A decade ago, all my friends were going on the Pill. We lined up outside the student health center, chatting about how exciting it all was – and about whether we’d gain the dreaded 10 pounds associated with oral contraceptives.

Now, a decade later, I know more than a few women who are going off the Pill. And again they’re asking themselves, What havoc will this wreck?

I’ve come to think that for some of us, our 20s are about taking control of ourselves, in ways big and small: Taking control of our future, our decisions, and our bodies.

Now I wonder if our 30s are more about learning how to lose control – by sharing our lives with another, and perhaps eventually, by letting first our bodies, then our lives, be taken over by a small inhabitant.

Of the millions of questions the baby prospect raises for women, one of the most universal is, What the @$%%#! is this going to do to my body?

Today I offer you two pieces on that subject. Both writers are women who are married and recently went off the Pill, one by choice, one by accident. Both are also trying to lose weight. I asked them to write about the physical and the mental affects of going off the Pill, as well as their feelings about pregnancy.

Goodbye Pills, Goodbye Cravings? by Melissa G.

Since dumping the Pill, I no longer have constant nighttime food cravings. I used to feel sad at the end of the day when I knew I had eaten my last food. That’s done. In fact, my nighttime cravings dried up so completely that the true origin of any other food cravings became obvious.

Outs of Pills, Out of Sync, by Melissa H.

The real trouble began when the time came for Aunt Flo’s guest appearance. No Aunt Flo. Of course, I immediately freaked out. Were hormones—or lack of fake ones for the first time in eons—to blame? Or something more sinister, at least to a control-freak who was most definitely not ready to conceive?