Chapter 14: Medical Conditions that May Affect Weight Loss
If you follow these guidelines and aren’t seeing results, it’s possible that a medical reason may be to blame. Although they’re not very common, they have to be considered as options if nothing else is working.
Medical conditions such as Cushing’s disease, diabetes or pre-diabetes, hypothyroidism and polycystic ovary syndrome for females can make it hard or impossible to lose weight. Some even promote weight gain.
Testing for conditions such as these can be done easily through blood. If you find that you have one of these, your doctor can help come up with a way to treat it. And, once it’s under control, losing weight will become an option.
If you’re struggling to drop the pounds, it’s possible that you’re on a medication that is making it difficult. For instance, oral steroids and the birth control drug Depo-Provera can cause you to gain weight.
If you feel this may be happening to you, talk to your health care provider. It may be something as simple as switching you to a different medication that doesn’t have weight gain as a side effect.