that you will have to make changes and c) actually get up and do something.

Once you've gone through those stages you are at a point where you will actually lose weight, but more importantly permanently change your lifestyle, live a healthier life, and keep the weight off.

It saddens me how some people have been so negative towards you / those with weight to lose. If only life were that simple - there would be nobody out there with weight to lose. Good luck with it all. I think I'll go hide this thread now, it's made me feel pretty low.

Omicron- sounds like you're taking some very positive steps with your own battle but I don't think you should try to lose weight while BFing (certainly not through dieting).

With both of my littl'uns, I've found I easily lost 6lbs to a stone when I stopped BFing. I think your body holds on to extra energy reserves while you're nursing.

"By Olifin on Sat 01-Aug-09 10:52:35
Butterflei, do you drink at all?

If so, you could try cutting out alcohol completely for a month and see what happens. It can make a huge difference (even if you were only drinking quite moderately).
"

There you go. Less than two minutes of sensible suggestion - I have no idea if this applies to the OP but I'd imagine this sort of thing is what she was looking for - stuff that just might not have occured to her.

WHY could the GP not have said something similar? Really please answer me that. INstead it's perfectly reasonable to belittle her while pocketing her cash

"And if you don't drink enough water - 8 glasses (4 500ml bottles) a day is minimum. You need the water to keep your blood properly hydrated and give your muscles the nutrients they need to work properly"

Complete myth and utter rubbish. 2litres of water is not the miminum to drink, its a completely misunderstood finding from a 50year old study that has been repeated so often it sounds like a fact. Its total rubbish.

Scottish My DH is diet obsessed he did the Paul McKenna thing and lost 3.5 stone, along with running to and from work everyday.....
Anyway he taped this program which I watched before I came away and it measured hunger and stomach content of two groups. Each had chicken, rice, veg and a glass of water.... one blended into a soup and the other as a plate of food. The group with the soup were less hungry.

Disclaimer: I am overweight, this happens every time I have a baby I put on at least four stone and I am 5'1". I return to a size 6-8 within 18 months through a form of anorexia, ie I lose my appetite for all things bad and cut my eating to an absolute minimum....bit like over eating not in my control as such.....

SPB It's not often I get called 'sensible'. You've made my day ;D

What is the bloody point of a GP who gets 'frustrated' when an overweight patient with a medical condition that leads to weight gain (hypothyroidism) asks what he means by 'restrict your diet as much as possible'? How completely useless and rude is that?

If that really is exactly how the conversation went then the GP sounds a bit insane.

There seem to be a lot of people on awfully high horses about this weight issue. Of course we all know that weight loss is simply about using up more calories than you consume. But we are biologically programmed to consume calorie dense food whenever it becomes available. Overcoming this instinct at a time when calorie dense food is extremely available is not straightforward, particularly when millions of pounds are being spent on pushing calorie dense food at us constantly in TV and magazine advertisements, supermarkets, cafes, fast food chains etc etc. In this environment it is no wonder that so many people fall into the trap of consuming far more calories than they need, and it can take quite systematic re-education to get out of it.

To tell someone struggling with this(particularly someone with hypothyroidism) "don't eat" is very much worse than useless.

All I can say is you must be really really fat and your gp must of been slightly drunk

And as always we only have ONE side of the story dont we!!
I wonder exactly what the GP said and wonder perhaps if the OP may be a tad hypersensitive and took it the wrong way!
You do know that GP's are human too?? Yes!! We do get exasperated sometimes, I can be quite straight talking with my patients, they appreciate it on the whole!
For the poster that said she is in customer services and never gets short with her customers - really??? That is not my experience at all in fact am yet to come across a polite or helpful one!

Nothing like sweeping generalisations, is there?

Whether or not you think the GP was only being human, you surely can't deny that he could have been more helpful - and more professional.

paolos girl - yes, clearly more helpful and professional and clearly much less rude, even if you believe this side of the story is EXACTLY how the consultation went! BUT the question was whether he was an incompetent arse. Arse maybe but incompetent no.

i had a patients mother call me a f%%king c*&t today because i suggested that her grossly obese daughter should eat less and exercise more.