Birth control and weight loss (females only, please)

I just came off of birth control this week. I no longer wanted those artificial hormones coursing through my body... but I had been using Mononessa (generic for Sprintec) for a little over a year, and I managed to go from 155 to currently 139 through proper diet and some exercise here and there. I'm not sure if Mononessa was supposed to cause weight gain or not, it did mention it in the package insert, but like I said I didn't have a problem with it. Good luck!

I'm on depo and currently having no issues with losing weight.

That said I had issues many years ago with Ortho Tri-Cyclen, it made me kinda crazy and I gained a ton of weight (which is probably also attributed to the fact that prior to that point I had been basically homeless and at a very unhealthy weight for my size. So the crazy irrational behavior from the pills combined with my body coming off malnutrition was pretty bad.

What my nurse told me about depo is that it can for some women increase food cravings and that it does decrease calcium in the body. So being aware of that I haven't had issues, I tend to try and recognize if I'm having a craving and I try to satisfy it in a healthy manner.

There is no scientific proof that birthcontrol causes people to gain weight. Just eat smart, stay on track, and keep doing what your doing. Alot of peopel use birthcontrol as the scapegoat for weight gain.

Um then explain to me why it's specifically listed as one of the first major side effects in my prescription information, both on the packaging from Walgreens, and in my pill pack itself? I don't think they can list it as a side effect if it hasn't been proven it's a side effect.

I never changed my eating habits, exercise habits...nothing. And within 3-4 months of starting the pill I had gained 15lbs. I've never had weight problems before in my entire life.

I get really offended by people like you who assume that it's always the person's fault if they gain weight, not the medication. Oftentimes, it can be the medication. In my case I have no doubt....calling it a coincidence would be ridiculous.

When I first started birth control (around age 23), I was at my lowest adult weight ever (pretty much the loses since I was 15). I did not gain weight during that year at all. I can't remember what I was on, but it was something generic (so not one of the new fancy ones). I then changed BC 1st to the ring, then to implanon. I have gained weight since being on implanon, but I don't think that has to do with the implanon.

My younger sister did gain weight after starting birth control that I can fairly confidently say was due to the birth control. But she is one of those people that tends to be on the thinner side and her weight is very stable. She was on it about 2 months, gained about 7 lbs, went off it and lost the weight. It might be that the weight issue is only relevant to people who are on the thinner side because the estrogen may attempt to make these girls/women a little more "womanly" (with more weight on the hips)... of course, this is just a theory. I have not scientific evidence to back this up.

I was on a different pill for 2 years and never had any problems with weight gain, except for the fact that it made my chest grow by 2 cup sizes! Then, I switched to Loestrin because of the side effects I was having, and I gained 20 pounds in a year. I wasn't actively trying to lose weight but at the same time I wasn't doing anything differently with my eating habits than I had been before that. As a side note, it also made me extremely moody. So, this past January, after my gyno telling me it was unhealthy to gain 20 lbs in a year, I went off the pill completely, started watching what I ate and started running. Then a couple months later I started using MFP and in total I have lost those 20 lbs since January and hope to keep losing more!

So, I don't know for sure whether going off the pill helped me lose the weight or if it was really the diet and exercise, or a combination of all 3. But I did notice a huge weight gain when I went on it, so I personally believe there was a connection. But I guess different pills also affect people differently.

I hope this helps!

I have had too many variables in my life to say whether or not birth control has affected my weight, but I did read somewhere that it increases your appetite. So, if you eat the same amount and exercise the same amount, it will not affect anything, but it makes you WANT food more. If you have self control, you can still lose weight.

However, I can't exactly site my source, so I don't know if this is true or not.