About two weeks ago I went to my primary care physician. I was in a panic. I was up seven pounds and could not lose it, no matter what I did!
I was petrified, and he saw that…The anxiety was consuming me. “Please give me something to lose this weight! I CAN NOT gain this weight back!” “Please help me lose this weight.”
He was calm and compassionate with me, and my situation. He never made me feel like he thought I was a nut-case, even though I know that is how I presented myself. He calmly said, “Let’s take a look at this from a medical standpoint, let’s look at your chart, your test results, your BMI, and we will go from there. How does that sound?”
It sounded like shit. I just wanted this weight to be gone. “Please, help me lose this weight. I cannot gain this weight again! Please just give me something.”
He pulled up my chart on his computer and began…
“Wendy, you are in great medical shape. Your test results are all perfect. Everything is as it should be. Your BMI is exactly right for your height and you have lost over 100 pounds, going from a size 24 to a size 5, and kept it off for 5 years. Medically I can find no reason to worry about these 7 pounds you have gained. Weight fluctuates. It could be water weight, your medicine, stress, menopause, or a host of other things. As your Doctor, I am not concerned about you medically at all, I would however, like to discuss your mental health. Is that okay with you?
…You are showing overwhelming anxiety surrounding your weight and I believe you have a very skewed view of your body and body image. It is consuming you. How do you feel about seeing a counselor and maybe a nutritionist/dietitian to help you come to healthier terms with your view of yourself?”
(My thoughts) …So, you aren’t going to give me something to lose this weight…No shot? No pills? No nothing?… OMG, what am I going to do…!
We continued talking. I told him that I had a great counselor that I had seen before, and I would go back to him and visit this ‘perception of myself’, as my doctor called it. What could it hurt? I’m mentally and emotionally exhausted, thinking about my weight every moment of every day for 51 years…
(…and you really are not going to give me anything to help me lose this weight…???)
…And, he continued, “How do you feel about going to a nutritionist or dietitian? They may help you gain a better relationship with food…”
I agreed that that would be a reasonable thing to look into… (and maybe they could tell me the foods to eat, so I could lose this weight!)
I left his office, with no prescription for a weight loss shot or pill. I left his office with only the verbal support of my doctor, for going to see my counselor and a nutritionist … OH… And with his VERY POWERFUL suggested plea, that I do not weigh myself for six weeks and that I stay off social media for that same amount of time!
OMGosh!
This is my story. You may have all of it, some of it, or none of it.