Estrogen/Birth Control Pills/Weight Loss Hell!

[sydneynicole1]

How long did it take you to lose weight again after coming off " the pill"??? I am in the exact situation you were, and I'm just starting to go off BC because i think its totally preventing me to lose weight!

[kimm4]

How long did it take you to lose weight again after coming off " the pill"??? I am in the exact situation you were, and I'm just starting to go off BC because i think its totally preventing me to lose weight!

BC is not the problem. If you're not losing weight it's because there's an error in your tracking methods and you're eating too many calories.

[Jodie10]

I am taking bc for estrogen 'regulation' (perimenopause). I haven't noticed any negative side effects. My boobs are bigger (is that a bad thing?)

[BootheelFitness]

I am goimg to post my personal experience for comparison purposes. I also want to add this is a great thread! Thank you to the author!

At age 16 I was put on birth control. It was the pill. Yasmin. Remind on this pill till I was 20. During this time, I gained absolutely no weight. I had the body we all could only wish for. I was a superior athlete and was constantly active. I also ate like a horse, but was able to still remain in a caloric deficit.

At 20 I got the deposit shot. I Gaon 30 pounds. Nothing about my routine changed. To look at it from a scientific persoective, tgere was only 1 variable. That variable was the shot.

I then decided to get preggers. My daughter is now 9.

Never went back on anything as far as Birth control. I did however get put on Seroquel. Worst mistake I've ever made! On Seroquel I went from 125-180. May I add the withdrawls off this drug is far worse than opiate withdrawls! It makes heroine withdrawls look like child's play!

So recap so far: on Yasmine I was a solid 100 lbs at 5'3". Solid muscle. Not a big girl, but was lean as a brick **** house! Had pecs for tits.....
Went up to as much as 130 on depo. Had my child at 180 lbs and she was premature. Dropped down to 140 after child not active at all! None! Sad I know! Next weight drop was 125 working out, then drugs 100 (nasty looking skinny) back to 125 sober, then to 145 on Seroquel.

I had Implenon put in my arm in 2011. It ran out in 2014. It's still in my arm. (Before judging know I live in rural america, and the only dr who did it here has since left!) I started back on a quest for that high school body in 2012. I was able to drop weight on seroquel and implanon from 140 to 125 lbs. First implanon quit working dropped that weight to 115-120 lbs fluctuating. Then serquel withdrawls. Down to 100 lbs. I'm now on absolutely nothing. The implanon is still in my arm and ineffective. I'm a solid 115 and muscle.

My personal opinion....
Birth control can effect how you gain or lose weight. It depends on which birth control you are on.
Seroquel will make you gain weight, as well as make you have anorexia. I'm not talking I don't want to eat. I am talking food makes you want to puke. You have virtigo, photo senesitivity, bodyaches, ect.... food smells like **** and tastes like it. I wish I had been hungry.
Then my major point without exercise we look like we feel! Gotta exercise.

3 things: find the RIGHT birth control for you. It will be trial and error. Without birth control hAve acne. If you hit a plateau try examining your medications because most meds will have an effect on your body. Last without exercise it really doesn't mean ****. Note that last one!

Sorry for typos, I hate my note4.

[ppantera]

When hopping on birth control its important to take into account things like acne, heavy flow, premenstrual disorders and weight into account. Birth control is not a one size fits all usually. If someone experiences weight gain it could be for a number of reasons. Primarily the amount/type of estrogen and progesterone in combination oral contraceptives. Sometimes you can experience cyclical weight gain which might be hinting that the amount of estrogen in your pill is too high. If its more of a permanent weight gain you can also try lowering you progesterone dose. Switching over to a oral contraceptive with a 4th generation progesterone like drospirenone might help . Yaz and Yasmin have drospirenone. Someone mentioned the copper IUD earlier which is non-hormonal and wont have those issues. You need a skilled provider to insert it and if you have pelvic issues then this could be a problem. But yeah at the end of the day someones body may react differently than someone elses.

[bellakatelove]

Bumping this.
Anyone on Yaz at the moment or any other form of BCP that they can recommend didn't hinder their weight loss/muscle gains??
I know every woman is different but I've hear lower dose pills cause a lot less side effects would love some opinions

[megdaig]

Bumping this.
Anyone on Yaz at the moment or any other form of BCP that they can recommend didn't hinder their weight loss/muscle gains??
I know every woman is different but I've hear lower dose pills cause a lot less side effects would love some opinions

I can't tell you which brands I've taken, like 5, but no oral contraceptive ever hindered progress with weight loss or gains. That all came down to proper caloric intake.

[mtnliones5]

I can't tell you which brands I've taken, like 5, but no oral contraceptive ever hindered progress with weight loss or gains. That all came down to proper caloric intake.

Me either! Maybe an extra 1-2 lbs of water weight and that is it. I don't know ladies double check your tracking methods and if you aren't tracking calories/macros you should start.

[ExistentialJeny]

It's not that simple for many women, especially now a days where our food is not as clean as it used to be & more hormones are being put into the food we eat. Our environment has all kinds of endocrine disruptors affecting hormones as well, think of all the synthetics in your body care products, the products you use around your home, that are sprayed on furniture etc.

In addition many women have hormone imbalance without even being on the pill! They take the pill hoping to find balance & it's trial & error to find the right one that also had minimal side effect.

So, it's not just calories, though that is a tool that can help at times, hormones are the real key. Also sex hormones are not your only hormones, there are hormones related to stress & to eating food which are also major impactors of weight gain/resistance.

Thank you for being open to hearing about the struggle many women have! İt gets harder the closer she gets to menopause, so it's a constant struggle for many women.

[AmandaLaughlin]

I started on oral birth control without any noticeable weight gain or significant changes/side effects. After a few years I switched to an IUD and that was the worst decision ever. I gained weight and no matter how much I dieted and exercised it never seemed to come off and my body composition changed. I switched back to oral BC after about a year of trying the IUD and it took a little over a year for my body to regulate back and I felt like my metabolism and body had leveled out. For me BC pills help me avoid those huge swings (I still have hormone fluctuations of course) but i feel it levels off my performance throughout those fluctuations.