I totally agree with the above posters about getting thyroid checked.
It sounds like you have PCOS. Instead of birth contorl pill, many women are successful treating this with metformin (which is an antidiabetic drug that increases insulin sensitivity).
Women who have PCOS typically have a very hard time losing weight even with diet and exercise. However, a low carbohydrate diet (really cutting down on the carbs like fruit and rice and taro) may be helpful. There is a food tracker on this site that is very useful.
I have always had extreme difficulty losing weight and I have thyroid issues. I am now follwowign a low carb diet of < 60 g of carbohydrate a day and am finally losing weight.
Good luck with your tests. I hope that's not your problem, but if it is, it will take time to get everything leveled out so that losing will be easier.
Of course, we have to remember that what we eat and the amount of exercise we get still makes a huge difference. There's also such a thing as not eating enough calories. If you don't eat enough, your body will think there is not going to be enough food, so will go into "starvation mode" and begin holding onto the body fat you already have.
Are you using a food diary? MedHelp has a great one, where you can enter the foods you eat and it will calculate your daily calories, and you can set it to give you different types of information, such as fat content, nutritional value, etc.
I'll be happy to help you any way I can.
thank you both for the comments.
im glad to see that some people dont just say what ive heard all my life
"your not exercising enough" or "its just the food you eat"
ill go get checked and ill look everything up before i go to a certain clinic for everything you guys told me.
thank you so much and i hope to speak with you all soon
I agree with hppytrails - get your thyroid checked. Hypothyroidism can cause both the weight gain/inability to lose AND the irregular periods.
The minimum tests you need are TSH, Free T3 and Free T4. Depending on those levels, you might want to get tested for antibodies to confirm or rule out an autoimmune thyroid disease. But don't just accept "normal" or "fine" for sample results, because often, we find ourselves with levels in the "normal" range, but we are still sick. You need to know where you fall within that lab range in order to determine if you have a real issue or not.
I'd strongly suggest that you check out the thyroid forum -- you will find tons of information on testing, interpreting results, etc.
Hppytrails is also correct that most communities have a public health clinic to which you can go and you pay as you can afford; under some circumstances it could be free.
Have you had your thyroid checked? It could account for the irregular periods as well. Birth contol pills do make some people gain weight at first but that usually levels off after a while.
Most communities have a clinic where those with no insurance can go and they charge you on a sliding fee scale according to your income.