Help please -- Hair loss & Calories -- oh and update w/ photos :)

amandamercedes22
on 9/2/11 2:32 am - CA
Hi fellow VSG-ers :)

I hope you are all fabulously losing and maintaining

 I have two questions:

1. I have been losing A LOT of hair and it freaks me out! I knew that I should expect it so, I am not complaining... I am just wondering, what have any of you used to help prevent it from falling out so much or what are your experiences with it? 

2. Right now I am 3 days away from my 4 month surgiverary and I am trying to figure out what my goal should be for my daily calorie intake... Right now I am getting between 700-800 calories a day. I am wondering, is this too much or too little for the stage I am in now? 

Thanks in advance!!!

I'm not sure if 46lbs lost since before my pre-surgery diet is good enough but I have been breaking my hump 4x a week in the gym and I started with a personal trainer last week. I hope my weight-loss kicks back into gear soon because it has been hovering around 209-211 for the past three weeks

So here is a before picture at 257lbs:



and here is my after at around 211 (please excuse the messy room):



Have a great day y'all!!!!!

Amanda

      
faylavi
on 9/2/11 2:34 am - Laurel, MD
girl..

No one can see the room cause you look FANTASTIC!!!!!


Congrats!

          

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Smardeepants
on 9/2/11 2:58 am
WOWZA... you look INCREDIBLE!

I'm not quite as far as you, so I'm no help as far as calories are concerned. I've lost hair through extreme dieting before, and as far as I understand it's called Telegen Effluvium. Basically, the shock from surgery causes your hair to go into a resting or dormant state. Once everything settles, and your body calms down, it starts growing again. (By pushing the old hair out and replacing it with a new one).

SOOOO, the hair loss is actually a sign your hair is growing again. At this point, I don't think there's anything to slow down the loss (because it's actually caused by hair growth--which you want--) but there may be styles/products/cuts, etc that make it look fuller and help with the transition time.

Hang in there... here's a blurb from mayo clinic...

Telogen effluvium. This type of hair loss is usually due to a change in your normal hair cycle. It may occur when some type of shock to your system — emotional or physical — causes hair roots to be pushed prematurely into the resting state. The affected growing hairs from these hair roots fall out. In a month or two, the hair follicles become active again and new hair starts to grow. Telogen effluvium may follow emotional distress, such as a death in the family or a physiological stress, such as a high fever, sudden or excessive weight loss, extreme diets, nutritional deficiencies, surgery, or metabolic disturbances. Hair typically grows back once the condition that caused it corrects itself, but it usually take months.

Here's the original link from the blurb above....

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/hair-loss/DS00278/DSECTION= causes
                
viola_120
on 9/2/11 3:04 am - FL
You look like you are right on track!!! Great job!!! You'll start losing again!!!
HW-250 SW 241.8 GW 139            
Lizzy25
on 9/2/11 3:31 am
1. I lost a ton of hair, at least half the hair on my head. It's slowly starting to come back. Not as much as I'd like, but I had thin hair to begin with so I don't think I'll ever have a lot of hair. All you can do is be sure to get all of your protein in and take all of your vitamins. People say that zinc and biotin are good to take for hair loss but that's just anecdotal, there is no proof. I take them anyway. You can try rogaine, but it may not make a difference because this is related to your rapid weight loss and the trauma of surgery. I've been using rogaine but I don't see any difference, and it's a pain in the butt to apply. makes your hair all crunchy. You can also do daily scalp massages to increase the blood flow to your hair. Very gently massage your scalp all over with your fingertips/fingernails. You can even do it in the shower with a bit of essential oil. I do this and it feels great. Use a good anti-tangle conditioner along with a very wide toothed comb, so that you're not yanking your hair when you comb it out after the shower.

If you start getting bald spots, you can get scalp makeup so that your scalp doesn't show through and make it really obvious. I use one from a little company called ShaBo Cosmetics. It's a loose colored powder you just apply to the thin spots. I hope you don't get to that point, but if you do, it's a good option and can make life bearable while you're waiting for your hair to grow back.

I keep telling myself, would you rather be fat with good hair, or thin with bad hair? No contest.

2. What is your rate of weight loss like? If you're not losing at all, then either you're eating more calories than you thought, or you're not eating enough. I don't see how someone could maintain their weight at 800 calories per day, so maybe your body is holding onto weight because you aren't eating quite enough. Are you tired all the time? That's one sign. If you are working out a lot at the gym, it's possible that the scale isn't moving because you're also building muscle, and muscle is denser than fat, so you could be losing fat but it's not evident because of the muscle gain. If you're getting stronger and your clothes fit differently, that's one explanation. But then again, if you're only eating 700 calories per day, you're not likely to be building a ton of muscle because your body will use calories to survive first before it lets you build muscle.

Sorry for the kind of vague, wandering answer. I really don't think you should go lower than 800 calories per day, especially if your hair is falling out. Depriving yourself of nutrients will only make the hair loss worse and make you feel crappy. Talk to your trainer, maybe they'll have some ideas about nutrition. Or a nutritionist. Didn't you have to see one before your surgery? Call them up.

Good luck!
"The greatest challenge to any thinker is stating the problem in a way that will allow a solution." -Bertrand Russell
5'9 HW: 297 GW: 160 CW: 161
my_year2011
on 9/2/11 4:31 am
Amanda, you look awesome!  Keep up the good work!   I'm only at about 6 weeks post-op and at my 1 mo. dr. visit he said that I needed to start to work up to 800-1000 cals per day.   I'm between 700-800 now.   Good luck! 
~Sher  
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goodwomn43
on 9/2/11 5:08 am
HI
no one looks good bALD...LOL
thE CAUSE IS lack of prOTIEN. i SAW A BIOCHEMIST...
cONSIDER protein suppliments... powder... do research
DONT drink meal replacements... very high in cal and artificial sugar etc.....
The protein powder. Soy, Whey or what ever you choose I LIKE the non flavored.. i add it to eggs, and my beverages.... and sauces...I PROMISE in about 90 days you will see hair comingback.
goodwomn43
on 9/2/11 5:09 am
Oh yea.... do not perm hair... it will cause more loss.
lmreadynow
on 9/2/11 10:22 am
 you look freaking aMaaaazing!!!
(deactivated member)
on 9/2/11 12:09 pm
I started losing my hair literally by the chunks in about June.  It was at its worse in July where every brushing I took out a large ball of hair several times a day, my hairbrush looked like a hair waterfall because I have long hair.  Just about 2 weeks ago it stopped falling out heavily which is good because I now have a single braid that is less than an inch thick.  I maintian a high protien profile and don't eat much else and take Biotin at 5000mgs daily.  I think the worse is over...
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