Birth control making me gain weight? Anyone else?
Replies
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I took various different BC pills over the years and just kept getting heavier. I had Mirena for 1-1/2 years but it was always just uncomfortable to me and caused unpredictable periods and spontaneous spotting for no reason. My weight fluctated on that. Then I switched to depo. I had several friends warn me not to use Depo because they gained SOOOOO much weight on it. So I'm not sure if it was the pill or not that made me gain, but I've been on Depo for 2 years and lost 70 lbs. Everybody's different.0
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i tried a ton of different BC pills and finally went for the Mirena IUD. I have had no issue losing weight and I love it....while on the pill I tended to retain a lot of water weight for some reason.0
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I'm on the pill (Seasonique) and I am wondering if it is playing a part in my struggle to lose the last few pounds.
If it helps, I'm on the generic seasonique and I haven't had any problems. But I've also been on yaz and loestrin and didn't have problems with those either, so it's possible they just don't effect me that way. Good luck!0 -
I recently had essure done due to the fact that hormonal birth control was no longer an option for me. I put on 35 pounds in two years with water retention fluctuating around 10 pounds. Blood pressure was so elevated that it caused a heart murmur. I dropped ten pounds immediately and 3 & 1/2 inches the first week and have since lost 5 more inches.
I had the essure procedure done, too. Unfortunately, it didn't block my tubes like it was supposed to. Grr! Had to have the copper IUD placement to ensure I don't get pregnant.
I was actually wanting the IUD just to avoid the need for anesthesia and the healing process but I had a very hard time finding anyone who would place one. I kept getting told that they "opted not to use the copper IUD due to heavier periods." I kept thinking really? Hormonal birth control can reek havoc on a woman's body but you stop using the copper IUD because of heavier bleeding... I have another two months before finding out if mine took correctly.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you that yours takes!0 -
The only birth control I gained on was Depo. I gained 45 lbs in 7 months!! That was 12 years ago. After having my second daughter, I went on Nuvaring, I loved it at first, but I started having severe chest pain in October 2012, I had a Pulmonary Embolism caused by this birth control at 28 y/o and otherwise perfectly healthy (blood work canceled out anything else)due to that I have to stay away from anything with hormones now.0
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I tried depo in college, gained 40 lbs in a year and was a bi*ch, it was horrible. Copper IUD = best birth control ever, I wish I would have done it years ago!!0
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I started the pill 3 years ago and was around 180 then...when I started MFP I was 230. Not all of that gain was from the pill, but I know about 20 of it was.0
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I'm on Orsythia (pills) it hasn't seemed to affect me.0
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I've gained 35 pounds since starting a new birth control and it took me until TODAY to figure that out. I like taking the pill, anyone have suggestions? I am currently on a mini-pill that has both estrogen and progesterone. Seeing a gynecologist this Friday but suggestions are certainly welcome and appreciated!
-Mallory (mgpearce4)0 -
I've gained 35 pounds since starting a new birth control and it took me until TODAY to figure that out. I like taking the pill, anyone have suggestions? I am currently on a mini-pill that has both estrogen and progesterone. Seeing a gynecologist this Friday but suggestions are certainly welcome and appreciated!
-Mallory (mgpearce4)
Is it natural ("bio-identical") progesterone (and I'm not aware of any b.c. pill that does not contain SYNTHETIC "progesterone"). Synthetic "progestins" will not counteract the effects of the estrogen you are adding to your system. Have you thought of using mechanical birth control? Condoms, if used properly, are very effective--their proper use approximates the protection afforded by the pill.0 -
Please visit Essure Problems facebook page. Lots of support for those struggling with Essure. Me being one of them. Feel free to add me!0
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Please visit Essure Problems facebook page. Lots of support for those struggling with Essure. Me being one of them. Feel free to add me!0
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I thought it was just me! I got on the Implanon in Feb. 2012 and since then I have gained 30 pounds.0
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Ortho Novum pills made me lose, actually. Sitting around I lost about 7lbs. Love that hormone regulation.0
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I've been on yaz and norethindrone. They both made me gain. The increased appetite is driving me crazy. I did yaz for 2 years- gained, went off and lost (easily) now I've been on norethindrone for 2 years... I've gained again. I'm counting calories but it is agony eating at a deficit... It wasn't this bad the last time I lost weight (when I wasn't on birth control.) Thinking about going off again. I'm considering fertility awareness method but I find it pretty challenging. But ... it won't make you gain weight.
Check out "Taking charge of your fertility" book. Some clinics offer classes on it as well. It's tracking/charting your fertility signs and abstaining or using barrier methods during your fertile time of the month. I wouldn't recommend attempting it without a lot of education first.. 0 -
BC itself does not cause weight gain calories in>calories out causes weight gain.
BC can cause an increase in appetite but if you count calories weight your food and log accuratly you wont gain.
I have been on depo and Mirena for 15 years...before that various pills and those pills since I am older were a lot heavier in hormones than they are now...
the only time I gained weight was when I ate too much and didn't move enough.
The BC pill can very effectively lower the metabolic rate in many women through several different mechanisms. It is the "calories-out" part of the equation that gets messed up.
lower it to the point that their bmr is sub 1200 I highly doubt it...
the pill/depo/mirena/implants/rings/patches all use hormones...and increased appetite is a side effect...
If it lowers BMR by 200-250 calories a day (and that is likely in many women who acquire thyroid problems while on it) then, in three years, they could gain 75 pounds, if they changed nothing about a diet that was a maintenance diet before the pill.
really...I call BS on that...esp since my TDEE has increased in the last year while I was on Depo...by about 200...
please provide the studies for that claim...and the claim that it causes thyroid issues...0 -
My insurance switched me from microgestin to trisprintec: 6 lb gain in 1 week. I was bloated, miserable, sleepy, and spaced out.
Switched back to microgestin: 5 lb loss in 3 days.
Both are pills, but microgestin makes me feel normal. Trisprintec makes me feel like a raging biotch lol0 -
when i went onto depo (progesterone injections) from combi-pill, I was told that I would probably gain weight (that about 2/3 of women do) and I did, I gained 2 dress sizes in 3 months (10 years ago)
i since moved on to progesteone only pills
what i've been told since by the Dr (and i didn't know at the time) is that this weight gain is associated with progresterone causing increased appetite, I think if I had know that I might have been able to avoid the gain
well, 4 months since I was told by the Dr about the progesterone>appetite link, I've lost 14kg, I've been trying to manage my apetite rather than letting it manage me - still a ways to go, but on the right track
hormone treatments (birth control) do not control our weight, we do0 -
I recently had essure done due to the fact that hormonal birth control was no longer an option for me. I put on 35 pounds in two years with water retention fluctuating around 10 pounds. Blood pressure was so elevated that it caused a heart murmur. I dropped ten pounds immediately and 3 & 1/2 inches the first week and have since lost 5 more inches.
I had the essure procedure done, too. Unfortunately, it didn't block my tubes like it was supposed to. Grr! Had to have the copper IUD placement to ensure I don't get pregnant.
I also have Essure...funny it's hormone free but I have gained about 50 lbs in the 3 years I've had it. Awful product.0 -
BC itself does not cause weight gain calories in>calories out causes weight gain.
BC can cause an increase in appetite but if you count calories weight your food and log accuratly you wont gain.
I have been on depo and Mirena for 15 years...before that various pills and those pills since I am older were a lot heavier in hormones than they are now...
the only time I gained weight was when I ate too much and didn't move enough.
The BC pill can very effectively lower the metabolic rate in many women through several different mechanisms. It is the "calories-out" part of the equation that gets messed up.
lower it to the point that their bmr is sub 1200 I highly doubt it...
the pill/depo/mirena/implants/rings/patches all use hormones...and increased appetite is a side effect...
If it lowers BMR by 200-250 calories a day (and that is likely in many women who acquire thyroid problems while on it) then, in three years, they could gain 75 pounds, if they changed nothing about a diet that was a maintenance diet before the pill.
really...I call BS on that...esp since my TDEE has increased in the last year while I was on Depo...by about 200...
please provide the studies for that claim...and the claim that it causes thyroid issues...
Everyone is different, madame. I don't usually correspond with someone who believes that she already knows everything there is to know, but I will say that the thyroid hormones and female hormones are highly interactive in the female body. Here is just one article among millions on the subject: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=544160 -
Depo provera is why I am here. In the first 2 weeks I gained 15 pounds and I gained another 40 over the course of the next 2 months but my doctor said that was "normal" and it would get better. I believed her and continued to take depo for another 6 months where I was constantly bloated, starving, on my period (for the whole f***ing 8 months I was on it). I gained only 15 pounds those 6 months by consulting a nutritionist and attempting to work out more. I was still constantly starving, depressed, and felt like I was pregnant. Once I finally stopped, I lost 20 pounds (of what I assume was water weight) in 2 weeks. I'm still trying to get the rest of the weight off.
I know that some of the weight gain was my fault. I was constantly starving and uncomfortable so I ate more and I exercised less. I also know that some of it (the water weight) was depo's fault. The more weight I gained, the worse I felt about myself, and the more I binged to make myself feel better. However, I was absolutely starving at all times and this is what ultimately helped me to go from my healthy lifestyle and eventually pick up horrible habits I am still trying to break. Although a lot of scientific studies are hard to find, i truly believe that in my case depo screwed up my hormones big time. Even 6 months after I have low testosterone levels.
Anyways, here are a couple of studies done about depo. Please if you are considering birth control do your own research! I would never have done this to myself if I knew what could happen (I wasn't even sexually active at the time, they were attempting to control my periods- and look how that went).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1083318801001474
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1083318897700391
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S00107824010025540 -
Not a study but my 16 year old daughter went on hormonal BC to regulate periods. She is extremely active runs track practice five days a week. She was on the pill for three months and gained 10 lbs all while running 5+ miles every day with no change in calories at all.
Came off the pill and within one month was back down to pre-pill weight.
Most of her weight was in chest and hips..same as most pregnant women in first three months. Since the pill is a mock-pregnant state this does not surprise me.
Pregnant women gain weight long before baby weight from extra fluids etc without a caloric increase..So not simply calories in/calories out.0 -
BC itself does not cause weight gain calories in>calories out causes weight gain.
BC can cause an increase in appetite but if you count calories weight your food and log accuratly you wont gain.
I have been on depo and Mirena for 15 years...before that various pills and those pills since I am older were a lot heavier in hormones than they are now...
the only time I gained weight was when I ate too much and didn't move enough.
This. I've been on 3 different types of pill, the depo injection and currently have a nexplanon implant.
None have made me gain weight, eating too many calories made me gain weight.1 -
Interesting!! I'm on Yaz and on my 6 month, I was planning to stop after this month.
Has anyone GAINED weight coming off BC? or notice an increase/decrease in appetite?0 -
Has anyone GAINED weight coming off BC? or notice an increase/decrease in appetite?
Of course they have.
Google appetite effects and hormones and you'll see a wealth of different experiences including seeing a change in appetite as the body adjusts. Same can be said of a lot of different medications.0 -
Not a study but my 16 year old daughter went on hormonal BC to regulate periods. She is extremely active runs track practice five days a week. She was on the pill for three months and gained 10 lbs all while running 5+ miles every day with no change in calories at all.
Came off the pill and within one month was back down to pre-pill weight.
Most of her weight was in chest and hips..same as most pregnant women in first three months. Since the pill is a mock-pregnant state this does not surprise me.
Pregnant women gain weight long before baby weight from extra fluids etc without a caloric increase..So not simply calories in/calories out.
Well, before someone jumps on you, I will say that it is always "calories in/calories out" it's just that hormones can affect the "calories out" part of the equation. And it is certain to affect fluid balances in the body, which can fool a woman into thinking she is gaining body fat when she is actually just gaining fluid. Since a woman tends to store extra fluid in the areas where she is fattest, it probably makes little difference to her that she is not actually gaining body fat. Not being able to button your jeans is no fun--whether it is from excess fat or fluid. The difference between the two (and somewhat of a consolation) is that when a woman goes off of b.c. she may lose fluid weight very quickly and easily (the way that some "naturally thin" women lose the excess fluid of pregnancy quite easily). But there is also the body fat gain that goes with very high levels of estrogen. (Nature loves a fat preggo it seems---all the better to nourish the baby before and after he/she is born).0 -
My daughter had the implant 4 months ago, starting weight 110lbs, 5'4", 22 years old. She now weights 172!!!!!!! I can't tell you how May times she has been asked when she was due. She is so embarrassed. Nothing has change in activity level or eating habits. But complains she is starving all the time. Monday the implant comes out, thank goodness. I hope the weight will drop off quickly so she can get back to the beauty she was before. And I do understand the affects of hormones, when she called the doc the nurse teased her about wanting to have a baby so soon after she had it put in. When she told the nurse it was because she'd gained 60 lbs the nurse changed her tune and said she needed it out imediately. I sure hope it hasn't messed something else up. Keeping fingers crossed.0
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Me too , have no problem with weight, i thought i would as a friend of mine gained a stone when she got hers in, so that was my motivation to join mfp, I wanted to lose weight before getting it in which i did, then i stopped mfp i very slowly over the 2 years gained a small bit back, now i have started mfp again to lose a bit more.
As the doctor said to me it's the food you eat and the amount that puts on the weight not the contraceptive..0 -
Nope. I lost weight after getting on birth control - about ten kilograms. Of course, I have since gained that back and then some. But not because of birth control, because of MY poor eating habits.0
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Nope. I lost weight after getting on birth control - about ten kilograms. Of course, I have since gained that back and then some. But not because of birth control, because of MY poor eating habits.
so true, the only way to put on weight is by eating0
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