Are Doctors Even Paying Attention?

I saw Meg Allison's Instagram post today.  If you haven't seen it, you can find it here.  She is a Crossfit Games competitor.  She is in peak physical shape.  She has an 8 pack for goodness sake. One that looks like you could play xylophone on.
When she went to the doctor, he didn't even look at her.  He looked at her chart and told her that she should probably lose 5 -10 pounds.  He didn't even look at her with his eyes.

I'm not the same at Meg Allison.  I'm not in peak fitness.  I don't have an eight pack that you can see. I am overweight.  But I'm really strong.  I weight more than it looks like I do (even though it looks like I weigh a lot).  Muscle weighs more than fat does.  But I had an experience at the doctor that infuriates me as much as Meg's experience should infuriate anyone.

I go to Crossfit 3 -4 times per week.  I have changed up my diet and I was following a plan that had been successful for me.  But suddenly, I was gaining weight.  Not a little weight either.  I went up 40 pounds in total.  Fast.  Without changing anything.  Naturally, I was concerned and thought there might be an underlying cause.

So I went to the doctor. I explained what was going on and asked to have my thyroid checked along with anything else that might explain it.  My doctor said "exercise more and eat less; calories don't appear out of thin air".

As if the *only* possible explanation is that I eat too much and don't exercise.  She didn't take into consideration that I DO exercise and I AM eating appropriately.  She did check my thyroid (all is well).  Everything else came back normal too.  So normal that she is surprised at how healthy I am for being so fat.  FOR REAL.

I think that doctors are relying too much on what is typical.  Meg isn't typical.  I'm not typical.  We don't all fit in the same bucket.


I still maintain that there is something else going on.  I think my hormones are out of control as well. Perhaps it's related to my age?  As soon as I shake the Shingles, I'll be upping my gym time again and I'm working on how to fix my diet to get fat loss and muscle gain.  My weight is stabilized, but I'm having trouble losing it (once again). Also, I'll be looking for a new doctor soon.