Interesting... "obese"

So last night I couldn't sleep really well and I decided to look through some old hospital records I had laying around. I was interested to know when my weight loss really starting taking off. It seems around age 8 was then it all started. I often blame a lot of my weight gain on school. School for me was really stressful. When I was in 1st grade I had a teacher who made me feel I was not good enough. I have memories of her pulling me "aside" during reading class, because I couldn't read well. This made the other kids pick on me. I was also very tall. In my first grade photo you can tell I was about as tall as the teacher. I remember coming home and finding comfort in food. This went on for years. My treats would often be in the forms of food, because honestly I loved food then. Really at this point I was not over weight, but according to my medical records I starting my weight gain within this time frame. The one thing that was very noticeable was the word "obese." In my medical chart this was the first time a doctor actually noted me being "obese", yet I never heard this term until I was in my early 20's. I know at that age I wouldn't have understood the term anyhow, but I alway knew I was "different" or we would use over weight. My class reunion is coming up on August 13th, I'm happy that in some way or another I feel there might actually be some closure to all this pain I've had for so many years. My outlook on things have changed so much in ten years and it will be interesting to see if anyone elses has too. When were you told you were "obese"? Amy 615/305/Healthy (-310lbs)

Amy, I think I was 15 years old. Lori

Great question Amy! I remember it like it was yesterday because I literally winced when I "saw" it. I was pregnant with number 3 kiddo (had all 4 in just over 5 years) and I had gone in for a pregnancy test at our local health dept. because it was closeby and free. The nurse wrote on my chart "20 year old obese white female". I almost fell off the chair I was sitting on! I had a 2 and half y/o and a 5 month old in the stroller next to me... " I haven't lost all the pregnancy weight", I thought. How dare she call me obese!! I took it as though I was on the playground and the other kids were calling me fat! It never dawned on me that she was going by the weight chart. I was mortified... but as we "fat" people usually do... I held it all in and never let my horror show. That day is forever SEARED into my memory. Thanx for your inspiring words of encouragement Amy... you truly DO understand! Sallykate

I remember it too. I was at an appointment to discuss weight loss with my PCP. Up until that point I had heard and used the term "heavy" or "overweight". When he looked at me and asked how long have you been obese, I was fortunate I didn't fall out of my chair. It just seems like an ugly word. I can still remember it though, it does stick with you.

I was 19 years old, and I had just had a neurology consult because I was diagnosed with pseudotumor cerebri, which is rare, but affects mostly obese young females. I was mailed a copy of the letter that the neurologist wrote to my PCP, and right there in big bold print (or it seemed big and bold) were the words "pleasant, morbidly obese 19 year old female." I thought, "are you kidding me...you're calling me pleasant AND morbidly obese in ONE sentence?!" It didn't even dawn on me that she wasn't "calling me names." I took it as a huge insult and cried for days.

Hummmm.... I think I was 19 years old and at my post-partum visit when I heard the word "Obese" and saw it in my Medical Records also. I wanted to get the Norplant contraception implant and was told that I was over 200lbs, which makes me "Obese" and that it was only given to patients that were under 180lbs. I did'nt really understand what it meant at that time,just said okay and give me something else, because you had to say "Overweight" or "FAT" to make me understand. But when I had my 3rd baby, 10 years later and I saw it again in my post-partum records is where it really set and sunk in, Obese means FAT or Over-Over weight, is what the nurse told me, and from then on I have been worried about me weight and made it a priority to try and lose it. I am sure that they told my mother that I was Obese when I was about 12 years old.....I think that would hurt a kid if a doctor told them that. Nissah The F.AT Slayer 360/346/???/180 24 days 2 go........woohoo

Nissa, I was one of those at 175 lbs or so who DID get the Norplant... no one told me it could make me gain weight... I was 295 lbs when I had it removed (after 5 yrs)... The doctor who did the removal told me that if I had properly followed up with the OB who inserted it, it would have been removed after only one year due to the extreme weight gain I experienced.

Hi All, It's possible I could have been called obese at some time before this particular memory, but this is what sticks in my mind. I was about 23, I think, and I went to see a psychiatrist for the first time because I was depressed. For some reason, I don't recall exactly, but I had to get a copy of the report from that visit, and I read it. I was mortified to see that he had called me "obese". I was very angry because I thought it was such an ugly word, and I proceeded to hate this doctor for several years because of this. I have now realized that I was/am obese, and it wasn't his fault (what was I thinking??). However, I have been overweight probably since about 2nd grade. I remember dieting in 4th grade, eating my 5 "Wheatsworth" crackers for lunch everyday at school, because this particular boy kept calling me fat. I see overweight young girls in my neighborhood, and I feel badly for them... just want to tell them not to get headed down that path of overeating for whatever reason because kids today are even more cruel than they were when I was young. Tanja 333/265/Goal: 168 - This is a goal I decided on by myself because it would mean a loss of 165# even, and it would put me at a BMI somewhere in the middle of the "overweight" category... I see my surgeon on Tuesday and will ask him what he thinks of that goal. I think it's attainable and not overly ambitious. I know I would be satisfied at that weight, but I won't just stop there when I get there if I feel I can go further.

Good question... The only time that really stands out is when I was 21 years old with 2 kids and had decided to get my tubes tied. (Hubby said no way were they going to come at him with a knife!!) I was sitting in the room, waiting for the doc to come back in...she had left my chart on the counter. Being the nosy person I am I peeked over and started reading it. I saw the phrase "morbidly obese". Huh? Not chubby? Not chunky? What happened to overweight? Doesn't morbid mean dead? I was so confused that I tried to forget that phrase. And I essentially succeeded for another 20 years. Now here I am...trying to get where I can forget that phrase again...but for another reason...when it no longer applies! I would be happy just to see "overweight" on my chart. (or chunky ) Peggy

I was probably about 8 or 9 years old. I remember our family doctor telling my mother to change my milk to skim milk because I was "obese" for a child my age. Yuck! I hated skim milk back then. Now, regular milk tastes like cream to me! LOL When I was in 8th grade, I had gone up to 199 pounds. I lost about 40 pounds over the summer that year. That was my first real diet. Seems like I have been on the diet rollercoaster ever since. Pictures can prove that I have been overweight even as a young child. I knew I was different when I started going to school. The teasing was horrendous. Not only from kids, but adults too. We had a horrible PE (gym) teacher in elementary school. He would call the athletic kids 'hotdogs' and the heavy kids 'hamburgers'. When I was in 5th grade, they made the 'heavy kids' take an extra PE class every week. When I missed a ball during a volleyball game he yelled at me for missing it, especially since I had an 'extra class' every week! I never forgot that. What I wouldn't like to say to him now if he ever crossed my path! If people would just think about what they are saying before they say it! They think they are being 'motivating', when the affect their words have is actually the opposite. Even my own father. One time when I was on a diet in my mid 20's he said, "Gee Ruth, you're falling away to a ton!" When I got angry at him, he just said, "oh, I'm only kidding." When people say they are kidding, they usually aren't. Huggs, Ruth