Have any of you women experienced difficulty losing weight while on birth control???

When I first started taking the pill two summers ago...I did put on quite a bit of weight...keeping in mind that I worked the graveyard shift and went to class all day...and once I stopped taking it...I had gotten back down to my regular size...plus it made me really moody...way too many hormones...

I'm just curious about how and to what extent the pill actually affects weight loss and gain...

Have any of you women experienced difficulty losing weight while on birth control???

When I first started taking the pill two summers ago...I did put on quite a bit of weight...keeping in mind that I worked the graveyard shift and went to class all day...and once I stopped taking it...I had gotten back down to my regular size...plus it made me really moody...way too many hormones...

I'm just curious about how and to what extent the pill actually affects weight loss and gain...
Many women experience weight gain as a side-effect of taking the birth control pill.

The average weight gain is 4 pounds - generally in the first three months.

Progestogen is thought to be the link between the pill and weight gain, and much depends on how the individual reacts to it.

But any weight gain caused by the contraceptive pill is generally fairly modest and unlikely to be greater than 4-6 pounds.
Source (http://www.annecollins.com/weight-loss/birth-control-pill-weight.htm)

I've been on the pill for two months, now. I had been on the exact same ones back when I started college. I actually lost a whole mess of weight at the beginning of college (changes in lifestyle, like going from poverty to worse poverty), and currently I'm still experiencing the same gradual weight loss on average as I was before I went back on them this time around (although I haven't lost as much weight lately, the past couple of weeks I have been held up by a persistant hip injury, so I blame that).

Actually, so far the pills are doing what I had wanted to take them for, which is reduce the symptoms of my PMS: the intense cravings for chocolate and other junk have been curbed a bit, and the various pains and discomfort that have gotten in the way of my work outs are much less of a nuisance.

I never really gained weight until I started the pill. Then I gained 15 pounds - but at the same time I also broke my hand and was in a cast for 5 months waiting for the bone to heal and then surgery, and then waiting for it to heal again. I couldn't lift, and I'd been lifting regularly for 7 years. Also my work schedule eased up, so I had time to eat actual meals for the first time in 3 years. In two years I have lost 12 of those pounds (the last 5 over and over and over), but for the life of me I can't seem to get rid of the last few.

I switched to a low hormone version of the pill as a trial measure - immediately dropped one pound that has stayed off.

Overall, though, I think the pill has cost me much less weight gain (and hassle) than a litter of babies.

I don't think I've gained any weight b/c of the pill but I have notice that I don't gain muscle as easily as I could before going on the pill...

It's a little annoying but then again so are kids.

My weight gain coincided with me starting the pill but that's also when I began eating a whole lot of garbage b/c I began making more money and moved in with someone who has a hoard of junk food downstairs. So I dont attribute the 8 lb gain to the pill.

However, when I went off the pill a couple months ago w/o changing my diet, I dropped 5 lbs just like that---in about a week 1/2 time. It was water I'm sure, although I didnt feel too much less bloated and didnt lose inches, so, it's kinda weird, but anyway, the 5 lbs came from somewhere.

I've been on the pill for over six years and I'm now 10 pounds less than when I first started taking the pill. It had no effect on me whatsoever...

I'm contemplating on starting the pill, but I'm afraid of any weird possible side effects (besides weight gain). Does it make you really moody? The last time I went to a doctor she was really pushing me with it, even though I wasn't very sure of taking it, which I did not like at all. Ever since they came out with the low hormone one, I've been considering it more and more. Does anyone have any regrets taking it, or is it pretty much a consensus that you're all happy you went on it? I've heard some horror stories.

I have no problems with mine (ovcon) at all. Mind you, the first one that was prescribed to me made me spot, be a total biatch, and just generally miserable. I told my doc and she gave me these Ovcon. They are fine. Took a week to get over initial moodiness, but after that, no problem. It's just like anything else, like a diet or whatever, you have to give things a trial run before you find good results.

I can totally understand your anxiety about taking a med that will alter your hormones, ask your doc to let you try the low dose ones first, like ortho tri cyclin lo. Myself, I would never recommend the birth control shot. I tried it for a year and it got my cycle all screwed up.

May I suggest the Mirena IUD if you have already had kids. I was on Ortho cyclen years ago for about 3 years. It worked fine for me. This time around I went with the Mirena. I have had the Mirena for a year and LOVE it. It has a small dose of hormones in there. Mind you not a lot as it is a 5 yr. product. Cycles are hardly anything. No cramping, no PMS, or if I do, it is very, very mild. Oh, and not to mention not having to worry about taking a pill every day or putting a patch on once a week. Or having to go to the pharmacy every month and spend $35.00 on bc pills. My insurance paid for my IUD. All I had to do was pay a $10 co-pay. The first three months take some adjusting, but once your body adjusts, it is perfect! I have heard the same thing as well from others that use it - that they really like it. Those that use the 10 year IUD with no hormones have issues with that one however.
It is not however recommended for a woman who has not had children.
http://www.mirena-us.com/

The pill sucked big time for me. I was at the time young --- 17 and naive and didnt realize that the kind I took was very very low in estrogen and high in progestin. This suppressed the estrogen in my body so much that I developed severe Atrophic Vaginitis (something that happens to women who are going through menopause). Sex was horribly painful and caused me to rip and tear, I was dry as a bone, and besides that, didnt even mentally want to have sex anymore. Finally I wised up (after 3 yrs) and just quit the stuff, despite not being able to find any medical information at all showing certain pills to cause this condition. I should have talked to my doctor sooner, but had a hunch all she would tell me to do was use lube (afterall, that's what everything else I read said to do). Obviously there was much more to it than that.


I tried Paragard next which I loved even though the insertion was the worst pain I've ever felt (although I'm petite and nulliparous). That's the copper IUD that lasts for 10 yrs. Unfortunately it expelled twice and I actually cried over this, ---was heartbroken. Then I tried the Prentif cervical cap---too big and uncomfortable. And now finally I've found the perfect combo: Fertility Awareness coupled with a new silicone cervical cap and natural spermicide.

Maybe if I had tried a different kind of pill at the time, I would have been happier, but knowing what I know now and actually experiencing feeling like a woman for the first time in over 3 yrs, I could never go back to artificial hormonal contraceptives again.

Even something as readily accepted and known as the pill needs research on the individual's part to make sure it's right for them.

edit: There's also the new Nuvaring, my aunt loves that. My best friend is on Ortho Cyclen and says she has no problems with it.

I've always used ortho-tricyclin (now the lo version) and have never had troubles except for nausea when first starting it. Plus my skin is much better.

It is protective against ovarian and endometrial cancer.

I've been on one pill or another since I was 18 and I've never had a problem with it... I asked my OBGYN about that a year or so ago and she told me that when pills first came out on the market they did tend to cause some initial weight gain (never more than 5 lbs) but that the newer pills, within the past 10 - 15 years, no longer cause that particular side effect... I've never had any problems taking the pill, it reduces my cycle by several days, lessens my cramping and lessens my PMS... I'm on Desogen right now and have been for the past 8 or so years.