Can Weight Loss Cause Hair Loss?
Many people in Irvine, CA, noticed a few negative changes occurring with weight loss. Hair loss was one of those problems. Unless there’s a health issue causing the weight loss, you aren’t destined to lose your hair or have other negative side effects. It’s all about how you lose the weight. Rapid weight loss causes acute telogen effluvium—TE. It starts after three months of rapid weight loss or other trauma that causes stress or shock to the body. It can occur due to nutritional deficiencies caused by restrictive diets but usually lasts only 6 months or less.
Crash dieting can lead to inadequate calories and nutrients for proper hair growth.
Extreme calorie restriction diets are stressful and don’t provide adequate calories or nutrients to allow hair to grow correctly. People constantly shed hair and replace it with new hair. If the nutrients to create the new strands aren’t available, it doesn’t stop the normal hair loss, so hair thins. Iron deficiency can cause hair loss. Crash diets can cause iron deficiency. Nutrients like zinc, essential fatty acids, protein, and vitamins B, C, D, A, and biotin, are also necessary to complete the growth cycle.
Your hair requires amino acids.
Keratin is necessary for hair growth. Keratin is made from amino acids found in protein. If you don’t have enough keratin, your hair will produce hair follicles slower than it loses them. If you’re vegetarian, vegan, or are on a restrictive diet, you may not have adequate dietary essential amino acids. Your body diverts the limited protein to vital functions such as hormone production, tissue repair, balancing water and pH, and digestion.
Stop hair loss with a healthy diet.
Even if you want to lose weight fast, it can take its toll on your body and show in the hair first. Fad diets may help you lose weight quickly, but that lost weight comes at a high price. Not only will you lose hair, but your metabolism will slow, muscles will wither, and it can affect your skin, causing it to be dry and wrinkled, or triggering a breakout. The slower your metabolism, the more the potential to regain the weight and a few more pounds. Losing a pound or two a couple of weeks before a special occasion is one thing but attempting to lose 15 to 20 pounds in a month is quite another. It can be dangerous.
- Even if you eat adequate protein, if you don’t get all essential amino acids, such as leucine, valine, cysteine, and histidine, it can cause hair loss. Studies show deficiencies in these four amino acids are common in people who lose weight.
- Lack of nutrients also creates weak hair that breaks more easily. Not only will it be replaced slowly, but it will also break off quicker, exacerbating hair loss.
- Eating a whole food balanced diet can help stop hair loss. It will take a few months, but eventually, your body will have the necessary nutrients to create healthy hair strands.
- While most hair growth supplements are safe, the best way to deal with hair loss is with a healthy diet that provides macro and micronutrients, plus phytochemicals that encourage hair growth.
For more information, contact us today at Next Level Fitness
Most people who are dieting look for options that satisfy their urge for sweets. Grapes can do that and even help you lose weight. They contain no fat, are high in fiber, and contain numerous nutrients. Those nutrients include copper, vitamins K, B1, B2, B6, C, and E, potassium, and manganese. A whole cup of grapes is only 104 calories.
There are a lot of reasons people avoid running. One of those may be joint issues. Running is a high-impact exercise that can cause musculoskeletal problems. High-impact exercises are those where both feet are off the ground at one time and come slamming back down on the feet—creating an impact that affects the joints, muscles, and bones. Pregnant women, those who recently gave birth, and people with joint issues, or other health risks should avoid high-impact workouts. Many people limit their cardio to running or jumping rope but there are also exceptionally good low-impact cardio exercises you can do.
If you’re exercising with others, you’ve probably heard of the many protein supplements or foods that boost your protein intake. While it’s true that active people need more protein than sedentary ones, there is a limit on how much you should consume. Consuming too much protein can have consequences and limit your intake of other foods with nutrients necessary for good health. You require the right mix of macronutrients, protein, fats, and carbohydrates. The protein requirement also varies by gender, age, and activity level.
Even though we focus heavily on physical fitness, staying mentally fit is just as important. California is a laid-back state, but there’s still a lot of stress that affects you both physically and mentally. Poor mental fitness makes every day a chore. It makes the thought of exercising and eating healthy seem like a chore. Good mental fitness can also help you muscle through the toughest exercises. It’s so important we had a blog last August about exercises that can help. Here are some other ideas to aid in improving mental fitness.
If you’re like many people in Irvine, CA, you’re constantly looking for ways to boost immunity. Preventing illness is far better than trying to cure it. Improving your immune system is the best way to do that. You can stay healthier by focusing on good immune health. Your immune system is your body’s first line of defense to prevent invaders from entering. If they do manage to enter the body, the immune system also weakens and destroys them.
The body requires the amount of water necessary varies by weight, age, and other factors. How much water do you need to stay healthy? While your size plays an important role, your activity level also affects your intake. If you’re out in the hot sun, you’ll need more water than if you’re sitting in an air-conditioned room. How do you decide how much you need? You have to start with a baseline.
Probably one of the things for good health that people might think is easy, may be one of the hardest things to do. It’s getting adequate quality sleep. It’s even worse in today’s society, where lack of sleep is almost a virtue. It’s all about the quality of your sleep and how much your body requires. Everyone is different. Some people thrive on less sleep than others do. It doesn’t make either one good, bad, lazy, or ambitious. It’s just the difference in their bodies. Most adults require 7 to 9 hours of sleep, but a small minority require 6 or less, with a similar group requiring 10 or more hours.
Working out at Next Level Fitness in Irvine, CA, provides a well-rounded program and is one way to improve your health. Some people include 10,000 steps a day or use that technique as their only fitness workout. Is it beneficial? Why are 10,000 steps best and not 5,000 or 15,000? How did we arrive at that number and does it work or do you need more than just walking? There’s a lot of confusion surrounding the 10,000 steps recommendation.
Workouts can improve your physical health, but now there’s evidence it does the same for mental health. It increases circulation, which sends oxygen and nutrient-rich blood to the entire body, including the brain. It also affects the gut microbiome that influences your mood. They increase or diminish neurotransmitters and improve your feeling of well-being and happiness. The gut, not the brain, produces most of the serotonin in your body, so improving the microbe balance can boost your mood.