Maybe birth control did cause your weight gain, it did for m

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mizjohnston
mizjohnston Posts: 196 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just wanted to share my experience recently. I am 31 and have been on birth control for 8 years consitantly. About two years ago I put on about 15 pounds and no matter how hard I tried I could not lose it. I calorie counted, zig zaged calories, worked out numerous types of ways, sometimes up to two hours I was so fustrated. Like many of you I searched online to see if it was connected. Of course I read the same thing that everyone is different, even on here. My favorite is the few girls/women who insist that it is us and if we controlled ourselves better we should not gain. (This may work for them but not all) Well ladies, that is wrong. I have a son so my fiance decided since we are done having kids that he would get "fixed". I stopped my pills two weeks ago. I have not changed anything and I have lost 8 pounds within three days of stopping it and haven't gained since. I even had to get new socks because they were loose. My doctor said it is possible for birthcontol to add water weight and it was. My cellulite has gone down and I am wearing shorts again as well. I haven't done that for two years. I have never been so happy to see "150". Oh and I did try different birthcontrols and my body dosen't like them. So I'm not saying this is your answer but I wanted to share this because I know how hard it is and I was in tears and was ready to give up. I'm still amazed at my energy now and everything else. Hope this helps if you have been stuck for a long time and are in the same situation.

Replies

  • Fayve
    Fayve Posts: 411 Member
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    Wow, congrats. That must be such a relief. I'm not sure if birth control is behind my seemingly impossible weight-maintenance. I feel like I'm working sooo hard and losing absolutely nothing. I tend to take birth control in patches though, since I'm in a long distance relationship (1 month preceding the trip, so usually only 2 months at a time). Only 2 or 3 times a year. My weight loss has frozen this last month, so it -could- be related.

    Either way, congratulations on the weight loss - it must be liberating!
  • MelMoly
    MelMoly Posts: 1,303 Member
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    after I had my daughter I lost most of my baby weight then I started the BC "poison" I call it...and gained it all back and no matter what I did I kept gaining (working out and diet) till my doctor said I had to stop!!! as soon as I took it out the weight was melting off and I didn't change a thing....then I finally started to work out hard core, starting in January. It is different for everyone thats just what happened to me :grumble: but its ok now i'm good and a lot smaller:love:
  • afitchpatrick
    afitchpatrick Posts: 54 Member
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    I AM 30 AN HAVE AN 11 YEAR OLD AND A TWO YEAR OLD. AFTER HAVING THE 2 YEAR OLD I GOT DOWN TO140. THE DR PUT ME ON THE DEPO SHOT AND I NOW WEIGH 161 FROM IT. I HAVE SINCE BEEN FIXED SO NO MORE BIRTH CONTROL BUT THE WEIGHT ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE THEY SAY THE DEPO SHOT CAN STAY IN UR SYSTEM FOR AWHILE BUT IT HAS BEEN 8 MONTHS SURELY IT WOULD BE GONE. I AM VERY DISCOURAGED AT THIS POINT AND HAVE BEEN DOING THIS 4 ABOUT3 WEEKS NOW AND HAVE ONLY LOST6 OZ OR SO.
  • Nikki_GodzPrincess
    Nikki_GodzPrincess Posts: 138
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    I'm in agreement with that. I know my bc caused my weight gain. The doctor put me on the depo shot after I lost my son & I gained so much weight after that. I didn't change my eating habits or anything like that. But the weight kept coming & coming....& now its so incredibly hard to get it off. I've lost 85lbs already but it still feels like I got a million more to go....good luck on your journey though
  • dad106
    dad106 Posts: 4,868 Member
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    That really is interesting, and I'm happy that it worked for you. I'm not exactly sure if I gained weight on the pill or not, but I'm sure that I prob. did. I started mine about two years ago and had already gained weight because of a bad diet that previous summer, and b/c prob. not help the issue.

    For me though, since I'm on b/c due to medical reasons, there's no way I'd ever go off... I'd take the weight gain over the moodiness, fatigue and cramps any day. Plus I've been losing weight since January while on B/C and haven't really had an issues yet.. so as you say, it's different for everyone.

    Congrats again and good luck on the rest of your journey.
  • Windi38
    Windi38 Posts: 164 Member
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    I AM 30 AN HAVE AN 11 YEAR OLD AND A TWO YEAR OLD. AFTER HAVING THE 2 YEAR OLD I GOT DOWN TO140. THE DR PUT ME ON THE DEPO SHOT AND I NOW WEIGH 161 FROM IT.

    I was on the depo shot back in my early 20s. When I went on the shot, I weighed maybe 125, didn't have any issues at all, came from a family of skinny people, never thought I'd have to worry at all. I gained 30 pounds in one year on the depo shot and never got it off. It absolutely destroyed my metabolism. I ended up going off of it after a year, and tried to go on other pills and they all made me feel weird, or caused issues of other kinds, I finally just went off of everything. Ended up getting pregnant at 27, and weighed 165 when I got pregnant. I haven't seen 165 since, and I'm 39. I am 1.5 pounds from it, though!! hahaha

    I'm finally losing weight again, have been since April, and my doctor put me on Phentermine and I started working out 6x a week for at least an hour to an hour and a half. I was 193 when I started in April and I'm 166.5 now. But it's a struggle and a fight every day.

    I honestly believe it was the depo shot that did it, and I wish I had never taken it.
  • mizjohnston
    mizjohnston Posts: 196 Member
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    That is awesome. Congratulations on sugh a great weight loss. :smile:
  • Joisgettingfit
    Joisgettingfit Posts: 160 Member
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    I've gained about 15lbs since having nexplanon put in in March, I think some of that was due to trying to lose weight the healthy way and jumping straight from about 650 calories a day to 1500.
    My body was sort of like OMG FOOD, i'm gonna go back on the pill soon because I didn't have any problems with that weightwise.
    Meanwhile i'm just trying to eat the best I can and to workout 6 days a week.
    I want the weight to stay off when I lose it this time so i'm trying to be healthy and go slower, plus I want to run a marathon in 2/3 years time and I certainly would never be able to do that on 650 calories.
  • Collinsky
    Collinsky Posts: 593 Member
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    My best friend gained about 50 lbs when she was on Depo -- she had been on it for a long time, and just thought it was a diet/exercise thing. Even with watching what she ate and working out, she couldn't shake the weight. It was really frustrating for her. She ended up having other problems that the dr decided were related to the Depo, and she went off the shots. Almost instantly, the weight started dropping off with no other changes to her lifestyle.

    I never had a problem on hormonal bc, but seeing her experience with it tells me that it can definitely mess things up for some women.
  • beatlemom
    beatlemom Posts: 250 Member
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    My doctor put me on a birth control pill to ease the symptoms of having PCOS and perimenopause. I gained 20 pounds in just a few months with no changes to my diet or activity level. I am no longer taking them. Because I have lost weight, my symptoms have minimized a great deal...
  • escadachic
    escadachic Posts: 395 Member
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    I certainly know it to be true for me that BC makes me gain weight. Not much I can do. I don't like condoms and there are no other options, apart from getting my tubes tied and I'm not ready for that.

    Also, my anti-depressant probably don't help, but I need to be happy.
  • missxchelly
    missxchelly Posts: 180
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    I agree. I was on DEPO for four years. Every month I gained, then I lost, then I gained and lost, then just gained gained gained until I gained like 40-50 pounds. When I stopped the depo like literally over night I gained like 10 pounds. It was crazy. It took me two years to break out of those 10 pounds I put on at the end and I refuse to use that awful thing ever again!
  • HollieDoodles
    HollieDoodles Posts: 678 Member
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    Yep, for me it's a plumper upper! LOL

    Besides the other side effects I get with it, those things I can handle, but weight gain NO THANK YOU! ;0)
  • Pebble321
    Pebble321 Posts: 6,554 Member
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    I was on the pill for years, then went off it for a while, on again, stopped, then got an implanon implant then got rid of that.
    There has always been a common factor that everytime I've stopped birth control I feel sooooo much BETTER. As though I've woken up and come out of hibernation, able to move more, enjoy life... and its easier to lose weight.
    I guess for me, adding those extra hormones just don't do me any favours.
    I'd agree that everyone is different but after my experience, I'm not keen to use any hormonal form of birth control again.

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