Females on birth control- has it affected your weightloss?

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  • victoria_1024
    victoria_1024 Posts: 915 Member
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    I went on the mirena a few weeks ago so we'll see how it goes. I have been in maintenance for a year but had put on a few pounds prior to getting the mirena. I've already taken off that weight since getting it in 3 weeks ago so it seems like I was able to lose weight at a pretty typical rate. My appetite has felt normal and my mood has felt the same.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    Curious about it too. I'm getting on the pill again because I have low iron anemia and heavy periods... also bad PMS symptoms (including crazy hunger) that are making it very hard to stick to my calories.

    I'm really hoping it's not actually going to make things worse appetite-wise, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. I got to say, it irks me a little bit when people say that they didn't gain weight because of the pill, but because they ate too much... if the pill increases your appetite, yeah, it's because of the pill.

    Not in my case. The pill had no noticeable effect on my appetite. I just plain ate too much.

    Also, how much you eat is within your control, regardless of what's driving your appetite. You just have to find ways of exercising that control. Counting calories, for instance. Moderating high-calorie foods. Playing with meal timing, macros, etc. The pill doesn't "make" you do anything you don't want to.
  • HazyEyes93
    HazyEyes93 Posts: 89 Member
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    I've been on depo provera for 3? years. Lost the majority of my weight on it, actually. Personally, the best thing about it is that I don't have periods, so I don't have to worry about bloating during "that time" of the month. lol Now, I did gain a lot of weight back in the last few months, but that had more to do with eating Chinese take out for every meal and less to do with my BC. lol
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    all hormonal BC methods can cause some gain on the scale but it won't necessarily be "fat" gain. MOstly water retention due to hormones.

    However all hormonal BC methods have weight gain as a possible side effect but that is mainly due to "increased appetite".

    If you gain more than 10lbs on BC time to get logging accurately and see where the food intake has gone up.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Curious about it too. I'm getting on the pill again because I have low iron anemia and heavy periods... also bad PMS symptoms (including crazy hunger) that are making it very hard to stick to my calories.

    I'm really hoping it's not actually going to make things worse appetite-wise, but I guess I'll find out soon enough. I got to say, it irks me a little bit when people say that they didn't gain weight because of the pill, but because they ate too much... if the pill increases your appetite, yeah, it's because of the pill.

    Not in my case. The pill had no noticeable effect on my appetite. I just plain ate too much.

    Also, how much you eat is within your control, regardless of what's driving your appetite. You just have to find ways of exercising that control. Counting calories, for instance. Moderating high-calorie foods. Playing with meal timing, macros, etc. The pill doesn't "make" you do anything you don't want to.

    Yeah but when your hormones make you feel horrible all day if you don't eat.. it's much harder to stick to your calories. Guessing you've never experienced it that badly so it probably seems easy for you. It didn't happen to me until I turned 36 (and got close to the middle of the normal BMI range), to be fair. Before that, I had no idea it could be that bad either.

    Again though, I obviously have no idea how the pill will affect me, so we'll have to wait and see.
  • izzienelsonn
    izzienelsonn Posts: 19 Member
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    I went on the combined pill in september 2014 and by december 2014 I had gained about 20lbs. However this could've been down to my age (quite young to have gone on it) and over eating a great deal/ stress eating . Just over 2.5 years later I'm pretty much back to where i was before I went on it. Despite the weight gain I don't regret going on it as it helped with my hormones so much.
  • brishaw18
    brishaw18 Posts: 20 Member
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    Thanks for all the feed back. It seems like everything you read about bc on the internet is all negative. So I'm glad to hear everyone's opinion. Some people that don't track their food have no idea how much they are actually taking in and may start to over eat rather than the pill being the blame.
    I have someone I work with that blames her weight gain on hormones but if you saw what she eats on a daily basis and her very low activity level you would see why she would gain weight.
    I have noticed my appetite being way higher than it was before getting the shot. But I'm hoping I will eventually adjust.
  • yellingkimber
    yellingkimber Posts: 229 Member
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    I've been on the pill before and I'm currently on the patch (highly recommend it!). Neither have increased my appetite or caused any weight gain.
  • EmmaCrosbie
    EmmaCrosbie Posts: 12 Member
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    Absolutely, most definitely! I've got the implant and oh boy does it make me hungry. One of the first things I asked the doctor when getting it was "Will it make me fat?" She told me no, it'll just increase my appetite. Well I clearly have no control over my appetite because I cannot stop eating
  • Wynterbourne
    Wynterbourne Posts: 2,221 Member
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    I have Mirena and I've lost 130 lbs without issue.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited April 2017
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    Nope. I've been on two different birth control pills, previously on Yasmin, currently on OTC. I've both gained and lost on it, but the gain wasn't from the pill. It was because I ate too damn much.
    ETA: The pill didn't increase my appetite. I had weight to lose long before I started taking the pill.
  • lgill1127
    lgill1127 Posts: 47 Member
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    Easily losing weight while on Mirena (Jan 2017), had more difficulties losing/more weight gain on the combo pill. I wonder if it has something to do with Mirena only having one type of hormone?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    EmmaCrosbie wrote: »
    Absolutely, most definitely! I've got the implant and oh boy does it make me hungry. One of the first things I asked the doctor when getting it was "Will it make me fat?" She told me no, it'll just increase my appetite. Well I clearly have no control over my appetite because I cannot stop eating

    I hear you, lol. I'd have gotten mad at that doctor. It's just so much harder when you're always hungry. I know I'll stop the pill if it makes things worse, I'd rather be anemic (I take iron supplements) than gain 20 lbs!
  • brishaw18
    brishaw18 Posts: 20 Member
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    @EmmaCrosbie I'm the same way! I'm just hungry all day, totally sucks!
    I've also struggle from BED so the hunger makes it really hard on me with that too!
  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
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    I took Levelen ED for years, the only reason I gained weight was because I ate too much.

    I got the Depo shot about five weeks ago, yet to experience any side effects including weight gain.

    I always get a laugh out of the people who are afraid of BC because it'll make them fat. A baby will make you pretty fat too!
  • shattered_shay
    shattered_shay Posts: 5 Member
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    I have the implanon in and have gone from 163kilo to 89
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    misskarne wrote: »
    I took Levelen ED for years, the only reason I gained weight was because I ate too much.

    I got the Depo shot about five weeks ago, yet to experience any side effects including weight gain.

    I always get a laugh out of the people who are afraid of BC because it'll make them fat. A baby will make you pretty fat too!

    Valid point, just not for me, as we have less than 1% chance of getting pregnant naturally.
  • ladyreva78
    ladyreva78 Posts: 4,080 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    EmmaCrosbie wrote: »
    Absolutely, most definitely! I've got the implant and oh boy does it make me hungry. One of the first things I asked the doctor when getting it was "Will it make me fat?" She told me no, it'll just increase my appetite. Well I clearly have no control over my appetite because I cannot stop eating

    I hear you, lol. I'd have gotten mad at that doctor. It's just so much harder when you're always hungry. I know I'll stop the pill if it makes things worse, I'd rather be anemic (I take iron supplements) than gain 20 lbs!

    I struggled an insane amount these pasts months and I know that if I hadn't been tracking my intake I'd be those 20lbs heavier. The struggle is real - gnawing off of arms included.

    I am insanely proud that I managed to maintain my 30kg loss. My heavy periods are nearly history and the crippling cramps are also nearly history, I haven't had to go the ER once since starting, and, best of all, the hunger is nearly gone, but that took 6 months of white knuckling. I guess that's how long my body needed to accept the changed hormone balance.

    Good luck!
  • LizzyK1983
    LizzyK1983 Posts: 44 Member
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    I swear Yasmin has given me terrible cellulite
  • yayamom3
    yayamom3 Posts: 939 Member
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    I've been on the pill (except for when I was childbearing) for almost 30 years, and it has never caused weight gain for me. I started taking it continuously last September, which means no periods for me. This has affected my weight loss in a very positive way because I no longer have any PMS symptoms to deal with.

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