Intense workouts and hairfall.

[optimisticStar]

Does any of you guys notice increase in their hairfall during the week when you do intense workouts?

I started working out with a trainer 2 weeks back, my 1st week was ok and I didn't notice too much of hair fall, but this week I did notice some increase in hairfall. To get into a better shape, I have made changes in diet too which is more healthy now than it ever was. I eat more leafy greens, veggies and fruits, less junk food. I am working towards getting more protein in my vegetarian diet. I like to get nutrients through natural resources, so I do not take any supplements. My scalp does get dirty due to sweat so I wash my hair twice a week.

[unicornlady]

The culprit for the hair loss in this case should be iron, get a good iron supplement. A lot of physical strain demands a lot of iron, this is especially known for long distance runners.
Natural alternatives that come to mind first (I battled iron deficiency for almost 2 decades) are nettle leaf tea and liquid chlorophyle. Dont wait for hairfall to happen, check your blood count.
Hate to say it, but if you're prone to anemia you should rethink your vegetarian diet. I collapsed of low iron whenever I went vegetarian or vegan. And I tried more than once. Some organisms just cant handle it. I'm sure you have strong reasons for your choice - I mean no offense :flower:

P.S. some more tips: if you drink coffee, replace it (it blocks iron absorption) with brewed cacao (full or iron - cacao not cocoa). Virtually zero calories, unprocessed and full of iron too. And upp your zinc - snack on pumpkin seeds (pumpkin is better but sunflower also works) - it also has iron (and vitamin E if raw) so it's overall yay for hair. Sorry for many edits I'm getting ideas as I type :)

[-Fern]

:waving: I'm sorry that you've been experiencing hair fall--but don't worry, you should be able to stick to your vegetarian diet and your exercise plan!

Any abrupt change in both your diet and your exercise habits can cause your body to go through a little "upset" period as it readjusts. So first remember to breath and relax, because this, too, shall pass. Keep eating plenty of good stuff--I am a vegetarian, too, and I'm also not a fan of supplements. I get pretty much all my iron from beans & dark leafy greens. Make sure you are eating enough each day as well as a solid variety of each throughout the week. Most dried fruits & some cereals also have a good amount of iron (I think GrapeNuts in particular was loaded with it--I liked the flakes).

When you do a heavy workout, your body is going to need plenty of nutrients both to recover & build new muscle, so make sure you make that available to your body. Chocolate soymilk is still my favorite post-heavy-workout drink to help my muscles recover... though I noticed that if I drank it every day, my stomach became easily upset. So now I just save it for serious achievements. ;)

Some people advocate for cutting carbs out of your diet... yeah, you might lose weight faster, but I think a balance of simple & complex carbs is good for maintaining a steady energy level through the day. (And I know that when I foodcrash, I am more likely to make unhealthy snack choices.)

Also, if you continue to notice the hairfall after more than a week or two, I would definitely go see a doctor just to double-check and make sure everything's okay. I had a friend who, like unicornlady, exhausted their body's iron reserves and struggled with iron deficiency.

[optimisticStar]

The culprit for the hair loss in this case should be iron, get a good iron supplement. A lot of physical strain demands a lot of iron, this is especially known for long distance runners.
Natural alternatives that come to mind first (I battled iron deficiency for almost 2 decades) are nettle leaf tea and liquid chlorophyle. Dont wait for hairfall to happen, check your blood count.
Hate to say it, but if you're prone to anemia you should rethink your vegetarian diet. I collapsed of low iron whenever I went vegetarian or vegan. And I tried more than once. Some organisms just cant handle it. I'm sure you have strong reasons for your choice - I mean no offense :flower:

P.S. some more tips: if you drink coffee, replace it (it blocks iron absorption) with brewed cacao (full or iron - cacao not cocoa). Virtually zero calories, unprocessed and full of iron too. And upp your zinc - snack on pumpkin seeds (pumpkin is better but sunflower also works) - it also has iron (and vitamin E if raw) so it's overall yay for hair. Sorry for many edits I'm getting ideas as I type :)

I am vegetarian since birth and had very good and long hair until I started taking my own responsibilities. Everything works well when mom is the care-taker and handles everything. :)
I also had a clean, healthy and balanced diet then. But now since I have to cook for myself, I get lazy, eat unhealthy and take least care of myself. I used to have 2 cups of coffee daily and have now reduced it to once/twice a week. Slowly working on eliminating it as I get a stomach disorder with it.

[unicornlady]

Yep it spirals down quickly when one is too busy same goes for me when I work too much. But that aside, every metabolism is different. It couldnt work out for me and I'm very informed about nutrition. I'm glad your health has been very good so far :flower:

[optimisticStar]

:waving: I'm sorry that you've been experiencing hair fall--but don't worry, you should be able to stick to your vegetarian diet and your exercise plan!

Any abrupt change in both your diet and your exercise habits can cause your body to go through a little "upset" period as it readjusts. So first remember to breath and relax, because this, too, shall pass. Keep eating plenty of good stuff--I am a vegetarian, too, and I'm also not a fan of supplements. I get pretty much all my iron from beans & dark leafy greens. Make sure you are eating enough each day as well as a solid variety of each throughout the week. Most dried fruits & some cereals also have a good amount of iron (I think GrapeNuts in particular was loaded with it--I liked the flakes).

When you do a heavy workout, your body is going to need plenty of nutrients both to recover & build new muscle, so make sure you make that available to your body. Chocolate soymilk is still my favorite post-heavy-workout drink to help my muscles recover... though I noticed that if I drank it every day, my stomach became easily upset. So now I just save it for serious achievements. ;)

Some people advocate for cutting carbs out of your diet... yeah, you might lose weight faster, but I think a balance of simple & complex carbs is good for maintaining a steady energy level through the day. (And I know that when I foodcrash, I am more likely to make unhealthy snack choices.)

Also, if you continue to notice the hairfall after more than a week or two, I would definitely go see a doctor just to double-check and make sure everything's okay. I had a friend who, like unicornlady, exhausted their body's iron reserves and struggled with iron deficiency.


I gave up on cereals and am mostly eating fruits, veggies, dark leafy greens, beans, lentils, nuts and seeds. Very less salt, oil and sugar. Last year while I was trying various crash diets myself, I did cut out carbs and was only on fruits and veggies and that didn't went well with my body. Lost most of my hair while dieting due to lack of nutrients. Hope that's not happening again with me.

[Theobroma]

I am vegetarian since birth and had very good and long hair until I started taking my own responsibilities. Everything works well when mom is the care-taker and handles everything. :)
I also had a clean, healthy and balanced diet then. But now since I have to cook for myself, I get lazy, eat unhealthy and take least care of myself. I used to have 2 cups of coffee daily and have now reduced it to once/twice a week. Slowly working on eliminating it as I get a stomach disorder with it.

Make a point of getting enough protein! I was vegetarian for something like 25 years with absolutely no problems whatsoever. Then I spent six weeks at a summer school in Rome with no way to prepare my own food and severe limitations on what I could eat in restaurants owing to some non-trivial food intolerances. I ended up living on salads and gelati and got way too little protein in my diet... and my hair started coming out by the handful. When I got home and got the diet under control, the shedding stopped and my hair grew back in.

If you're too busy to cook properly, you might consider trying soy protein powder or something. You can put that in shakes or smoothies and get an extra dose of protein that way. Possible iron deficiency has been mentioned upthread -- but do get your iron levels checked by a doctor before you start supplementing! Too much iron can cause hairfall (and other, less trivial health problems) just as easily as too little, so unless you know for a fact that your levels are low, it's unwise to start loading up on it.

Good luck! You'll get this sorted.

[Knifegill]

In all fariness, regardless of diet (as pivotal and diet is, and it is!) big changes in metabolic demand are sure to cause temporary changes in skin, hair, joint tissues, etc. Look at your fingernails under good shadow-casting light, you probably have a faint ridge from one cuticle to the other that marks the beginning of your plan. Aim for about 120g of protein, and whatever balance of carbs and fats is appropriate for your workout intensity (more sprints and plyometric bursts? Higher carb. More worthless trudgery and chronic cardio? Higher fat), getting as much of it as possible from whole-celled plant and animal sources for the most part and you should see rapid improvement. Use a nutritional calculator (Something, anything, that tracks mIcronutrients) to make sure you are getting enough B12, copper, zinc, folate, iron and the rest on a weekly basis. Don't worry about a day here and there where you fall short on something. Just eat, eat a LOT. You want to improve body comp by losing fat and adding or maintaining muscle, and you can't do that on a severe deficit.