birth control & weight gain

OMG GET OFF OF YAZ! weight gain, depression and I lost my gall bladder its a horriable BC.

I never took YAZ but I was on a different birth control. I gained weight when I started taking it too so I stopped taking it. I don't know anything about birth control in relation to acne but I have heard that birth control with low to no estrogen doesn't make you gain weight.

YAZ is terrible! I gained about 20 pounds over the 6 months I was on it and I'm finally starting to loose the weight. I was so upset, and still am, because I've never weighed this much in my entire life and I consider myself a healthy person.

Wow sorry to hear that Michelle, I haven't experienced any other side effects but weight gain and now reading even more about YAZ i'm done. As far as the acne treatment, BC seems to be the thing to do these days to help but I'm so done with it. I just feel so disgusted with the weight gain! My chest got huge and my hips and thighs! But when I googled weight gain associated with YAZ it seemed a lot of people were experiencing weight loss.

I agree. YAZ is a horrible pill. I was on it for a while and gained 20lbs, had terrible migraines, no sex drive and horrible depression. It was a last ditch effort for me as no other BC seem to work and all make me very sick. FH and I now just stick to non-latex condoms (i'm a lergic to latex). Good luck.

Ya, I've heard bad things about YAZ as well, however i have not been on it. i think its perfectly reasonable to switch given your description of things!

Yaz is TERRIBLE. I used it for like 6 months and cried.. all the time, for NO REASON!!! Loestrin is SO much better, i've been the same weight for over a year on it..

Thanks everyone! It's nice to know I'm not alone and I'm officially done with YAZ!

I hated YAZ! It gave me awful migraines, although it did control my "breakouts" and i think it was the reason my sex drive was low. I then switched to Seasonique which you only get a period once every three months, which I loved but the downfall of that was weight gain. I went up a whole pants size. Maybe talk to your OB and see what they can do?

I had problems with all BC pills, but Yaz was by far the worse. Not only did I gain a lot of weight, but my migraines were worse than ever and my fingers and lips would get numb and tingly all the time. When I did some research and found the high risk of a stroke from Yaz, no matter how young or healthy you are, I tossed them all out!

See the thing is it's not helping with the breakouts and that was the main factor of starting it. I'm definitely going to see what my other options are. Because the weight gain is just out of control.

For anyone that did stop taking YAZ, how long did it take to see a difference with the weight you gained? I'm not looking to lose 20lbs in a month. But my chest going down some would be nice =\

@Stephanie: It took me 6 months to drop the 20lbs that I gained while on YAZ. The was due to agressive exercisie and diet though so it may take longer than that if you go a bit slower.

Thanks Andrene, time to get aggressive then!

I hate to say it, but i am coming to find out that all bc's make you gain weight. unless you are some rare case. I am stuck because i really want to get off the shot, but we are not ready to conceive and condoms seem to be a no-go for the FH. I have gained over thirty lbs over the last 3 years, and trust me, the whole time i have been trying to get it off. Ill lose 20 and gain it all right back. Weight wasn't really an issue for me untill bc. Also ACNE, so bad. I had NEVER had acne in my life untill i got on depo. and headaches galore. UGH. I have a shot appt this friday and i think after that i am calling it quits. we'll just have to be careful.

It's so discouraging, how something is supposed to help you in one way but destroys you in another way. good luck future mrs. lord!

I have done a lot of research on birth control and weight gain, and understand you frustration. BC in a necessary evil right now and I can't wait untill we are ready to start trying for kids so I can stop taking it. From what I understand, many of the problems surrounding BC and weight gain come from the fact that the hormones make it very hard for a woman's body to build and maintain muscle, and we all know that our muscle helps keep our metabolic rate up and maintain a healthy weight. I started looking into it because I have been weight training for a year and seeing very little gain in muscle mass. I've had my doctor switch me to Microgestin (also known as Loestrin 24) which he said is the lowest dose of both estrogen and progesterone out there. Even with the lowest dose, it's still very hard to lose weight and build muscle. One of the frustrating things about being a woman.....

I absolutely love loestrin. short icky weeks, very little headaches/migraines (and i get migraines SUPER easy) i havent had any weight gain at all, sex drive is the same.

go loestrin!

It all depends on your body, this really doesn't have much to do with the BCP either, some women gain weight, some lose weight and some remain neutral. each person response differently, I was on the same pill as a friend of mine a few years back, I gained about 15 pounds while she was losing them. last year I was on loestrin, didn't gain any weight, I was pretty much neutral on it. As for YAZ, I've heard a lot of crazy things about it, I'd suggest you stop taking it

I also lost my gallbadder and have a h/o yaz use, and yes, I gained weight on it.

You should focus on your upper body since that is the part that is exposed in most wedding dresses (triceps for sure). Do bench dips. You can do a few sets of 10-15 through out the day with little effort and still see a noticable difference by week 2.

It'd stop taking the pill and just do abstinence till after your wedding. It will give you something to look foward to on your honey moon night, and the motivation to work out until then.