I have always prouded myself as a curvy lady, but I am faced with a chalenge. I suffer from worned down joints, so my doctor suggested weight loss to realieve the pressure. I have made my choice, but would love to see an ethical standpoint of this
Asked by
dancingturrets
Doctors recommend no other treatment that has a less than 1% chance of even being something that can be maintained, that has a greater than 50% chance of making the original condition worse in the long run, that has proven negative health impacts, and that is not proven to actually address the real problem.
All of that is true of weight loss attempts. Long-term major weight loss does not work for the vast majority of people, is likely to make you fatter in the long term, fucks up your health, and is not guaranteed to do hack shit for your joints. It is unethical for your doctor to recommend it. It is not a treatment for anything, because it doesn’t work.
-MG
I agree with MG.
If you or anyone else is in this situation, I recommend that you politely ask your doctor if they can show you at least five empirical studies published in top tier journals showing that weight loss improves mobility (or whatever outcome you hope to achieve), and especially ask for studies showing that any benefits of weight-loss (if they exist) are maintained 3-5 years later. Ideally, you would like to see at least one meta-analysis of research in this area so you can be sure that any benefits of weight loss (if they exist) are valid. This is a fair thing to ask, and if your doctor is practicing evidence-based medicine, this information should be easy to provide.
Ask your doctor if thin people get this problem too, and if they do, then what treatment is prescribed for them? Tell your doctor that dieting is bad for your health, that is causes depression and obsession, and interferes with your ability to parent and work effectively, and leads to disordered eating and constipation, including hemorrhoids other related injuries (this is my list if symptoms of dieting, you may have another). Ask to try to treatment used for thin people to see if it works before you attempt weight loss. This is fair, because treatment should be determined by a costs-benefits analysis that takes into account ever yindividual’s unique situation.
My dad just had sudden cardiac arrest from blockages in the main arteries of his heart. He had 5 stents put in in 2 arteries. He is 6'4" and was about 310 pounds at the time of his collapse.
His doctors (and seeming everyone we’ve consulted with after) severely recommend losing weight. The most important thing is that he drastically reduce the amount of saturated fats he eats, but his primary care physician and cardiologist have recommended he lose 50 pounds. The cardiologist used the analogy, “you’ve been driving a MACK truck with a Saturn engine.”
When my dad married my mom in the 70s, he was 140 pounds. We come from a very thin and tall family so the doubling of his weight was largely something he did to himself.
In cases like this, do you really think that the recommendation to lose weight is only fat phobia and not backed by studies?
I think it’s important for his health to lose weight, but I know that is not a comparable issue to worn down joints.
Do you have the five studies showing that long-term major weight loss – weight loss of more than 5-10% of starting body weight, that last for more than 2 or 3 years – is actually possible for more than a small percentage of the population? Do you have similar evidence that such weight loss even if possible would actually do your dad’s heart any good? Because I’ve looked, and I have not found such evidence.
If weight loss doesn’t work and weight loss doesn’t achieve anything, then no, it’s not fucking important.
I’m very sorry that your father is ill. But blaming him for his illness, shaming him for his body (which has negative health consequences), and demanding that he diet (which causes weight cycling – repeated losses and gains – which in turn has negative health consequences) for the rest of his life won’t help him get better.
He can reduce saturated fats without attempting to lose weight, by the way. Those two things are not inextricably linked in some mystical fashion.
-MG