Thread: Tv show This morning debate - new idea about doctors calling 'fat' instead of obese.

Just watching this morning, theres currently a debate about whether doctors should call patients 'too fat' to shock people into loosing weight, instead of calling people obese or overweight.

Wondering what peoples views are on this?
Its getting heated on this morning! Anyone else watching?

xxx

I heard that on the news earlier in the week - it made me laugh a bit to think that doctor's were being warned not to hurt people's feelings by calling them 'fat'. I'd rather be fat than obese any day. Obese has such a sound of finality to it ... it can sound like there's too big a hurdle to climb to lose weight, so why bother!

I think the word "fat" has negative appearance connotations, whereas obese has more of a health punch.

I think doctors should keep using the health related terms: overweight and obese. Because even "fat" is very subjective. I know average people who are called fat and obese people who can be seen for some as average...
Overweight and obese are more concrete, I think.

Originally Posted by River1275

I think the word "fat" has negative appearance connotations, whereas obese has more of a health punch.

This!

I think some doctors should be told not to hurt patients feelings - last thing you would do is go back for help if you felt your doctor was having a go at you... at the end of the day if someone wants to stay fat/ overweight/obese it's up to them, it isnt actually a crime (some doctors think it is though and wil blame weight on anything you see them for even if it's not related )... I also don't think people need to be told what class of heavy they are, as in a doctor telling you youre obese, I think we know.

They should maybe focus on talking more about what the patient wants to weigh as a number, more than BMI.

Personally I find the entire discussion very patronising and I would absolutely love to meet the genius doctor or whoever who came up with the idea that started this debate .

I know the consensus seems to be that fat people are also stupid (as well as hideous and lazy), but even a stupid fat person couldn't fail to notice that they're fat, it's not as if we're not reminded often enough. There is huge pressure to be thin, especially among women, and it seems to me that it is the norm for any woman over a size 12 to think she's fat rather than us all wandering around, deluding ourselves that we're skinny. So, thanks doctor, but I know I'm fat, the fact that I own a mirror, a set of scales and a wardrobe full of size 18 clothes is enough to tell me that! I agree that doctors should use medical terms that correspond to health, but my overwhelming feeling is that the entire debate is ludicrous!

Phew, sorry for the rant!

I am just glad that my Doctor is far too nice to call me fat!

SilverS

Obese is a far worse word to hear than fat (in my opinion)

I'm just over the overweight/obese border on the side of obese, not sure whether I prefer to be called obese or fat, both have very negative connotations.

I'm not sure how much of a difference it would make whether to say someone is fat/obese etc.

I would hope that if someone turned up to their GP with health related problems that were clearly linked to an excess of weight they would be provided with some advice and direction to reducing their weight.

That said, I believe in calling a spade, a spade e.g. "Unless you reduce the amount of fat tissue you're carrying around your health will continue to be at risk".

I personally find fact being fat with its consequent effects on hobbies and general day to day comfort has more an impact on my feelings than anyone saying I'm fat...

both terms are very negative, that's how they make you feel too

i think obese is an awful word. It's also specific aand we all knows what it means. When I first entered the obese zone and I wen tto my doctor to discuss my weight gain, the GP said don't be silly, you look lovely! But the weigh carried on piling on and I found myself in the morbidly obese zone and a different GP told me that I was heading the right way to being dead and that I needed to find a way of addressing the problem. I went home and cried, but it was the shock I needed.

I'm now just obese again and heading the right way and looking forward to overweight. I find these catagories useful. I was "fat" when i was 4 stone heavier, I will still be "fat" when I'm 4 stone lighter. I think catagories help us get back on track "fat" is too vague.

I'd rather they say overweight, than fat..even though I am fat..I like to think of myself more as overweight. I have been made so upset by doctors and nurses in the past talking to me about my weight. One nurse was soo harsh she even said 'there were no fat people in concentration camps'...e.g. go starve yourself fatty. :/ Not cool. I had another that was so condescending saying 'would your mother like it if you had a stroke'....its not cool..i dont want to be talked to like a child but i want some respect you know..the facts.

Personally, i couldnt care less...being overweight is like an addiction, an illness..something that once we are all successful are going to have to be so careful not to relapse with for the rest of our lives..I value my quality of life and my future more than the choice of words used to describe what was in the long term going to destroy it.So as long as my Dr was acting in my best interests, which is their job..I really wouldnt care... xx