Please bear with me while I ramble and get something off my chest. I started this journey with a gastric sleeve surgery July 2019 things went bad quickly I was vommitting uncontrollably and very rapid weight loss I started losing my mind and had little to no muscle control by September. After a severe fall I was put into a rehab hospital and they decided to change the sleeve to a bypass. The revision was done 2/2020. After the revision I was discharged to my home. I’ve started regaining memories and muscle control. By June 2020 I was able to walk independently (with a walker for balance) by September I was able to forgo the walker unless it was long distances. Even with this crazy pandemic I’ve been pretty upbeat and happy I am literally half the size I was when I started this weight loss journey. Yesterday I went to my obgyn appointment they were complimentary and saying how I don’t even look like the same person. Then I got my after office report. I always read over them in case there is something I forgot or missed. The first line goes this is an obese female.... damn I’ve seen that word with ever dr appointment for more than 30 years but it has never bothered me like it is this time. I mean I’m literally half the person I was before and almost died to get to where I am now what else do I have to do to get rid of that word?

Maybe they were stating that this was an obese patient. Was. Remember where you were and look at where you are now and the long way you have come. Don’t let a word get you down and discount all this work and success you have done and accomplished!
You are doing AMAZING!! Great job and keep it up. This is the start of the rest of you life!!Congrats and great job! Keep it up!?

As a nurse who charts in an electronic medical record, I can tell you that it is common to copy forward previous notes and then just update any changes. It’s very easy to miss updating something! Your provider may just have missed updating the line labeling you as onesies.

are you still technically obese (as in BMI over 30?). If so, it could be the computer system put that in. I am now 4 lbs overweight (thanks to COVID!), and my doctor knows I've had WLS and lost over 200 lbs. But on the after-visit summary I got when I was there a couple of weeks ago, it said i was an overweight female, and the second page was a bunch of tips on how to lose weight. Seriously??? I know the doctor didn't put all that there, though - she's known me for a long time. I'm sure when they plugged in my height and weight their computer system calculated my BMI and put all that crap in there about being overweight and how to lose it. Still - I know what you mean. It was the last thing I wanted to see..

I am currently 121 lbs but my electronic chart shows me as "obese." I called my doctor's office twice to ask staff to remove this classification but they said they can't -- they claim their office's electronic records don't show the "obese" classification, but for some reason it remains visible on my chart whenever I access it. So apparently I am going to be obese forever.

I agree with what @catwoman7 said. The numbers for the BMI categories are weird in my opinion. I am 5'8" and 160lbs. I am right on the edge of average/overweight. If I were to gain a half a pound it would put me into overweight. Also BMI can be a decent general indicator of health and weight for some people but if I were to start working out super hard and a year from now I have gained like 25 pounds of muscle, I would probably have an obese BMI. Don't let it get you down, you have worked so hard and come so far. You should be very proud of yourself!

My medical records still say “history of obesity” and it will likely say it forever but it’s just a matter of record now.
Also when I gain a few lbs and have a random doctors visit in that time, a note will say “increased BMI, counsel patient on weightloss” even though it’s my normal fluctuations. I try to take it all in stride as something that is automatically generated.

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and kind words. I’m not sure why it hit me so hard. I mean I can look down at my body and still see I have fat on my frame. I didn’t start this journey to hit a certain number on the scale. It always was to get healthy And to be alive cause I knew in my head I probably wouldn’t make the age of 50 going the way I was going and now I know that I have a much better chance of being alive for the future. I am still overweight per the charts I am finding online but not technically obese. I will discuss it with my dr the next visit. I allowed myself this weekend to mope a bit but did not allow myself to fall into old habits of comforting myself with junk food. I vented here and then took an exercise class in my home to get my self in a better place. My husband and daughter both noticed something was bothering me but that I wasn’t using my old methods of comforting myself and gave words of encouragement. I still am a bit bitter seeing the word but have decided not to let that defeat me or define me. I am still me and the new me isn’t controlled by a five letter word. I will be the best me I can be and that me rocks!

I know that is so frustrating and discouraging to see those words in black and white. I've lost 120 pounds, and it's gonna take another 100 or so for me to be out of the obese category, but I've just accepted that and try to just think of the word obese and another medical term, like the asthma or liver disease they write in my chart.
Be proud of how for you've come. It is an amazing accomplishment, and your doctors know how well you've done! They just have to put diagnosis codes in your chart.
Focus on the complements they gave you, which were well deserved!

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From a medical point of view it's important to know you have a history of obesity, regardless of current weight. The diameter of your veins is larger, and you are more likely to have joint damage etc. Plus abdominal surgery can cause internal scarring adhesions etc.

I SO feel you. I love my doctor. I've had a hard road after surgery - not nearly what you went through, but it wasn't pleasant. It was only 6 months ago that I could eat more than 400 calories a day without being ill and I still mostly only eat soft foods 2.5 years out. So when I got the call about my blood tests after my last and the nurse on the phone (not my doc's normal nurse) said that my cholesterol was a bit high and that it can be "controlled with diet and exercise, for example, stop eating fried foods," I nearly lost my everloving mind. I sent a letter to my doctor and her practice manager complaining about the call. The person on the phone didn’t bother to ask about my eating habits to ascertain if that could be the cause of the high cholesterol, even though high cholesterol can unrelated to diet. Instead, she just assumed that I eat poorly and need to have some self-control. I told them that the reference to “stop eating fried food” was jarring and unnecessary. I also said it was unhelpful given that I don't actually eat fried food (and didn't before my surgery). I also asked them to read a study by NIH on weight bias and really consider training the person I spoke to on it. Writing and sending the letter made me feel a bit better.

I'm sorry you dealt with this.

Also, I find that "obese patient" is not right. It is like saying "cancer patient" or "cystic fibrosis patient". We really should be using terms not as adjectives, but as nouns: "a patient with obesity". Obesity (cancer, cystic fibrosis, etc.) is a disease, dammit. This frustrates me to no end. ?