Birth Control and Weight Gain

I have experienced weight gain with birth control as well... But the pills themselves aren't causing the weight gain. They cause an increase in appetite. So the pills aren't making you gain weight - eating more is making you gain.

Medication can increase appetite. Eating too much causes weight gain. Unfortunately, sometimes we have to be more conscientious than others.

I mean this in the kindest way possible - it seems like you're looking for someone to come along and confirm your beliefs that it must be hormones or activity level (both are certainly very influential) or something else besides overall caloric intake vs. expenditure that is causing you to gain/not lose. It's important to remember that people who lost weight on BC may have felt the way you do now before figuring out that it's about calories in vs. calories out. The unfortunate part is that calories out (and in, but you've got more control over that!) can be hard to determine.

There's some merit to those things - hormone levels can influence water retention, but hormones tend to be more stable on BC, not less. Comfort and interest in exercise influences your actual activity, which influences your overall calorie burn vs. need balance. BC can lead some to experience cravings or increased appetite, resulting in increased intake without realizing it. BC might also contribute to emotional states or side effects that people who eat emotionally might cope with by eating.

Despite our absolute sincerest effort, we don't always notice that extra snack we have when alone, make accurate measurements, or remember those "just a taste" bites. I don't know anything about your eating habits and don't intend to imply I do, but I'd recommend watching an episode of Secret Eaters if you're interested in seeing how easy it is for people to lose track of exactly what they're eating, yet feel like they're doing things the same as they always have. Starting a new medication that causes a variety of effects that translate to increased appetite and/or reduced activity could absolutely result in fairly quick weight gain without it feeling like much has changed. Unless you've been tracking your portions accurately since before you started the meds vs. now, it's hard to rule out eating habits as a contributor. Habits that feel the same aren't always. I gained about 55 lbs (was 240 to begin with) feeling like I hadn't changed a thing in my routine since starting the Mirena 2 years prior, and thought it was my BC. I felt that nothing had changed with my eating habits, so I never bothered evaluating them. What I didn't realize is my choices had become more lax (but similar), and my portions got just a bit bigger over time. It sounds like you're logging now which is really helpful, so I'd stick with that and ensure you're being as accurate as possible, weighing by gram if possible. Even slight portion overestimates can add up to a lot of extra calories if repeated every day. Hopefully with accurate logging and adhering to a deficit, you'll have some success.

Yep. I'm on Depo, and have been for several years. Birth control itself is not the direct cause of weight gain; it does not have the calories in it necessary to physically cause weight gain. What it can do is affect your appetite. I have been able to easily gain, maintain, or lose, as long as I am logging my calories.

Use a food scale, log everything you eat, and experiment with different calorie intakes until you find one that lets you eat enough while staying in a comfortable deficit. Also, if you are using MFP to estimate burns, they are generally grossly overestimated. It will take some trial and error, but I am sure you will be able to stay on birth control and reach your goals.

tschlach wrote: »

Almost all forms of birth control has the side effect of weight gain. Any Dr. that tries to tell you otherwise is full of it.

weight gain is due to increased appetite ...bc itself does not cause weight gain...eating too many calories does...

Clinical trials require it's participants to list anything that feel is not normal...they are not in a controlled environment and their calories are not monitored...

So no the doctors are not full of it actually...

I used to be someone who was adamant that birth control doesn't stop you from losing weight. I have lost 100 pounds while on birth control. However, now that I have lost weight and my hormone levels are changing, I plateau at the same weight on the 1st week and 3rd week of my birth control. This has been happening for the last three months. The second and fourth week I lose like crazy. I have an appointment next week to talk to my doctor about different birth control to see if we can figure out a different form of contraception that will work better for me.

I was just searching for a forum on BC as I've taken it for six months and gained a bit (2 kilos). I have tracked, weighed, and counted all of my food for years, so I know from going through my diaries that my intake hasn't changed, nor has my activity. Plus the weight focuses around my breast (much bigger) and abdomen (I think it looks like I'm pregnant!) it's not a lot of weight, but I'm small and it makes me uncomfortable with my body. I asked my doctor if I could change the pill and he suggested just taking it without a week break for 3 months and see what happens. The other side effect is my mood - for one week a month I feel like a different person, am snappy and cry for no reason at all - I'm never like this and my boyfriend notices it too, saying once a month being miserable isn't worth the cost. Sorry for the rant, but I'm on the verge of just stopping the BC and saving my sanity.

Missflygirl80 - have you been able to lose any of the weight since this post?

It makes you hungrier so you eat more. Likely, you don't even notice doing it. It only takes a small amount more to see a significant change in weight over time.

I was easily able to lose weight while on birth control - read it as: able to command my mind to stop eating after a point - but the minute I stopped bc, I started gaining all the lost weight back, i.e., no more control over eating urge, it was stuff my face all day. Not sure how to tackle this. The garden variety self control did not work. I wonder what will? I have put on almost all the weight I lose so far and am feeling really down.