The words "Pot", "Kettle" and "Black", spring to mind...

[Sapphire Silk]

Sadly, I didn't complain. At the time, a family friend (who was clinically obese) had been told he needed to lose weight by his doctor, and although a lot of people seemed angry by the doctor's comments, the friend was overweight and I just assumed that medical professionals had a right to say this sort of thing. I was young and naive (I was also in a job where I was being treated as second-class for being female at the time!) and didn't really realise that I didn't have to put up with a lot of the crap I was putting up with at the time! But lets just say, I know better now. And if nothing else, this little story gives me chuckles (although confused ones, I still have no idea why the nurse insisted the blood loss causes weight loss, as Panacea pointed out, its like a couple of teaspoons!).

Well, a doctor or a nurse has the responsibility to talk to a patient about their weight. We have to bring it up. It's how that's the issue.

Tone of voice is everything. I can change my tone of voice and say, "You're a little heavy," and one way will be fine, the other insulting.

Of course, perception is everything, and patients who are in denial about their weight are the most likely to get upset when it is brought up at the doctor's office.

[Seshat]

I hate the BMI - it's so inflexible and wrong.

That's why you almost always see me using fat/other tissue ratio. Because THAT is what's important.

A sprinter and a person who's naturally skinny but eats poorly might have the same BMI, might both be in the underweight-to-healthy range according to the BMI, but while the sprinter is wiry-muscled with a low fat ratio, the other person might have barely enough muscle to be getting around with, and a high fat ratio.

Similarly, someone with a lot of bulky muscle (slow-twitch muscle) and the bone frame to support that much slow twitch muscle will ALWAYS have a high BMI. Muscle and bone are heavy, damn it!

I guess that's one of the reasons I like semi-fitted clothing, and am getting more and more of it as I return to my proper ratio. It shows that while I have a high BMI, I have a healthy fat/other tissue ratio.

[Pagan]

Lose? Ohh, contrare! You gain water weight! >_>

I never did. I always tended to drop some weight at the beginning of my period. Which probably had something to do with the massive migraines, cramps, and upset stomach that I always got.

Which is why I'm now on Lybrel and haven't had to deal with that shit in over two years now....

[blas]

Lybrel for the win! I've had to settle for Amethyst, its generic, but after a couple beginning weeks of spotting and cramps, it's been the same as Lybrel, so I will stick with it.

[Little Retail Rabbit]

Panacea, yeah, I totally understand that if you have a patient that might have weight problems, you'd have to say something. I don't think that was the case with me. As I said, I'm not overweight anyway (in fact a lot of my mass is muscle, from karate days and regular exercise, not to mention I belly-dance and thats great for your abs ).

I still don't weigh myself, but I have noticed becoming trimmer since taking up belly-dance. I feel a lot better all over really. Over the summer our classes have stopped and I have felt schlumpy, but just before the end of my classes, i remember looking in a mirror and thinking to myself "well, hello WAIST, where have you been all my life!" XD Having noticed this, I know I need to keep up the exercises even when the classes aren't on, and having been pleased with the results, I'd say that was good incentive

(I do have a little bit of tummy...I call it my cake-shelf. Its where I keep my cake :P )

[Pagan]

Lybrel for the win! I've had to settle for Amethyst, its generic, but after a couple beginning weeks of spotting and cramps, it's been the same as Lybrel, so I will stick with it.

That surprised the hell out of me. The patent on Lybrel doesn't run out until 2018, but I guess that Watson pitched enough of a fit that the government made Wyeth give over. I was kind of unsure, but since it is AB rated and a hell of a lot cheaper. I'll give it a go.

Now if I can get hold of one of my buddies that works at my old pharmacy and find out if they're actually gonna fill it, or just keep putting it in for fill and then cancelling it!

[Sapphire Silk]

I still don't weigh myself, but I have noticed becoming trimmer since taking up belly-dance. I feel a lot better all over really. Over the summer our classes have stopped and I have felt schlumpy, but just before the end of my classes, i remember looking in a mirror and thinking to myself "well, hello WAIST, where have you been all my life!" XD Having noticed this, I know I need to keep up the exercises even when the classes aren't on, and having been pleased with the results, I'd say that was good incentive

(I do have a little bit of tummy...I call it my cake-shelf. Its where I keep my cake :P )

I thought about doing belly dancing to lose weight. It's really great for your core.

But I've been embarrassed to show my belly since high school. Even in Tae Kwon Do, I wear a t shirt under my dobuk (gi) top to keep my belly from showing through the slits on the sides of the top.

Maybe when I lose a bit more weight

[Little Retail Rabbit]

I thought about doing belly dancing to lose weight. It's really great for your core.

But I've been embarrassed to show my belly since high school. Even in Tae Kwon Do, I wear a t shirt under my dobuk (gi) top to keep my belly from showing through the slits on the sides of the top.

Maybe when I lose a bit more weight

I would recommend it for toning and general health but I wouldn't say its great for losing weight per say. A lot of the dancers I see have a little pot-belly or wobbly bottoms, but they are otherwise healthy. In my first class, a huge number of the students were old-age-pensioners (or senior citizens as you yankees prefer to say) who had been advised by their doctors. Belly dance is not an intensive work out, but it does get those muscles going and it definately has its benefits.

Its rare that the students will get their bellies out in the class. I never do, and unless the cake shelf drastically shrinks I probably never will. When I suck it in, my belly is at my ideal shape/size, but that requires muscle tension that is probably unhelpful for when I'm dancing :P But bare bellies aren't really a requirement anyway. I think our teacher only bares her belly so we can watch what her tummy is doing; also, in Egypt, its actually illegal for a dancer's midriff to be bare, so she will normally wear a body-stocking or some sort of mesh covering over her tummy.

So yeah, I wouldn't say it would shift pounds exactly, but I definately felt...better. My joints felt less creaky (I'm only in my 20s XD) and my body just felt more...fluid and graceful. As your muscle memory improves everything else does as well. And while its not shifting the pounds, it is trimming things up; a lot of people have said they've noticed a difference since I took it up May last year

[Pagan]

A lot of the dancers I see have a little pot-belly or wobbly bottoms, but they are otherwise healthy.

That's actually very desirable for a belly dancer. I've seen some that have the really nice, flat, cut tummy and it just doesn't look right and seems to kind of screw up the fluidity of the movement.

[Seshat]

I thought about doing belly dancing to lose weight. It's really great for your core.

But I've been embarrassed to show my belly since high school. Even in Tae Kwon Do, I wear a t shirt under my dobuk (gi) top to keep my belly from showing through the slits on the sides of the top.

In the belly dancing classes I did, the only clothing requirement was that the clothes be soft and loose enough to let you do the movements.

If you were on stage, you might have a different issue - but even then, there are belly-covering versions of belly dance outfits. You'd be amazed how gorgeous veils, fringes, or fringes of light beading can be, when you ripple your ribcage. And you can have those over an opaque undergarment without losing the effect.