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View Full Version : Weight loss.and it's effect on your hair journey



CurlyCyndi
March 17th, 2011, 07:20 PM
I have WLS weight loss surgery on March 19th 2010. With any rapid weight loss there is a lot of hair loss. How are you dealing with the hair loss. What do you do to help stop or keep under control.

For me I had a LOT of hair loss. Ever shower I ended up with a fist full of hair...

I have been using biotin, trying to eat enough protein (which I don't) and prenatal along with all the other vitamins I have had to due to the surgery.

honeyblonde
March 17th, 2011, 08:59 PM
Hi CurlyCindy! That's a good question! I have been dieting and exercising for the past 3 weeks.....l have lost 9 lbs!! Only one more pound to go, Yeah!! :cheese: I haven't had a problem with hair loss. I eat egg beaters EVERY morning, also take biotin, msn, prenatal vitamins!! I exercise 30 -45 mins. a day.....just dancing with my weights. Sometimes I'll have a slim fast shake between meals!! Try the egg beaters, they are great, and only 30 calories in a quarter cup!! Good luck, and congratulations on the weight loss!!

nucleardelusion
March 17th, 2011, 09:07 PM
I lost about 45 pounds last year due to eating better and going off my antidepressant. I didn't notice any extra hair loss though... but my intake of fruit and veggies has increased with the decrease of junk food- so maybe that helped with shedding?

firicia
March 17th, 2011, 09:29 PM
I think I remember hearing that the problem with WLS is that after it's way harder to eat enough food to get the nutrients your body needs. One thing you could try are Green Smoothies.

There are lots of websites and recipes but you can keep it simple with some kale or spinach, then 1/2 a banana or full (helps cover the taste of the greens you chose), and then some fruit (I love frozen blueberries, raspberries, mangoes etc...), blended in a good quality blender.

Also fish and fish oils I have heard good things about, there are other options such as nuts if you are a vegetarian or vegan. Some recipes even add oils in, but I have found simple to taste best for myself. Best piece of advice is don't start with too many greens to where you hate the taste, you can always build up but if you don't enjoy your drink then you won't keep drinking it. Good luck, hope you find something that helps:)

McFearless
March 17th, 2011, 10:05 PM
Any change in diet usually results in shedding 6 months after the change. Luckily the hair grows right back. Good luck on Saturday I hope you have a speedy recovery. <3

Shermie Girl
March 17th, 2011, 10:11 PM
Unfortunately, when you lose a lot of weight, you usually end up losing a lot of hair, too. I haven't had WLS but I am on a mission to lose my excess flab. I have lost 110 pounds in the last year (still have a ways to go...) and I have lost a lot of hair. A lot. I have lost so much hair that my hair looks and feels noticeably thinner and I have visible thinning at my front hairline and when my hair is all slicked back, you can tell it is thinner. I am still shedding a good deal but I think... Hope... Pray... It is beginning to slow down a little. My groth rate has slowed a good deal, as well. My hair is growing but not at it's normal clip.

I try to get plenty of protein in my diet, I take vitamins but I don't think that there is much we can do to stop the shedding. Our bod probably takes the nutrients it does get and makes sure to use it for more vital systems and lets our skin and hair take second place.

CurlyCyndi
March 18th, 2011, 06:25 AM
Firica- Thanx for the green smoothie idea. I am not sure I can do smoothies. I've tried to do the whole smoothie thing but I'll have to try it again.
I actually really love veggies and am not a fan of fruits. I know i am very weird. My favorite snack is broccoli and carrots LOL. I don't think I have ever tried kale in a smoothie.. I think I might actually like that. :)

i had gastric bypass so pretty a lot of my nutrients get bypassed and not absorbed by the body. I take all my vitamins and eat well for a WLS patient I guess. Most people with WLS start loosing their hair at 6 months... I started at 4 months :/

I guess you can think of Gastric bypass as anorexic... for a few months you are on a 500 calorie diet... so even if you are eating all healthy there is going to be large amounts of hair loss.

The meals at first are 2 oz, then increased after 6 months when you can eat about a cup at a time.
I take my vitamins daily consisting of... 1 multivitamins, 1prenatal, 1calcium citrate, 2Flaxseed, 2Omega 3, 2biotin maximum vitamins, 3calciums, 1vitamin d, 1 b12, 6Meta Fiber. 2-20 Beef Liver protein pills... I also add extra ones like once a week or a month.

Well i try to take them daily but I am forget sometimes. :/ I especially don't take them sometimes because sometimes my stomach cant handle all those pills. :/

Eh WLS is not fun at all. But anyhow I will have to try the eggs i could probably use more protein as I dont eat the mount I am supposed to... I am told to take 60 grams of protein per day... I usually eat 20 if that :/

Does anyone know if any light protein meals?


Honey blond- wow just 5 more to go that is amazing! CONGRATS AND GOOD LUCK! And I;ll look into MSN.
:)


Shermie girle; WOW 110lbs that is amazing congrats and GOOD LUck..

I have lost somewhere along 80lbs.. But need a good amount more to go. :/

Thank you all for your advice. I will take it all into consideration and maybe try to integrate it all.

pixiedust
March 18th, 2011, 07:35 AM
Well I recently (within the past year and a half) lost a ton of weight due to stress, but i've always eaten generally healthfully (vegan) as in lots of whole grains, fruits, veggies, etc in a varied manner. I've been consistenly 114-120 lbs (I'm 5'8) for about 6 months now, which is low but still pretty good for me since for a while it just kept dropping. I experienced a TON of hairloss and ended up having to chop, but I was also bleaching my hair all the time so my scalp could have just not been agreeing with that. It was hard and I cried a lot but I've been taking a TON of B vitamins, eating my protein and trying to gain weight, and since my weight has stabilized so has my hair loss issues. :)

turtlelover
March 18th, 2011, 07:39 AM
I really think that if your weight loss is very gradual, you are less likely to lose hair than if you shock your body with a major caloric deficit. Either way, I think that the hair that you lose will grow back when your calorie intake goes back up. Regardless, your health is more important than your hair, and it is much healthier to be at a correct body weight!!!!

CurlyCyndi
March 18th, 2011, 09:10 AM
It's good to hear that you have stabilized your weight.

I guess I also forgot to mention I aslo have PCOS... ;/ It's like a double hair loss process eh.
Prior to WLS I was a vegetarian, but was asked to go back to meats as it would be easier to get enough protein without what they call Dumping Syndrome. It's helped but I really hope to get back to what I prefer (being a vegetarian).

I guess I also have to explain how I got to the point where I needed WLS...
In 2006 I became anorexic... Pretty much scared myself when I would eat a bite of a protien bar and a diet coke and Dangerous diet pills from over seas(also working out, and walking a good 1/2 of my day). This messed up my metabolism and i began gaining weight form barely eating (weird and this actually happens often). I guess everything i ate my body wanted to store as fat.. Eventually i reaches 200lbs!! Reaching such a weight weight at only 5 feet tall put my body's hormone's out of whack and I was then diagnosed with PCOS which causes exterem weight gain and a diffulty of weight loss... At this point I would have a few months of junk food and slef pity because eve if I eat healthy I was still fat (this was just self pity and kind of giving up) From 2007-2010 I gained over 1/2 of what I weight in 2006... I weighed 280 (or around there). I was never a lazy person have always been athletic... This surgery was a very bad idea for me really but I found that out when it was too late... though I have lost a large amount of weight I gained a lot of complications, and teh pCOS makes it hard to loose the way most Gastric Bypass patients do.. I think by now most people would have lost all thier excess weight...


I think when I tell people I had WLS they assume I don't know how to take care of myself or that i dont understand that healthy food+ exercise+ decent portions= healthier weight... But I am actually very educated in nutrition. Despite what my body tells others:/


turtle lover I agree slow weight loss really wont effect hair loss.

turtlelover
March 18th, 2011, 01:17 PM
I sympathize w/ any one dealing w/ PCOS....that is NOT fun. The only way I can control it is a very low carb diet and loads of exercise. I also am borderline diabetic, which tends to go along w/ PCOS. I can LOOK at food and gain weight, so I have to be very careful. My weight is under control now, but it was a hard process. Fortunately, my hair has never thinned due to PCOS, but I have some other not so great side effects.

mrs_coffee
March 18th, 2011, 02:04 PM
I know two people who had WLS, one was traditional bypass and the other was Roux-en-Y. They both lost a lot of hair in the first year after surgery, but now (one is 3 or 4 years out and the other is around 2 years out) they both have had quite a bit of regrowth. As far as I know they are just taking the prescribed vitamins and drinking protein shakes.

Arctic_Mama
March 18th, 2011, 02:23 PM
I've lost about 60 pounds through diet and exercise over the past two years, with a pregnancy in the middle. Even with extremely gentle weightloss I still had a bunch shedding, and that plus the pregnancy shed pretty severely impacted my circumference.

Still, it has tapered off. I'm pretty sure that despite supplements and a balanced diet it is unavoidable. The body reacts to physiological change with things like acne and hair shedding, there's little way around it!

LovingLongHair
March 18th, 2011, 08:53 PM
I have problems with my weight and have recently started to get it under control. I have lost 28 pounds. This has actually helped my hair. I have problems with hormones and that causes my hair to shed horribly. After I lost a bit of weight, my hormones started to normalize, which led to healthier hair. Of course this is just me, but I thought I would share.

exclusively di
March 18th, 2011, 09:32 PM
I don't know what PCOS is, but what I thought to share here is that when I'm under a lot of stress I shed. Radically. A few years ago I nearly went bald. I started using Chrome Dome, an EO blend for hair growth and it made an amazing difference. I still use it at least once a week, or Nightblooming's blend, or out it falls. I don't know if it would help in this instance, but they sure couldn't hurt!! They are easy to use, just massage into scalp and leave on for an hour or so. I leave them in overnight. Nightblooming's is complete, all you do is apply it, Chrome Dome has to be added to a carrier oil. The smells are similar, CD being a little stronger. Herby smelling. I like them personally.

I too am losing weight, I have lost 25 lbs this last year, and have lots to go, but am taking it slow and easy. I went on the diabetic diet cause my sugar was getting crazy and it works well for me. Keep us posted how you do, all of you, we really are in this together, though we are all on a little different road. On to health!

adiapalic
March 18th, 2011, 09:36 PM
I've lost about 30lbs since January 3rd. The weight fell off in the first month because I dropped back my calories. My metabolism was in overdrive for what I was eating, and I think I also dropped a lot of water weight as well. It's steadied off to about 8 pounds a month rate now.

I'm just been calorie counting, and watching my macronutrient ratio, sodium, sugar, and other vitamins and nutrients. There's a cool app on my smart phone that tracks all of this for me.

When I was in high school, I pretty much deprived myself to the brink of starvation for a while and lost 100lbs in a year. My hair was so thin and damaged looking. I gained all that weight back along with 40lbs+ extra in college.

Now, since my weight loss is not rapid, and I'm able to consume enough, I haven't lost any hair. I've been taking much better care of myself these days.

Shermie Girl
March 18th, 2011, 09:36 PM
Curly Cyndi, you are doing so great! Keep it going, girl. :D

I read a lot of weight loss blogs and many of them are by WLS patients. Some who, like you have had RNY some who are banded, have the sleeve, the switch... And most of them report a certain amount of hair loss. Some drastic amounts, some a bit less. Most of them have their shedding taper off and pretty much stop in a year or two. And they grow their hair back very nicely.

Buckle up. It's going to be a bumpy hair ride. I have accepted the fact that a lot of shedding is a fact of my life for a while, yet. But I am at the point where I have to do this. To save my life. (And my sanity... ;)) I would rather have a thinner, healthier bod and the thinner hair that is coming along with it. I know that it will stabilize in time and the hair I am losing will grow back.

Some very subtle layering and soft fringe are helping my hair look better, give the ends the appearance of more volume and my hair more swing and bounce. :)

CurlyCyndi
March 19th, 2011, 07:38 PM
Thank you everyone for ur help. Congrats for all your success stories.. They are very uplifting! :) I will be looking into EO :)