A female friend of mine said that her sex drive went for a nosedive when she put a bunch of weight. Has this happened to you?

I think it can go far beyond lowered sex drive. The simple desire to go out and be seen in public can be affected by any unwanted life change. It can affect personal hygiene, social involvement, propensity for addictions, lack of motivation, mood swings…

I think in some circumstances it can actually increase sex drive. A person may want to feel desired even more than normal.

By no means am I a professional life coach, but experience and common sense tell me that unwanted weight gain is one of many struggles that can manifest from other not so obvious sources. Best to address the source of the life change.

No. I am not sure her response is typical at all.

Yes, in a way. For me, weight gain has made me dislike looking at myself naked, getting dressed with the attention I used to take and so the idea of someone else looking at me, watching me, judging me is horrible. It would affect my sex life a whole lot more if I didn’t know what was going on and didn’t have belief I can be normal again soon. It’s been depressing getting fat, depression has made me not as interested in sex aside from my daydreams when I imagine my normal, thin self.

@marinelife How about those who have a poor body image because they’re overweight?

Apparently, the scientists agree with your friend:

“Duke University researchers studied 91 obese men and 134 obese women who completed a sexual functioning questionnaire before enrolling in a weight loss study. The questionnaire covered nine areas: interest, desire, arousal, orgasm, satisfaction, behavior, relationship, masturbation and sexual problems.

“We found that there was lower sexual satisfaction and lower sexual quality of life among women than men, and overall sexual quality of life was low among both groups,” Dr. Truls Ostbye, a professor in the department of community and family medicine, said in a Duke news release.”

“Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy”

Confidence and sexuality go hand in hand.

Didn’t the documentary Supersize Me point out that sudden weight gain correlates with drops in sexual drive?