Hair Loss

This happened to me after a couple months on Atkins. My hair shedded out at an alarming rate for about 6 months after I went back to eating "normal." Scared the crap out of me! I thought all my hair was going to fall out. Check with your doctor, but my mistake was not taking vitamins and losing too much weight too fast - over 10 lbs in a month and I didn't have a ton to lose. I don't know if Atkins had anything to do with it but I haven't had that problem before or since.

This happened to me when I was on an extremely low calorie diet... The doctor prescribed me fish oil . It is suppose to prevent it from happening. You have to have quite a large amount of it though. It helped for me.

I experienced hair loss the last time I dieted continuously for 6 months. It is caused by not enough protein. On your goals, lower your carbohydrate percents and raise your fat and protein percents. You might also have low iron. I sometimes have whey protein shakes for a meal, so I have enough protein for the day.
Protein is the most important nutrient!

I am having the same thing happen! I started taking a multivitamin for women and fish oil. I am making sure to get enough protein, even though calories may not always be up to goal. I think that large amounts of life stress contribute to this as well.

I swear bu biotin. My hair was thinning, and I started taking the biotin. I also started using WEN hair care. This is not a commerical for them, but WEN does not strip the hair of natural oils. Using the 2 my hair is much ticker, and really healthy. I get comments on how thing and shiny my hair is now.

I agree with using Biotin! It is great for you hair and nails. The doctor also put me on prenatal vitamins and it seemed to really help! Then insurance stop covering it and someone told me a little tip. Take 2 Flintstone vitamins and it is the same as a prenatal and it doesn't make you feel sick. So far....so good!!!! That is just my experience!

At the risk of stating the obvious, how about netting more than 5-600 calories a day you're currently netting?

I lost about 50 lbs prior to joining my fitness pal, and yes I experienced abnormal hair loss as well! It did stop and my hair is now what it was prior to my weight loss. I didn't do or use anything, it just stopped on its own. Sometimes stress can cause abnormal hair loss amounts as well. It will grow back I promise!

At the risk of stating the obvious, how about netting more than 5-600 calories a day you're currently netting?

This is what I noticed also. If your going to put your body through the stress of excersice, consume the food needed to repair it.

Keep taking the biotin and garnier fructis (however it is spelled) has a shampoo and conditioner infused with biotin that is supposed to help. I would love to try it but when I used garnier in the past by the end of the day it looked like I hadn't showered in a couple days so I don't use it but I know alot of people who love it.

I saw this a lot with several friends who had by pass surgery. It's a combination of rapid weight loss and not getting enough protein. At least that is according to their doctors. They really had to work hard to get enough protein in..but with the surgery..they don't always absorb it all.

So..bump up the protein..try to stick to 1 to 2 pound per week.

Just sayin'...it's what I understand from them. :ohwell:

I went through this in my late 20s. I had no need to diet at that time and regular exercise was something not too many people felt was necessary, so there was no apparent reason for my hair loss. I visited a dermatologist several times, but he was just keeping me coming back for the money. He had me do all sorts of silly stuff like counting the hairs in my brush every day. Yeah, I was losing my hair, duh. He also had me put some very strong chemical preparation (physician's formula) on my scalp every day, but I think that just made it worse. After about 6 months of being his guinea pig, I just accepted the fact that my hair was falling out. Unfortunately, women now get male pattern baldness quite often. Unless you are eating a mal-nourished diet, taking meds that cause hair loss, or you are sick, there's not a lot you can do about it. Most of the hair loss happens within a year or two, then slows down, just like with men. Some go all the way bald and some keep a thin covering. You should probably see a doctor to rule out any latent causes. I still have coverage, but unless my hair is combed just exactly right, you can see my scalp through my hair. I usually wear a cap for everyday and a wig for anything else.

Your hair is HUNGRY! Feed it. It is running away from you trying to find food. Bad diet (SERIOUSLY low calorie intake) eventually means problems. I'm no expert, but I'll bet a couple of burgers would help tons.

Bump. PCOS caused me to lose my hair initially, but now I suspect I'm not eating enough.

To be blunt you are NOT EATING ENOUGH!!!!!! You are too calorie restricted to get enough nutrition to maintain you body in a healthy manner and loose weight. Loosing you hair is a warning sign that worse may be coming if you do not increase your calorie and nutrition intake. At your weight you are eating at less than you BMR - that is the number of calories that you body need to hold itself together. You need to be eating more than this number but less than you TDEE -your total daily energy expenditure. Take a look at the thread below - Dan has explained this well and shows you how to figure you daily numbers for you calorie intake. This will factor in your calories deficit for safe weight loss as well as you exercise burn so you get a single daily target.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12

Supplements and shampoos will not fix the problem that inadequate nutrition has caused. You will see improvement when you correct your calorie and nutrition targets and begin to eat at the safer levels.