Sudden weight gain after stopping birth control?!

i have the same thing. i was on ocp's for 17 years and stopped them recently. in the past five weeks i've gained 15 pounds, exercise nightly, and eat 1000 calories per day (which was recommended by a dietician). i have normal thyroid, etc. there's no other reason that i could be gaining weight. i'm also not pregnant. HELP!

The same thing happened to me in 2006. After being for 3 years on birth control i stopped them and i started gaining weight in a pretty steady pace. I was also eating very little-not more than 700-900calories a day. I had been tested by my doc for different problems and everything was great- there was no physiological reason for my weight gain. In the summer of 2007, after i've reached 180 pounds, my hair started falling and i noticed hair growing on my upper lip. More tests, more stress- nothing found again-all hormones normal, thyroid too. Finally in February 2008 my doctor noticed my blood sugar was at the higher limit of the normal value. He performed a test for diabetes with sugar syrup and guess what- it turned out i had pre-diabetes. He sent me to a gyno too, she found multiple cysts on my ovaries. I was so happy that i finally had diagnosis!!! Six months later with the proper treatment, i was back to 138pounds, my hair grew back and the unwanted hair disappear!I am normal again!

Stella - I have experienced the SAME thing! I went off of birth control and rarely eat more than 1000 calories in each day but keep gaining weight. In the past 3 years since being off birth control I have gained close to 45 pounds....and I am only 25 so my metabolism shouldn't be that low. I have had my thyroid tested and still no help. I am wondering if I have what you had. What kind of treatment did they give you for your high blood sugar? I just got checked for cysts so I don't think that is it.

Thanks for the helpful post!

I was also on Yaz for a year or so, went off, and after 2 months have gained 25 lbs! I was always a size 2, now am a size 11 only because my stomach is so bloated that i cant fit into anything smaller. It is so depressing to not look like myself. People ask if Im pregnant! And Im NOT! Has anyone found a diet that works, or a solution to this problem? It must be from the hormones in the pill messing up my system. So I refuse to go back on it.

I just went off yasmin last month and am already experiencing this! My stomach is so bloated I feel like I'm pregnant. All pregnancy tests negative! I have gained 7 pounds in a month! This definitely isn't the picture I was hoping for when trying to get pregnant!
For those of you on low calorie diets don't forget that the body needs food. If you have too little calories the body goes into starvation mode and you actually increase your fat reserve.
Any help anyone can be on relieving the bloating and look of pregnancy would be appreciated!

Ive been off Yasmine for 2 months now. I have gained 10 pounds and have enormous swelling in the stomach area. I am thinking something like Maca may help regulate my hormones. I am going to give it a try....

Im not a doctor but I assume we have some dependancy on the fake hormones we have been taking. Maca has been used for a long time in Peru, and now is a health supplement aimed at regulating the hormonal system.

I went off ortho-tricyclen two months ago as I was getting bad headaches and crying irrationally daily, and I've since gained 18lbs, with no change in diet and the only other change being STARTING a gym regime. I don't closely monitor my calories, but I eat an almost completely vegan diet, and only ever snack on fruits and soy yogurts and veggies. As well, I've drastically reduced my nicotine intake to maybe three or four cigarettes a week. I've never been checked for thyroid. A year and a half ago I was negative for both ovarian cysts and diabetes. It's just SO frustrating, I've had weight issues my whole life, and finally in the past two years I finally managed to get to a weight I was happy with, and now I have to lose it ALL over again! I feel like just put on a fat suit I can't get out of! =( So I can totally relate. I've scheduled a doctors appointment to try and get back on a different pill and see if the weight comes off again.

I think I can help... same thing happened to me! I stopped taking birth control because it didn't have a good effect on me (weird food cravings, emotional, no energy, weight gain)

This happened to me too. I stopped taking my birth control about 2 months ago, but I started taking it again this past week. When I stopped it, I noticed my stomach started looking extremely bloated. During this time, I did not start or stop any other medications. I'm not currently sexually active, so there's no way I could be pregnant.

In one month, I gained around 7 pounds, which is a lot for me, as I have remained at 110 for most of my life. I started exercising more and trying to eat less the second I noticed I was gaining weight, but the pounds kept adding on! I flipped out and started reading stuff online, and decided to start taking the pill again.

Maybe this weight gain was associated with something else, but I've been back on the pill for about 5 days now, and I've lost 2 pounds...which seemed impossible a couple weeks ago.

Ok, here's my personal experience.  I had the same thing happen.  I stopped my birth control in June of 2011.  I had been on birth control longer than 10 years and of the past 10 years (while on the pill) I've been 108-117 lbs.  I quit birth control and went up to 128 within like 6 months and could not lose the weight no matter how little I ate!  It was CRAZY.  After over a year of this, I went to the doctor because eventually I started spotting daily which is obviously abnormal.  I had a hormonal problem.  I was given progesterone earlier this year because I was trying to get pregnant at the time.  The progesterone made it possible for me to lose weight again and be normal (even though the spotting continued.)  Long story short, I had a hormone issue that (I think) the pill was compensating for/covering up.  I always thought the argument about hormones making people unable to lose weight was a load of bs until I experienced it.  It was absolutely crazy.  My previous obnoxious skinny ignorant me thought the law of conservation of mass worked on everyone's body - if the amount of calories you eat is less than what you burn, you lose weight, right?  People are just making excuses for being lazy, right?  WRONG.  It is straight up impossible to lose weight with a hormone imbalance.  Plus, I was literally hungry all the time.  I'm surprised I didn't get to way over 128 honestly.  Thank goodness some went to my boobs and butt, what I didn't like was the weight around my midsection.  I felt like it was disproportionally there although I could have been making that up.

Anyway, we decided to postpone babies until after my MBA and so I'm going back on the pill until right before we want to have kids because screw this.  Progesterone made me a little better (120-122 lbs) but I am far from what I used to be (113 lbs on ave.)  Although, I will admit, my husband definitely likes the curvier me.  At least I know he'll be ok with me keeping on some post-baby weight when the time comes!  That time is just not now.

I would say it's the pill. Read my more extensive reply below. I should have gone right back on too however it took me like 6 months to notice but when I did ... WOW.

OMG I am experiencing pretty much the same thing as everyone right now. I am 20 and have been on the pill since I was 18. I stopped taking Yaz about a month and a half ago and since then I have gained 5 pounds and am EXTREMELY bloated almost everyday just after having a light breakfast. I stopped the pill because I was moving so I just didn't have the prescription transferred on time. I was told to wait until my next period ended to start up the pill again but I am 2 weeks late and still haven't had my period but all I want to do is go back on the pill! (I know I am not pregnant, I was on the pill for acne and heavy periods, not sex). I am VERY anxious to just get back on the pill to be done with this sudden weight gain and bloating, but is it safe to get back on the pill now? I have NO idea when my period will come and I have no idea if I have even ovulated yet. I am very frustrated! Someone please help!

so do you guys think that it is much better to just go back on the pill? i've been taking it for 12 years and decided to stop just to give my body time to rest but the 10 pounds i've gained over the past month has just been causing me too much distress! 

I stopped taking Cerazette nearly three weeks ago- my boobs have grown hugely, I feel heavy and bloated and I think I have put on a few pounds already- despite exercising. I cant believe there are no warnings about the side effects! Half tempted to go back on it!