Hair Loss!
SierraFatToSkinny
Posts: 463 Member
I've been watching YouTube videos about weight loss and several people seemed to have lost lots of hair in the process of losing weight.
I'm scared of this. I currently have thick hair that reaches my lower back. It's my best feature and I'm attached to it.
Why exactly is there hair loss during weight loss? Is it just people dieting drastically which leads to hair loss? Or would any dieting lead to some hair loss?
What are some ways to prevent hair loss??
I'm talking collagen supplements and I'm thinking about starting to take a multivitamin.
Any information will be welcome!
I'm scared of this. I currently have thick hair that reaches my lower back. It's my best feature and I'm attached to it.
Why exactly is there hair loss during weight loss? Is it just people dieting drastically which leads to hair loss? Or would any dieting lead to some hair loss?
What are some ways to prevent hair loss??
I'm talking collagen supplements and I'm thinking about starting to take a multivitamin.
Any information will be welcome!
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Replies
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Drastic low calorie diets can can result in hair loss because going very low cal means you're likely not getting enough protein. Iron deficiency can also be a cause.1
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Well, I'm following this...
I like my hair too.
I'd have to guess inadequate nutrition/poor diet?
I'm assuming they just meant regular shedding of hair, & it seemed like more than normal, or did anyone actually say clumps?! Surely not..3 -
Clumps! Or just about. Running their hands through their hair and having dozens of strands on their hands.
This reminded me of a time when I was about 20 and drastically dieted for a couple months. Ate 1200 calories a day (probably less since I was mistakenly weighing my chicken breasts raw) and I lost lots of hair. The hair loss had been a mystery to me at the time, I didn't connect the dots to my diet until years later. Three times as much hair in the drain as normal. Very scary, I have to tell you.
I've watched several videos of people talking about their hair growing back while on maintenance.0 -
Deficits that are too high for any individual can cause this.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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But... are we talking any kind of deficit?
How much of a deficit?0 -
I'd say a deficit that's more than 2% of your bodyweight is too much.SierraFatToSkinny wrote: »But... are we talking any kind of deficit?
How much of a deficit?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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I've done some googling and I can't seem to find anything definitive.
Has anyone come across any studies?0 -
What I personally term an acceptable: deficit 10% to 20% of your TDEE (energy expenditure for the day). Resulting in a loss of no more than about 1% of your bodyweight per week.
If obese, up to 25% of your TDEE. If obese could get up to 1.5% of your bodyweight before you start seeing excess lean mass loss, if I recall correctly
"surprisingly" you will find a lot of "respectable" macro/weight loss web sites also go with this recommendation.
By the time you get to the 2% of bodyweight you are quite probably losing more lean mass than you should.
By the time you net well under 1200 female/1500 male you are probably losing more lean mass than you should.
There is no definitive study that I've seen that states "this is the optimum rate of loss".
Some studies look at how to minimise lean mass lost.
Some studies look into how to minimise adaptive thermogenesis.
Some studies look into how to minimise chances of regaining.
All have different parameters and results and you then get to decide what makes sense to you.
Or you can just go with general government recommendations which are exactly what MFP bases the guided setup settings on.
It still doesn't stop people from choosing non-optimally aggressive goals.
ETA: at 20% you are unlikely to impact so much that you will start losing hair.3 -
A multivitamin/multimineral certainly helped me. I was losing much more hair than normal but that stopped once I started the multivitamin.2
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Drastic calorie deficit, not enough nutrients (especially fat), a diet that isn't varied enough to provide enough micronutrients, and most of all, a diet that is very hard or restrictive it causes you a lot of stress. I have noticed significant hair loss after trying diets that were not for me, and that trend stopped and the lost hair grew back when I settled on something that is easy and pleasant. I haven't had any significant hair loss since despite losing a lot of weight.
basically, pick a reasonable deficit (not one that puts you at 1200 calories and take care not to ignore exercise calories), eat enough fat and variety, and don't stubbornly cling to a dieting approach that is hard for you and you should be fine.
ETA:What I personally term an acceptable: deficit 10% to 20% of your TDEE (energy expenditure for the day). Resulting in a loss of no more than about 1% of your bodyweight per week.
Where do you think the 1% recommendation comes from? It's often way too high of a deficit for most people and is certainly over the recommended 10-25%. This would mean 2 pounds a week at 200 pounds, when the average 200 pound woman has a sedentary maintenance of about 2000 calories, resulting in a 1000 calories budget or a 50% deficit. You would need to have a TDEE of 4000 to achieve 2 pounds a week at 25% deficit, and most 200 pound women (most people, really) aren't active enough to double their TDEE.
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Repeated.0
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I used to have an ED and would only eat a max of 440 calories a DAY on top of going to the gym almost daily, doing archery for about our hours a week and walking for at least 1.5 hours a day (as well *kitten* doing home workouts). I started losing my hair. It was scary. That was 7/8 years ago.
I'm now obese but I have an incredibly varied diet and trying to lose weight slowly and healthily this time. My hair is so thick now! It always was as a child and now I'm getting proper nutrition it's all grown back (and more).
From my experience it's a side effect of a VLCD and malnutrition so try not to worry too much as long as you have a varied diet!
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I've got this problem. When I started trying to lose weight last year my hair was very thick, in fact, people would always comment on how thick it was. Now, I have such thin hair - for me - and shed loads every day, or every few days. I've stuck to between 1000-1300 calories a day, some days I go a little under this, but not often. I've been losing weight at a very slow pace (now about 0.5/1 lb a month), so it's not that I'm under-eating. Maybe it's what I eat that's causing it, I don't know. Will try multi-vitamins, but I'm doubtful they'll help.1
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I lost a lot of hair but that's because I was eating a lot of fish. Too much healthy oils caused my hair to go greasy and fall out.
Just stick to everything in moderation!!0 -
SierraFatToSkinny wrote: »Clumps! Or just about. Running their hands through their hair and having dozens of strands on their hands.
This reminded me of a time when I was about 20 and drastically dieted for a couple months. Ate 1200 calories a day (probably less since I was mistakenly weighing my chicken breasts raw) and I lost lots of hair. The hair loss had been a mystery to me at the time, I didn't connect the dots to my diet until years later. Three times as much hair in the drain as normal. Very scary, I have to tell you.
I've watched several videos of people talking about their hair growing back while on maintenance.
It's not a mistake to weigh chicken raw as long as you use an appropriate raw entry from the database. It's generally considered far more accurate than weighing cooked3 -
I've got this problem. When I started trying to lose weight last year my hair was very thick, in fact, people would always comment on how thick it was. Now, I have such thin hair - for me - and shed loads every day, or every few days. I've stuck to between 1000-1300 calories a day, some days I go a little under this, but not often. I've been losing weight at a very slow pace (now about 0.5/1 lb a month), so it's not that I'm under-eating. Maybe it's what I eat that's causing it, I don't know. Will try multi-vitamins, but I'm doubtful they'll help.
Some protein treatments might help....
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amusedmonkey wrote: »Where do you think the 1% recommendation comes from? It's often way too high of a deficit for most people and is certainly over the recommended 10-25%. This would mean 2 pounds a week at 200 pounds, when the average 200 pound woman has a sedentary maintenance of about 2000 calories, resulting in a 1000 calories budget or a 50% deficit. You would need to have a TDEE of 4000 to achieve 2 pounds a week at 25% deficit, and most 200 pound women (most people, really) aren't active enough to double their TDEE.
I've always viewed the 1% as a second double check. Certainly when i was starting out at ~270lbs I was often hitting a TDEE of 4K with activity. You're correct that 25% should not result in more than 1%
I see the 1% limit discussed in this paper: https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1550-2783-11-20
I recall another one that compared losses between 1.4% and 0.7% again amongst athletes.
But you see @ninerbuff above discussing 2% for obese and I am sure he would have seen sources that support that.
There is little question in my mind that when you have an abundance of available fat higher deficits are better tolerated. i.e. that faster losses are possible.
What is NOT as clear to me is that they are DESIRABLE for individuals losing weight on their own, i.e. people who are not in an in-patient, or otherwise fully supervised and supported set-up.
I feel that there is a lot of exploring and new/different habit forming that has to happen with those of us who have reached the morbidly obese range in order for us to have any hope of retaining our losses long term. And that it would be highly desirable for us to get to maintenance with the least amount of negative adaptation.
So an appreciable chunk of our weight loss time MUST be spent on setting us up for success in maintenance.
And, IMHO, very seldom would a super fast loss be conducive to achieving this.
And of course people who are NOT obese just don't have the fat reserves to go at such a fast pace without all sorts of problems.
All this also ignores basic compliance which becomes harder at larger deficits. Passing out, biting peoples' heads off, or rebound binges are not conducive to success! Not to mention the health concerns already discussed!
ETA and people doing 50% TDEE reductions when at a normal weight (which does happen on MFP especially amongst the 1200Cal a day with 2 hours cardio and no exercise eat back crowd) are repeating the Minnesota Starvation experiment which essentially drove healthy individuals into developing eating and psychological disorders.3 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »Drastic calorie deficit, not enough nutrients (especially fat), a diet that isn't varied enough to provide enough micronutrients, and most of all, a diet that is very hard or restrictive it causes you a lot of stress. I have noticed significant hair loss after trying diets that were not for me, and that trend stopped and the lost hair grew back when I settled on something that is easy and pleasant. I haven't had any significant hair loss since despite losing a lot of weight.
basically, pick a reasonable deficit (not one that puts you at 1200 calories and take care not to ignore exercise calories), eat enough fat and variety, and don't stubbornly cling to a dieting approach that is hard for you and you should be fine.
ETA:What I personally term an acceptable: deficit 10% to 20% of your TDEE (energy expenditure for the day). Resulting in a loss of no more than about 1% of your bodyweight per week.
Where do you think the 1% recommendation comes from? It's often way too high of a deficit for most people and is certainly over the recommended 10-25%. This would mean 2 pounds a week at 200 pounds, when the average 200 pound woman has a sedentary maintenance of about 2000 calories, resulting in a 1000 calories budget or a 50% deficit. You would need to have a TDEE of 4000 to achieve 2 pounds a week at 25% deficit, and most 200 pound women (most people, really) aren't active enough to double their TDEE.
I agree, if I aim for 1% bodyweight per week, it would mean about a 900cal deficit, which would be below 1200 net. It's not practical. On the other hand, 25% of TDEE is about 550cal, which is reasonable. The two recommendations don't overlap in a meaningful way, for me anyway.0 -
if youre not getting the nutrition you need, you will lose hair.
my hair is long,thick, halfway down my back and *kitten* gorgeous. ive lost 80 pounds.
i shed like crazy but always have - its normal and not hair LOSS ....1 -
Can I ask your specifics?A multivitamin/multimineral certainly helped me. I was losing much more hair than normal but that stopped once I started the multivitamin.
How much were you taking in? Were you paying attention to your nutrients?
Once you stopped losing hair, was it all just the multivitamin? Or did you adjust your eating intake at all?
Also, can I ask your starting weight and then roughly what your weight was when you started taking the multi? And how fast that loss was?
Hahaha, I'm sorry for all the questions! Ignore me if this is too intrusive.
I have no idea what I was doing back then. I'm pretty sure it wasn't the raw weight I was using.alyssa0061 wrote: »SierraFatToSkinny wrote: »Clumps! Or just about. Running their hands through their hair and having dozens of strands on their hands.
This reminded me of a time when I was about 20 and drastically dieted for a couple months. Ate 1200 calories a day (probably less since I was mistakenly weighing my chicken breasts raw) and I lost lots of hair. The hair loss had been a mystery to me at the time, I didn't connect the dots to my diet until years later. Three times as much hair in the drain as normal. Very scary, I have to tell you.
I've watched several videos of people talking about their hair growing back while on maintenance.
It's not a mistake to weigh chicken raw as long as you use an appropriate raw entry from the database. It's generally considered far more accurate than weighing cooked
However, I've been wondering about weighing meat. It seems so inaccurate!
I tend to eat a lot of chicken thighs now. Bone in, skin on. You're saying raw might be more accurate?callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »if youre not getting the nutrition you need, you will lose hair.
my hair is long,thick, halfway down my back and *kitten* gorgeous. ive lost 80 pounds.
i shed like crazy but always have - its normal and not hair LOSS ....
How fast are you losing?0 -
Iv lost 80 pounds-232 to 152- in 9 months and no hair loss i know of
My hairs kind of huge xD i think when i did my begining research it was lack of fat that caused this mostly? dont quote me though xD Alot of new vegans had that problem 1 -
The simplest answer is they are doing it wrong.
People have already covered the why.0 -
SierraFatToSkinny wrote: »I've been watching YouTube videos about weight loss and several people seemed to have lost lots of hair in the process of losing weight.
I'm scared of this. I currently have thick hair that reaches my lower back. It's my best feature and I'm attached to it.
Why exactly is there hair loss during weight loss? Is it just people dieting drastically which leads to hair loss? Or would any dieting lead to some hair loss?
What are some ways to prevent hair loss??
I'm talking collagen supplements and I'm thinking about starting to take a multivitamin.
Any information will be welcome!
I'd say due to steep deficits and malnutrition.0 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »Drastic calorie deficit, not enough nutrients (especially fat), a diet that isn't varied enough to provide enough micronutrients, and most of all, a diet that is very hard or restrictive it causes you a lot of stress. I have noticed significant hair loss after trying diets that were not for me, and that trend stopped and the lost hair grew back when I settled on something that is easy and pleasant. I haven't had any significant hair loss since despite losing a lot of weight.
basically, pick a reasonable deficit (not one that puts you at 1200 calories and take care not to ignore exercise calories), eat enough fat and variety, and don't stubbornly cling to a dieting approach that is hard for you and you should be fine.
ETA:What I personally term an acceptable: deficit 10% to 20% of your TDEE (energy expenditure for the day). Resulting in a loss of no more than about 1% of your bodyweight per week.
Where do you think the 1% recommendation comes from? It's often way too high of a deficit for most people and is certainly over the recommended 10-25%. This would mean 2 pounds a week at 200 pounds, when the average 200 pound woman has a sedentary maintenance of about 2000 calories, resulting in a 1000 calories budget or a 50% deficit. You would need to have a TDEE of 4000 to achieve 2 pounds a week at 25% deficit, and most 200 pound women (most people, really) aren't active enough to double their TDEE.
For a lighter/leaner person, 1% of body weight would be more aggressive but still doable if there's BF to lose. I'm 190 at the moment and need to get back down to 180...I could sustain a 1.9 (essentially 2 Lb per week) loss without much issue other than being miserable...but it would also be a short term thing...and yes, I would be pretty miserable. My TDEE is around 2,800 at the moment so I could do 1,800 and accomplish that. Of course there are limitations in regards to if you actually have body fat to lose and I think that's just assumed.
My wife is about 130 at the moment...she has a TDEE of around 2,200 calories...she could technically lose 1.3 Lbs per week as this would require a 650 calorie deficit...so she'd be able to accomplish that eating 1,550 calories per day.
The leaner you get, the more aggressive the approach is, but it still works...and in the case of someone already fairly lean, it would be a pretty short duration of time...I could be done in 5 weeks, but that's 5 weeks of hell I do not wish to endure, but other than being cranky, I wouldn't really suffer any ill health effects. I don't necessarily worry about "it should be a 20% cut" from TDEE or whatever, I generally go my 1% but I'm never that aggressive in my actual approach.0 -
Anemia can cause hair loss (and fatigue.) People prone to anemia should be especially vigilant about their iron levels when dieting.
I also shed more than usual when I was iodine-deficient. I take kelp tablets now.1 -
This isn't really a question about losing weight. It's a question about how to keep my hair while losing weight.
Lack of nutrients is a simplistic boiling down of the answer.
I'm interested in what the parameters are.
I'm currently not on a 1200 a day intake, I've been eating about 2000 calories a day.
I'm also wondering if I can "bank" nutrients. Lose, then maintain for a couple days.
I've been thinking about going on an extended backpacking trip and it would be very difficult to get in enough calories while backpacking. I'd have to "fuel up" periodically.0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Drastic calorie deficit, not enough nutrients (especially fat), a diet that isn't varied enough to provide enough micronutrients, and most of all, a diet that is very hard or restrictive it causes you a lot of stress. I have noticed significant hair loss after trying diets that were not for me, and that trend stopped and the lost hair grew back when I settled on something that is easy and pleasant. I haven't had any significant hair loss since despite losing a lot of weight.
basically, pick a reasonable deficit (not one that puts you at 1200 calories and take care not to ignore exercise calories), eat enough fat and variety, and don't stubbornly cling to a dieting approach that is hard for you and you should be fine.
ETA:What I personally term an acceptable: deficit 10% to 20% of your TDEE (energy expenditure for the day). Resulting in a loss of no more than about 1% of your bodyweight per week.
Where do you think the 1% recommendation comes from? It's often way too high of a deficit for most people and is certainly over the recommended 10-25%. This would mean 2 pounds a week at 200 pounds, when the average 200 pound woman has a sedentary maintenance of about 2000 calories, resulting in a 1000 calories budget or a 50% deficit. You would need to have a TDEE of 4000 to achieve 2 pounds a week at 25% deficit, and most 200 pound women (most people, really) aren't active enough to double their TDEE.
For a lighter/leaner person, 1% of body weight would be more aggressive but still doable if there's BF to lose. I'm 190 at the moment and need to get back down to 180...I could sustain a 1.9 (essentially 2 Lb per week) loss without much issue other than being miserable...but it would also be a short term thing...and yes, I would be pretty miserable. My TDEE is around 2,800 at the moment so I could do 1,800 and accomplish that. Of course there are limitations in regards to if you actually have body fat to lose and I think that's just assumed.
My wife is about 130 at the moment...she has a TDEE of around 2,200 calories...she could technically lose 1.3 Lbs per week as this would require a 650 calorie deficit...so she'd be able to accomplish that eating 1,550 calories per day.
The leaner you get, the more aggressive the approach is, but it still works...and in the case of someone already fairly lean, it would be a pretty short duration of time...I could be done in 5 weeks, but that's 5 weeks of hell I do not wish to endure, but other than being cranky, I wouldn't really suffer any ill health effects. I don't necessarily worry about "it should be a 20% cut" from TDEE or whatever, I generally go my 1% but I'm never that aggressive in my actual approach.
Yes, I know it is possible, it's just often I see the 20% off TDEE and 1% of body weight mentioned together when the two often don't even remotely compare, especially for the average dieter. It would take someone exceptionally active for the two number to lign up. Like your wife, for example, has a TDEE higher than an average 200 pound woman yet even she would need about 30% deficit to achieve a 1% loss. I guess what I was wondering is, when making a rule of thumb you don't base it on the exception (i.e the exceptionally active people) so I think the 1% was meant to set the maximum for what could be considered okay, like the 800 calorie rule of thumb as the cut off before something is considered VLCD. For the average person with average activity I think it's safer to recommend the 20% rule not the 1%.1 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »amusedmonkey wrote: »Drastic calorie deficit, not enough nutrients (especially fat), a diet that isn't varied enough to provide enough micronutrients, and most of all, a diet that is very hard or restrictive it causes you a lot of stress. I have noticed significant hair loss after trying diets that were not for me, and that trend stopped and the lost hair grew back when I settled on something that is easy and pleasant. I haven't had any significant hair loss since despite losing a lot of weight.
basically, pick a reasonable deficit (not one that puts you at 1200 calories and take care not to ignore exercise calories), eat enough fat and variety, and don't stubbornly cling to a dieting approach that is hard for you and you should be fine.
ETA:What I personally term an acceptable: deficit 10% to 20% of your TDEE (energy expenditure for the day). Resulting in a loss of no more than about 1% of your bodyweight per week.
Where do you think the 1% recommendation comes from? It's often way too high of a deficit for most people and is certainly over the recommended 10-25%. This would mean 2 pounds a week at 200 pounds, when the average 200 pound woman has a sedentary maintenance of about 2000 calories, resulting in a 1000 calories budget or a 50% deficit. You would need to have a TDEE of 4000 to achieve 2 pounds a week at 25% deficit, and most 200 pound women (most people, really) aren't active enough to double their TDEE.
For a lighter/leaner person, 1% of body weight would be more aggressive but still doable if there's BF to lose. I'm 190 at the moment and need to get back down to 180...I could sustain a 1.9 (essentially 2 Lb per week) loss without much issue other than being miserable...but it would also be a short term thing...and yes, I would be pretty miserable. My TDEE is around 2,800 at the moment so I could do 1,800 and accomplish that. Of course there are limitations in regards to if you actually have body fat to lose and I think that's just assumed.
My wife is about 130 at the moment...she has a TDEE of around 2,200 calories...she could technically lose 1.3 Lbs per week as this would require a 650 calorie deficit...so she'd be able to accomplish that eating 1,550 calories per day.
The leaner you get, the more aggressive the approach is, but it still works...and in the case of someone already fairly lean, it would be a pretty short duration of time...I could be done in 5 weeks, but that's 5 weeks of hell I do not wish to endure, but other than being cranky, I wouldn't really suffer any ill health effects. I don't necessarily worry about "it should be a 20% cut" from TDEE or whatever, I generally go my 1% but I'm never that aggressive in my actual approach.
Yes, I know it is possible, it's just often I see the 20% off TDEE and 1% of body weight mentioned together when the two often don't even remotely compare, especially for the average dieter. It would take someone exceptionally active for the two number to lign up. Like your wife, for example, has a TDEE higher than an average 200 pound woman yet even she would need about 30% deficit to achieve a 1% loss. I guess what I was wondering is, when making a rule of thumb you don't base it on the exception (i.e the exceptionally active people) so I think the 1% was meant to set the maximum for what could be considered okay, like the 800 calorie rule of thumb as the cut off before something is considered VLCD. For the average person with average activity I think it's safer to recommend the 20% rule not the 1%.
1% is definitely meant to be a maximum, after which point you really start tapping into muscle mass and other lean mass. IDK exactly where it comes from, but it's been around quite some time. My coach showed me a paper on it at one point but I can't remember the site. I'm pretty trusting of him given his background.0 -
I lost weight very slowly at a sensible deficit. About 6 months into maintenance, my hair started to fall out. Not clumps, just strands from all over. I have thick hair so it was not noticeable to anyone but me.
I went to my doctor, and after blood work came back normal, she told me that even if you lose weight in a healthy way, it can still cause some hair loss. The reaction is delayed, and can happen 6 months to a year after your loss.
The good news is that it's temporary. After eating at maintenance for about a year, all these baby hairs started to grow and everything is back to normal.
Not everyone will react this way, but some people do. And, yes, I was getting plenty of protein.1 -
I lost hair while in ketosis. It's why I quit a very low carb diet even though I enjoyed it. I was not vlc but I was very low carb. I resumed a diet with more carbs and saw my doc. By the time I had my levels checked, everything looked normal. My hair is now back to normal. Fyi, I am in no way saying that a keto diet caused my hair to fall out. But there was definitely something off.0
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