Would you go to an overweight doctor, dietitian or personal trainer?

Dr. Sharma wrote a post this week about a physician who was trying to help a patient who was near exactly his own height and weight, with weight loss. The physician grappled with his ability and authority to offer advice to someone, when he himself was struggling with his weight. This is a controversial topic, and something that nutritionists, dietitians, and personal trainers all struggle with as well.

Of course, even though someone may not look the part, doesn’t mean they don’t know what they’re talking about. It just means that for any number of reasons, they’re not taking their own advice. Take sport coaches for example. After their competing days are through, and age, injury and a slowing metabolism have reared their ugly heads, they often don’t look like they did at the peak of fitness. But, they might also be the most experienced and knowledgeable coach in that sport. Or, the physician I mentioned above, who blames his weight gain on his hectic academic schedule, followed by running a busy practice.

On the flip side, I have known many personal trainers who certainly looked the part, but had little to no real education, and used drugs and drastic diets to get a sculpted body. The ironic thing is they usually had clients signing up left and right. People were willing to risk their safety and health because their trainer looked good.

The fact is that there is a certain “X” factor that comes along with looking the part. Visuals hold a lot of weight (pardon the pun) with people, and when you can’t see how smart people are just by looking at them, that rock hard six-pack can certainly do a lot to sway a decision when picking a personal trainer.

Some say they are intimidated to go to a super fit fitness trainer or stick thin dietitian, and want someone who can understand what they’re going through. Other say they want someone who looks the part and even inspires them.

In the end, I don’t think there’s a black and white answer one way or the other. People have different preferences and different needs. One thing I do strongly believe is that health care provider should look “healthy”, but the word “healthy” means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

My advice: do your research. When looking for a dietitian or personal trainer, find out what their experience is with the issue you’re wanting to tackle. Not all dietitians specialize in weight loss, and not all trainers or nutritionists have a formal education. A lot of dietitians and trainers also have very different philosophies on health, fitness and weight loss. Finding someone who has a philosophy that works for you is also important.

What do you think?

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