[Heffalump]

I just read through my saga and decided that I need to preface it with a condensed version, as some of you good people might have other things to do today...

So here goes:

Has your body rebelled against even moderate calorie restriction after a certain amount of time - say, about six months in?


Things like hair loss, delayed or skipped periods, fatigue?

Lately it feels like mine does, and although I'm not overly worried or inconvenienced at this time I'd like some input on how to best deal with it.

It's not like I'm on my last legs here. Mostly I feel great, my strength has improved, my workouts have been great, I sleep better, my anxiety levels are mostly down, life is really not bad at all. And yet with this plateau and the aforementioned symptoms, I can't help but wonder if my body is trying to tell me to take it easy for a while. But on the other hand, I'm a card-carrying hypochondriac, so maybe I'm just making mountains out of molehills...

What would you do - or did you do - in a situation like this? Should I just suck it up and keep going, or would it be better to up my calories to maintenance level for a while and give my body time to recoup?

(Disclaimer: My annual is coming up next month, and of course I will discuss these issues with my PCP to exclude other possible causes.)

Any thoughts?

[Heffalump]

Here's the back story (or epic, as it were - sorry ):

I've been counting and restricting calorie for about half a year now, starting some time in mid-January. Because of disastrous previous experiences with over-restriction, I consciously kept my calorie deficit relatively small, averaging 1500-1600 calories a day, rarely dipping below 1400 and often going up to 1800 (but only a handful of times over 2000).

Besides counting calories, I also make an effort to eat tons of veggies, lots of fruit, place a general emphasis on whole foods, and reduce my sodium/alcohol/ caffeine/sugar/sweetener. I also ate nearly vegetarian up until two weeks ago and plan on going back to it soon.

For the last couple of months I've also tried to balance my macro-nutrients (mainly upping my protein), with mixed results. On average I come in with 50-55% carbs (mostly unprocessed), 20-25% protein, 20-25% fat.

I exercise about 40-60 minutes 4-6 times a week, vigorously but not crazy hard.

SO.

This way I've lost 30 pounds steadily and without any troubles, stalls or side effects. That is, until about six weeks ago. I haven't lost any weight since then. No sweat - from reading here and my own experiences I know that plateaus are to be expected, I'm not in a rush. So I just kept doing what I was doing, thinking it would work itself out.

Then I noticed that my hair is falling out a lot more than usual. Ack! My vanity point number one, but OK, I've read that this might happen, too.

Then, after my last period, which had an extremely light flow, I experienced extreme fatigue and slight shortness of breath for about two weeks. That's nothing new for me as such - I know I tend towards iron deficiency - but usually that feeling only lasted for about two days or so.

I decided that my body wanted to take a break, upped my calories to about 1700-1900, bought a good iron supplement, started to eat meat again. My weight stayed the same, my energy came back, I felt good, so last week I decided to go back to my old calorie level and bust through the plateau.

NOW I'm one week late on my period (hasn't happened in forever) and it looks like I might skip it completely (has *never* happened before) - and the pee stick says that nope, pregnant I ain't.

[murphmitch]

Could be your thyroid. That can cause fatigue, hair loss. I'd definitely have my Dr. do some lab work to check blood count, thyroid, etc.

[Heffalump]

Good thought, thanks murphmitch!

I've had my bloodwork done in February (everything was normal), but I'll ask my doctor for another one in August.

[Horo]

I've been on a calorie deficit for apparently 6 months and 12 days ( ) and I've still felt as great as ever... As an average, I stay around 1,250 calories a day and of those calories, I generally eat 30% protein/30% fat/40% carbs. I'm still going strong and, as long as nothing happens, I will continue to do so for as long as it takes to get to my goal weight.

If I did start to go through the things mentioned (hair loss, fatigue, missed periods, etc) I'd get it checked out by a doctor first, and if the only explanation I could come up with was diet... Well, I'd take a break and maintain for a while, maybe a month or so and start up again.

Since hair is pretty much nothing more than extruded protein strands, maybe you could try upping your protein even more? It may be a completely different issue entirely, but that's just my suggestion for that particular issue.

[ddc]

I just did a google search and got some hits that mentioned late/missed periods along with hair loss on poly cystic ovary websites.
Maybe you could ask over on that section of this forum??

[PhotoChick]

Looks like protein and fat are both fairly low ... not eating enough healthy fats can cause the same symptoms - as can not getting enough protein.

Low protein and low fat diets (vegan, raw foods, sproutarian) tend to thin the blood, which in turn, tends to thin the hair, skin, nails, bones, organs, memory, etc. Hair loss is becoming more common in women as many women tend to eat low protein, low fat and high carbohydrate (salads, pasta, bread, fruit, etc.) diets. They also menstruate (30+ years, 3-7 days every month from onset, menarche until menopause) predisposing them to blood, protein and fat deficiency, thinning of the skin, hair, nails, etc.

.

[Heffalump]

Thanks for sharing your experiences Layri, that's very helpful! I'm with you on the protein, I've been trying to get to a 30/30/40 ratio as well, but most days I can't make it happen.

ddc - thanks! Ah, the dreaded symptom googling - I try to abstain from it because it feeds my health anxiety. For me personally I think PCOS would be a long shot, because I have none of the other typical symptoms, my periods have been normal until the last one and the current not-yet-one, and the hair loss isn't all that extreme. I'll definitely keep it in mind as a possibility when I meet my doc, though.

[yoyonomoreinvegas]

I didn't notice if you have your age in your profile but, if you're over 40, you might also want to have your doc check your hormone levels. As I understand it, estrogen is stored in fat cells and I've read that weight loss can bring on an early onset of menopause. I was actually already getting there before I started losing weight but two of the biggest things I went through were extreme fatigue and big time hair loss - I was petrified to wash my hair more than once a week because of the huge clumps that fell out in my hand (I would have gone even longer if I didn't start to gross myself out after a couple of days). I was genuinely surprised I didn't end up bald I elected not to go HRT and since "the last hurrah" my hair has made a big comeback - clips that used to slip out all the time now don't even come close to holding all my hair

[Heffalump]

PhotoChick:

Thanks, that makes sense. I have been focusing on getting in healthy fats (olive oil, avocados, nuts, fish oil, flax seed etc.), but maybe I should focus on upping the overall ratio as well.

The quote sounds interesting, where is it from? Oh, and memory loss? Huh? Wha? My nails have been great these past months, though...

[Heffalump]

Thanks yoyodieter ! I'm turning 32 this year, so I hope I'm not quite in early-onset menopause yet. The hormonal angle is very interesting, though - I didn't know that thing about estrogen release.

[fiberlover]

I definitely think you need more fat. Minimum of 25%. I would also shoot for minimum 25% protein, which would brings your carbs down to 50%. Try that for awhile and see if it helps.

[Heffalump]

Thank you, Lori ! I think I definitely see a pattern emerging here...

I've been thinking of tweaking my eating for some time, so it's back to the drawing board for me. Cutting my carbs, upping my fats and proteins.

[ddc]

Sorry, didn't mean to add to the anxiety

I know when I was in lab school they told us to not start diagnosing ourselves for every little thing that we read in our text books-LOL!

Good luck

[Heffalump]

No problem at all ddc - I knew putting myself out here I would get lots of different opinions and advice, that's what I love about this site so much!