Birth Control Pills

Hey everyone.

I recently started taking the pill to start regulating my periods, and I've heard different information about how this can affect weight loss. I just wanted to know if anyone has experienced more difficulty losing weight on the pill.

Thanks!

As long as you count your calories and have a calorie deficit, you won't gain any weight. The reason some people gain weight is that sometimes the pill makes you hungrier. As long as you don't eat more, weight gain won't be a problem. 

Good luck with your weight loss :)

I was on Seasonique and within a month I reached my highest weight ever. My co-worker even noticed and encouraged me to get back on track. It sucked, even when I did everything perfectly (according to CC) I couldn't lose the weight. The good news was I only got a period every 2 or 3 months so I didn't have to deal with cramps (Main reason I went on the pill.) But the bad news (besides the weight problems) was I got random depressing thoughts.

I've been off the pill for 3 and a half months and attempted to follow the same thing before and surprise: I'm at my lowest weight ever!

It should be noted that everyone reacts to pills differently. I was just unlucky and Seasonique wasn't for me. I haven't tried other pills and don't plan to at the moment.

I think the pill affects everyone differently, and different brands of pills affect that individual differently as well.

If you find that you're gaining a lot of weight, have more mood swings etc, you might want to ask your doctor to try a different one.  I tried 4 different types until I was put on a very low dose progesterone pill (which, unfortunately also gave me a long period), but the weight came off, and the mood swing  were better.

I'm personally no longer on the pill, am using a copper IUD now, which has no hormone effects, and definitely no weight gain issues.  I say, don't be afraid to ask your doctor about alternatives and different types of birth control!

I've been taking yaz since Mar. 2008, and haven't noticed a difference in my weight...though I have been trying to lose weight that whole time. The only reason I haven't lost weight is my fault, not the pills. It seems several of my friends gained weight, but their start of the pill was also in conjunction with being able to drink alcohol legally...so in that case it was the booze, not the pill.

Actually, my period symptoms have decreased so much with the pill! Less bloat, irritability, breakouts, cramps...I can actually have a period without taking tons of ibuprophen to get through it! My urges to binge from hormones has also decreased. I still do binge, hence the no weight loss in the last year. I'm working on that one, though!

I'm personally no longer on the pill, am using a copper IUD now, which has no hormone effects, and definitely no weight gain issues.  I say, don't be afraid to ask your doctor about alternatives and different types of birth control!

 You are very lucky to be able to to use the copper IUD without problems. I had one inserted last August and within two weeks it had to be taken out because I was in a lot of pain from my body rejecting it. I got a bad infection (my gynocologist did tests and she even said they didn't know what kind of bacteria was causing the infection.) I was on amoxocillin for a week and ended up being sick for like two months afterwards. $200 for nothing and I always wanted one. Oh well.

As for the birth control, I am strongly against hormonal birth control. Yes it bugs the hell outta my fiance who has said countless times to me that it would not matter if I gained 50 pounds on it, but the way my self-esteem is now just  trying to lose 10 pounds forget it. I would be misreable if I had to lose any more than that.

Also and the biggest factor in my views on BC is that my grandma from my mother's side was on high dose birth control back in the 1970's. She ended up getting breast cancer and had a mastectomy done on her left breast several years after being put on it. Breast cancer is still around today and seems like it's  rather getting worse than better (yes they have better ways of detecting it, but if your genetically prone or lifestyle habits count against you, you are at risk no matter what anyone says). And people diagnosed with it are getting younger when it was long believed to happen mid-life. SCARY!

I see a BIG connection between breast cancer and birth control usage. Synthetic hormones our bodies don't know what to do with. So I ask myself: is it worth it to get cancer to avoid pregnancy? No thank you.

Original Post by soupcanx:

I was on Seasonique and within a month I reached my highest weight ever. My co-worker even noticed and encouraged me to get back on track. It sucked, even when I did everything perfectly (according to CC) I couldn't lose the weight. The good news was I only got a period every 2 or 3 months so I didn't have to deal with cramps (Main reason I went on the pill.) But the bad news (besides the weight problems) was I got random depressing thoughts.

I've been off the pill for 3 and a half months and attempted to follow the same thing before and surprise: I'm at my lowest weight ever!

It should be noted that everyone reacts to pills differently. I was just unlucky and Seasonique wasn't for me. I haven't tried other pills and don't plan to at the moment.

Seasonique causes the body to act in a way that is sort of different than normal. 4 periods a year might be quite a change for some women's bodies. Perhaps that could have encouraged the weight gain? If you are worried, talk to your doctor about ultra low-dose pills like yaz. I took the "mini pill" which is just progesterone and I gained weight, now that I think of it...then I switched and feel fine now.

Oooh, I'm sorry you had a bad experience with your iud, icyflames! I was a bit nervous about getting it, but like you, I don't want to mess around with my hormones and so I needed a non-hormal option (my biggest problem wasn't weight gain, but emotions, and painful sex, which kinda defeats the purpose of being on birth control, in my opinion!).  My sisters have also had problems with being on the pill, and I spoke to my mom recently, and it turns out she had problems with it too back in the day.

Anyway, I've had my iud for almost a year now, and while periods are longer, I haven't had any problems.

I really think it's rubbish when doctors say that there's no side effects to the pill! The hormone levels have definitely come down a LOT since the 1970s, but I agree with you that we really don't know what the long term effects of birth control is.

I actually LOST weight while on the pill--it was like magic!  But I have borderline PCS, so regulating my hormones with the BC was probably helping with that, which in turn helped me lose weight.   That's my theory anyway.

However, I can never take hormonal birth control again because I developed blood clots while on it (which are life threatening).  I recommend, before you decide whether to go on the pill, to make sure your family doesn't have any history of blood clotting problems, because hormonal BC ups your risk for that quite a bit.