Question

This is pertaining to a friend, but I am needing some assistance. My friend was previously anorexic (around 2012-2013). She started to eat healthy again (late 2013-2014) and her body went back to its normal weight range. However, recently she has needed to take birth control for some medical issues, but other than that her life has stayed pretty much the same. She had gone astray with her eating habits earlier this year (such as too many sweets, eating out too much, eating late at night, etc.) but recently, she cut all of it back out for the most part. She also started to work out more as well. In about 4 months’ time, she has gained around 40 pounds, which she cannot account for (she doesn\'t think that her eating habits contributed to this major weight gain, but the birth control cannot be the reason why because its usually only responsible for about 5-10 pounds of weight gain). She keeps trying to tell me that the only time that she’s ever seen weight loss results is when she starves herself, as if her body just “likes to hold on to fat”. She has once again considered starving herself because she is at wits end, but I’m trying to convince her that she cannot give up, even if she thinks that she’s doing everything “right”. She said that her workouts are frequent and that they are at a moderate to strenuous activity level, but I still feel as though there hasn’t been enough time for her to see results because she is very impatient at the moment. Can you give me a new reason to explain to her why she might not be losing weight like she wants to? And why she keeps gaining? I know that there can be a LOT of factors that would contribute to this (I am a nutrition major and I plan to get my degree in personal training in the near future), but as of now, she is thoroughly CONVINCED that her body is just a “fat magnet” that won’t let go of the excess weight that she currently has. Thanks for everything in advance! (she is 19 years old, 240 pounds, and she has ovarian cysts which is the reason that she was put on birth control)

Answered by Sarah Dagan