Hair loss after weight loss

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kcspm
kcspm Posts: 43 Member
in Motivation and Support
I have recently lost about 60lbs in 3 months. My hair is falling off A LOT. I have had hair loss after giving birth and breast feeding but this is so much more. Anybody with similar experiences?

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  • LearningToFly13
    LearningToFly13 Posts: 329 Member
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    Sounds like you're lacking in something. I would see your doctor and get a blood test done. 60 lbs in 3 months is a lot of weight in a short time. If you've been eating VLCD then the chances are you have been missing out on key vitamins and minerals. This will have a negative effect on your body...as you're seeing with the hair loss.
  • aeloine
    aeloine Posts: 2,163 Member
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    Would you mind sharing how you lost the weight? If it was a doctor supervised VLCD, you would really be best off talking to the doctor. He may be able to run some blood work to determine any deficiencies.

    If you did it on your own, some detail may help as well. If you cut out certain foods or didn't supplement with a multi, those could all be contributing factors.
  • Wendyanneroberts
    Wendyanneroberts Posts: 270 Member
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    I have angina and family history of heart disease, and had myocarditus, and high cholesterol. I was also obese, borderline severely obese, with the beginnings of high blood pressure. It was therefore recommended I lose weight and reduced my fat intake. This was a few years ago now and before I discovered MFP.

    Long story short, I followed food plan recommended by them, but didn't really lose any weight. So they cut my meal plan further, thinking that as I'm also disabled and could not increase exercise, then I probably needed fewer calories to be able to lose weight. I dropped out of weight loss clinic but continued on my low calorie/low fat meal plan. But I become very unwell, developing even more new symptoms. At this point I also had problems with hair loss and my nails became brittle and completely falling off.

    In my case I had developed an autoimmune disease, which was part of the reason. But my blood tests also showed I had reduced my bad cholesterol levels, but I now had dangerously low good fats levels. My low fat diet, was far to low in fat. I needed to increase the levels of fat in my diet. This was an underlying cause that was making the condition worse. Fortunately I discovered MFP and now track macros as well as calories, to insure it is well balanced.

    I notice that you have lost a lot of weight, in a short period of time and wonder if your calorie deficit is to high. Or if your macro percentages are off, although not knowing your stats, it may be OK. But if you have cut to much fat from your diet, you will develop hair loss.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Hair loss is a common result of eating too little (less than 1200).
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    I avoided hair loss after VLCD by making sure I was getting enough protein and enough fat. You notice hair loss about six weeks after the damage was done. If you increase your fat and protein, you should see improvement in about six weeks.
  • kcspm
    kcspm Posts: 43 Member
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    I just cut all junk food. Probably too much and exercised about 3 hours a day. Average walking. And yes it's been a few weeks and just now my hair is falling a lot. I'll increase my fat intake and see...
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    If your body does not get enough building blocks for life, it steals from the non-essentials, which happens to be your hair, nails and skin. Make sure you are hitting your minimums (macros and calories) daily.
  • Wendyanneroberts
    Wendyanneroberts Posts: 270 Member
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    jgnatca wrote: »
    If your body does not get enough building blocks for life, it steals from the non-essentials, which happens to be your hair, nails and skin. Make sure you are hitting your minimums (macros and calories) daily.

    My low calorie/low fat diet (as recommended)by my health team, but then not monitored correctly, (Which was partly my fault as I stopped attending clinic but carried on with their diet plan.) My poor diet was behind these symptoms. After discovering MFP, and using it as a tool to log that meal plan, I discovered I was only eating about 1,000 calories per day, lacking in protein and extremely low in fat. Increasing calories, and rebalancing my macros & drastically increasing both protein and fat, has made an amazing difference. But it does take time for your body to respond. Accurate logging has helped me track minimum levels, as much as maximum intake.
  • MeemawCanDoIt
    MeemawCanDoIt Posts: 92 Member
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    I'm on a physician supervised diet; my doc and dietician said hair loss is low protein. I upped protein and hair loss has improved.
  • BPRKEY
    BPRKEY Posts: 105 Member
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    I don't know where you started so that amount may be okay if it's being supervised. But average safe weight-loss is 1-2 lbs per week. That would be MAX 24 (ish) lbs in 3 months. 60 might be too much too fast. I might consider scaling back the speed. Hair loss can be a symptom of malnourishment.
  • Kristen8912
    Kristen8912 Posts: 32 Member
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    Years ago, I ate very little and lost hair, among other things. Please make sure you're eating enough nutrient rich foods.

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