wannabeaslimjim
Silver Member
i was 17 at the time!
Tv show This morning debate - new idea about doctors calling 'fat' instead of obese.
- Thread starter kmcxx
- Start date
brilliantblaze
Member
I'm currently training to be a doctor and I hope I will be an understanding and caring doctor (and not just assume everything is caused by excess weight) and will definitely treat all my patients with utmost respect.
My current thoughts are that, at the end of the day, the words 'overweight' and 'obese' are technical terms, the same way that female, male, pregnant are. Many many many illnesses have obesity as a risk factor - which means it's a possible underlying causes of the illness and shows up in studies as making a difference. There is also a 'cure' for obesity in the way that there isn't a cure for Parkinson's Disease or Altzeimers. Of course, this cure isn't easy and while on paper it may be as simple as 'eat less, exercise more' it's a massively massively complex disease with so many different factors involved including social, psychological and physical ones that doesn't get fixed overnight even if you completely and utterly follow the programme and never have a slip-up - which is also impossible.
It can be awful to hear the words 'obese' or 'overweight' from someone you want to trust such as a doctor and I'm sure some of them handle it really really badly but ultimately, they are diagnosing you with something (that fair enough, you already know!) to possibly explain some of your symptoms and then hopefully provide you with support to fix the problem.
To think of it another way, if you went to your GP with all the symptoms of an illness they recognise, have seen before and know a cure for, would you want them to not tell you a diagnosis because it might upset you and the cure may take a long time to come to fruition?
Still doesn't excuse the rubbish doctors out there (sorry to hear you were treated so poorly, wannabeaslimjim) but it seems crazy to not say something when it may be relevant as well.
Just my thoughts! :|
Cheers
Vicky
My current thoughts are that, at the end of the day, the words 'overweight' and 'obese' are technical terms, the same way that female, male, pregnant are. Many many many illnesses have obesity as a risk factor - which means it's a possible underlying causes of the illness and shows up in studies as making a difference. There is also a 'cure' for obesity in the way that there isn't a cure for Parkinson's Disease or Altzeimers. Of course, this cure isn't easy and while on paper it may be as simple as 'eat less, exercise more' it's a massively massively complex disease with so many different factors involved including social, psychological and physical ones that doesn't get fixed overnight even if you completely and utterly follow the programme and never have a slip-up - which is also impossible.
It can be awful to hear the words 'obese' or 'overweight' from someone you want to trust such as a doctor and I'm sure some of them handle it really really badly but ultimately, they are diagnosing you with something (that fair enough, you already know!) to possibly explain some of your symptoms and then hopefully provide you with support to fix the problem.
To think of it another way, if you went to your GP with all the symptoms of an illness they recognise, have seen before and know a cure for, would you want them to not tell you a diagnosis because it might upset you and the cure may take a long time to come to fruition?
Still doesn't excuse the rubbish doctors out there (sorry to hear you were treated so poorly, wannabeaslimjim) but it seems crazy to not say something when it may be relevant as well.
Just my thoughts! :|
Cheers
Vicky
polly_pepper
*reformed* sugar junkie
I don't really have a preference myself - I think it's all about delivery. The fact is for most of us (excluding medical conditions) being fat is somewhat of a choice, however much we would like to think it isn't. Doctors tread a fine line between trying to be 'caring' and trying to get us to help ourselves. I've had doctors yell at me about it, and whilst I think maybe they could have delivered the information better (there's very few of us unaware of the fact that we are overweight/fat/obese and unaware of how we got here) they weren't saying anything untrue.
I think it's a little patronising to assume this is going to make a huge difference or even a small one to be honest (again, few of us are unaware of our status!) but I won't be weeping in the waiting room about it
I think it's a little patronising to assume this is going to make a huge difference or even a small one to be honest (again, few of us are unaware of our status!) but I won't be weeping in the waiting room about it
xMandyDx
Determination is Key
I prefer the clinical terms. A doctor calling their over weight patient "fat", is akin to calling someone with an eating disorder "a skeleton". Neither is a nice term.
When I was pregnant with my last baby, I went in for my ante natal appointment, and got weighed. I'd was 6 pound lighter at my 20 week check up than I was when I first got pregnant.
Instead of telling me "well done on not putting on any more weight", the doctor said to me...
"You didn't put on weight."
I replied with a smile, "no, I actuall lost some."
To which she replied. "Good. You don't need to put on any more weight. You're big enough as it is. I'll be happy if you don't gain an ouce through your entire pregnancy."
I found that very rude. It was not necessary to say any of that to me. And to make it worse, she said it while my partner was standing beside me, totally effin embarrassing me altogether. I actually started crying when I left the hospital that day.
I have a real hate-on for that particular doctor, now.
When I was pregnant with my last baby, I went in for my ante natal appointment, and got weighed. I'd was 6 pound lighter at my 20 week check up than I was when I first got pregnant.
Instead of telling me "well done on not putting on any more weight", the doctor said to me...
"You didn't put on weight."
I replied with a smile, "no, I actuall lost some."
To which she replied. "Good. You don't need to put on any more weight. You're big enough as it is. I'll be happy if you don't gain an ouce through your entire pregnancy."
I found that very rude. It was not necessary to say any of that to me. And to make it worse, she said it while my partner was standing beside me, totally effin embarrassing me altogether. I actually started crying when I left the hospital that day.
I have a real hate-on for that particular doctor, now.
MissMuNkY
Silver Member
I call myself fat, cause that is how I feel. However I would be VERY offended if someone else describe me (to my face) as fat. Obese and overweight are definately the route to go down.
Someone earlier mentioned that being obese/overweight/fat is not a crime, which it isn't. However being obese/overweight/fat does cause health problems and these problems cost money on the NHS - which is on the increase. This cost is the same for anyone that suffers at the hand of being self inflicted, drugs, ciggies etc. However I think there should be more support for those that are overweight/obese... food can be an addiction much like drugs, cigarettes or alcohol and I think that help for those that are overweight is viewed more negatively and gets alot less sympathy.
I'm as you can see over 90lbs overweight - however so far I've been lucky and not had a trip to the doctor once, I did notice as my weight soared from stone to stone that things like breathing, stomach upsets etc did come around more frequently. I put on weight through years of stopping smoking.
I once took part in another forum and another member there said to me about a similar issue to weight loss "is that our weight when we are overweight/obese should shock us. It's not okay to put yourself at risk or your family if your children have adopted your habits". Safe to say while it's quite dramatic I think it's right, I don't care about media pressure to be riduculously underweight but I do think that (for me) I should be moving in the right direction for a healthy BMI so that I can increase my chance of being here for aslong as I can for my daughter (reason I gave up smoking)
This is quite a contraversial subject and while I am not condeming anyone in particular that happen to be fat/obese/overweight I just think that viewing my weight the way I do really has made me wake up and this time I know there is no going back - it's either lose the weight or lose my life, even if the result isn't death my would would still affect me enough that my life wouldn't really be much of a life as I couldn't live it to the full potential.
Someone earlier mentioned that being obese/overweight/fat is not a crime, which it isn't. However being obese/overweight/fat does cause health problems and these problems cost money on the NHS - which is on the increase. This cost is the same for anyone that suffers at the hand of being self inflicted, drugs, ciggies etc. However I think there should be more support for those that are overweight/obese... food can be an addiction much like drugs, cigarettes or alcohol and I think that help for those that are overweight is viewed more negatively and gets alot less sympathy.
I'm as you can see over 90lbs overweight - however so far I've been lucky and not had a trip to the doctor once, I did notice as my weight soared from stone to stone that things like breathing, stomach upsets etc did come around more frequently. I put on weight through years of stopping smoking.
I once took part in another forum and another member there said to me about a similar issue to weight loss "is that our weight when we are overweight/obese should shock us. It's not okay to put yourself at risk or your family if your children have adopted your habits". Safe to say while it's quite dramatic I think it's right, I don't care about media pressure to be riduculously underweight but I do think that (for me) I should be moving in the right direction for a healthy BMI so that I can increase my chance of being here for aslong as I can for my daughter (reason I gave up smoking)
This is quite a contraversial subject and while I am not condeming anyone in particular that happen to be fat/obese/overweight I just think that viewing my weight the way I do really has made me wake up and this time I know there is no going back - it's either lose the weight or lose my life, even if the result isn't death my would would still affect me enough that my life wouldn't really be much of a life as I couldn't live it to the full potential.
I think doctors should really stick to health terms, especially since there have been a lot of studies coming out saying that health isn't as tied to weight as we previously thought. I know I've had problems in the past with doctors ignoring symptoms because they thought it was fat, and it was actually an illness.
I didn't understand the specific definitions of overweight and obese until recently; I thought it just meant "too heavy" and "very heavy" in a vague way . I'm now aware of my BMI for the first time, and I think it would be much more helpful for this to be more widely publicised (not mine (!), just how BMI relates in general to overweight/obese terms. I still don't know how to calculate it myself, the internet does it for me!), so that people would know the individual weight "milestones" for them personally, it might make you think for example "I'm heading towards obese, I really should think about losing some weight" rather than waiting until the situation is critical before taking action. I have also learned the benefits of losing just a bit of weight (10% of your whole bodyweight) and again if this were more publicised, it would be a positive motivator rather than a fear-inducing threat to diet; sometimes it feels like if you have such a lot to lose, it isn't worth even trying, but it is!
sparx
Shiny sticker monster
Obese and overweight seem to appear a lot more 'medical' though if someone is going to the doctors they must know themselves if they fit in to the category. A professional to me calling someone 'fat' is slightly unprofessional (in my eyes) as it could be seen as insulting (like children being bullied for being overweight being called 'fat') though I think on the other hand it could be a shock tactic maybe not the best thing but definitely something controversial, but it does cause ideas of unprofessionalism and almost offensive in the cases where obesity is seen as a medical problem, encouragement to have a healthier lifestyle should be suggested not by saying 'fat'. Though saying that if someone is obese or morbidly obese calling them fat may not be that bad I'd rather be called fat than obese, maybe that's because how I see myself.
littlesteph
Full Member
I utterly despise the word "fat" and I prefer the clinical terms of Obese and Overweight. I agree with what other have said in the negative connotations of "fat"... people develop their own images in their head of what a fat person looks like. Fat is the stuff that makes you overweight... you are not what you eat in my opinion. As someone else said, fat is a very subjective term, I got shocked into action with my weight loss just by being told by a doctor that I was 1lb off being "morbidly obese"... that sent me running home in tears. I probably would have been ready to jump off a cliff if he had come out and said "you're fat". I just HATE that term... its far too subjective and demeaning.
RedRevolver
Full Member
There was a horrible doctor on BBC Breakfast News - don't know if she's still doing it, or if they've got the equally as bad Rosemary back - who basically propagated this, and telling young (particularly women) who had taken up smoking that their teeth were yellow, they had bad breath, their hair stank etc.
I'm sorry, but that's bullying. Making personal, judgemental comments on others under the pretext of helping them is nothing more than immature bullying. It also, in the case of young women, will only serve to further their own insecurities about themselves and do NOTHING to solve the underlying issues. From someone who was told that they were fat by multiple doctors when I was younger, it didn't shock either myself or my mother (who too is overweight) into doing anything about it, because there were other issues at play - e.g. years of bullying and social isolation, which prevented me from being active and encouraged me to stay at home all day snacking on bad things.
As another example I'd just like to give because it's suddenly jumped out at me, is that my sister went to the doctor whilst at university, who said that she had high blood pressure because she was fat. He said it in that particular way - quite nastily in fact. This led her to not eating, over exercising and led to fainting problems. Whilst she is OK now, and never got to the point of being diagnosed as anorexic, she was underweight and damaging herself because of a rather ineffectual doctor who took no consideration for her emotions and mental health before embarking on 'medical' advice. Yeah, we get it, being fat is bad for us, we can read that in the news every day. Don't gang side us further when we want and need help.
I'm sorry, but that's bullying. Making personal, judgemental comments on others under the pretext of helping them is nothing more than immature bullying. It also, in the case of young women, will only serve to further their own insecurities about themselves and do NOTHING to solve the underlying issues. From someone who was told that they were fat by multiple doctors when I was younger, it didn't shock either myself or my mother (who too is overweight) into doing anything about it, because there were other issues at play - e.g. years of bullying and social isolation, which prevented me from being active and encouraged me to stay at home all day snacking on bad things.
As another example I'd just like to give because it's suddenly jumped out at me, is that my sister went to the doctor whilst at university, who said that she had high blood pressure because she was fat. He said it in that particular way - quite nastily in fact. This led her to not eating, over exercising and led to fainting problems. Whilst she is OK now, and never got to the point of being diagnosed as anorexic, she was underweight and damaging herself because of a rather ineffectual doctor who took no consideration for her emotions and mental health before embarking on 'medical' advice. Yeah, we get it, being fat is bad for us, we can read that in the news every day. Don't gang side us further when we want and need help.
Bella Rose
Member
Personally I think those of us who are fat/obese/overweight already know the problem and no amount of playing around with words will make a difference. I am fat. I am bigger than I should be. Obese sounds like an insult. Some people are far too touchy about words when what they should be touchy about is that fact that we are not doing ourselves any favours by holding onto the extra pounds. If someone uses a word you dont like then simply tell them, please dont use that word. If they are a good friend then have a chat about what you prefer or if you want your friend to never mention it. If your doctor uses a word you dont like tell them! have an alternative you would prefer them to use.
The most important thing is whether that person has done anything constructive to help you. If they arent helpful then dont include them in your life and tell them why you prefer to avoid them for a while. too many people talk without thinking and you dont need these people in your life, while you are trying to get your head around finally losing weight. convince yourself that words dont matter and come on here and have a rant. Ive had mine so am now off to have another large glass of water
The most important thing is whether that person has done anything constructive to help you. If they arent helpful then dont include them in your life and tell them why you prefer to avoid them for a while. too many people talk without thinking and you dont need these people in your life, while you are trying to get your head around finally losing weight. convince yourself that words dont matter and come on here and have a rant. Ive had mine so am now off to have another large glass of water
keikoamaya
Full Member
I agree with some who say that calling someone "fat" is insulting and fairly unprofessional. However I what think is more important is the way that doctors convey information; if you have a very good relationship with your doctor, then it shouldn't matter if they use the terms "carrying too much fat / clinically obese / overweight" as long as they aren't aggressive or bullying! But I do object to calling someone "fat".
When I rolled up to my local pharmacy to begin Lipotrim, the Pharmacist I spoke to, after I explained I was worried because of my weight and health etc etc and how keen I was to do the diet and get healthy, started banging on at me about just HOW MASSIVELY OBESE I WAS. When I said that I knew that I was drastically overweight he said no, you're more than morbidly obese, your in this category here which is TERRIBLE! You should really do this programme.... all the time I was thinking "did you not hear me? Was it not me who booked the appointment and decided to do the diet? What? *****!" Suffice to say I never went back to that cow, she was horrible and I felt bullied.
When I rolled up to my local pharmacy to begin Lipotrim, the Pharmacist I spoke to, after I explained I was worried because of my weight and health etc etc and how keen I was to do the diet and get healthy, started banging on at me about just HOW MASSIVELY OBESE I WAS. When I said that I knew that I was drastically overweight he said no, you're more than morbidly obese, your in this category here which is TERRIBLE! You should really do this programme.... all the time I was thinking "did you not hear me? Was it not me who booked the appointment and decided to do the diet? What? *****!" Suffice to say I never went back to that cow, she was horrible and I felt bullied.
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