Birth Control Pills - Could they prevent weight loss?

[Cindel]

I have been on the diet for 3.5 weeks and am struggling a bit with my weight loss (I started at 209 lbs.).  I have only lost about 4 lbs. so far.  One of the positives I am seeing from the diet is that my chronic headaches are gone, and before the current birth control I  am on, I fit every item on the list in the First article.  I also had a strange thing happen this month, my period showed up 2 days before I was done with my pills.  I am wondering though if the birth control is actually preventing my weight loss (I originally went on them to regulate my period that was not coming often enough and also to manage PMDD).

I am allergic to milk (not lactose intolerant, truly allergic), and while trying to find an alternate yogurt through goat and wild buffalo milk yogurt, I had a set back the first week during detox.  I discovered that I am actually allergic to the butterfat in milk (not the protein) and water buffalo milk contains a high amount of butterfat.  One of the side effects of my allergic reaction is to stall my weight loss and even gain weight.  Since this discovery, I have avoided all milk products. 

During my detox period (phase I), I had the following during the day: 3 eggs (1 extra to make up for the protein loss in the yogurt), oranges, berries, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, celery.  For salads, I have EV Olive Oil, lemons and basalmic.  At night, I had fish (salmon, tillapia, swordfish, halibut, cod, sole, red snapper) (about 8 oz), veggies (asparagus, squash, broccoli) and 1:1 ratio of beans (pinto, cannenelli, great northern, white navy, kidney, red) and whole grains (brown rice, barley, wild rice).   

I am currently in phase II and have added nuts (almonds mostly), seeds (pumpkin and sunflower), or olives to my afternoon or evening.  I have also had shrimp instead of fish in the evening. 

Does anyone have any ideas to help me?  I am willing to go off birth control for a month to see if it helps, and to see how I do without all the excess estrogen in my system.

[Cindel]

I thought of a couple of other things to add: I am buying organic fruit and veggies when I can find them, and drink water and sometimes green tea (with a little maple syrup or honey).  I take a probiotic called Juice for Life, Milk Thistle and CLA.  I am allergic to magnesium sterate which is in all multivitamins which limits me to liquid filled softgels.  I was taking calcium and will go back on it, but I am limited on options for other vitamins.

[DN Moderator]

The birth control pills do play havoc with your hormones, so yes, they could be affecting the effectiveness of the diet.  As for what you're eating, I would suggest alternating between days of detox and high fat, trying to do more detox if possible.  Furthermore, watch your glycemic fruit intake during the day.

[Cindel]

Thanks, I am going to try it and will go back on Detox after this week until Christmas.  Hopefully that will make a big difference.  I will post again if I have some success in the event it helps someone else. 

[SomebodysAngel]

Hi! I am on birth control as well and I have lost 11.5 pounds in about a month. I'm not sure if I would have lost more if I wasn't on them. But I don't know about you, but my cycle was worse since I started the diet. I had horrible pms. I wonder if it could just be my body getting rid of toxins or if the diet is affecting the effectiveness of the pills. Just keep up the diet though, I think it can be successful for everyone! Some people lose weight in different amounts than others.

Good Luck fellow new comer!

-Jenn

[Cindel]

Thanks for the post Jenn.  When I started the diet, I had already gone through my cycle.  I noticed during detox that one day I was really moody and I would have small headaches that would go away on their own.  I was taking Evening Primrose to help with PMS symptoms and decided to go off of it during detox, because I was not loosing as much weight and was not sure if that was interfering.  When I came to my normal PMS time, I did not have any symptoms (I was already on Phase 2 at that point).  To top it off, I started my period before I got to the pills that tell my body to have it, which is very irregular for me.  I am wondering how this next month will be, since I will not be taking any pills.

To all, I did stop my birth control pills on the 18th (was supposed to start a new pack) and decided to start my detox on the 25th to allow me to get through the holiday without limiting myself as much (though I was good and did not over eat) - I was pretty down about only loosing 3 lbs in a month (4 weeks).  Since the 18th, I have lost 6 lbs. (even without detox).  I started detox as planned yesterday.  I have much higher hopes since I have lost more in this past week (even without following the plan to a T) than I had in the past 4 weeks combined.

One thing that I have noticed is that my deviation from the eating plan this week brought my headaches back (which were chronic before the diet and went away entirely with the diet).  I am looking forward to being cleansed and ridding myself of them. 

[DN Moderator]

Yes, that's the interesting thing about the diet is that you do begin to find out what foods adversely affect you (such as with headaches, etc.).

[SteveFreides]

Your age is potentially a relevant factor here as well, especially if you are at or even within a few years of when you expect menopause to start - at least that is my understanding.

-S-
http://www.kbnj.com

[Cindel]

I thought I would give a little update, since it has been a while since I last posted.  The birth control pills (estrogen based) were definitely the problem.  I was pretty successful the first couple of weeks of December, but then I deviated from the diet while on travel and my PMDD came back full force about 4 days after going back to my old eating habits.  Since I was so close to Christmas, I decided to go back on and stick with it this time after the first of the year.  I stuck with my plan and I think I have lost about 20 lbs since Jan 14th.

If anyone is not seeing results, I would recommend that you also look at what medications you are taking as well.  You should consult your doctor before going off anything that is not voluntary (birth control pills can be voluntary, unless you have something like ovarian cysts).  I take other meds for my heart and they do not seem to affect my weight loss.
 

[DN Moderator]

Cindel, congrats on your weight loss.  It's obvious that you're doing things right.  And you are so right about the birth control - full of synthetic estrogen, and I don't think women have any clue as to the damage they could be doing to their bodies when taking it.  As for medications,  definitely check with your MD before stopping any of them cold turkey.

[shawn]

congrats to you Cindel on your losing weight! Fortunately you have been able to discover that the pills are affecting your weight! But i have heard that there were some pills that helps losing weight! not so sure but will find out and get back to you!