Birth control and weight loss

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I had a trainer tell me once if I wasn't on birth control pills, I would lose weight faster. Is there any truth to this??? I stay on the pill for obvious reasons. I'm just wondering if it would help me kickstart losing weight because Ian having a terrible time getting started. I need to lose a little to really get motivated and so far I'm extremely unmotivated.

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  • MeganAnne89
    MeganAnne89 Posts: 271 Member
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    I had a trainer tell me once if I wasn't on birth control pills, I would lose weight faster. Is there any truth to this??? I stay on the pill for obvious reasons. I'm just wondering if it would help me kickstart losing weight because Ian having a terrible time getting started. I need to lose a little to really get motivated and so far I'm extremely unmotivated.

    Your trainer is a bit of an idiot for making a blanket statement like that. There are different types of birth control that have different kinds of effects on people. Plus, even if you have a particular brand that normally makes people gain/lose weight, that doesn't mean it will have that same effect on someone else.

    Regardless, there are instances where birth control can make it so that you hold a little bit more water weight. That doesn't mean that you can't lose it even if you are on the pill. If you were to ever consider going off, you need to understand that your body would go through other changes. Some people gain weight after they go off of it, some people don't. Some people lose weight when they go off it, and others don't. You can't know what your body will do when you're off or on birth control. It's a crap shoot, basically.

    You should bring your focus on eating more quality foods and tracking more properly. Drink a lot of water and keep exercising. Don't listen to someone who tells you to go off birth control because it'll make you "lose weight faster." That's so stupid. They have no idea what your body would do. That's an uneducated person making a dumb assumption.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    Birth control pills will have no meaningful affect on your weight if all else (calories, exercise, deficit) is stable.
  • OnlyHuman55417
    OnlyHuman55417 Posts: 14 Member
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    I'm not sure that the trainer has made a correct statement. I would encourage you to have a look at the side effects of all drugs. You know that pamphlet that comes with the rx that no one reads.

    I think each person is effected differently so a generalization about this is probably not correct. Most artificial hormones has some type of side effect. If you do read that pamphlet you probably won't want to take the pill again. Although many people never experience the side effects, they still have to list all of the possible ones.

    Each birth control rx is different. I can say this, I was on a DP shot for birth control and also on the pill. As soon as I stopped using the pill I lost 10 pounds. As soon as I stopped the shot, I lost 20.

    I'm presently on no artificial hormones and I leave it up to the rhythm method (risky, I know). I have a MUCH MUCH MUCH easier time losing weight.
  • Cardio4Cupcakes
    Cardio4Cupcakes Posts: 289 Member
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    The only birth control I've heard of causing weight gain is the Depo shot, because it's a progreston (huge spelling error) based BC.
  • OnlyHuman55417
    OnlyHuman55417 Posts: 14 Member
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    Yeppherss. I called it the DP shot and that caused an increase of 20 pounds with me. I lost it when I stopped, but the pill made it difficult for ME to lose weight and I dropped weight when I went off, too.

    Artificial hormones will have different effects with different people. Mine was a difficulty losing weight and weight gain. Some people get crabbier, some people less. It just depends on the person.


    Another pharmaceutical that put loads of weight on me fairly rapidly was medical steroids. That's the weight that I'm trying to get off right now. I have now have an aversion to any pharmaceuticals as my experiences haven't been the best. But that's me.