Weight loss on birth control?

daynaxxanne

I've recently started taking linessa birth control to help manage endometriosis. This is the third birth control I have tried. Initially I went on Lolo and enjoyed it but it wasn't strong enough for me and two months after starting I was Immediately switched to alesse. I was on it for 6 months but decided to stop taking it back in January as I decided the side effects were not worth it. During the time I was on alesse I gained a total of 20lbs all within a very short time ( I didn't gain any of the weight until the 5th month I was on it) and it wouldn't come off. I went off alesse in January and have not lost much weight since stopping. I was doing okay as far as pain from my cycle went until about March/April. The pain got bad again and I was out with friends and ended up passing out on a staircase in a mall from the pain followed by dry heaving in the bathroom for a half hour. After that I decided I needed to be back on birth control and was put on linessa. I'm only on my second month of using it but I wanted to know if weightloss on it was normal. I found my hunger slightly increased the first week but by the third week I was barely hungry at all and the week of the dummie pills I was struggling to eat more than 1000 calories a day. I lost a total of 5.5lbs in the last two weeks of the package and was wondering if that was a normal side effect of it? It was the first weight I had lost since initially gaining weight.

OdditiesAbound

I think birth control is just one of those things that affects different ladies in different ways. And different brands affect the same folks differently.

My sister swears up and down starting the pill makes her gain/keep 15 extra lbs, I have a couple friends who say it caused them to drop 5-10 lbs, and I started on them again a few weeks ago after an extended break and I haven't seen any unusual drops/gains (I've been sitting at roughly 2 lbs a week lost both before and after I started taking them).

The worst side effects I've had were some leg cramps and moody days the first couple weeks where I cried at the drop of a hat but that thankfully seems to have gone away quickly.

Ortho tri cyclen is the brand I'm currently using, and Yaz was the brand my sister was using, if that matters/helps.

tarrynkim21

I'm currently on Qlaira started in March, picked up 3kgs! Considering swapping over to the patch. Will that help reduce my weight a bit?

cerise_noir

Medication itself doesn't cause direct weight gain, but it can cause an increase of appetite. The only way the body can store extra energy as fat is to feed it extra energy (calories above maintenance). I'm on many medications that claim weight gain as a side effect, but realise, scientifically, that weight gain is all about excess calories.

Fluid retention can be another factor to consider.

OP, you should really start weighing all the solid and semi solid foods that you consume on a food scale in grams.... Only use cups and spoons for liquids.