WOMEN! Please let me know your thoughts!

I am Natazia and LOVE it, I haven't had major mood swings like I have had with other pills, also I haven't put on any additional weight on that one like I did with all the others.

Depo Provera (the shot). I ADORE it, but it is common for people to gain weight on it (I lost 5 pounds between my first two shots, which not typical).

Edited to add: what I love about it - no cramps, no PMS... no period for that matter. I had to go off of it once for a few months and was miserable. I forgot how horrible 7 days out of every month could be.

I'm on MarvelOn (birth control pill), and the only difference I noticed was a bit of breast growth. It hasn't affected my moods & I'm still consistently losing weight.

I use the "no longer have a uterus" method. It's lovely.

No more TOM or, since my last one lasted for over 12 months, no more TOY (time of year).

I use the brand "If ya don't pull out, we're gonna have a kid!"

Best brand on the market......no baby weight!!!

I use the "no longer have a uterus" method. It's lovely.

No more TOM or, since my last one lasted for over 12 months, no more TOY (time of year).

Not gonna lie - I LOL'd! :-)

Well on Depo, I gained weight like it was nobodys business until I went off of it. I'll never go through that again.
Never had an issue with weight gain on the pill and I don't know about the patch since I can't use it. (gives me hives)
For now I'm sticking with celibacy until I can actually find a man of worth where I live. XD

nuva ring - used for nearly 10 years, felt amazing moodwise, had no issues 'forgetting' because it was only once a month thing, lost weight very easily, had lots of energy

lutera - totally horrible moods, very shell-like feeling, empty, almost numb emotions. weight loss completely stalled out (possibly due to my absolutely missing will power) used it for 6 months. not going back.

microgestin FE 1/20 - I don't feel as amazing as I did on nuva ring, but I feel 500% better than I did on Lutera. weight loss is happening again (again, cannot cause it only on the BC but also the moods and energy levels help me stay active) and this one has iron supplements on my week 'off' pills, so that is nice.

if I had the choice I would go back to nuva ring in an instant. but it is not covered on my clinics reduced price list and the choice of spending $7 on a month of BC and $55 on a month really made it so I had to lose the ring. I loved it.

ps. I do much better ON BC than off. Even when I wasn't in a relationship I took BC to stabilize my moods and regulate my monthlies. my moods are horrible on BC. they are catastrophic without it.

Seasonique- TOM is once every 3 months. I was a little nervous at first but I LOVE IT! no hormone fluctuations like on previous BCPs, it's same dose everyday for 3 months then one week off. have a day or two of the usual bloat and wt gain associated with TOM but since it's every 3 months i can deal with it. I did take a big break between my last BCP and this one- had two kids (pull out method + breast feeding resulting in #2 lol) prior to kids I tried to switch from one BCP to another with no break in between and I went CRAZY- seriously my hormones were so messed up I was certifiable!

Depo Provera (the shot). I ADORE it, but it is common for people to gain weight on it (I lost 5 pounds between my first two shots, which not typical).

This is why I am on MFP. I gained most of what I am trying to lose due to this shot. I also had a period that lasted 4 months.
I personally would NOT recommend this.

I'm on Loestrin, but my hormones were all out of whack before the BC, and actually added to my weight gain.. after getting on Loestrin my moods evened out, I felt better, and I was able to actually see results from my diet and exercise.

Yay, Loestrin!

I'm on nuvaring. Amazing stuff. Put it in, set a reminder in your phone, take it out after three weeks, leave it out for one week, repeat. At first, it made a lot of things much easier. No bloating during or before periods, very easy to lose weight, same mood swings as usual (I am a crazy person so I can't really judge this very well. My moods were pretty bad before I started birth control and now they're not nearly as bad but that has nothing to do with the ring.) I've been on it for a few years now and I think my body has gotten used to it or something, because all of my period stuff has come back (cramping, crying during advair commercials, bloating, weight gain, etc) but I wouldn't change it. It's just so darn convenient. I live in the UK though and we have the NHS so I get it for free. Also, unlike any of the pills I've tried, there is no spotting with this, at least not after the first month. It's never fallen out, my husband can't feel it. It's a beautiful thing.

I was on Alesse (spelling might be a little off here...blaming short term memory!) at first and it was not strong enough for me. No noticeable weight gain.

Then I was on Yasmine. Hell! I had huge side effects. In short, I could not eat dairy, lettuce, etc without getting massive pain and bloating afterwards. Took a few doctors (most thought I had Crohn's disease) until I found one that said: it's a side effect from Yasmine. I stopped taking it and 3 weeks later, I was back to eating everything I wanted. No noticeable weight gain (probably due to the fact I could not eat much).

Then came Seasonale. You only get your period every 3 months. I takes times for your body to adjust (6months for me), but it worked for me for 2 years without side effects and no noticeable weight gain.

However, I have noticed that ever since I started watching what I eat and working out more, it seems to not be strong enough anymore....so I'll be looking for a new BCP very soon.

Mirena hormonal IUD. I love it! I got it as soon as I could after my first child, kept it for a year and then had it taken out to start TTC #2. It only took one cycle afterwards and we were preggo! I got it again after my second child as well, and am quite happy.
Upsides:
I don't have TOM anymore. I mean, I get cranky, and I may have a handful of cramps, but no actual ickiness.
As stated, won't take forever to get cycles back in order when (if) you decide it's baby-making time.
No pills to buy and remember to take.
I forget it's there most of the time. Hurray!

Downsides:
When I'm ovulating, there are certain positions during *ahem* happy times that are not comfortable. I think it's just because my cervix is all swollen from ovulation and the Mirena is more noticeable, but it's only for a couple of days and it's easy enough to just avoid those positions.
I buy a lot of pregnancy tests since I don't have that monthly reminder of "Hey, no preggo!" However, I buy them from the dollar store, so it's not really a big deal.

As far as weight is concerned, I have lost 100 pounds since my last pregnancy, all while having the Mirena. I don't find it any harder or easier to lose weight, but I never really tried without it, so not sure.

I'm in my 30s and have been on a number of different types of contraception. For me the easiest and most effective was orthotrycyclin. I took it for years and d/t problems w/ endometrious switched to a seasonique type regimen to minimize menstration (and the 3x year period was sooooo nice) I also did one cycle of Depo prior to that and gained 20+ in those 3 mos! In my experience, while hormones can play a role in weight gain (AEB the Depo debacle) it's also my food choices/activity (stating the obvious). The other thing to consider is sometimes hormonal fluctuations make me crave certain foods (carbs, fat, salt) and these foods exacerbate an already lethargic bloated apathetic me. Now that I've been logging foods and correlating it with days of the month and my cycle I'm aware of this tendency to want to eat deep fried cheese and lay on the couch wearing sweat pants.... Okay I was aware of it before, but now I'm trying not to excuse it and be more conscientious about my choices. Another option no one has mentioned is Fertility Awareness Method. It's not right for everyone (and it is NOT the same as the rythmn method) but if you are someone who is comfortable being in touch with your body and using a barrier method or abstaining from intercourse during ovulatory phase it could be right for you and a plus is it's basically free and non-pharmocologic and the things you apply with FAM can be used later down the road when you're trying to get preggers