Doctors comments...GUTTED!

[jendot]

Hi,

Just wanted a shoulder to sob on!

Im a pretty big girl.Age 31 Size 20 and only 5ft2" tall..I was bigger but lost about 2st last year and have managed with a struggle to keep 90% of it off. Am not actively dieting at the moment just maintaining. I have bad days, really bad days and good days.
We have just moved to a new area and I had to change doctors. I went in this morning to get my pill...she refused to prescribe it to me as I am too 'fat' and has put me on the mini pill (bit miffed as have been really settled on it and have had lots of probs with contraception in the past but if it's not safe to be on the combined pill then I guess it's not safe). Then she spent half an hour telling me how 'obese' I was how I obviously eat far too much and how I should excercise more (just to point out she was matchstick thin and has obv never dieted in the past!). I have been referred to the 'weight management' clinic..GULP and have been sent for blood tests to ensure I haven't done myself any long term harm being so 'obese'!!

Im so gutted

I know Im fat..I really do. I have lived with it every day for 15years. I really could have done without someone being quite so brutal about it. You know when you walk out and just sob!

I then ended up in Mc Donalds eating the hugest fattiest burger and mozzarella dippers to console myself...and now feel fatter than ever!!!

Congratulations on the losing two stone.

I have a lot of the same issues, but have had a bit of a lightbulb which is that I tend to go for short term solutions (piece of toast, cheese, fridge raid) over long term goals (health). And really my actions aren't reflecting my priorities (happy, healthy life), so I've been trying to change that. Also, I know it's really really dull, but Weightwitches really works.

DUSSSSSST anyone?

There was a particularly unpleasant (IMO)thread recently about someone's friend who was advised to lose weight by an over-weight midwife. And somehow the OP of that thread (and a number of others)felt that the midwife shouln't have been 'allowed' to suggest it if she didn't follow the advice herself.

This post shows it's more about the fact none of us like to be told to lose weight and it's more about how they do it than who tells us. If it's a slim doctor or MW we get cross they don't know what it's like, and if they are overweight then they shouldn't be preaching what they don't themselves practice.

The bottom line is lots of us need to lose weight, we know it, and it's hard to be told. BUT they have to tell us otherwise they are colluding with us and wouldn't be doing their job. And we need to do it for our health.

OP - I'm sorry you had such a difficult experience.

Jendot - sorry you were upset by the doctors comments but I agree that the doctor was only doing their job. I imagine that there are increased risks associated with being overweight and on the pill, and that the Dr would be negligent if she prescribed the pill and then you (possibly) went on to have a blood clot or something similarly life-threatening or changing.

I don't think there is any easy way to tell someone they are fat/overweight/obese. It is never going to be easy to hear. And not particularly nice to have to say it, either.

Exercise is the key. Healthy eating is of course important but losing weight by dieting/depriving yourself is just not sustainable long-term. You say you ahve problems getting out and no babysitter. Could you try a gym with creche? If kids are still pushchair age could you not go for a power walk etc?

I had a similar experience from a likewise stickthin pofaced female Dr at my 6 week postnatal check - kick me while I am down why don't you?!
I went on to comfort eat more ( you know - I am such a bad person I deserve to be fat and ugly so I'll eat myself to oblivion) and put on more weight, then had another baby and put on more weight. I am 5'1" and was over 14 stone.
Then, something clicked in my head - I realised that I don't want to be like this and it's only me who can do something about it. I joined slimming world and can't recommend it highly enough. I have lost almost three stone in 6 months, feel so much better both physically and mentally, and I am getting more exercise - nothing major- just walking kids to school (they scoot - I jog behind them!). I have got further to go but I do feel that it is possible now.

The great thing about slimming world is that it doesn't feel like a diet- there is always something you can eat if you're hungry, there is very little weighing and counting, and you can have chocolate every day if you want! It teaches you to have a balanced healthy diet as a way of life. You have to get your head round it to begin with, and you need to be a bit organised and willing to do home cooking but it is so worth it. You should be able to get 12 weeks free via your GP too.

Your Gp was wrong to deal with you as she did, the effect was the opposite of what she intended but don't let her attitude defeat you - you are worth more than that. All the best x

OOO I also know a lady who did the Cambridge diet, the one where someone gives you food for a week, and she lost six stones in under a year and three years on she is still slim....and happy and unrecognisable. Her biggest weight loss was her nasty husband who made her so miserable she comfort ate the whole time!!