Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News

I hate going to the doctor.  Why do I hate going to the doctor?  Because at some point in the process, the doctor will look at me and say something like "You are a fat slob and you need to lose weight".  Now we all know that he doesn't say that but it feels that way.  Weight is a very touchy issue.

 Do you think that having a doctor tell you to lose weight will motivate you to lose weight?

I would be amazed if that would motivate you to lose the weight that you need to lose.  It might work better if the doctor then suggested something you could incorporate easily into your life. You know, like, stop drinking more than one Coke a day.  Or how about, stop eating french fries.  If he gave out one easy suggestion that you could do  and feel better then you would want to go back to crow about your success.  Then when you went back, he could give you another suggestion that you can then incorporate - like take a 10 minute walk twice a day.  You could build on each step and feel great about yourself.  Instead, you get the "lose weight and exercise" admonition and it just isn't specific enough to help. 

Silent Sam was telling me at dinner last night that one of his co-workers asked him about his weight loss.  He wanted to shed some pounds and asked SS how he was doing it.  SS explained that he takes his plate and divides it into quarters.  One quarter of the plate is lean protein, one quarter is starch,  and then the other half of the plate is non-starch vegetables and salad.   The guy was repulsed.  He asked SS if he was hungry all the time and couldn't believe that he wasn't.

( I did, of course, bring up the 9 inch plate.  We think that it makes a difference.  You can still belong to the clean plate club with the 9 inch plate and lose weight. )

Granted, we adopted this because we were at a medical juncture where our choices were limited.  But what an easy direction to give people.  It is understandable - after all the information that they gave us, it was the one thing we could remember and implement easily.

So, does the doctor telling you that you need to lose weight motivate you?  Please let me know!

Thanks for reading!