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Hips and upper body is getting wider?
20/f
I noticed that ever since I've been on birth control, my hips have gotten wider. I know because I have to go a size up in pants and I have always been slender. Recently, I started noticing that my upper body is getting bigger. I do not mean my breasts, I am not sure if my breasts are getting bigger but I have been noticing that I am starting to no longer fit in my regular size tops and I would need to go a size up.
I recently contacted my doctor and they said widening hips are not due to the birth control pills. I was thinking that maybe I was eating too much but I have always had a fast metabolism. But my doctor also said that the birth control that I am taking does not slow down my metabolism either.
I am slightly paranoid just because my coworker told me that she knew a girl that was taking birth control pills and she "blew up."
What exactly is going on with my body?
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There are a few things going on here.
First: you are at the end of puberty. Yes, puberty lasts into your early twenties. While the raging hormones and some of the other affects hit you in your early teens. Some of the other effects come later in life and are more subtle. What you may be experiencing is your body taking its final form, which has nothing at all to do with birth control medication.
Second: At 20 years of age your life style is quite different than it was when you were 16 or 18. This has nothing to do with your metabolism and everything to do with if you r more active then when in your teens or less active.
Third: No two people react exactly alike to birth control pills or any medication for that matter. They say birth control pill do not cause women to put on weight. This is based on clinical trials and what the results are of the majority. The clinical trials for medication are public information. You can if you wish look to see what the overall results for your medication was for weight gain by researching the clinical trials.
If you have been on birth control for a while and have just now start to notice a change in you body. Then I would believe that the ending of puberty is more likely the cause of the changes you are seeing than the side affects of your birth control medication.
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You did not state if you were on hormonal birth control. If so, my guess is its a combination of your body still maturing and a side effect of hormonal birth control.
If not, then its just due to your body still growing. Both men and women can be maturing still by mid twenties and a few folks even into their early 30's. My current husband says up until his early 30's, his body was smooth and hairless. By time I met him later in life, he was as hairy as a Sasquatch all over. That was a body change that occurred over a couple years so that by time he was 35 it was very noticeable.
If I were you, I wouldnt be concerned about it. Go on line checking out side effects to hormonal birth control. It is best to be informed so you know in case it occurs. If you were going to have reactions tho, most would have presented themselves right in the beginning.
What the co worker said may not have been an exaggeration. Some females can gain quite a lot of weight when on hormonal b.c. because the hormones trick the body into believing its already pregnant, so some females bodies are more susceptible to the changes while others do not react. If weight gain ever becomes a problem for you, see the Dr about trying another contraceptive, and if that also presents side effects, ask to get on non hormonal IUD. I have heard that body weight returns to normal and all symptoms go away once off hormonal b.c.
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I believe this to be a common misconception as a lot of women start taking the pill in their late teens/early twenties, which is when a lot of women's bodies usually undergo the stage of development where their breasts and hips grow larger.
When it comes to the pill, a few women do experience a little weight gain, but it's nothing significant and most women aren't affected. Usually, it's just water retention. This can cause a difference in one size, perhaps, but it's nothing to be alarmed about. If it's anything more, I don't think it's associated with the widening of your hips.
I think Razhie is right. It's likely a matter of your maturing body.
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You're aging.
If you are concerned, by all means book a physical, but the most likely explanation is the simplest one: You are getting older.
It's not how we think of growing up, but the truth is our bodies don't stop maturing until very early twenties for women, and early to mid twenties for men.
For most women, it is some point in their early twenties that they stop growing completely, and their metabolism slows down. If you aren't really super active, it's usually enough to be noticeable.
The idea that birth control pills cause weight gain it almost utterly a myth. There are very, very few forms of contraception that are linked to weight gain, and even still, only a minority of women experience the weight gain due to their contraception. The myth is born of the fact that most women begin taking birth control at about the same time they finish physically maturing, and their metabolism slows down naturally.
You aren't going to have the same body at 25, that you had 19. That you just have to accept. Some of the changes you've noticed might simply not be reversible in any healthy way. But you've also reached an age where you need to start considering how you take care of yourself.
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