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| Unrepentant Dork Gadfly  |
Fair… but unfortunately for people who are overweight most doctors completely shut down any other conversation. Everything is blamed on the weight and further investigation doesn’t happen. This problem is, as Shiro mentioned, worse for women and especially for women of colour. There are also people who are very overweight who lead very healthy lifestyles and people who are a “normal” weight who lead incredibly unhealthy lifestyles. While being over (or under!) weight has health risks, it is not the only cause of health problems, and yet it is frequently treated, by doctors, as the answer to everything. So my ask of the medical community would be that the focus be on health rather than weight?
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Has Achieved Nirvana |
Isn't there a correlation between weight and health problems? I know that, on average, higher weight is correlated with greater risk of diabetes, coronary problems, and a host of other ailments. The two points in rebuttal to that are that correlation is not causation, and that people are individuals, and what is true of a large population on average is not necessarily true of an individual within that population. But, speaking as someone who (according to the BMI scale) is still very overweight and has at times been obese, I know that ... for me ... losing weight is one of the key elements of improving my health. (This conversation also has major implications for my kids, but I cannot let a word of that escape my lips. They have to live their own lives and make their own decisions about their health, their eating habits, etc. Maybe I'm an enabler, in that I give them what they want and I do not try to steer them to healthier choices. If I am an enabler, so be it. It's better than the friction that would come with doing anything that could be remotely perceived as critical.) | |||
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| Unrepentant Dork Gadfly |
There is a correlation between weight and some health problems, yes. However, just because one is overweight doesn’t mean they don’t have other unrelated health problems. Overweight people frequently do not get needed tests and are often not diagnosed properly because all doctors see is the weight. Because of the stigma and the horrible way people are treated by many health care professionals, many people who are overweight also stop going to the doctor completely, because they don’t want to be belittled, lectured, or have their problems ignored. So while being overweight poses a higher risk for SOME health problems, the way it’s handled by the medical community means that outcomes for overweight folks are poorer. When you go to the doctor and the answer to every concern is “you need to lose weight” and nothing else is done, things get missed.
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Minor Deity |
In large populations, I think it's pretty clear that health and weight are correlated, although as has already been pointed out, this is not always true at the individual level. I think doctors should acknowledge that more than they do. One thing that concerns me, however, is the potential arbitrariness of the criteria for being overweight and obese. Somebody drew those lines several decades ago and I have no idea what, if any, scientific basis there is for them. Is being few pounds over one of those arbitrary lines really a problem? Is there a better way than the scales to assess whether someone's eating habits are harming them? Would there be some utility in adjusting the criteria by age? I don't think we know, and part of the reason for that has to be that a set of scales are so damn easy and cheap as a way of putting people into pigeonholes that insurance companies can easily assess.
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Beatification Candidate |
A decade or so ago my daughter was training with someone who was an olympic-level bobsled and weightlifting competetor. (Friend of the family) The trainer shared that according to the weight tables, even she was considered morbidly obese - hardly a speck of fat on this woman, but very muscular... So yeah, for a broad-brush, the BMI has it's value, but that breaks down for individuals..
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| (self-titled) semi-posting lurker Minor Deity  |
This cannot be repeated, or stressed enough.
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| Pinta & the Santa Maria Has Achieved Nirvana  |
I agree with this, by and large. BUT on the other hand, I do appreciate the body positivity focus and the fact that we are seeing more diverse models (including "plus size"). From someone who has battled weight pretty much their whole life, I can attest that it does a number on your self-respect and mental health. Finding the message can be tough--but something like 'you are not your weight, you are much more than that, AND for health reasons at a minimum, you would benefit from losing weight.' Instead the message seems to be on either extreme. Either you are obese and good for you, or you are obese and you are a fat slob with no self control. | |||
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| Unrepentant Dork Gadfly |
Yes to all this!
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well-temperedforum.groupee.net The Well-Tempered Forum Off Key Bill Maher on our changing attitude towards obesity