Does birth control make it hard to lose weight?

If you’re trying to lose weight, there’s no worse feeling than the realization that something outside of your control is holding you back. Cue birth control, which may be one such thing. While some women report gaining a few pounds after starting hormonal birth control, others notice no difference or even experience weight loss.

So what gives? Does birth control make it hard to lose weight or not? Let’s dive in and take a closer look at the evidence.

The Link Between Hormonal Birth Control and Weight Gain

First off, let’s talk about why some women believe that hormonal birth control makes them gain weight in the first place. One theory is that progestin – a synthetic form of progesterone found in many types of hormonal contraception – may increase appetite and cause water retention in some people.

However , other studies have shown that this effect isn’t universal: while some users do report experiencing these symptoms, others don’t observe any changes in their body mass at all. In fact, researchers are still working on understanding the complex ways hormones affect our appetites (and always will be forevermore)!

Other Factors That Can Affect Your Weight While Using Birth Control

While it might be temping to pin all your woes on the pill (or patch or ring), there are countless other factors affecting your measurements they could simply explain extra pounds:

Bloating

Many contraceptive pills include estrogen—mainly ethinyl estradiol—which promotes fluid retention leading bloating for those susceptible.

Lifestyle

It goes without saying (!) but eating like crap (sorry ’bout it), veganism (?!) failing/not intending line dancing courses
will likely add more bulk than going three rounds with Mike Tyson… Even if he offered extremely motivational counseling afterwards). On flipside – excercise endorphins can lead to heightened confidence and healthier lifestyle choices, leading to weight loss

Weight gain is natural

It’s worth noting that putting on a few pounds over time again might just be the result of your body changing with age—Don’t hate the player, hate the game!

Why You Might Still Want to Consider Hormonal Birth Control Anyway

Ultimately, only you can decide whether or not fighting against occasional hormonal acne and trying not to have countless unplanned pregnancies (in itself somewhat stressful..) makes up for potential mild bump in dress size. In most cases, it does.

At any rate, recent studies have shown that birth control methods vary widely around how they specifically affect appetite/scale numbers and side effects generally depend on other individual factors such as:

-a higher starting BMI
-being physically inactive prior to starting birth control
-consuming excessive amounts of alcohol

So unless you’re experiencing extreme reactions—such as debilitating migraines or mood swings—it’s likely worth exploring various contraceptive options until one agrees with your physical/emotional self before resorting back old prehistoric counting days – Which surely no one wants?!

And if all else fails? There are always ways work towards finding a sustainable healthy diet (what??!) and exercise regime…Plank positions at every opp especially showing off sea lion animated cartoon enhanced supple core strength abilities à la Instagram because we really need more pictures of humans contorted in strange angles adding moral conflict too existence when balanced foods coupled with thirty mins daily movement suffice.

Image courtesy Gypsumstudio from Pexels.