Posted on July 30th, 2010 at 1:01 pm by 
Earlier this week Public Health Minister Anne Milton urged doctors to stop mincing their words and tell overweight patients the hard truth – that they are FAT!
So how would you feel if your GP told you in no uncertain terms you are FAT.. would it shock you into asking for a diet that works or would you up and leave!
I think if we are honest with ourselves we know when things are not as they should be in the ‘weight’ department… let’s face it with the media thrusting size zero down our throats it’s hard to feel ok about your body at any size, but is she right. Everywhere you look, mags, news items, movies and the celeb gossip channels tell us who has gained weight and who has lost it, even skinny little things are affected… a big red circle around an offending thigh which is probably no bigger than my arm!
Anne Milton also called for a ban on terms such as ‘obese’, because she believes they do not have the right emotional impact, well I for one think that is a scary term and it would work for me, are ’larger’ people less likely to bother to try to lose weight if they were told they were obese or overweight than if the doctor was blunt and said they were ‘fat’. What if you have a cruel or teenytiny skinny GP who gets a laugh out seeing his patients cry!
We know with every ad or announcement on the tele today that being ‘overweight’ can lead to all sorts of health issues, every new piece of info from scientists telling us high cholesterol is bad, studies in the States beg to differ, high or low cholesterol, it the Triglycerides, another type of fatty substance in the blood, which ring alarm bells. I very nearly breakdown when I hear the words ‘what is your BMI’ I have no idea and I don’t think I want to know.. I don’t suspect it is good.
We know that it is not good to carry extra weight, we understands the risks, I knew someone who was about 15st she started a rigours diet, lost a few stone, started exercising a lot more, lost a few more stones, within 6 months she died of a massive heart attack, her body couldn’t cope with the extra demands, her GP was and I quote “most surprised, I did not see that coming” she had seen him and was told go away and lose weight then I can help you’… ok that is probably a one off scenario but even so it is a shocking story.
I bet you if your trousers are too tight, your favourite top doesn’t look so good any more because you can’t hide the muffin top, and you can’t wear the trendy black boots you bought two years ago because your calves are bigger…well I’m guessing you know your putting on weight and maybe you don’t need/want your doctor to tell you ‘you’re fat’
But the ‘health experts’ argued against such plain speaking because they fear it could stigmatise overweight people, as if they don’t already feel that!!! Fat people don’t really want to be Fat people (unless of course there are the few who truly don’t care)… and I am not sure of the intentions of the Health Minister other than to save money for the NHS as there are massive cuts to be made! Is it because it’s a ‘blame’ society we live in so she can feel she has done her job by possibly insulting sensitive people into submission!
Fat people, or big people or larger than life people know they should lose weight, they want to lose the weight but sometimes it is just too big a problem and it’s all to easy to make an excuse not to, you have heard the quotes ”it’s my glands” or ” I’m big boned”… you can bet a penny to a pound most people who, when they get their clothes off, are very unhappy with their body image and then head straight to the fridge!
I can’t help but feel that instead of GP’s telling the larger person…you’re fat, they would be better placed by offering some therapy.. find out why the patient is overeating, why are they unhappy perhaps, if that is in fact the problem, I have a couple of mates who are incredibly happy and bubbly and very active, being fat, being overweight is not always to do with being lazy. They enjoy their lives and their food but are constantly on the go, and yes they are both always saying ”god I wish I could lose a few pounds”
I think the looks you get walking into a trendy expensive little boutique from the skinny size zero sales assistant can work better than any GP telling you you’re fat, ”we don’t have your size madam, in anything”… that would do it for me.
It is an interesting debate and one that will go on for ever, when does a larger person become fat or obese or overweight… are we all so indoctrinated to believe that a size 6-8-10 is the normal size, that to be anything over that is FAT.. it appears that the average size in the UK is a 16… was it always the norm?
I have struggled with diets all my life, when I look back to my mid teens and was worried about my tummy sticking out or my bum looking too big I feel really sad because the truth was I had a HOT LITTLE BOD and I do wish I had enjoyed it more instead of trying to keep skinny to fit in with mates who I now know had eating disorders.
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