Wednesday, 29 July 2009

  • "Model Thinness" Dieting Can Lead To Low Sex Drive!

     

    I bet a lot of women prefer to be skinny (I'm not talking about sickly skinny, but more like Victoria Secret model skinny) if they had a choice (well, at least I do) because that's how the society tends to define beauty now.

    But strict dieting usually lies behind the “model thinness," which can then cause them serious illnesses, including eating disorders, amenorrhea (not having regular menstrual cycles), and apparently a decreased interest in sex.

    According to Dr. Sarah Brewer, an author of many health books and a relationship and sex expert, those who frequently diet rigorously “can lose interest in sex all together” because “as soon as body weight plummets below a critical point, the womb shrinks, menstruation stops and [their] level of sexual interest, fantasy and enjoyment fall,” which can make them infertile.

    Have you noticed that you've lost interest in sex after experiencing significant weight loss (aka crash dieting)? If you are considered underweight for someone your size, do you think it has negatively impacted your interest in sex?

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Comments (43)

  • TequilaKisses@xanga

    Yea. Weightloss can lead to hormone imbalance. 
  • InTheThin@xanga

    Mm I have not had that problem at all. I lost 10 lbs in two weeks (from 140 to 130), and I wanted sex even more. I felt hotter, and I wanted him to enjoy my body more.


    It might have something to do with the fact that I've only started having sex for 2 months now, but... from my experience, sex drive doesn't go down.

  • Wait_by_Moonlight@xanga

    My mother, who was anorexic for eight years of her life, was warned by her doctor that she might not be able to have children.  It is a very real concern.
  • Morningstarrising@xanga

    This also happens, from what I remember in health class, to women who participate vigorously in sports.  They lose their period, their sex drive goes down (which I guess is a good thing when you don't want your star high school soccer player to get pregnant).  I haven't ever dieted unhealthily (in other words, I've never lost more than 2 lbs a week), so I don't know from personal experience.  But I have heard that this is a problem for some women.
  • ForeverXBroken_Inside@xanga

    When I plummeted below 100 lbs. last spring, I didn't notice a decrease in my sex drive at all. However, now that I'm well again and back up to a healthy 103 (I'm 5'1"; that's pretty normal for my height), my periods have stopped and my sex drive has indeed decreased. Not sure what that's about though...it seems like it should be the other way around, no?
  • anorexicart@xanga

    hmm.. i can't remember the last time i wasn't dieting. and it definately has affected me. my poor boyfriend. it started after i had lost 14lbs.. after that i just kind of avoided it altogether
  • xdiexthinx@xanga

    Umm. I've done plenty of dieting...never lost my sex drive tho! ;)
  • Tiffanyy_Co@xanga

    I know my bad food habits have made me to tired a lot of the time. I hate that lol so I'm working on eating better! Because well.. I love sex haha.
  • snapeful@xanga

    @Tiffanyy_Co@xanga - LOL! yeah i love it too :o make sure i eat lots of fruits and veggies... lmao

    ah, i don't diet or anything because i have a high metabolism so i don't need it. i just eat healthy foods if that's a diet? idk.
  • lovelesskisses@xanga

    Not losing interest in sex overall.. I think it just takes more to turn me on.  And sometimes in the middle of sex I'll be like 'blehhhh' and just want to cuddle. =P
  • stayfitshaun

    I'll pass this on to all the guys i train with. I'm sure they'll start telling there highly sexed drive girl friends to start losing weight. This way they don't have to worry about losing to much muscle mass from loads of sex!

    Shaun
    http://www.stayfitbug.com
  • zinda@xanga

    yeah. i don't really think about that much anymore actually! hmm probably not great for my well-being and all. 

    so if i want a relationship to work in the future, maybe i should gain weight?
  • The_Eclectic_Dreamer@xanga

    Hm, the only time I noticed a decrease in my sex-drive was when my doctor had me try birth control for a health problem (not for pregnancy prevention).  Once I was on that thing, I had pretty much all together lost my interest in sex.  It sucked.  I guess it really does prevent pregnancy, eh? ;)


    On the weight dropping part, I have been decreasing in my weight a bit, but I haven't seen any loss in my sex drive.  In fact, it's been more often than normal, lol.  I think it's mostly because I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my body and want to be able to show it off. :)
  • kieri126@xanga

    haha in all honesty...i dont know what would cause my sex drive to decrease......


    i think about sex alll the time lol. Im constantly dieting but I dont know Im not as serious about it now as I was so I guess right now isnt an accurate reading of what my sex drive would really be like if I was legit starving myself....but next time Ill pay more attention to it...


    ver interesting. but seems like im always horny.

  • kieri126@xanga

    @zinda@xanga - hahaha the funny thing about that is....its prob true. most women in relationships note a significant amount of weight gain after being in a relationship...i mean I def think the going out to eat more and not havign time for yourself accounts mostly for it but who knows...
  • zinda@xanga

    @kieri126@xanga - yeah i've noticed that a lot too. not a bad thing! some of them call those "happy pounds" haha. while i watch some of my friends in a relationship gain weight from this pattern, i'm relieved i at least haven't strayed from my healthy routine. but then....they seem a lot happier. 
  • xXjustanother_deadgirlXx@xanga

    lol, not, I think I noticed the complete opposite. When I lost about 40 pounds in 6 weeks I was so confident about my body, I LOVED sex. It ended with my collapsing after an 11 day fast which quickly put a damper on my sex life as I was put into a rehab program, but until that point, my sex life was great!
  • shes_lump@xanga

    whoa thanks so much for posting this. I am 104 lbs. (maybe less, I haven't checked the scale for a few weeks) and I have amenorrhea (my period stopped and I am on birth control to get it back) because in the last 14 months I dropped 20 lbs. I wasn't "dieting", I was just eating healthier. But my sex drive has gone down....a lot. I just have no interest in doing it anymore... and I wasn't sure why.. but is it proven that if you don't have a period, you aren't interested in sex?
  • EccentricSiren@xanga

    I'm probably a bit underweight, but I still have a healthy sex drive.

  • blue_dragonfly420@xanga

    @InTheThin@xanga - I'm with you on this one!  I feel sexier.  My sex drive is pretty healthy as it is and I can't seem to keep my hands of the bf.  But when I'm able to keep up the workout routine and loose weight....I just can't get enough of him.  =]   lol
  • looseitalll@xanga

    i was anorexic for over a year lost my period and i had no sex drive nor and desire in sex lucky i have recoverd now and found out what i was missing out on !
  • looseitalll@xanga

    i was anorexic for over a year lost my period and i had no sex drive nor and desire in sex lucky i have recoverd now and found out what i was missing out on !
  • Mcon@xanga

    Looking at women similar to those in the picture lowers my sex drive. If I wanted to have sex with a skeleton, then I would just dig up a fresh grave.
  • prototype_abbeyancyF7@xanga

    True.

    Whoever mentioned hormone imbalance is right. I had a spectacular sex drive before I lost ten pounds, and now it's ..blehhh. I'm in the middle of an unnaturally long period right now, too. I've never had menstrual cramps before, and now I've had them for the last two days. Ugh. :[ I can hope that my weight plateaus out and I can eat and have energy and prurience again.

  • vanishingg__act@xanga

    hmm... dieting like that is what plummeted me into my eating disorder. a low sex drive is the least of your worries when you're in the ICU, dying. i hope that all of you can learn healthy eating one day-- TRULY healthy eating.

    and to Wait_by_moonlight:: your mom wasn't warned that she might not be able to conceive because of her sex drive, it's because anorexia destroys your reproductive system (along with every other system in your body). And a note to you--- Anorexia is a biologically based, genetic disease--- so be careful.

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