Why it is Best for You to Measure Weight and Height

Every visit to the Doctor’s office always includes 2 measurements. They measure your height and weight.

We don’t even think about it or question the activity. We’ve known that “this is how it’s done” since our parents took us to the Doctor as children. And now the habit is ingrained within our minds.

The height is unlikely to change after a certain age, however people know that their weight can fluctuate throughout life.

People are often embarrassed by their weight and chalk up any additional pounds to clothing or some kind of accessory like jackets, shoes, hand bags, or anything inside their pockets.

However the Doctor does not measure your weight simply to embarrass you at every visit. There are several clinically relevant reasons.

I hope to point out as many as I can in this post.

1. Body Mass Index

Yes, of course, the Doctor does measure your weight and height to determine your body mass index (BMI).

Obesity is linked to several diseases. This has been known for quite some time.

Diseases include higher blood pressure, type 2 diabetes mellitus, heart failure, sleep apnea, arthritis, menstrual irregularities, and cancer just to name a few things (Pi-Sunyer FX, 1999)

The CDC has even found obesity to be a comorbidity for worsened outcomes with COVID-19.

So the Doctor certainly cares about your BMI because an elevated BMI is associated with several comorbidities.

Removing your shoes and jacket, emptying your pockets, or placing your hand bag to the side will help gain a more accurate reading. Just remember to do the same thing with every visit.

2. Any Unexplained Changes

People work hard to keep their weight under control. And people have the ability to lose 10, 20, 30, 40 pounds in a matter of months. But what if they lost or gained this much weight without even trying?

An unexplained weight gain or weight loss raises some serious red flags in the eyes of your Doctor.

Cancer

One serious concern is cancer. This disease has a high metabolic activity due to rapidly growing cells. Therefore they consume a lot of energy and place a major strain on the body’s energy reserves. As these rogue cells are creating a monopoly on available energy, people will lose weight as fat is being consumed to supply the rest of the body with energy.

Furthermore, many chemo therapeutics cause nausea and make it difficult for people to eat a normal diet. We are all familiar with the adage, “calories in versus calories out”. If the cancer cells are consuming more energy than can be taken in through diet, weight loss will occur.

Weight loss is often drastic. My grandfather had lost 20 pounds per month when he was first diagnosed. However this is just an example. Any unexplained weight loss must be evaluated by your Doctor.

Congestive Heart Failure

Congestive heart failure, or CHF for short, is a disease that can lead to accumulation of fluid within the body. This is because the heart is no longer an effective pump.

Without an effective pump, blood supply to the kidneys is compromised. This means that the kidneys cannot filter out the excess fluids as it should. So excessive fluids build up in the body. With excess fluids comes water weight.

Your Doctor takes great care to compare your weight at the current office visit with the last few visits. This is to determine if your medication regimen is adequately managing your fluid levels.

Too much fluid in your system can lead to swelling of the legs. But more importantly, too much fluid can overload your heart and cause fluid to back-log in your lungs. This will cause decreased oxygen in the blood and therefore less oxygen being delivered to your body.

If you have shortness of breath, chest pain, and find yourself needing to prop yourself up on pillows in order to sleep, you must speak with your Doctor or proceed to the emergency room as soon as possible.

Diabetes

One of the main considerations with unexplained weight change is diabetes. Often times this may be new-onset in a person that might have never had the disease before.

However if you experience rapid weight loss or weight gain in combination with increased appetite, increased thirst, and increased urination, you need to see your Doctor as soon as possible.

Diabetes is a disease that can cause weight loss because the body thinks it is starving even if you are eating. So the body will use its energy reserves (and therefore cause weight loss) to try to provide energy to the cells of the body.

Ironically, available energy is not the problem. Accessing the energy is the problem.

So if the cells of the body cannot access the energy, they send out low energy signals. As a result, we feel hungry. So we start eating more. And again, “calories in vs calories out”. If more calories comes into the body than we can use, we cause weight gain.

If this is left untreated, a life-threatening condition called Diabetic Ketoacidosis can result.

If you have any of the above mentioned symptoms, speak with your Doctor immediately.

Thyroid

The thyroid gland plays the central role in regulating the body’s metabolic rate.

Too fast, and the body burns energy quickly. Too slow, and the body furnace is practically on ice!

In the first instance, weight loss occurs. In the second, weight gain.

Be mindful of the fact that these are not the only effects of a hyperactive or under active thyroid gland. There are many issues along with weight changes including but not limited to altered mentation, fatigue, sweats, blood pressure changes, palpitations, heat or cold intolerance, increased or decreased appetite, the list goes on.

So neither of these conditions are beneficial to the body. The cells of the body must maintain a metabolic pace that is optimal for their performance.

Therefore if you experience any abnormal symptoms, do not hesitate to speak with your Doctor.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are commonly known in the medical community.

These diseases can lead to malabsopriton of nutrients. This means that nutrients are not being absorbed well, if at all, into the bloodstream so that the body can make the best use of these nutrients on a cellular level.

However any disease that can lead to malabsorption of nutrients can cause problems in weight and the normal functioning of the body.

For example: Celiac disease, Cystic fibrosis, and Lactose intolerance are but a few diseases that can create a situation where the colon is not able to perform is function to adequately absorb important micronutrients and macronutrients.

Symptoms vary widely from subtly persistent fatigue to out-right chronic diarrhea. So speak with your Doctor if you feel anything is amiss. You can also find out more here.

Conclusion

As I have hopefully shown, your Doctor does not measure your height and weight for fun. A lot of important information can be gleaned from these two numbers. Therefore your Doctor always ensures that your height and weight are noted at every visit.

However the above examples are only a few examples of what can lead to an unintentional change in weight. You will have to speak with your Doctor for further information that specifically pertains to your individual healthcare.

But hopefully I gave you some insight into why a visit to the Doctor’s office includes stepping onto the scale. And I hope to have equipped you with some thought towards your next visit when speaking with your Doctor about your health concerns.