Hair loss while losing weight
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adchak
Posts: 62 Member
am 5ft 7 inches female Indian, 43 years old, started at 203 lbs in June 2018 and down to 183 in Nov. I did this by calorie deficit, sticking to a low carb diet. Tracked calories 1200-1300 some days went to 1000 calories as well, macros 100 gm protein, 40-60 gms carbs, fat 60 gms. All my test results are normal but since Aug 2018 myhair is shedding like crazy, long strands just keep coming out. I’ve been takin Biotin 20,000 mcg once a day (2 capsules 10,000 mcg) but no respite. I have had hypothyroidism since I was 15 andhavebeen on medication Levoxythyroxine 125 mcg once a day. I have gone through several cycles of hair loss when my TSH levels were too low or too high. My doc adjusted the medication and hair loss would stop. This is the first time that my hair loss is continuing with normal thyroid levels.
Pl HELP!!!! Im going crazy tryg to think of ways. Will this ever stop???
How long does it take for things to stabilize? I cannot go back to eating 1500-1600 calsbecause I know I just wont lose weight. I want to get to 150 lbs so another 33 lbs to go
Lab results from Nov 9
Lab tests on 11/9
TSH 1.07
Free T4 1.2 (.5-1.7 ng/dL)
Free T3: 2.5 (2.5 to 5.5 pg/ml)
Ferritin 154 ng/mL (11 to 307 ng/mL)
Cortisol 9.7 ug/dL (5 to 25 ug/dL)
Vit D 34.4 (30 to 100 ng/mL)
Vit B12 390 pg/mL (180 to 933)
Testosterone 17 ng/dL (0 to 100 ng/dL)
Free testosterone 1.0 (.2 to 5.0)
Glucose 92 (65 to 100 mg/dL)
Freeinsulin 6.7 (0-17)
Total insulin issame 6.7 (0-17)
Pl HELP!!!! Im going crazy tryg to think of ways. Will this ever stop???
How long does it take for things to stabilize? I cannot go back to eating 1500-1600 calsbecause I know I just wont lose weight. I want to get to 150 lbs so another 33 lbs to go
Lab results from Nov 9
Lab tests on 11/9
TSH 1.07
Free T4 1.2 (.5-1.7 ng/dL)
Free T3: 2.5 (2.5 to 5.5 pg/ml)
Ferritin 154 ng/mL (11 to 307 ng/mL)
Cortisol 9.7 ug/dL (5 to 25 ug/dL)
Vit D 34.4 (30 to 100 ng/mL)
Vit B12 390 pg/mL (180 to 933)
Testosterone 17 ng/dL (0 to 100 ng/dL)
Free testosterone 1.0 (.2 to 5.0)
Glucose 92 (65 to 100 mg/dL)
Freeinsulin 6.7 (0-17)
Total insulin issame 6.7 (0-17)
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Replies
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I always lose more hair than normal when eating in a deficit, even a small one. And it looks truly frightening because my hair is dark and mid-back and there's just a lot of it. Other than some thinning at my temples and a smaller ponytail, though, it isn't obvious (no bald spots). Assuming all your labs are normal and your nutrition is adequate (protein, fats, vitamins), it may just be a side effect of eating in a deficit that will resolve on its own once you enter maintenance. It can take a couple of months eating at maintenance to see a difference.
Standard disclaimer - there are of course some medical causes for hair loss that should be ruled out with your doctor. But it's not at all uncommon to see accelerated hair shedding during weight loss and isn't necessarily a sign of something horrible.2 -
Thanks for your response. I noticed hair shedding when I started intermittent fasting as well, stopped IF after5-6 months due to hair shedding. As soon as I stopped IF my hair loss stopped. Idonthave anybald patches etc and am going to see a doc tomorrow. Friendof mine recommended Hairfinity capsules that have helped her with shedding and lots of newhairgrowth. I have ordered these and going to ask my doc.0
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Thanks for your response. I noticed hair shedding when I started intermittent fasting as well, stopped IF after5-6 months due to hair shedding. As soon as I stopped IF my hair loss stopped. Idonthave anybald patches etc and am going to see a doc tomorrow. Friendof mine recommended Hairfinity capsules that have helped her with shedding and lots of newhairgrowth. I have ordered these and going to ask my doc.
Looks like it's a vitamin supplement heavy on the B's with some sort of collagen and herb proprietary blend (fancy name for a bunch of stuff that doesn't have an RDA value). Probably won't hurt you, but I doubt it's worth the cost.
Honestly, it's just something you might have to live with through weight loss. Did you stop calorie restricting when you also stopped IF? If you're losing hair now and not doing IF, there's no reason to think the two are related.2 -
Normal hair loss goes in cycles - if you were to start shedding today, that would be related to something that happened months ago. If your hair loss stopped immediately after stopping IF, it wasn't related to stopping IF.
With 33 pounds left to lose, aim for a weekly weight loss of 0.5 - 1 pound per week. This may be slower than you like, but your hair follicles will thank you.
I see your Ferritin levels are normal. If you do not eat normal iodized salt, maybe get tested for iodine deficiency and ask your doctor about other deficiencies that can cause hair loss.5 -
You bring up agood point. I didchange to celtic seasalt in May from iodized salt. I wasv concerned initially andkeptcheckingmy TSHlevels whichhave remained normal. Ihave no idea abt my iodine levels. Will ask the doc to check that. I am convinced that thehair loss is probably due to somedeficiency justneed to identify it.2
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Pinuplove- When I stopped IF, I restarted Biotin and hair shedding stoppedwithin 4-6 weeks. I just went back to eating as I was doingbefore I started IF.
IF also resulted in my thyroid medication dossage being lowered and I have been on the lower dose for the last 3 yrs. i did IF in 2015. I did read that IF does result in your body being more efficient, I was happy to be on a lower dossage of Levoxythyroxine.
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Have you been checked for or diagnosed with PCOS? I ask specifically because your doctor checked testosterone levels, which is sometimes checked in people with PCOS, and PCOS can cause thinning hair. People with PCOS have higher rates of hypothyroidism than people without it, so it is possible that you could have both--ask your doctor if they think this is a possibility.
In addition, ask your doctor to weigh in (pun totally intended) on your calorie goal. 1200-1300 would ordinarily be too low for someone of your height and weight, and we'd normally say that you could still lose weight while eating more than that, but since you have hypothyroidism I think it's best to ask your doctor for their opinion.1 -
Just my two pence, how often do you change your shampoo/conditioner? I find that if I continue to use the same shampoo/conditioner (no matter what it is or claims to do) for a long time my shedding gets worse. I don't know if there's any real reason behind this, or if it's just my imagination, but it seems to be the case for me.
Oh and I definitely get more shedding than normal when I'm in deficit. Not huge amounts, but noticeable.1 -
I experienced some hair loss and even though my iron was within normal range my doctor still thought because it was the low end of normal taking biotin & iron supplements will help. It’s been getting less dramatic doing this although I had to cut my hair because it was just a matted mess of shed hair. That was really upsetting. If you’ve had all of these tests, your doctor didn’t have any suggestions?0
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I wonder if your body is just worn out. You might consider a diet break. A break at maintenance calories for a couple of weeks might help.
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks8 -
Have your iron checked by your doctor. My guess would be you aren’t getting enough iron. You are only consuming ~0.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. Consuming very low amounts of protein can contribute to hair loss. Eating less protein usually means less iron. Typically, 0.8 grams per pound of protein is the absolute minimum, ideally 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. I know you aren’t getting enough iron from carbs (plant-based) because you are fairly close to keto level. The body absorbs iron better from animal protein than it does from plant-based sources but you are also really low on protein.2
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beatyfamily1 wrote: »Have your iron checked by your doctor. My guess would be you aren’t getting enough iron. You are only consuming ~0.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. Consuming very low amounts of protein can contribute to hair loss. Eating less protein usually means less iron. Typically, 0.8 grams per pound of protein is the absolute minimum, ideally 1 gram per pound of bodyweight. I know you aren’t getting enough iron from carbs (plant-based) because you are fairly close to keto level. The body absorbs iron better from animal protein than it does from plant-based sources but you are also really low on protein.
Iron was my first thought as well but her ferritin levels are normal. You may have a good point about protein though.
I'm interested to see if she has iodine deficiency since switching from iodized salt to non.1 -
STRESS is/can be a sneaky and often ignored symptom of hair-loss. One having hair-thinning/hair loss issues should definitely look at your life and see how much stress you're allowing in your heart/mind/home/life. Reducing stress (no matter how hard it may seem to do) "may" help you tremendously in this area. Just a little important something to consider (if you haven't already). Stress is a sneaky killer, thief, and destroyer of all kinds of things in our lives. On going, constant stress is destructive in so many more ways than we can count. Our learning to say "NO" and throwing down the gauntlet with no longer "going along to get along" with people, places and things, making it your "business and utmost priority in y/our lives to reduce stress as much as possible will help us tremendously in at least beginning to acknowledge/see/recognize and then attack/destroy/utterly defeat stress as soon as it rears it's ugh and yuck-ish head in our hearts/minds and lives and "expose--CALL IT OUT" immediately when (not if, but when) it/stress raises up and "tries" to control your thoughts/actions/deeds. Seeing/recognizing STRESS in y/our lives and making it an unwanted pest and enemy and all it's yucky buddies it/stress (unnecessary MESS) it carries/brings with it (anger, wrath, too much stuff, trying to get people/places/things to change or see things our way, hopelessness, fear, blame-shifting and a whole lot of other "mess/messiness--YUCK" in our lives). That's at least for me, everyone's different
, of course. 3 -
Thanks for all the responses. I’m always amazed by how much support everyone on this forum provides.
I started collagen peptides powder 2 scoops once a day plus multivitamin capsule plus continuing Biotin, plus Keratin capsules specifically for hair/skin/nails. I got the vitamins and keratin from the Vitamin store. My friend recommended Hairfinity which has worked tremendously well in reversing hair shedding and new hair growth. It has some of the same vitamins(B, C, Eetc) in a multivit and MSM powder plus keratin. I take this on alternate days and multivitamin on other days. Dont want too much if the vitamins. In 5 days there’s a slight decrease in hair shedding.
I also saw my doc who looked at all my test results and said hair loss is directly related to wt loss, advised eatg fish, steak etc. The only addl test he ordered was DHEA and ANA to check incase I have an auto immune. Hedidnt think anything is medically wrong with me. He stressed a lot on maintaining wt and not go through the yo yo that I havehad in the past. He advised that the body and hair goes through a ton of stress when our weight fluctuates doesnt matter how drastic or gradual the wt loss is. Hair goes into telligen phase quicker than expectedand leads to excessive shedding.
He is old school andv experienced with over 40 yrs in hair loss treatments so I am hoping he is right on!
Waitg for my test results and in themeantime increasing my protein intake and vitamins. I am convinced my hair shedding is due to poor nutrition when I went into calorie deficit inJune. I really wish I had known abt all the knowledge back then, could have avoided cuttg off 12 inches of my hair. Will I ever get back my long, lustrous hair- not sure but I’m going to keep trying! Iwill share if anythg worked for me for others to learn from my experience.
Sorry for the long post. Happy Thanksgiving!!!1 -
Thanks for all the responses. I’m always amazed by how much support everyone on this forum provides.
I started collagen peptides powder 2 scoops once a day plus multivitamin capsule plus continuing Biotin, plus Keratin capsules specifically for hair/skin/nails. I got the vitamins and keratin from the Vitamin store. My friend recommended Hairfinity which has worked tremendously well in reversing hair shedding and new hair growth. It has some of the same vitamins(B, C, Eetc) in a multivit and MSM powder plus keratin. I take this on alternate days and multivitamin on other days. Dont want too much if the vitamins. In 5 days there’s a slight decrease in hair shedding.
I also saw my doc who looked at all my test results and said hair loss is directly related to wt loss, advised eatg fish, steak etc. The only addl test he ordered was DHEA and ANA to check incase I have an auto immune. Hedidnt think anything is medically wrong with me. He stressed a lot on maintaining wt and not go through the yo yo that I havehad in the past. He advised that the body and hair goes through a ton of stress when our weight fluctuates doesnt matter how drastic or gradual the wt loss is. Hair goes into telligen phase quicker than expectedand leads to excessive shedding.
He is old school andv experienced with over 40 yrs in hair loss treatments so I am hoping he is right on!
Waitg for my test results and in themeantime increasing my protein intake and vitamins. I am convinced my hair shedding is due to poor nutrition when I went into calorie deficit inJune. I really wish I had known abt all the knowledge back then, could have avoided cuttg off 12 inches of my hair. Will I ever get back my long, lustrous hair- not sure but I’m going to keep trying! Iwill share if anythg worked for me for others to learn from my experience.
Sorry for the long post. Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Glad to see you’re having good conversations with your doctor. Did he recommend or comment on the supplements?0 -
My doctor doesnt believe invitamins he said eat the real food and dont waste popping pills that make your wallet lighter, lol:)
That being said I am going to continuewith the supplements, vitamins I started. Im hoping that will slow down the shedding while I continue to lose weight! Im 30 lbs away from my goal wt so have a long way to go! I dont want to speed up the wt loss by doing extra cardio just so i canget to my goal wt quicker and then go into maintenance. That will further shock mybody and im sure i’llgain thevwt bck when I stop the extra cardio0 -
I had sleeve surgery in 2014 and that was one of the temporary side effects--hair loss. I was told it would start about 6 months post surgery and last about 3 months. It did. My hair grew back to the same it was before surgery. It's caused from such a drastic reduction in calories through the beginning of the weight loss process. Temporary though.1
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I shed a lot too during deficit1
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