The myth of Birth Control

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  • calliope_music
    calliope_music Posts: 1,242 Member
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    everyone's different. i didn't gain any weight (i actually lost a few pounds), and i have friends who gained weight. it's going to depend on how your body reacts to hormones.
  • parkygirl
    parkygirl Posts: 37 Member
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    Gain about 5lbs on birth control or 40lbs of baby off of it. ;)
  • hotpickles
    hotpickles Posts: 639 Member
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    The reason I gained weight while on it was because I did not exercise and had terrible eating habits.
  • That_Girl
    That_Girl Posts: 1,324 Member
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    Does Birth Control really make you gain weight? I heard it makes you gain weight in your thighs a lot. I have to go on it for a couple of reasons, but I'm scared it's going to make me gain a lot of weight! HELP

    It's not a myth. The two times I was on birth control, I gained about 10-15 pounds rather quickly. When I stopped taking the pills, I lost it all within that month.

    I haven't touched that stuff in over 11 years. However, every body is different!
  • Jenni268
    Jenni268 Posts: 202 Member
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    My OB/Gyn told me this. The only form of birth control that may MAKE you gain weight is the Depo shot. She said that even then it isn't an obscene amount. Her feeling was that every since that rumor started it's a self-fullfilling prophecy. Women THINK they're going to gain weight and so they do. But they do it by not watching what they eat and by not being active enough.

    I was only on birth control for a period of about 5 years. I used the patch, the ring and about three different types of pill. I did not gain weight from any of those methods.
  • daphne_gets_fit
    daphne_gets_fit Posts: 73 Member
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    You don't necessarily gain weight on birth control, believe it or not I actually LOST weight when I started birth control, but there are alot of other factors involved as well, I was in college so I was walking back and forth to class everyday, the kind I was on originally made me nauseous all the time so I wasn't really eating much until I figured out when was a good time for me to take it, but everybody's different some people do gain weight on birth control and some people don't.
  • sprinkies
    sprinkies Posts: 309 Member
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    the pill doesn't make you gain weight, food makes you gain weight.

    i've been on the pill for 10+ years and haven't noticed any particular gain with any type (i've changed pills MANY times). my fav was necon 1/35 and that's the pill i was on when i lost all my weight. not that it had anything to do with it, but it def didn't make me gain.
  • HW2Hottie
    HW2Hottie Posts: 100
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    I think with the pill you can gain maybe a couple of pounds at most but I know some people who have lost on it. I will tell you that I had the Mirena IUD for 6 weeks and gained 11 pounds. I did not change anything with regards to my exercise or eating. My doctor told me it was highly unlikely that the IUD caused the gain. After extensive research I discovered a large group of women who experienced the same thing. I had it removed and lost 12 pounds in 3 weeks without trying.


    I am right there with 'ya! I have had mine for a month so far and haven't lost ANY weight since I got it. I haven't gained any, but I haven't lost any either. I am going to give it a couple of more weeks and if it doesn't work it self out. It will have to go!
  • Charli666
    Charli666 Posts: 407
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    Hey, i tried 3 different pills, and the Mirena IUD, and every time i went on them i gained about 7-12 lbs in a month, my doctors actually agreed the weight gain was due to these, and when i came off or had them removed i lost it all within the same amount of time.

    Having said that, my Cousin went on the pill (one of the ones i'd tried), and it made her gain like 3lbs in the first week, she stuck with it, and it dropped off the next week, and she's now consistantly losing about 1lb a week without doing anything different (she's been on it a couple of months now)

    i guess it depends on your body
  • Barelmy
    Barelmy Posts: 590 Member
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    I think with the pill you can gain maybe a couple of pounds at most but I know some people who have lost on it. I will tell you that I had the Mirena IUD for 6 weeks and gained 11 pounds. I did not change anything with regards to my exercise or eating. My doctor told me it was highly unlikely that the IUD caused the gain. After extensive research I discovered a large group of women who experienced the same thing. I had it removed and lost 12 pounds in 3 weeks without trying.

    I have a mirena, and my weight stayed pretty much the same.

    I'm not contradicting you, btw, I'm just excited to get to talk about my mirena.:D

    Different types of contraception will have different kinds of effects for different people. I hated being on the pill; it made me grouchy, and ran my sex drive into the ground. Can't remember if I gained weight or not. The copper IUD (I had a flexi-T) was really painful, for me, made my periods three times as heavy, and then expelled itself (thank god). I suspect the extra-strength bloodflow flushed it out.

    I love my mirena on the other hand. It hurt to get it, but since then, no problems. And, it seems like my periods have stopped completely.:D No weight gain, no mood swings, high sex-drive. It's heaven.
  • soontobeslinkypie
    soontobeslinkypie Posts: 8
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    I had the depo shot and gained about three stone....however before you all start shouting....all it did was give me a bigger appetite and seemed to improve my mood...I was also in my first year at university so ate rubbish and drank far far too much!

    I have had the mirena and my weight stayed the same, I now have an implant and my weight has stayed constant, if i diet/exercise I lose weight...if i don't or eat rubbish.....I gain!

    Just my thoughts
  • thetrishwarp
    thetrishwarp Posts: 838 Member
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    I've been on the pill for about 4 years, and since joining MFP, I'm actually a smaller size than I was when I started taking birth control. Maybe some people's bodies just react differently to the hormones in the medicine. Who knows.

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