Maybe my reaction to the woman in New Hampshire who was offended by her doctor telling her she�s obese was a bit harsh. It just pisses me off when people can�t take responsibility for their own actions. Granted some overweight people do have problems that seriously hinder their weight loss. I�m a case in point. I have sleep apnea. Have had it most of my life. It deprives my body of oxygen, which makes it less efficient to burn calories, more difficult to think as coherently as the average joe, I could go on and on. However, I don�t blame my apnea for my weight problem. I blame me. I�m the one who takes the extra helping of Mom�s macaroni and cheese because it�s oh so tasty. I�m the one who bakes a batch of chocolate chip cookies and eats 5 in one sitting with a tall glass of milk. I�m the one who can eat half a pint of Ben and Jerry�s or a quarter package of Oreos without batting an eyelash. My actions make me fat. My doctor wants me to lose weight. I want to lose weight. My doctor is helping me get to a point where I�ll be satisfied with smaller servings and less fatty food.

But the more I think about it, the more I realize that in conversations with my doctor, she has never once called me �obese� or �fat�. She has simply stated that I need to lose weight. Would I be offended if she ever called me those words to my face? I want to say no because she�s my doctor. She�s supposed to tell it like it is. But when I thought a little more, I remembered one fateful trip to the family doctor when I was 13. I was 5�8� and weighed 155 pounds. The doctor called me fat. I called him a jerk. I was pissed off. How dare he call me fat? Sure I could�ve stood to lose 10 pounds, 15 at the most, but at that point I'd already lost around 40 pounds. I have a large frame; if I got any smaller than 140 I�d be skin and bone. But to call me fat? At that age? At that weight? After I'd already lost a bunch? If my mother hadn�t been in the room with us I�d have told him to screw himself. From that point, if I had to go to his office for any reason, I refused to get on the scale. He asked me why. I told him it was because he was an insensitive jerk and that I wasn�t going to subject myself to his criticism about my weight again. My self-esteem was never the same after that.

So how can I blast this woman in NH for feeling the same way I did over 20 years ago? I want to justify it by blaming it on teenage hormones, but don�t know if that�s plausible. But this woman is a grown adult. If she doesn�t like the doctor�s bedside manner she can simply find another one. At 13 I went to the same doctor everyone else in my family went to. I wasn�t going to make my parents take me somewhere else just because that jerk of a doctor hurt my feelings. Besides, after that incident it was kinda fun pissing him off by not getting on the scale.