A reader, who we shall call Susie Spouse, recently wrote me with this dilemma:

I currently weigh 330 pounds and my back and knees hurt almost all the time. I want more that anything to exercise and eat healthier…My husband is also a big man and I can not seem to get him interested in eating better or exercise. It seems harder without his support and I don’t know what to do… It seems like every time I bring it up he responds with “if you force this it will not work.”

I’m not married myself, so any advice I could give is speculative at best. But I figure I must have readers out there who are experts at manipulating their spouses. So, how can Susie Spouse get her husband on board with her healthier lifestyle? I know it’s a whole lot easier to make changes when you’ve got the support of the people who live with you.

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When I respond to e-mails asking me for diet and exercise advice, I always note that I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. I have a friend in med school who is working her ass off for that official doctoral degree. (She’s doing it figuratively, not literally like me.) I’m not going to pretend I crammed the name of every bone into my brain like she has. I tell people to consult a doctor or nutritionist dietitian in addition to whatever advice I give, stating that I am just a girl who happened to lose a lot of weight.

But I wonder, does anyone really ask their doctor for weight-loss advice?

Many overweight people avoid going to the doctor because they don’t want to talk about their weight problems. They don’t want to see the number on the scale when they’re weighed. They don’t want to deal with it. But if you are ready to do something about a serious weight problem, do you turn to your primary health provider or do you turn to [...]

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