A thing that bugs me is going to the doctor and being told you need to try to lose weight when you already are. Seriously, instead of assuming I was sitting on my butt all day eating brownies, they at least could have asked me about my physical/eating habits. If they had just asked instead of assuming, they would have learned I work out 2/hrs a day six days a week, and am a vegetarian that stays away from processed foods and eats brown grains. Suggesting I go see the nutritionist was the last straw seeing as how there is one at the place I work out that I have an appointment to see.
This really, really hurt me and could have been avoided had the person just asked about my current habits. I mean, I am really hurt and upset seeing as how I have recently lost 4lbs, but the nurse didn't know or care, to them I was just someoverweight person who needs to be told to loose weight and set up with a nutritionist. Damnit. Those four pounds are a big deal to me, and I would have loved the oppurtunity to brag about them, but whatever.
Also, I take pole fitness and love it, and get more than a bit sketched out when people hate on it, especially people who have no problems encouraging belly dancing for the purposes of sexuality. Why is it that some people are okay with one expression of sexuality through fitness, but not another? I believe it has a lot to do with the class association.
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A few comments...you don't say why you went to the doctor; you're implying that the first thing he said to you was, "You're fat, exercise and eat better". I highly doubt that. Four pounds can be a big deal or not, depending on how overweight you actually are. If you are 200 pounds overweight, four pounds is essentially meaningless.
Anyway, do whatever exercise you like, as long as it's effective. I see no reason anyone should be criticized for a "pole dancing" workout.
Losing weight is a huge mental and physical deal for most people. Especially the first few pounds that usually mean making life changes of dieting/eating differently/exercising. So stop being an asshole. The poster said losing those 4 pounds was a big deal for her so stop belittling her emotions.
I wasn't belittling anyone, only pointing out that the statement "four pounds" has no context with which to judge. An extremely obese individual can lose four pounds by not drinking water for a few hours. Since when do emotions trump facts?
I understand the emotions at play in this situation, but I do not see reason for condemning the doctor. If a patient walks in with a gangrenous limb, the first question to arise is not going to be, "How have you been treating that injury?" Instead, he/she is going suggest a remedy.
I don't think Brad is being an asshole by any stretch of the imagination, although using the term "meaningless" in regards to the context of weight is a tad harsh.
I've heard nothing but rave reviews from friends taking pole-fitness courses. Don't let outsider opinion dictate what you can or cannot do.
I did not walk in with a limb falling off, I walked in for an annual gyneo exam. Also, as a medical professional, I would hope they would want to know what my lifestyle with regards to health is. You seem to be suggesting that the doctor only be concerned with me loosing weight, not how I do it. If they had asked the questions about my physical activity and eating habits, only then could they have been helpful. If they knew how much I already worked out, and how much and what I ate, only then could they have given helpful advice about why I may not be progressing that fast (though I still maintain that 4lbs/week is still something to be proud of when I got there by harwork and not skipping water). If they knew what I was doing they might have been able to make suggestions along the lines of adding more wightlifting or something. Now, they know absolutely nothing about what I do or eat. How is that doing their job?
To begin with, I don't believe that recommendations for weight loss and dieting strategies fall under the gynecological profession. The doctor can only form a conclusion relative to his/her field, then refer you to a dietician to try and reach that goal.
But let's assume that the doctor did debrief you on your diet/exercise background and reached the same conclusion, that you needed to lose weight, would there still be a problem?
No, I would not have found it problematic if they reached the same conclusion. They would not be making an assumption about me and might be able to provide information, or at least reccomend someone who could, on how I can improve upon what I am already doing. Without asking me about my current habbits, they are unable to even help me on the path I have already begun.
It sounds like the problem at hand isn't necessarily the medical procedure the doctor undertook, but rather the assumptions you think people are making about you. This is understandable, but the burden of the medical profession should be treating its patients, which is what it appears to have been doing in this example. Our own personal fears about how people view us shouldn't be projected into other people. Like I said earlier, outsider opinion should not dictate what we can or cannot do. Or in this case, define who we are or how we perceive ourselves.
I say again, I don't think nutritional background or exercise are relevant to a gynecologist. The gynecologist can diagnose the problem, in this case excessive weight. It is the job of a nutritionist or dietitian to remedy that problem. I wholeheartedly agree that your information is important, but only in the ears of those who matter. Telling a carpenter about problems with my garden doesn't impact his/her decisions when working on my house.
Firstly can you provide a link to your claim. Secondly even if that is true then they will probably yo-yo in weight as they have to consume water at some point in the day to be healthy. I am assuming when the author said she lost weight she means she has lost it and kept it off. And that is a huge deal, being able to lose weight and keep it off for a large amount of time.
Back up my claim...about water? The average individual utilizes approximately one quart of water a day. A quart of water is roughly two pounds. If you are extremely obese (please see my post...that is exactly what I said) you are going to use a lot more water than someone who is not obese. It is easy for a very large person to sweat off and use two quarts of water in a short time, much more if they exercise strenuously. People whose weight yo-yos nearly always have some psychological issues that cause their weight gain. It's not completely physiological. Binge eating followed by starvation is probably the worst possible thing you can do to your body. I talk to a lot of women in the gym every day, and nearly every one of them who is overweight admits to not sticking to their diet (and I use diet in the sense of actual DIET, i.e. nutritionally sound eating habits). It is impossible to retain weight if you eat properly and engage in exercise. That said, most of the binge eating is a result of depression and/or feeling inadequate, or possibly a food addiction. Food is a proxy for something the person may be missing in their lives. I speak from experience, as I am definitely addicted to food myself. As I have recognized the behavior, I can curtail it and control it. Pretending there isn't an actual problem is the worst thing you can do. The idea that only women are affected by eating disorders is ridiculous. You will not find a larger group of people more worried about their appearance and with a vast array of eating disorders than bodybuilders.
To address Tracey T directly, if in fact doctor made assumptions without facts, he is a poor doctor. You must have all the facts before a conclusion can be reached.
To reiterate another point I made that was conveniently glossed over: ANY EXERCISE IS BETTER THAN NOTHING. I commend anyone makes the effort to improve their health through exercise; while some methods are better than others, actually doing something takes commitment.
There have actually been many stories of doctors telling people to lose weight no matter how relevant it is, and not care about their actual lifestyles. It's not that uncommon.
Tracy, you're not alone. I'm sorry your doctor upset you. If you must see this doctor again, I encourage you to say something to hir before the appointment even begins. Doctors should know that weight is largely inherited and uncontrollable and that other questions would give them a better idea of whether someone is in good health. My last doctor asked if my weight stayed constant. That seems like a better question and I hope she asks fat patients the same thing.
I was seeing a OB/GYN for an annual. I'm not mad that they told me to loose weight but that they ASSUMED I wasn't lready doing thigs to loose weight. A simple question about what my eating habits/physical activities were would have revealed that I have been doing pole fitness, pilates, and Zuba for several weeks and had stopped eating out. The doctor just assumed I was doing nothing, which is what upsets me.
I do not think my other comment went through.
Actually, that s what they said, sans the word fat and they didn't even say exercise and eat better. Asking one question would have revealed I am working on loosing weight and have scheduled a visit with a personal fitness person at my gym who will not only take my measurements, fine tune my work out,but is also only a week or two away from nutrionist certification.
The context was an OB/GYN visit, and it still doesn't matter. I would hope the dr would care enough to want to know about my lifestyle as oppose to only concerned with me loosing weight and not how I do it.
The conversation should have went like this regardless of context:
Dr.: "I'm woried about your weight. Are you doing anythng about that? Eating well? Trying to exercise"
Me:"Yes, I am. I exercise six days a week, mostly cardio. Also, I'm vegetarian but stay away from processed foods and soda. In the past I ate out to much and got too many sodas, trying to stop that."
Dr. "That's good. You need to add weights to your routine, more muscle means you'll loose more. Also, do you want to see the nutritionist?"
Me.: "There's one at my gym, plus I can only afford frozen veggies, grains, and beans right now, seeing someone won't change that."
Dr." Well, you should see them anyway. I'm sure they'll be able to make sure you are making the best choices whatever your budget. I'm glad you're working on being healthier and stick with it."
And also, 4lbs is never meaningless, and I would argue the heavier you are the more it means. For me 4lbs means I stuck to a 2hr/day 6days/wk workout routine, was organized enough not to have to make late night trips to taco bell or stock up on Mt.Dew when pulling all nighters, stayed away from the proccessed stuff, watched my fat intake at meals because I'm on the Alli diet. When all that stuff adds up, and you are super frustratd at not seeing results, the reminder that you are making progress makes the long road aheadseem possible. There have been so many times when I went off track, got discouraged and did not feel like it was worth it. I felt like I would never be in the shape I once was in and that it was pathetic. Not to mention even ilb of loss has a huge impact on the amount of pressure on your knees.
First of all, congratulations on everything you've been doing! I struggle to get myself to workout, and have had a hard time changing my eating habits to be more healthy, so I admire you for doing that on your own! Four pounds IS a lot - weight loss has to happen a pound at a time, after all, and for most of us, each pound is hard-won!
Next, I'm mad at your doctor/nurse for the assumptions they've made. Something like that could kick someone just starting to make changes off that track again, and medical professionals should know better.
Finally, I don't know anything about fitness pole dancing, except that it sounds like fun, which is the best way to make yourself exercise when you're too out of shape (like me!!!) to enjoy things like biking or jogging for long periods. I feel the same way about belly dancing or ballroom dancing or one-on-one basketball, or whatever you find fun. I want to be in better shape (losing weight would be nice, but mostly I just want to feel better, which I think would help me like myself again), but hate doing pointless, repetitive exercises that just make my asthma angry. So do what you find fun, is my opinion, after all that long-windedness.
1: Doctors are generally assholes about weight. They're working from a context in which weight=health - that is, the dominant paradigm of our society - and given stuff like BMI, which is horrifyingly inaccurate, as a measure, yeah, they're going to look at you and assume you're a lazy fatty mcfatfat and yell at you for it. Don't feel too bad about it.
2: Pole dance as an exercise is super fun, personally, and an awesome workout. It meets with further stigma than does something like bellydance, I think, because bellydance is sensual but not outright sexual, and I have yet to see a bellydance club where women take off their clothes for money. Totally different context.
Thanks. It is fun and really can be done at any shape,size, age. I was scepticle at first, but am surprised at what I can do (though badly).And on point two I think that is the problem. They believe it leads to stripping as a profession. People who have a problem with it seem to act as though:
1. It promotes stripping as a profession, and that someone who takes it is going to want to become a stripper.
2. Strippers do it, therefore it is bad and leads to moral breakdown.
3. People only take it because they want to become strippers.
"...And on point two I think that is the problem. They believe it leads to stripping as a profession. People who have a problem with it seem to act as though:
1. It promotes stripping as a profession, and that someone who takes it is going to want to become a stripper.
2. Strippers do it, therefore it is bad and leads to moral breakdown.
3. People only take it because they want to become strippers."
...which makes no sense, especially once one remembers all the people who golf/practice karate/play basketball/etc. for exercise and fun but don't want to be professional golfers/karate-ka/basketball players/etc. or even golf teachers/karate sensei/basketball coaches/etc.