A woman called her doctor out for fat-shaming her during a routine checkup in a viral TikTok video. The clip, which has more than 3 million views, was posted by Alex (@alexx.fitt), who ironically has the word “fit” in her TikTok handle and is literally an online weight-loss coach.
She’s also, at least by American standards, considered quite thin, which is why she was confused about the interaction she had with her doctor.
“My doctor was shocked about how much I weigh,” Alex recounts in the video, adding that when her doctor looked at the scale, she literally said “d*mn” under her breath as if Alex couldn’t hear her. (Which clearly she could.)
Before we reveal Alex’s “shocking” weight, take a guess. Got a number in your head?
When Alex stepped on the scale, she found out she weighed 150 pounds, a weight she felt comfortable with.
“That’s like a healthy range, right?” she asked the doctor, confused by the reaction.
“Most women would not like to see that number,” the doctor allegedly said more than once.
When Alex told her she was happy with the number on the scale her doctor gave her a condescending, “OK sweetheart.”
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time the Daily Dot has reported on a woman getting fat-shamed.
Just last month, a woman said the Planet Fitness worker she was talking to fat-shamed her for trying to cancel her membership. (The employee in question did end up getting fired for the inappropriate behavior.) Another woman was questioned by viewers who didn’t believe she only ate kid-size portions when she went out to eat.
Women have long been frustrated with the medical system due to the biases and discrimination they face. Women tend to have their symptoms dismissed, misdiagnosed, or not diagnosed at all—and it gets even worse when considering intersectional identities like race, sex, ability, and body size.
To make it worse, these issues are systemic. Not only do some medical professionals not learn the unique symptoms women have (like how heart attack symptoms can look different in women versus men), but there are huge research gaps that don’t even include female patients, leaving medical knowledge solely based on men.
While Alex is within a normal weight range according to the body mass index, commonly known as BMI, even this long-standing unit of measuring “healthy weight” is flawed. The BMI ranges are too general and don’t take into account a person’s unique body composition nor distinguish fat weight versus muscle weight.
Because of this, even people like athletes who tend to be considered in their physical prime are often categorized as obese according to the BMI scale, which only takes into account weight and height with no added nuance, Vox reported.
“While BMI is a useful health measure for a large population study, for example, to compare relative obesity rates from state to state, it becomes more problematic when you use it to determine an individual’s health,” Vox reported.
It also doesn’t take into account that you can have a larger body and live a healthy lifestyle or be a thin person who doesn’t take care of themselves. Instead, tests that measure glucose levels and cholesterol are better indicators of health than just weight.
@alexx.fitt I am still shocked
♬ original sound – alexx.fitt
People popped off in the comments section of Alex’s video.
“Wow that needs to be reported to the office manager. Her opinion is not ok. You’re perfect,” a top comment, with more than 14,000 likes, read.
“As a nurse, the entire BMI chart (which most medical clinics use) is a huge issue for me; it doesn’t give an accurate representation of what a healthy weight is and is completely out of date,” a person said.
“Was jealous and wanted to put you down so she would feel better about herself,” another speculated.
The Daily Dot reached out to Alex for comment via email.
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