On Friday, I had an appointment with my doctor. I thought I’d share the questions I asked and the feeling of being at the doctor as a normal weight person. I made this appointment for two reasons:
1. I knew it was time to test my thyroid again because I’ve been having temperature management issues which can usually mean the thyroid. Also, I’d lost 40 pounds since it was last tested.
2. My skin……………while my muscles are looking better than ever in my whole life, my skin is getting worse and worse. Some areas as slowly shrinking back to where they should be but most of it is a lost cause. It’s now causing problems in my belly button and groin area after workouts. Also, during workouts jumping and running are getting painful.
I was actually excited about this doctor’s appointment, which never happens. I usually dread going to the doctor. Visiting your doctor when you’re morbidly obese, it’s their job to tell you it’s a problem. I would go in for something totally unrelated to weight but would inevitably get ‘the talk’. “You know you’ll be overall healthier if you drop some weight” or “this wouldn’t be an issue if you lost some weight” or “You’re overall healthy but I’d love to see your weight come down”. No matter what issue I went to the doctor for, I’d usually leave feeling bad about myself. Now, it is their JOB to recommend you get healthy. I never had a doctor that I felt treated me differently or judged me because of my weight. Remember, when I was at my heaviest I was living in Illinois where most people are overweight so seeing me wasn’t that different from every other patient.
During the last year and a half of my weight loss I have only been sick twice. Both times it was a cold that I got over much faster than I would have previously. So I haven’t been to the doctor much over my journey. I’ve been to nutritionist and trainers but rarely checked in with my doctor. I had not seen her since I hit my 100 pound mark or my goal weight. So I was excited for her to see what I had done and how it was reflected in my overall health. She was shocked. I’ve never had a doctor say to me before, “I’m so proud of you!” Here’s some of the questions I asked and her response from what I can remember:
How often do normal people weight themselves and think about weight? It varies. Some people only go by how their clothes fit and only get weighed at the doctor. Other people weigh themselves everyday. It honestly varies from one end of the spectrum to the other. Since you’ve worried about weight so far your whole life, you’ll probably continue for the rest of your life. There might never come a time when you don’t think about it. I think it will taper down, but you’ll probably always think about it because you always have. But maybe being more conscience of it will keep you from going backwards.
How do I know if I have more weight to lose? DON’T LOSE ANY MORE WEIGHT. (I’m putting this one in to remind myself!) You’ve reached healthy BMI (24) and I wouldn’t recommend you going any further. Pay attention to other numbers like body fat, cholesterol, and your thyroid. My Question: Well I’m not sure what I weigh without all my extra skin. I don’t want to be to skinny or heavy when my skin comes off. Response: Worry about that when the skin comes off. There’s no way to know how much is skin versus fat versus muscle. Don’t worry about it. You’re BMI is healthy, so I’m happy.
What are the requirements for skin surgery? I am really curious about this. I’m no where near ready for surgery and need to make a stop in Baby Town first but I want to know what they expect to see when I AM ready for surgery. Response: I have no idea. I’m writing you a referral to their department right now. Every doctor is different. Some will just want to see you. Others want to see your stats. Others want you to maintain for a certain amount of time. Either way, it’s really hard to get done medically. Just be ready for that.
I can not say enough how nice it was to go to the doctor and not leave feeling bad. I left feeling amazing. My doctor could recommend a single thing for me to be doing differently.