Should I help my friend lose weight?

I don't envy you. Has she asked for your assistance?

Unfortunately she will only take the steps to lose weight when she is ready. I know my girlfriend and myself spent many months wishing we were smaller (while dunking all sorts of fried meats into ranch dressing) until we decided finally to do something about our weight. We have lost a combined 51 pounds since January and feel so much better now.
Just be supportive of your friend and hopefully your example will be motivation enough for her to change. Everyone knows what they have to do....we all just have different reasons and times to start our journey. Your friend is lucky that she has caring friends ready to help her like you

You should confront her but make it clear you will always be her friend.
If she has gained this frm stress, she has issues you may not be able to help with.

Maybe you could suggest activities to do together that would be for exercise but you could pass off as a social thing.

She's not ready. She won't lose or even keep it off until SHE decides she can do it. Just be a friend and be there for her when she decides for herself. It is hard. I'm watching most of my family in the exact same situation. I hear, "Oh, you've lost so much weight...etc. etc." But then they order the death by chocolate cake. I don't discuss what I'm doing unless they flat blank ask. I lost 25 lbs through hard work. But they aren't ready for the "hard work." GL to you!

The perfect time to confront her is when you're out eating and she's crying about her weight and stuffing cheese fries down her throat. I've found that many women just like to vent their sob stories, but take immediate offense when you break it down for them. They are typically the drama queens. The ones that want all the results without any blood, sweat or tears. Most of the time I keep my mouth shut and either laugh or put on the headphones (at work). If it's someone close like a BFF or sister. TELL her! Fo sho! Regardless of any negative reaction.

This is a tough one, I sympathise as i'm kind of in the same situation but my friend has asked me to help and i've given her advice but she just gives me excuses as to why she can't/wont eat right or exercise. I started by showing her this website and app in the hope she'd use it and start tracking but shes not interested. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

wait until she is ready. i have a friend who wants to lose about 20 lbs, but there is nothing i can do about it. she is seeing my results and is starting to ask more questions and get involved with her choices. my husband is the same way - he cares yet does improve for a day or two and then back to doing the same old. i care about his health issues, but he tells me all i do is nag on him and that is not what i want. i want him to be with me for a long time. but until his is ready, he has to live by his choices in doing so. it is a hard feeling and thought to do, but we don't want to lose our friendships either. this way we are there when they are ready.

Yeah, you want to be careful about how you handle it, especially if she's had problems with depression in the past. You don't want to end up killing the friendship and making her even more depressed then and more likely to overeat.

She probably knows deep down that what she's eating isn't good but doesn't want to admit it either out loud or to herself.

If she knows that you're on MFP and trying to be healthy, it might inspire her to start, too but it might just make her feel even more down about the fact that you're being healthy and she still can't find the motivation. Or you could try to get her doing exercise by suggesting you go swimming together or to a fitness class or something. You could even make it out that it is because you are too nervous to go yourself rather than saying outright that it is because of her.

It's a tricky situation.

My mom is the same way. She needs to lose weight, she knows she needs to lose weight, she says she wants to lose weight, more than one doctor has told her she has to lose weight. Why hasn't she lost weight? She isn't ready to truly commit to it. She's all bark no bite at this point. When she's ready to make changes, she will. She's finally asking me for food and exercise pointers and is open to talking to a nutritionist (she has diet restrictions and allergies). Your friend sounds very similar. All bark and no bite. You can let her know that you are concerned about her because you are her friend, but it probably won't have any real affect on her. When she is ready, she'll let you know. Just keep being you and the rest will (hopefully) follow

Unfortunately she will only take the steps to lose weight when she is ready. I know my girlfriend and myself spent many months wishing we were smaller (while dunking all sorts of fried meats into ranch dressing) until we decided finally to do something about our weight. We have lost a combined 51 pounds since January and feel so much better now.
Just be supportive of your friend and hopefully your example will be motivation enough for her to change. Everyone knows what they have to do....we all just have different reasons and times to start our journey. Your friend is lucky that she has caring friends ready to help her like you

This x2. If I would have tried to lose weight for as long as I'd thought about it, I'd be at my goal weight by now. Also, I'm a lot like your friend, OP. I was a normal weight in high school, gained in college, a lot of it because of depression.

I also have to laugh a little when you say you won't "let" your friend take diet pills. If she wants to, she will, and there is nothing you can do to stop her, just like there is nothing you can do to make her eat healthy and exercise.

You are her friend. The best thing you can do is just model the healthy behavior. For example if you two are about to go out. Make a big deal about how you are going to eat before you leave so you know you are going to eat healthy to continue your weight loss. Also pack her snack too so she won't feel the need to eat out while you two are together.

This is a tricky situation due to her depression. You don't want to alienate her. Many depression meds slow metabolism down too while making you very hungry which isn't helping with her eating choices. However there are depression meds that don't have that side effect. If you bring up the weight issue at all make sure you are doing it from a health stance and perhaps suggest she talk to her doctor about different meds - that is something she and doctor will have to work out as not every med works for everyone. I would definitely suggest encourage healthy activities to do when you get together - perhaps also pick restaurants that have mainly healthy eating options when you go out for meals together. As an extremely overweight person who has bouts of depression I can say the unhealthy eating and depression make a vicious cycle that feed off each other. I also know that when my "thin" friends would mention anything about me needing to lose weight, it just made me feel worse, even more inadequate and want to retreat and avoid them. It took a friend in the same situation as me and seeing her progress coupled with my doctor strongly urging me to have weight loss surgery that made me finally get my act together earlier this year to do this right and deal with my eating addiction so I don't have to have the surgery.

I'd say that you should probably just lead by example...? She needs to decide to make the change on her own.