No Doctor, You Don’t Get to Fat Shame Me

Today I’m going to break some rules. I loved my fellow contributor’s post, “I Don’t Want to Talk About my Body with You” because it’s so true. Regardless of our shape or size, there are so many more interesting, productive and healthy things to talk about other than our bodies. I don’t want to talk about my body with anyone, but because of what happened to me recently at the doctor’s office, I’m going to make an exception. 

You see, even though I don’t want to talk about my body with people, I do have to talk about it with my doctors. After all, it’s kind of their job to evaluate my body and its health. But during an appointment with my primary care physician, he went WAY.TOO.FAR!

I know I’ve gained weight over the past year. My eating habits haven’t changed and my exercise routine hasn’t changed, but I’m on new medications (a new anti-depressant and a new anti-psychotic) that cause metabolism changes and weight gain. Seriously, this isn’t rocket science. Google anti-depressants and weight gain and you’ll come up with pages and pages of results. 

My doctor, who, I don’t know, is supposed to be knowledgable on all things medical and who maybe took 30 seconds to read my chart before talking to me, looked at my weight gain this year and said, “You’re eating too much.” Yep, that’s what he said. Verbatim. No small talk to break the ice, no bedside manner, no consideration for the medication I’m on or my diagnosis (which, by the way depression alone can cause weight gain, even if you aren’t taking medication) and no mercy. Just simply, “You’re eating too much.”

I was shocked. Because I would expect a medical “professional” to maybe use medical terms like, “You’ve gained some weight and you have an unhealthy BMI” or “I’ve noticed you’ve gained some weight since you were last here, what’s your diet like?” Not “You’re eating too much.”

And, get this – what did he suggest I do? Did he give me a handout of the government’s food pyramid to educate me on healthy eating habits? No. Did he suggest I see a nutritionist so I can come up with a healthier eating plan to lose weight? Nope. He said, “You need to stop eating so much.” Yep, that’s what Dr. Sensitivity had to say.

Well, guess what Dr. Jerk! You don’t get to fat shame me. You don’t get to tell me that just because I’m 5’5, 166 lbs and a size 12 (in case you were wondering just how “big” I am) that I need to stop eating so much. Especially not when you should know that my medication and depression diagnosis cause weight gain.

Ladies, this is serious. I know it’s our doctors’ jobs to talk to us about sensitive and sometimes uncomfortable topics, but that doesn’t give them the right to fat shame us. Just because the number on the scale is higher than they’d like doesn’t give them the right to assume we’re just stuffing our faces with bon bons all day long while we sit on the couch and watch TV. And it certainly doesn’t give them the right to just bluntly say “Stop eating so much.”

There, it’s all off my chest and I’m going to go back to not talking about my body with anyone. But if you happen to know of a doctor with a good bedside manner, I’d love to hear your recommendation! Because Dr. Jerk is FIRED!