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??

Butterflie the GP said that to you. Maybe he doesn't say it to everyone.

He shouldn't say it to anyone...

ye but why would he say it to me?? im not the fattest person in the world so why would he only say it to me?? it sounded like he was giving advice that he believed in which suggests he hs not only said it to me IMO

hAs* obviously

God I hate some Dr's. I was a fat child and had a horrendous doctor who teased me about being fat all the time i had to go see her at school and told me not to eat. Made me feel worse TBH. When i had to get my blood pressure taken at beginning of term she would put the strap around my arm and then giggle to the nurse 'look, barely fits round her arm she is big'. I absolutely loathed her. Not as bad as my housemistress though who would conifscate the food i did in our home economics classes as i 'didn't need to eat anything extra'

I did end up with anorexia years later. And bulimia.

It really makes me pissed off laugh at all the people saying 'well, you were probably the 100th person he's spoken to asking the same question'

I work in Customer Services, and get asked silly questions day in, day out. Does that mean after 50 questions I can be rude to the next caller? No.

Tough shit. GP's are paid and paid well. Do your job properly, or don't do it at all

think it isnt confusing to diet all diets work if you stick to them as irs simply a matter of burning off more calories than you intake - actually sorry op but youre the idiot for not knowing this - we really know why we are fat dont we if were being honest with ourselves.......

tbf, there are a lot of overweight people who really don't understand portion control.

My mother for example thinks as long as what she's eating is 'healthy' she can eat portions big enough for 3 people and graze on healthy snacks between meals. She constantly whinges that 'I hardly ever eat anything bad but i just can't seem to lose weight'

For the vast majority of overweight people the simplest, most effective way of losing weight is to restrict portions, stop eating before the plate is clear and only eat at set times of the day. This retrains a person to understand when they're actually hungry and to stop eating when they're full and is guaranteed to lose them weight.

But most people don't want to know it's that simple, there has to be some complicated magical solution involving diet plans, medical professionals and torturous gym trips... because otherwise it might be up to them to just do it.... much easier to rely on others to manage it for you.

He might not have beeen in a great mood and misjudged his audiance but basically his advice is sound... restrict food, excercise more.

Agree he shouldn't have said that but really what did you expect him to say or do? Unless I had some underlying medical reason I would not see a GP about losing weight as I think its a waste of their time. He and the dietican can only tell you to eat less and move more.

hotbot it isnt that simple though is it! If you dont eat enough calories your body can go into starvation mode and you wont lose weight!
Not ALL diets work! most are faddy and can make you ill that is why the op was asking for advice!!

serendipitousHarlot Exactly! When you are paid to do a job you do it not matter how annoying the customers/clients/patients may be

Stigaloid that must have been awful

But he didn't say restrict certain food (or explain what is meant by a portion), and he didn't say anything about exercising. He said "stop eating".

Earlier posts explain what he should have done...most GP's will do what he should have done. He's been lazy and rude.

And not all diets work - in fact, most diets don't work, because the weight just goes back on once you stop. Losing weight is about re-educating yourself and learning to make healthy choices, not dieting.

That's one thing I sometimes struggle with though Shiney, from having tried many diets over the years, just what is a good diet, as I've done Atkins, in which you eat loads of protein and cut out carbs, and I've done Rosemary Conley, which was very low-fat and neither of those are healthy in the long-term. So at times I would snack on dry toast and be sticking to my diet and at others have bacon and eggs. I've been veggie, vegan as well in my time, so it's mixed up a bit. When you've been on and off diets since you were 8, it's not that simple. Easy to be confused about healthy eating.

OP, were you perhaps expecting him to prescribe some weight-loss pills or free gym membership?

Whatever she expected him to do... I'm sure it wasn't take the piss.

Many people expect their GP to be their personal Guru. He is not. And he has very limited time.

So you have specific expectations. Fine. Then ask like a grown up woman. He said 'exercise', you want more info/help, then say 'do you run any schemes that i could join?'.

Why do people sulk, storm out, calling them names, calling back to complaint and all that. Waste of energy. Deal with it on the spot. Ask for what you want.

I never said the GP might have seen 28 people wanting weight loss advice. People do assume that the GP can wave a magic wand and fix their diabetes/COPD/angina. There's a difference between a GP seeing 28 patients asking the same question and remaining patient, and a GP seeing 28 patients expecting the GP to 'fix' them without any input by themselves.

Again I am NOT saying that's what the OP expected but that may have been the GPs perception. After all he had already done an assessment and offered a referral, perhaps he really didn't know what else to offer based on what the OP had told him.

And maybe I'm playing devil's advocate a bit I agree the GP was less than helpful.

your gp doesn't sound very empathic but why should gps spend their time discussing gym sessions/exercise/diet plans and calorie counting - being obese is a lifestyle problem not a medical one ( unless you have a particulary condition or medication that causes weight gain such as long term steroids). it is the consequences of obesity that cause medical problems. all of the information needed to change your lifestyle is easily available without you needing a gp to spell it out

I agree with this
"the simplest, most effective way of losing weight is to restrict portions, stop eating before the plate is clear and only eat at set times of the day."

The OP isn't expecting him to do all the work - she asked him for suggestions about what she could do in the time between seeing him and the dietician. Now, if she'd demanded a gastric band then fair enough, but she didn't - she asked for further advice and he chose to be less than helpful and make the consultation useless. What an odd approach for a GP.

And you could use the arguement that "the information is out there" for many things. GP's see more patients about mental health issues than anything else. What if the OP had gone to see him about mild depression that didn't require AD, and been told to "go abseiling".

Now, we all know that exercise helps in trreating mild depression, but it would hardly be helpful.

My GP would actually said the same recently, and he's not an idiot. He is certainly curmudgeonly, very dismissive of minor ailments and irritated by any enquiry which does not require a fully qualified GP to answer it but he isn't an idiot. I quite like my GP actually - I've got enough friends already, I just want someone who says either 'You need antibiotics' or 'You don't need antibiotics, what did you bother me with this for? Be off with you!' If I want someone to be nice to me I'll call my Mum. Anyway I did mention my weight to my GP recently as I've put on weight as a side effect of medication. He said 'Well you know what to do, don't you?'
I said 'Yep. Stop eating.'
He said 'Good...good...' and showed me out.
I didn't take it to mean 'Good, you're going anorexic' I assumed he meant 'Good, you realise that there is a link between eating and getting fat, now be off with you.' and promptly put myself on a diet which consists of eating less and moving around more.

I think its great that you are wanting to lose weight but I don't think you need to be referred to a dietician unless you have an underlying medical condition!
I think you could reasonably be expected to know or fing out what constituts a healthy diet , or at most speak to the practice nurse. Dieticians 'have enough on their plate ' (BOOM BOOM) with people with more specialised problems.

It's hard though when you've tried loads of diets to get out of the mindset of each diet. I have honestly felt over the last few years that I just don't know what healthy is.
In truth I do, but there is still an inbuilt thing from my Rosemary Conley years of checking the label for

By the way - has anyone ever noticed that dieticians are often obese? I've known three socially and you could fit one of me in each of their trouser legs... Perhaps it's something to do with the information overload that you're talking about wasting?