FPs aim to set good example in fat fight

Family physicians across the nation are being encouraged to shed pounds.

By Damon Adams, AMNews staff. Nov. 3, 2003.

David McAtee, DO, has a soft spot for potato chips and other snacks: his belly.

"If they came up with a calorie-free chip, I'd be in heaven," said the Port Charlotte, Fla., family physician.

At 5 feet 10 inches, 277 pounds, Dr. McAtee knows he's not the picture of health to patients. With his image looming before them in the exam room, he understands why his pitch to lose weight attracts as much interest as a tofu entrée.

"I've always kind of been a heavy guy. It's been a lifelong struggle. I don't think people would remember me as a person in great shape," Dr. McAtee said. "Being overweight is not the way I want to lead by example."

So he's hitting the treadmill and exercising with a personal trainer. He started about two months ago and has lost 20 pounds.

And he hopes to gain even more momentum now that the American Academy of Family Physicians has launched a fitness program to fight obesity.

The 10-year initiative, dubbed Americans in Motion, intends to whip into shape a nation fraught with obesity. In 1999, about two in three Americans were either overweight or obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But before it turns its attention to the masses, the AAFP program's first year is focusing on nudging physicians to lose their pudginess. Get doctors physically and emotionally fit, the AAFP believes, and they will serve as better ambassadors to patients in the battle of the bulge.

"It's not a good idea for us to tell our patients something that we don't do ourselves. It's time for us to walk the talk," said AAFP President Michael Fleming, MD.