Last week I met with my new doctor. It's not easy to find a new doctor, and it's a process no one likes. So, as the nurse walked me down the hall with my chart stamped "NEW PATIENT" in red she said, "How does it feel to be a new patient?"
"It feels amazing!" I told her as though I'd been nominated for an Emmy. She laughed and led me through a maze of halls to where she was about to weigh and measure me.
She then asked me to take off my shoes so she could measure my height. She announced that I was 5' 4.5". I've always thought I was 5' 3.75". Hmm? I guess the added height explains what I saw on the scale.
When we got into the exam room she asked me about my exercise habits. I told her I was a good exerciser, that I did my cardio six days a week. "Oh!" She said, "I hate exercise." I explained that I hadn't said I loved it, I just said I do it. I think I saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes as she put my chart on the counter and left me to wait.
The doctor didn't say anything about my weight. But if I were to use the BMI calculator, I am overweight. There I would sit on her exam table in my (snug) size 6 slacks, being overweight at my new height of 5' 4".
The whole process really chaps my hide to put it lightly. It riles me up. It makes me feel bad when I should feel good. And if my slightly chubby new doctor, who I like very much by the way, were to talk to me about my weight after I'd been checked in by the obese nurse...well I would laugh hysterically.
And the whole thing reminds me that the weight on the scale means nothing. Don't let it dictate what kind of day you'll have, how you'll see yourself, or how you will treat yourself. Don't let it influence the things you say in your head or think when you look in the mirror. In fact, don't even take your shoes off.
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