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> One of the biggest drivers of those deadly conditions is obesity That jumped out at me, because, unfortunately, it seems it's become unpopular, or even offen

> One of the biggest drivers of those deadly conditions is obesity That jumped out at me, because, unfortunately, it seems it's become unpopular, or even offensive, to claim there's a link between obesity and poor health/lower life expectancy. I've heard of doctors refusing to recommend weight loss to their patients for fear of being accused of "body shaming".

keiferski 1y ago
Does this actually happen in real life, or only in online outrage anecdotes? My guess is that doctors typically understand that the patient already knows they’re obese, and therefore tries to get them to do something, anything, that’ll help.
- veggieroll 1y ago
  This happened to me. I switched doctors.
  - keiferski 1y ago
    What happened to you? The doctor refused to diagnose you as obese, someone else, or…? Your comment is unclear.
    - veggieroll 1y ago
      I went to my doctor as someone overweight bordering on obese and asked for help. I told him my plan for losing weight. But, he told me I didn't need to lose weight, because being overweight isn't bad for your health. Eventually I lost 70 lbs and found a new doctor.
      - keiferski 1y ago
        Interesting, but good that you did switch doctors and had success!
      - npteljes 1y ago
        That is a different thing. It was not that the doctor was reluctant to recommend weight loss due to their fear of being branded as body-shaming, it was that he denied the link outright, even though you were receptive to a weight-loss plan. Wild story, either way. I expect professionals to be better.
      - const_cast 1y ago
        Being overweight isn't bad for your health, being obese is. It sounds counter-intuitive but being overweight has zero effect on your longevity or risk of cardiovascular disease. At least, not alone.
- reverendsteveii 1y ago
  IME the opposite is true. I myself and several friends have had doctors that refuse to treat something until a weight issue is addressed. In my case the treatment was for obstructive sleep apnea and losing weight as part of combined therapy w my CPAP has helped a lot. In at least one friend's case she had severe, constant belly pain and multiple doctors gave her the old "have you tried losing weight about it". It wasn't until one actually engaged with her symptoms that they found out she had an active infection in her abdomen and also several tumors on her ovaries. So, you know, a mixed bag. Sometimes they tell you to lose weight because being heavy directly correlates with the symptoms you're expressing, sometimes they tell you to lose weight because losing weight is vaguely correlated with positive health impacts overall and they've got 10 minutes per patient to make a diagnosis and develop a course of treatment. That being said, I'm gonna file "doctors are afraid to tell patients they're obese because they'll be accused of body shaming" next to "they're putting litter boxes in the classrooms so the furries can poop in front of everyone" and "strangers are putting LSD in halloween candy to get kids hooked". It's 100% made up rage bait and the people who believe it believe it because they hear it all the time from their propaganda echo chambers.
- bananalychee 1y ago
  Alcoholics know that they drink, chain smokers know that they smoke... Obesity has an impact on longevity that is on the same order of magnitude as cigarette smoking. I would hope that it would come up during a checkup. If it doesn't, rationalize it however you want, but it's clearly because the doc decided it wasn't worth the risk of saying it out loud. In other countries it's not uncommon to be blunt about it with friends and family, let alone at the doctor's office, but in the US it's considered extremely rude. As a result, I know many people who have a skewed definition of obesity. To them a BMI of 30 is a tad overweight and obese starts maybe at 40. They're prescribed pills and CPAP machines and no one ever tells them they need to lose weight as long as their blood work looks decent. It's easy to neglect a health issue that no one wants to talk about.
  - const_cast 1y ago
    The first words out of any doctor's mouth if you're a smoker or obese is "lifestyle changes". The idea that doctor's don't talk about it is just not true. The reality is that patients do not listen and do not have the tools to make changes. A lot of these people are barely living life, they're just on autopilot.
veggieroll 1y ago
Yes! Can confirm: I went to the doctor when I was very overweight (on the verge of obese BMI-wise) and he pulled this line. He was a nice guy. But, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Why go to a doctor that won't even acknowledge one of the most important things you can do for your health?
- reverendsteveii 1y ago
  What line? Your doctor told you that you were overweight but that he wouldn't recommend you do anything about it?
  - veggieroll 1y ago
    I went to my doctor as someone overweight bordering on obese and asked for help. I told him my plan for losing weight. But, he told me I didn't need to lose weight, because being overweight isn't bad for your health. Eventually I lost 70 lbs and found a new doctor.
    - reverendsteveii 1y ago
      Wow, that completely flies in the face of the experience I and everyone I know has with doctors all the time. IME it's much more likely that your weight will be blamed for any and all conditions that develop because losing weight is strongly correlated with improvements across the board in overweight and obese people and (and I think this is the key to why it's the first line of defense for so many disparate things) insurance companies all but mandate that "lifestyle changes" be tried as treatment before they will cover any other treatment option. Riddle me this: were you trying to lose weight as a course of treatment for some other thing that was happening or were you trying to lose weight for its own sake? I'm wondering if the doctor actually thinks that being overweight is fine or if they were just saying you don't have any particular condition that being overweight would treat or relieve. I don't mean to call you out in particular, it's just that your experience is directly opposite to anything I've experienced or been told about as someone who was overweight and went to doctors about it and as someone whose entirely family has always been in healthcare in some way or another (a couple doctors, several nurses, I'm in med tech alongside a couple cousins and my dad runs a power plant but even he runs a power plant owned by a hospital system).
cedws 1y ago
It’s crazy how food manufacturers continue to get a free pass for killing people. They should be treated like the tobacco industry if they’re going to advertise and sell junk that ruins peoples’ bodies. I live in Japan at the moment and you see almost no overweight people here. Sorry to say, but the times I do see overweight people they’re usually American tourists. It’s true that in Japan people walk a lot more, but I think good nutrition and eating habits from a young age are a key factor in why people don’t get fat here. Also, if you want “fast food”, ramen or teishoku is faster than McDonalds.
UncleMeat 1y ago
Have you heard this from doctors? Or is this third hand? I'm a healthy weight and every single time I speak to my GP they talk about diet and exercise and the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. I can think of no health advice I have received more than "control your weight." Not even "don't smoke."
antifa 1y ago
> I've heard of doctors refusing to recommend weight loss to their patients for fear of being accused of "body shaming". I've literally never heard of this, in fact I've heard hundreds of stories about doctors refusing to put any effort into giving people a real diagnosis if they're even the slightest bit overweight.

keiferski 1y ago

Does this actually happen in real life, or only in online outrage anecdotes? My guess is that doctors typically understand that the patient already knows they’re obese, and therefore tries to get them to do something, anything, that’ll help.

veggieroll 1y ago
This happened to me. I switched doctors.
- keiferski 1y ago
  What happened to you? The doctor refused to diagnose you as obese, someone else, or…? Your comment is unclear.
  - veggieroll 1y ago
    I went to my doctor as someone overweight bordering on obese and asked for help. I told him my plan for losing weight. But, he told me I didn't need to lose weight, because being overweight isn't bad for your health. Eventually I lost 70 lbs and found a new doctor.
    - keiferski 1y ago
      Interesting, but good that you did switch doctors and had success!
    - npteljes 1y ago
      That is a different thing. It was not that the doctor was reluctant to recommend weight loss due to their fear of being branded as body-shaming, it was that he denied the link outright, even though you were receptive to a weight-loss plan. Wild story, either way. I expect professionals to be better.
    - const_cast 1y ago
      Being overweight isn't bad for your health, being obese is. It sounds counter-intuitive but being overweight has zero effect on your longevity or risk of cardiovascular disease. At least, not alone.
reverendsteveii 1y ago
IME the opposite is true. I myself and several friends have had doctors that refuse to treat something until a weight issue is addressed. In my case the treatment was for obstructive sleep apnea and losing weight as part of combined therapy w my CPAP has helped a lot. In at least one friend's case she had severe, constant belly pain and multiple doctors gave her the old "have you tried losing weight about it". It wasn't until one actually engaged with her symptoms that they found out she had an active infection in her abdomen and also several tumors on her ovaries. So, you know, a mixed bag. Sometimes they tell you to lose weight because being heavy directly correlates with the symptoms you're expressing, sometimes they tell you to lose weight because losing weight is vaguely correlated with positive health impacts overall and they've got 10 minutes per patient to make a diagnosis and develop a course of treatment. That being said, I'm gonna file "doctors are afraid to tell patients they're obese because they'll be accused of body shaming" next to "they're putting litter boxes in the classrooms so the furries can poop in front of everyone" and "strangers are putting LSD in halloween candy to get kids hooked". It's 100% made up rage bait and the people who believe it believe it because they hear it all the time from their propaganda echo chambers.
bananalychee 1y ago
Alcoholics know that they drink, chain smokers know that they smoke... Obesity has an impact on longevity that is on the same order of magnitude as cigarette smoking. I would hope that it would come up during a checkup. If it doesn't, rationalize it however you want, but it's clearly because the doc decided it wasn't worth the risk of saying it out loud. In other countries it's not uncommon to be blunt about it with friends and family, let alone at the doctor's office, but in the US it's considered extremely rude. As a result, I know many people who have a skewed definition of obesity. To them a BMI of 30 is a tad overweight and obese starts maybe at 40. They're prescribed pills and CPAP machines and no one ever tells them they need to lose weight as long as their blood work looks decent. It's easy to neglect a health issue that no one wants to talk about.
- const_cast 1y ago
  The first words out of any doctor's mouth if you're a smoker or obese is "lifestyle changes". The idea that doctor's don't talk about it is just not true. The reality is that patients do not listen and do not have the tools to make changes. A lot of these people are barely living life, they're just on autopilot.

veggieroll 1y ago

Yes! Can confirm: I went to the doctor when I was very overweight (on the verge of obese BMI-wise) and he pulled this line. He was a nice guy. But, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. Why go to a doctor that won't even acknowledge one of the most important things you can do for your health?

reverendsteveii 1y ago
What line? Your doctor told you that you were overweight but that he wouldn't recommend you do anything about it?
- veggieroll 1y ago
  I went to my doctor as someone overweight bordering on obese and asked for help. I told him my plan for losing weight. But, he told me I didn't need to lose weight, because being overweight isn't bad for your health. Eventually I lost 70 lbs and found a new doctor.
  - reverendsteveii 1y ago
    Wow, that completely flies in the face of the experience I and everyone I know has with doctors all the time. IME it's much more likely that your weight will be blamed for any and all conditions that develop because losing weight is strongly correlated with improvements across the board in overweight and obese people and (and I think this is the key to why it's the first line of defense for so many disparate things) insurance companies all but mandate that "lifestyle changes" be tried as treatment before they will cover any other treatment option. Riddle me this: were you trying to lose weight as a course of treatment for some other thing that was happening or were you trying to lose weight for its own sake? I'm wondering if the doctor actually thinks that being overweight is fine or if they were just saying you don't have any particular condition that being overweight would treat or relieve. I don't mean to call you out in particular, it's just that your experience is directly opposite to anything I've experienced or been told about as someone who was overweight and went to doctors about it and as someone whose entirely family has always been in healthcare in some way or another (a couple doctors, several nurses, I'm in med tech alongside a couple cousins and my dad runs a power plant but even he runs a power plant owned by a hospital system).

cedws 1y ago

It’s crazy how food manufacturers continue to get a free pass for killing people. They should be treated like the tobacco industry if they’re going to advertise and sell junk that ruins peoples’ bodies. I live in Japan at the moment and you see almost no overweight people here. Sorry to say, but the times I do see overweight people they’re usually American tourists. It’s true that in Japan people walk a lot more, but I think good nutrition and eating habits from a young age are a key factor in why people don’t get fat here. Also, if you want “fast food”, ramen or teishoku is faster than McDonalds.

UncleMeat 1y ago

Have you heard this from doctors? Or is this third hand? I'm a healthy weight and every single time I speak to my GP they talk about diet and exercise and the importance of maintaining a healthy weight. I can think of no health advice I have received more than "control your weight." Not even "don't smoke."

antifa 1y ago

> I've heard of doctors refusing to recommend weight loss to their patients for fear of being accused of "body shaming". I've literally never heard of this, in fact I've heard hundreds of stories about doctors refusing to put any effort into giving people a real diagnosis if they're even the slightest bit overweight.