A TV doctor has outlined when unexplained weight loss could be concering (stock image) (Image: Getty)
Losing weight can be a real struggle. Whether you just want to shed a few pounds, or completely transform your body, there are a lot of things to think about, including what you’ve been eating, how much exercise you do, and whether you want to consider giving medication a go.
Thankfully, the health benefits are many, with losing weight linked to lower blood pressure, better mobility, and improved heart health, along with better sleep quality, improved mental health, and many others. But what if you start dropping the pounds without trying to? It might seem like something to be thankful for – but one TV doctor has warned it might not be as good as it seems.
Dr Nighat Arif on ITV’s This Morning earlier this month (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)
Dr Nighat Arif is a GP and has appeared on BBC Breakfast and ITV’s This Morning, where she has issued important health advice, particularly around women’s issues such as the menopause. She also has more than 365,000 followers on TikTok, where she often shares useful tips and information.
She recently shared a clip in which she set out why unexplained weight loss may not be the blessing it might appear to be. Opening her clip, Dr Arif said she had recently spoken to a patient who was “so excited” to tell her she was able to fit into an old pair of jeans after losing weight.
But something didn’t add up, and the GP asked some follow-up questions. “My Spidey-senses started kicking in, and I asked her follow-up questions, because this was something that was just brushed aside,” she said.
“And it wasn’t to alarm her, but when she thought about it, and we dug into what she was doing recently – because she did look absolutely phenomenal, I have to say, and she thought she was just eating healthier – and once we worked out what had actually been happening, actually nothing really had changed in her diet. The weight, however, seems to be falling off faster than she can think.
“She even had to buy a belt for the first time in her life, and her friends were all saying ‘God, you’re so lucky, look at you, you’re losing weight and you look phenomenal’, which she did. And that’s when it, for me as a doctor, I was thinking ‘actually, I think your body is trying to tell you that something is wrong’.”
Continuing, Dr Arif said it is important to recognise that losing weight without trying “isn’t a win”. “It’s a warning light for our body to go ‘hang on, something isn’t working out’,” she said. “And please don’t ignore that.
“It’s known as unintentional weight loss, and we don’t offer that information enough to our patients. So, if you’re dropping more than five per cent of your body weight in six to 12 months with zero effort, it could point to a whole host of different things, such as an overactive thyroid, uncontrolled diabetes, digestive conditions like celiac or inflammatory bowel disease, even depression, and in some cases, even cancer.
“Minor things like stress or a temporary infection can also do this too, where you just lose weight and the weight drops. But you do need to let your doctor know if you notice that drop.”
Urging patients to use the specific phrase ‘unintentional weight loss’ when speaking to their own GP, she said: “So if the scales are moving down and you didn’t ask it to, please don’t brush it off. Get it checked.”
Concluding, she said: “I know it gets easily dismissed, but it really shouldn’t.”
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