Did you lose hair while losing weight? Why?

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  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
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    emcclure013 wrote: »
    My hair thinned a few months after I started eating at a deficit, but once I started really watching my macros I realized I wasn't getting nearly enough protein. Bumped up my protein levels and it seems to be working and fixing itself, but I know it's going to take some time!

    Glad you figured it out! I discovered protein was a big deal when I started my deficit too. If I don't hit (or exceed) my protein goal, no matter how many calories I've had, I'll still be hungry. And if I don't hit 20g in breakfast I often get a headache :neutral: I've been doing so much better with my protein macros since early May I don't think it was this, but I know stuff like my fats swing widely.
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
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    fitoverfortymom wrote: »
    Yes. I was under eating and had a vitamin D deficiency. I was given a fuckton of vitamin D supplements and started eating more (had a lower deficit).

    Interesting! Also glad you are okay now! I inconsistently take vitamins D & C, but I could do better to take it more regularly. It's not something she checked for today. But if I can find a multivitamin without calcium (can't take calcium with other medications - and I'm always absolutely fine on that) I'll start taking it instead. I know it's something recommended while on a deficit, and also something my doctor thought would be a good idea for me.
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    pinuplove wrote: »
    You're averaging about 2 pounds per week for the last 90 days. I don't use that exact app, but might you have earlier weight entries in there than April that are skewing your overall rate?

    @kiela64 how many pounds do you have left to lose? If less than 75, 2 pounds per week is an overly aggressive rate of loss.

    130 puts me in the normal BMI category, so I have about uhm (yes I needed a calculator to do this) 40-45lbs left to go. I was and am NOT aiming for a 2lb/week loss. I was shooting for 1lb/week, and thought that's what I was doing/achieving. Or 1-1.5lb/week. The "current rate" on Happy Scale is 1.69lb/week, which I thought was a bit high because my weight tends to jump down and then pop back up for a week. There was even a week where that current rate showed gaining, just because my fluctuations are so random. I don't really understand how it's calculated - someone said it was for 90 days but I don't see that listed anywhere?

    I entered weights that were not from my home scale. I checked my log and my first weigh in on my home scale was May 13th at 193.4lbs. Maybe I should consider that my "high weight"? Even though I was already losing weight before then, I didn't have a consistent scale to weigh in on and just weighed in at the gym (after food, water, with shoes, etc).
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
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    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Have your iron levels tested. When my anemia is untreated, I shed like crazy.

    Iodine deficiencies can cause hair loss as well. If you are eating regular salt, which is iodized, this shouldn't be an issue. Ultra processed foods will use iodized salt as well.

    It's always good if you can quantify things for your doctor. We normally lose around 100 hairs a day. I know this would be extremely tedious, but if you could get a count and it was significantly more than 100 hairs, that would ensure you were taken seriously if the first round of blood test come back normal.

    I just described that it was falling out every time I touched my hair - I'd brush it and a ton would fall and then I would go to put it up and end up with handfuls of loose hair, and I can see thinning at the front. I emphasized that it was more than usual for me (because I have quite thick hair and it's not really noticeable).

    She is testing for Iron (and Thyroid and B12)! I do eat some salt. We don't usually cook it into food, but I think I eat enough pre-processed foods like deli meat and bread.
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    kiela64 wrote: »
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    Hair loss doesn't show up immediately.

    Your current weight loss of less than 2lbs a week implies that your earlier weight loss was much more than 2lbs a week to arrive at an average of about 2lbs a week over the past 18 weeks.

    Which is fast for someone who is not over 300lbs.

    So just take it easy. And don't be surprised if caloric restriction had something to do with it

    Okay, thanks. To be fair to the math, my initial high weight could be very off, which is why I always say "about" even though I have this number. I weighed in at the gym on a rickety old upright scale that seemed accurate-ish but with shoes/clothes and definitely after drinking and eating in the day. MFP says I would need to eat below 1200/day to lose 2lb/week. I do not think that happened. My logging is fairly consistent except at restaurant meals, and those days are over anyway. I'm also still obese, even if I was never 300lbs. I was "class 2 obese" according to the chart. Now I'm class 1.

    If you give MFP a weight loss rate target (like 2 pounds a week), it will give you the calorie level you'd need to eat to lose that fast, based on population statistics . . . unless that would put you below 1200 calories (if female) or 1500 calories (if male). The implication is that if you ask it for a weight loss rate that isn't the most healthful choice for your current weight, it will give you a calorie level that isn't the most healthful choice for your current weight.

    Are you still set at a 2 pound a week target? That's a high-risk target at your current weight.

    So, the hair loss could be hormones, a nutritional problem, your medication . . . or you could be trying to lose weight too fast. If the "1.9 pounds lost in 7 days" means you lost that much in the past week . . . that's very fast, at your current weight.

    Several people have made exactly this observation. You seem more interested in other possibilities.

    I looked at your diary. You appear to be targeting 1420 calories as a goal, but to be undereating that very frequently, so netting closer to 1200-1300 a lot of the time. (A couple of hundred over occasionally.) 70-some grams of protein seems not terrible, but I'd consider eating more given hair loss.

    If you're losing close to 2 pounds a week eating 1200-1300 (with occasional over-goal days), I'd suggest eating 250-500 more calories daily, which should get you closer to a pound and a half or pound a week. It doesn't matter what MFP says you would lose at some given calorie level; after you have enough personal data accumulated, what matters is how fast you're actually losing.

    One thing I feel like I need to emphasize: I never ever set my goal to 2lb/week losing. And I never wanted to do that. I considered joining a DietBet hosted by a youtuber I really really liked (she's so cool and I thought it would be fun), but the goal was too close to 2lb/week and I knew it wasn't feasible for me. Not worth shelling out the $40 and just plain losing it.

    I tried to do math to see what the range was, more for my own peace of mind when I went over to know what that was. I also knew if I lost weight MFP would change my goal and I felt like getting under 1420 was hard enough, I didn't want it to suddenly change to like 1390 which would freak me out. It was scary enough when I checked and it dropped from 1480 to 1420. it's like +/- 500 for 1lb, so 1420 (the MFP goal for 1lb/week that I am/was always aiming for) - 500 is below 1000. 1420-500 = 920. Also known as death of all joy or a VLCD lmao. Not. Doing. That. Ever. Thanks. I also know that even 1.5lb/week put me below 1200, as 1420-250 = 1170. So if I was hitting above 1200, I was still in the 1-1.5 range, which should balance out date nights. Which were twice a week at one point, now once because we're both much busier. Which I thought was reflected in the 0.85lb/week rate of loss Happy Scale was giving me. Like, not perfect but close enough.

    I knew this because I made a list from gaining 2lb/week to losing 2lb/week on my phone, in 1/4lb increments so that I wouldn't feel like a failure if I see red on my diary, and I'd know what the give is the next day if I was under another day. I knew I was feeling irrationally terrible about some 3000+ calorie days where I got movie popcorn and went out to dinner with my SO, and did the math to make myself feel better. Then rarely looked at it again, but it was there if I needed that reassurance. (I maintain that MFP should really have an orange category where you've gone over your goal but under maintenance. Red is so harsh. There were even studies about red pen edits causing an increase in stress in school - I've felt that so much.)

    I'm interested in all possibilities. I went to the doctor today. This thread was a question because I wasn't sure what to ask about, and I was definitely interested in weight-loss-related reasons because it's one of the new things. My primary question was about the medication I'm taking (hormones) and my secondary one was weight-loss. I had been fairly sure I wasn't losing weight too fast - I relied on that 0.85lb/week rate of loss Happy Scale gave me instead of checking myself.

    I do have a memory of counting weeks and checking and it being something like 1.25lb/week and thinking "cool, that's also fine". I counted wrong. I did it now and yeah, 35lb in 18 weeks is just under 2lb/week. Which seriously confuses me because there is NO way I'm getting only 920cal/day. I'm not exercising currently because I'm having knee issues. And I don't think I'm under-reporting my calories. I measure liquids and weigh what I can. Sometimes I just guess at veggies and fruit bc I'm taking a handful of cherry tomatoes it's not gonna do much to my life except taste nice.

    Eating more won't be too hard, except work days when I get home at like 10pm and all of my days' food has to be packed and remembered in the AM. Eating even more protein will be. I feel like I've been shoving protein foods down my throat lmao. I never ate this much protein even when I would overeat like 3000+ calories in a day. Probably why I still felt "hungry" :neutral:

    I really appreciate everyone's input. This is the first time I've gotten home to actually sit down and use a calculator - so yeah maybe I was a little skeptical about really having lost at a 2lb/week rate. But I was associating it with netting below 1000 every day, which I knew absolutely I was not and never did.

    My doctor is checking my thyroid, B12, and Iron. I can change my goal to 1/2lb/week - 1670 by my current chart although now I've lost weight it might be a little lower than that. Maybe it's also a better goal, 1/2-1lb/week. And maybe I need a different scale app - I love the layout of Happy Scale but if the numbers are wrong than it's not worth it. And not very happy!
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    I'm not sure about Happy Scale, but I use trendweight and it's predictions can be off. I think that's because it smoothes out the line to account for the ups and downs, but that would throw off prediction numbers.
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    What Ann is saying is that, for you, the MFP prediction is inaccurate (this is not uncommon-it's just a formula that can't factor in everything). Now that you know, increase your daily target (you can do this manually). No one is saying you have it set at 2lb/week. That's just what is happening. I would start there, and make sure some of those calories are protein.

    Oh okay, thank you!! I thought given her statement "Are you still set at a 2 pound a week target? That's a high-risk target at your current weight." she and other ppl thought I was doing this intentionally!!! I wasn't!

    I am excited to eat more food now lmao. If I did it manually, what would you go for? I don't truly know the average I was getting, I was aiming within a range below the threshold of my goal. Using the guided set up is straightforward, but maybe 1670 is a big jump up. Maybe 1520? 1500? I don't really know what they mean now, especially if the MFP set up is wrong. What do I use as a baseline to try to calculate with?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,172 Member
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    kiela64 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    What Ann is saying is that, for you, the MFP prediction is inaccurate (this is not uncommon-it's just a formula that can't factor in everything). Now that you know, increase your daily target (you can do this manually). No one is saying you have it set at 2lb/week. That's just what is happening. I would start there, and make sure some of those calories are protein.

    Oh okay, thank you!! I thought given her statement "Are you still set at a 2 pound a week target? That's a high-risk target at your current weight." she and other ppl thought I was doing this intentionally!!! I wasn't!

    I am excited to eat more food now lmao. If I did it manually, what would you go for? I don't truly know the average I was getting, I was aiming within a range below the threshold of my goal. Using the guided set up is straightforward, but maybe 1670 is a big jump up. Maybe 1520? 1500? I don't really know what they mean now, especially if the MFP set up is wrong. What do I use as a baseline to try to calculate with?

    Yes, I was trying to say that MFP may have given you too low a calorie estimate. (It's true that I asked if you were set to lose 2 pounds a week, because you do actually seem to be losing close to 2 pounds a week. I'm sorry if my post was confusing!)

    MFP gave me too low a calorie estimate when I first got here, even with accurate profile entries according to MFP's descriptions. I ate at that level for a while, and got weak/fatigued because I was losing too fast. This isn't a super common experience: MFP seems to be pretty close for most people, but it can be less accurate for some (it's a bell curve/statistics kind of thing). So, it's not frequent, but it can happen.

    I've started twice now to type a longer detailed post about how to do the arithmetic, and have lost it twice to technical problems (my PC, not MFP). Sigh!

    Here's a simplified version: From your screen grab earlier in this thread, it appears you've lost 7.3 pounds in the last 30 days, or (bear with me) an average of 0.2433333 pounds per day (7.3 pounds divided by 30 days), or about 1.7 pounds per week (0.2433333 pounds per day times 7 days).

    If that's too fast, you can add 250 calories per day to what you're actually eating on average, to lose about 0.5 pounds a week more slowly (i.e., to lose around 1.2 pounds per week loss rate) or add 500 calories per day to what you're actually eating on average, to lose about a pound a week more slowly (i.e., to lose around 0.7 pounds per week).

    This is because a pound of fat is equivalent to about 3500 calories, so 500 calories a day more eating should translate to around 1 pound a week slower loss (because 3500 calories in a pound divided by 7 days is 500 calories).

    I hope that makes sense.

    Obviously, as you get lighter in weight, you burn fewer calories per day, so eating consistently at that calorie level will eventually result in noticeably slower loss eventually. Also, all of this is just estimates, and some people get more energetic in daily life as they eat a little more, so do more chores and things, and burn more calories, so a person can lose faster than they expect at slightly higher calories, and things like that.

    It's an approximation, but it's at least an approximation based on your own personal experience, not a calculator that's based on large research studies, thus accurate for most people, but not tailored just to an individual.

    If this isn't clear, ask questions, and I'll try to answer better. :)
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    kiela64 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    What Ann is saying is that, for you, the MFP prediction is inaccurate (this is not uncommon-it's just a formula that can't factor in everything). Now that you know, increase your daily target (you can do this manually). No one is saying you have it set at 2lb/week. That's just what is happening. I would start there, and make sure some of those calories are protein.

    Oh okay, thank you!! I thought given her statement "Are you still set at a 2 pound a week target? That's a high-risk target at your current weight." she and other ppl thought I was doing this intentionally!!! I wasn't!

    I am excited to eat more food now lmao. If I did it manually, what would you go for? I don't truly know the average I was getting, I was aiming within a range below the threshold of my goal. Using the guided set up is straightforward, but maybe 1670 is a big jump up. Maybe 1520? 1500? I don't really know what they mean now, especially if the MFP set up is wrong. What do I use as a baseline to try to calculate with?

    Doing the maths, from May 13th - Aug 16th you have lost 25 pounds. This equates to an average of 1.8 pounds a week. If you are currently eating 1420 calories a week this means your TDEE is around 2200 calories a day give or take. To lose 1 pound a week you could probably take your calories up to 1700 a day. I'd increase your calories to somewhere near this number, even 1600 would be better than what you are eating now, and stick with it for 4-6 weeks. Reassess your average weight loss over this time to see whether it can be adjusted further.
    This rapid weight loss can easily cause the hair loss you have been experiencing. Increasing your calories will result in regrowth if this is the case.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    kiela64 wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    What Ann is saying is that, for you, the MFP prediction is inaccurate (this is not uncommon-it's just a formula that can't factor in everything). Now that you know, increase your daily target (you can do this manually). No one is saying you have it set at 2lb/week. That's just what is happening. I would start there, and make sure some of those calories are protein.

    Oh okay, thank you!! I thought given her statement "Are you still set at a 2 pound a week target? That's a high-risk target at your current weight." she and other ppl thought I was doing this intentionally!!! I wasn't!

    I am excited to eat more food now lmao. If I did it manually, what would you go for? I don't truly know the average I was getting, I was aiming within a range below the threshold of my goal. Using the guided set up is straightforward, but maybe 1670 is a big jump up. Maybe 1520? 1500? I don't really know what they mean now, especially if the MFP set up is wrong. What do I use as a baseline to try to calculate with?

    Maybe start with adding 100 this week and another 100 next week until you get to a happy place. Big jump in the calories may cause a jump on the scale for a day or two. Your real life number are going to be more accurate than any of the calculators. Alternatively, you could change your setting to 0.5lb/week knowing that it will be more than that (if you prefer to just let the program do its thing), or increase your activity level. If you have it set at sedentary increase to lightly active, if it's at lightly active then moderately active, etc.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    I should add if you don't already know that a 500 calorie deficit equates to around a 1 pound a week loss which is what I based my figures on.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Something else to consider would be a 1-2 week diet break. It would give you some much needed nutrition. You wouldn't lose (likely see a temporary increase on the scale), but it could make a big difference for you.
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
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    It sounds like your doctor is doing the obvious tests for thyroid, etc. Occam's razor suggests it's the deficit, which can definitely cause hair loss, even if you never went VLCD. I lost a lot of hair while (unintentionally) losing 2+ lbs / week and trying to find the correct dose of thyroid meds. Hopefully it's just the deficit and you've caught it early enough that you can save most of your hair - mine will take a while to recover, mainly at the front. Please update and let us know what you find out when your tests come back! Wishing you well.
  • alabamaheather
    alabamaheather Posts: 24 Member
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    This is very common when losing weight. When you stop losing it will stop falling out.
  • deepwoodslady
    deepwoodslady Posts: 10,859 Member
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    How do I find that cool weight loss predictions chart?
  • kiela64
    kiela64 Posts: 1,447 Member
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    deepwoodslady wrote: »
    How do I find that cool weight loss predictions chart?
    It’s from the Happy Scale app
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I haven’t seen much about your protein intake. If that is too low then the body will pirate what it needs from elsewhere, including the hair. Keep also in mind that the damage takes weeks to show up, and improvement takes just as long.

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