looking for a specific doctor's letter if anyone had any ideas?

k3lvc

jasonwatkins wrote: »

And for my level of income, £750 is hardly "a little money".

Yet you can afford to lose £250 ?? You could easily save the £500 potential winnings in that timescale with a healthier eating plan

jasonwatkins

k3lvc wrote: »

Yet you can afford to lose £250 ?? You could easily save the £500 potential winnings in that timescale with a healthier eating plan

I wouldn't lose £250. A relative has offered to lend me the money for the stake which would be paid back over the course of the year so that when I win, the full amount is mine.

gettingtheresometime

jasonwatkins wrote: »

As I said, I've struggled with motivation for many years and in a perfect world i'd simply flip that switch to "off" and just go out and lose the weight.

Unfortunately, for me, it's not a perfect world so it's really not that simple as "doing it for my health". I know many people will equally struggle to understand that, because i've personally spoken to people like that over the years, but it is what it is.

As far as what happens afterwards, since it's the last ever diet bet they're going to offer then the onus is clearly on me to keep the weight off as I wouldn't get another opportunity.

Speaking a former 'big' girl - and someone who is probably still classed as overweight, I really do understand where you are coming from. I was there.


Doctors told me that I should 'consider' losing weight & I was always depressed when I couldn't find clothes to fit me but nothing was going to persuade me to lose the weight until I had my 'lightbulb' moment and I decidedI was going to lose the weight for me....no one else but me.


I think that you're focusing on the wrong thing...you see the carrot as being the £750 potential winnings not the health benefits that you'd get as well as the tangible benefits (can't tell you how much more I'm enjoying life) you'd get.


Don't see the target as being the £750 but just go for the first 7lbs and when you get to that target aim for the next 7lbs and so on.


Do it through diet and exercise - doesn't matter if you only exercise for 20 minutes the first time - just build it up gradually.


Your motivation will come from seeing the scales drop and the compliments that you'll get.


The other question I'd ask is what would you do if the gp is adamant that they won't give you this letter?

jasonwatkins

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

The other question I'd ask is what would you do if the gp is adamant that they won't give you this letter?

Well the GP is adamant that she won't give me a letter so, at the moment, my options are to either ring around local surgeries to see if i can get an indication as to whether or not any of them will help.

If, as I expect, I get the same brick walls then my other option is to wait until August when I have a follow up appointment at a hospital in London so I can ask there.

If that doesn't happen then I don't know. I haven't really thought beyond that at the moment.

I can fully appreciate what you are saying about focusing on the wrong thing and the motivation, especially the "light bulb" moments, but, as i've said, it's really not that simple for me.

The reason i'm skirting around that is, as i've said (again ), that it's going down a path that is very personal, as well as being complex and very likely infuriating and it's information that i'm not willing to share on a public forum.

Yes, it would probably make it easier to understand where i'm coming from, but it's the kind of conversation you have with a counsellor in that respect. And I am seeing a counsellor who, incidentally, thinks this is a great idea.

k3lvc

jasonwatkins wrote: »

And I am seeing a counsellor who, incidentally, thinks this is a great idea.

I speak as the male equivalent of Gettingtheresometime - 21st down to 17st in the last year and having some the counselling/therapy bit then the above is !!!!!!!!. No counsellor in any professional capacity is going to suggest betting on weight loss as a financial carrot to success.


I was lucky enough to be a guinea pig with a Nutritional Therapy trial in our area via NHS with results - still far from perfect but in the past neither money, breakdown of relationships, medical issues (threats or real) had helped me


Having partly walked in your shoes I hate to judge but I don't see a positive ending by using this carrot (unless you eat it of course )

jasonwatkins

k3lvc wrote: »

I speak as the male equivalent of Gettingtheresometime - 21st down to 17st in the last year and having some the counselling/therapy bit then the above is !!!!!!!!. No counsellor in any professional capacity is going to suggest betting on weight loss as a financial carrot to success.


I was lucky enough to be a guinea pig with a Nutritional Therapy trial in our area via NHS with results - still far from perfect but in the past neither money, breakdown of relationships, medical issues (threats or real) had helped me


Having partly walked in your shoes I hate to judge but I don't see a positive ending by using this carrot (unless you eat it of course )

To be pedantic, the counsellor isn't actively suggesting I do it, he's acknowledging that, as a motivational tool for the person I am, it's a good idea.

Cyclizine

I have to be honest, I agree completely with your GP - I wouldn't write a letter for this either. It's not the way to achieve lasting weight loss. I'd happily refer you onto appropriate services, but I would not want to get professionally involved with something like this.

jasonwatkins

Here's an actual GP placing a bet with William Hill to lose weight - and winning

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/751687/Doctor-wins-fat-cheque-losing-five-stone-in-year-William-Hill

I wonder what's so different about her ?

iammumtoone

I actually think its a very good idea. Not via a book maker but maybe the NHS should start to 'pay' people to meet their weight loss goals. £750 is not alot of money compared to the cost of a gastric band/health issues caused by obesity and under the right conditions controlled probably so people lose the weight gradually it could be a great motivator.

I realise this will never happen as you would get idiots who would start to put on weight just so they could 'earn' money to lose it! If it wasn't for the potential for that to happen I think it would work well.

k3lvc

jasonwatkins wrote: »

Here's an actual GP placing a bet with William Hill to lose weight - and winning

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/751687/Doctor-wins-fat-cheque-losing-five-stone-in-year-William-Hill

I wonder what's so different about her ?

She got 50-1 odds and presumably got to sign her own letter


You've been offered 2-1 and haven't a letter yet