Go to Content Go to Navigation Go to Navigation Go to Site Search Homepage

My girlfriend is going to be taking birth control and when she heard that it could make her gain weight she is going to start taking diet pills as well. Will this hurt her in any way??

This could be harmful. And it could be totally unnecessary.

Studies have shown that the pill, the patch, and the ring do not cause weight gain. One of the possible side effects of the shot is that it may change a woman’s appetite, which could lead to weight gain. But the bottom line is that diet pills are rarely an effective way to lose weight, and they may cause serious health problems, including

  • high blood pressure
  • heart palpitations and irregular heartbeats
  • dizziness
  • blurred vision
  • headaches
  • insomnia
  • anxiety
  • depression

A woman who is concerned about weight gain from the shot may want to talk with her health care provider about switching to a different method of birth control.

Women can also take to their providers about healthy ways to lose weight — including a balanced diet and moderate exercise — if they need to lose weight.

Tags: birth control, weight

Explore more on

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors use cookies and other tools to collect, store, monitor, and analyze information about your interaction with our site to improve performance, analyze your use of our sites and assist in our marketing efforts. You may opt out of the use of these cookies and other tools at any time by visiting Cookie Settings. By clicking “Allow All Cookies” you consent to our collection and use of such data, and our Terms of Use. For more information, see our Privacy Notice.

Cookie Settings

Planned Parenthood cares about your data privacy. We and our third-party vendors, use cookies, pixels, and other tracking technologies to collect, store, monitor, and process certain information about you when you access and use our services, read our emails, or otherwise engage with us. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences, or your device. We use that information to make the site work, analyze performance and traffic on our website, to provide a more personalized web experience, and assist in our marketing efforts. We also share information with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners. You can change your default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of required cookies when utilizing our site; this includes necessary cookies that help our site to function (such as remembering your cookie preference settings). For more information, please see our Privacy Notice.

Marketing

On

We use online advertising to promote our mission and help constituents find our services. Marketing pixels help us measure the success of our campaigns.

Performance

On

We use qualitative data, including session replay, to learn about your user experience and improve our products and services.

Analytics

On

We use web analytics to help us understand user engagement with our website, trends, and overall reach of our products.