You have too much body fat – and you really need to lose weight. Most doctors are frightened to say those words. We worry about being accused of prejudice, rudeness or fat-shaming.
Yet we are perfectly prepared to tell patients that their smoking is dangerous or that their drinking is damaging their health. Why should obesity be treated differently? Silence is not kindness.
And we should be having this conversation when someone first becomes overweight, not years later when they are morbidly obese, breathless and already suffering the damaging consequences.
But any doctor who says, ‘You must lose weight,’ should immediately add something
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