Birth control Q for wife looking to cut

[1newbie]

Asking question on behalf of my wife. How does birth control (pill or IUD) affect weight loss? Wife is 5'6" 125 lbs. and fairly lean (she wants to be smaller/leaner). Eats clean and does cardio 4-5x/week and lifts 3 days/week. Her weight will not decrease to save her life and was wondering if the IUD was causing her body to hold on to last bit of fat? Any females using Erase to lower estrogen? Is that safe for females? Thanks.

[Torobestia]

Firstly, wow, thank you for letting me know about IUDs. I'm sure I could have found this out with 5 minutes of Googling, but you saved me the trouble, haha.

Anyways, hormone-based birth control will affect weight loss, at least with estrogen-based BC. I imagine a lot of weight that women carry on BC is water based because estrogen increases water retention. However, it is also known that the test:estrogen ratio is important in determining muscle anabolism. Estrogen based BC floods a woman with estrogen, and this I would imagine would shift her T:E such that this type of anabolism is diminished. What this means is, the muscle would be less metabolically active, so she would burn less calories in a steady-state scenario. So in essence I think it would make weight loss harder, yes.

However, it seems like at least non-hormonal IUDs could negate this primarily by not being hormonal. In addition, I still haven't done the research yet, but I suspect that progestin-based BC would also not affect weight gain negatively.

Subbing for feedback from anyone else.

[lizp85]

It depends on if she has the Mirena IUD or the Paragard IUD. The Mirena has a low dose of hormones so it could hinder weight loss, but I don't think it would stop it. The Paragard is the copper IUD and has no synthetic hormones so I don't think that would have any affect on weight loss or gain. I had the Paragard for 3 years and I was totally cool with it- I was fat while I had it, but that's because I didn't exercise and ate everything in sight

I'm not a supporter of any hormonal birth control methods- I think they make women act a little bit nutty and really, who wants to trick their body into thinking it's pregnant every month? That's what hormonal birth control does because it stops ovulation from happening. I currently just use the calendar method and we are careful for the 5 days before and the 3 days after ovulation time. You have to track your cycles for a while and be very regular in order to use this method though, and also be really in tune with your body and the ovulation signs that it gives.

[Rosie Chee]

Asking question on behalf of my wife. How does birth control (pill or IUD) affect weight loss? Wife is 5'6" 125 lbs. and fairly lean (she wants to be smaller/leaner). Eats clean and does cardio 4-5x/week and lifts 3 days/week. Her weight will not decrease to save her life and was wondering if the IUD was causing her body to hold on to last bit of fat? Any females using Erase to lower estrogen? Is that safe for females? Thanks.

I can't tell you from personal experience how birth control affects weight loss since I've never used it. That said, tell her NOT to focus on the scale weight but on her BODY COMPOSITION - it's easy to lose scale weight, but if she loses bodyfat and gains a little muscle mass, it may not show much of a difference in scale weight, so do NOT put any emphasis or importance on scale weight! That said, 125 pounds for a female at 5'6" is pretty good - she likely doesn't need to get too much lighter or she'll probably end up sacrificing precious muscle mass to do it, and that's the LAST thing she wants to do.

As far as Erase, I use Erase, but not to "lower estrogen", and I do NOT recommend it for a woman who is not knowledgeable about such products or has little training and/or supplementation experience, regardless of her goals. Using products with AI properties are not something a female should do without knowing all the ins and outs of it, as well as being experienced.

Trust me when I say that you CAN lose bodyfat quite effectively if your nutrition and training are on point specifically for YOU re your goals and needs. The first thing I recommend she looks at is her nutrition - make sure she's eating ENOUGH, since the majority of females literally starve themselves (and OVERexericse) when trying to lose bodyfat, and this will only work against her. After changes have been made here, see what happens for a bit, and then if she still is at a plateau, then look at adjusting her training. Supplements should be the LAST thing she even considers.

~Rosie~

[Torobestia]

As far as Erase, I use Erase, but not to "lower estrogen", and I do NOT recommend it for a woman who is not knowledgeable about such products or has little training and/or supplementation experience, regardless of her goals. Using products with AI properties are not something a female should do without knowing all the ins and outs of it, as well as being experienced.
~Rosie~

All good points (especially those not in the quote). Worth highlighting is taking Erase while on birth control is essentially not being on birth control.