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Influencers are saying bigger people should be required to weigh in at every single doctor visit. And as a physician, I need to step in here because the answer is so much more complicated than they are making it sound.
Weight is one data point. One. It does not tell us about your blood pressure, your labs, your mental health, your metabolic markers, or whether you actually feel good in your body. And the way we collect it matters just as much as whether we do.
Research shows that weight stigma in medical settings is real, it is documented, and it causes patients to avoid care altogether. So if mandatory weigh-ins are driving people away from their doctors, we have to ask ourselves: are we actually helping anyone?
There are absolutely clinical situations where your weight matters. Medication dosing. Monitoring certain conditions. Tracking changes over time. But routine, mandatory weigh-ins for every patient at every visit with zero context? That is not evidence-based medicine.
#doctor #health #weightloss
Transcript
Wanna step on the scale at the doctors. I say, oh, I don't wanna be weighed today. If I don't wanna talk about my fatness at the doctor, I say, oh, I'm not here to talk about my weight. At some point, you big people gotta come with the realization that a doctor's not asking for your Theologics no relevant what we're here to discuss. No far, I know look. We have to stop with these emotions. Okay? Last I checked, you gym bros are not this woman's better, so I do not believe you have any say in this matter. And I am a doctor of internal medicine and pediatrics, but I actually have a good friend who's an obesity specialist, and I would love to hear her thoughts on this scenario. So doctor Kazarian, what do you have to say? Hey, doctor Martin. As an obesity specialist, I have no idea who those people are. I've never heard of them before. Oh, I'm sorry. I mean, gym bros. Anyway, I do know that they're all over the Internet diagnosing people and giving health advice when they have no authority to do so. You guys are not doctors. You're bullies. And anyone who has expertise speaks with nuance. And anyone who has the honor of healing, taking care of other human beings, because that's what we're doing. We're helping people live longer. That person knows that motivating true change in the setting of someone's disease can really only be done when you do it with empathy. The point of her video is being able to set boundaries with doctors, which is completely appropriate. The last thing that I wanna say is that you are not a doctor. You have no say in if she steps on a scale or not or if anybody does. By all means, you have every right in the world to get on these platforms and say whatever you worst. But do not exude this confidence that you know everything about everything when you're not their doctor. It's not okay. And it's just furthering the issues that the real doctors like myself actually deal with with patients in our waiting room. So if you want them to feel confident about stepping on the scale, maybe stop making videos like this.
