I HAVE BEEN ON THE ADKINS DIET SINCE FEB. I WEIGHED 135 WHEN I STARTED . I WEIGH 110 NOW . I STUCK TO THE DIET FOR MONTHS I STOOD ON INDUCTION UNTIL I GOT TO 110. NOW I CHEAT ON THE WEEKENDS AND DO INDUCTION DURING THE WEEK. IN MARCH A MONTH AFTER STARTING ADKINS I NOTICED MY HAIR WAS FALLING OUT REALLY BAD . ITHAS GOTTON WORSE THESE LAST THREE MONTHS . I LOSE 200 OR MORE A DAY . MY SCALP IS STARTING TO SHOW IN THE FRONT OF MY HEAD. I HAVE BEEN TO THE DOCTOR. MY LAB WORK CAME BACK NORMAL. ITAKE ADKINS BASIC 3 VITAMAN. I READ ON THIS FORUM OTHER PEOPLE ARE HAVING THE SAME PROBLEM ON THIS DIET. I AM SCARED BECAUSE IT HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ALMOST 6 MONTHS. I LOVE THIS DIET BUT I DONT THINK ITS WORTH GOING BALD. MAYBE I SHOULD TRY SLIM FAST OR SOMETHING ELSE. PLEASE HELP

Hi Betty,

I'm sorry to hear of your hair problems.

Here is a link to a previous thread about hair loss that may be of some help.

However, I wonder if your eating pattern has something to do with this. Low carb during the week and cheating on the weekends sounds just plain unhealthy to me.
How about increasing your carb levels to a point where your weight stays at a healthy level and you are happy you can maintain that sort of eating.
You have reached maintenance anyway - although I can't help noticing that at 5 foot 4, you were at a healthy weight to begin with.

Why would you even consider Slimfast? I worry that you are heading for an eating disorder thinking you need to keep "dieting."

Have a look at this site on Normal Eating.

All the best to you, my dear.

Rosebud

I know excess or lack of vitamins can cause hair loss.
If you start and stop taking the pill.
Also do not underestimate the power of Stress!!
There is a perscription foam you can get, it is called Olux. It is used commonly for scalp infections, but sometimes it aids in stopping hair loss.


Chunky Butt

Betty,

I had something very similar happen to me...but I firmly believe that it was not low carb that did it. It was going OFF low carb.

When I was in the peak of this WOE my hair wouldn't stop growing! My nails were becoming like a wolverines! Not to mention the muscles that were showing up without even working out...like where did those come from?!? My doctor attributed it to the amount of protein I was eating.

I had been strictly low carb for 8 months at least......and didn't lose any hair (other than normal shedding), so if it were going to happen on low carb it would have by then.

Then when I fell of the wagon, all of a sudden my hair started falling out in clumps! And I have A LOT of hair -- People mistake me for Amanda Marshall - a lot of hair. Anyway, I lost half the hair I had. Where I could get an elastic around it once...I now could get in around two, sometime 3 times! I too went to my doctors, got the tests done and everything was normal.

So to sum it up...I could totally see that maybe the shock of on and off is putting your body through hell. I mean think about it, carbs are addictive, just like a drug. Imagine being a heroin junkee and only using on weekends---drastic analogy, but it gets a point across.

There's my two-cents...good luck!

Linnea

Just a shot in the dark here, but have you recently (in the last 4 months or so) had a child? My wife did and she is currently experiencing the same problem. Her labwork hasn't come back yet but she did abandon Atkins all together and it hasn't stopped. She also just started on birth control again. So perhaps one of these three things could have caused it.

Good luck. I'm sure it will subside.

-Rick

well everyone i increased my carb in-take dramatically to see if my hair would stop falling outbut it hasnt. I dont think it was the low carbing. The last week of April i stopped the birth control pill because i noticed i lost weight a lot faster the week of my period because i wasnt taking the pill that week . So i stood off the pill for a month and half during that month i had a few accidents not using protected sex so i went to planned parenthood and got the day after pill. it is a pill that is a high dose of estrogen that prevents your body from releasing an egg. I did twice in one month. I then got back on the pill a month and a half later so i bet that is why my hair is falling out so bad. i noticed my hair falling outway back in feb but not this bad. I think when i started doing adkins in feb iwas having some hair loss from adkins but when i stopped the pill in may it got 10 times worse. i hope this hair loss is coming to a stop soonits almost aug. I noticed no change in hair loss while i was off adkins . i gained 4 pounds i am going back on adkins i love this diet.

I am assuming that your "Adkins" is the same as our "Atkins" New Diet Revolution?

Most hair loss comes about 4 months after ANY sudden or quick weight loss on ANY diet. Suddenly raising your daily carbs would not have any affect on the hair loss. However, playing about with hormone pills like BC probably would do something.

Please do go back to read the entire thread about hair loss mentioned above. Here is the hair loss link again.

I have to agree with Rosebud. The way you are eating is probably not going to work for keeping your weight stable. As Atkins writes in his books, after Induction a person is supposed to gradually increase the carbs per day so that you get used to LC as a normal way of eating AND know how many carbs you can have and not gain. It is called On-Going Weight Loss in his books. Induction is NOT the way to go for the long haul.

I have just made an appointment with an Endocrinologist for next week.

For the past 2 months (been on Atkin since June) my hair is coming out in clumps, and it is speeding up it's rate of loss!
I think it may be lionked to the CHANGE in diet, and not so much the fast loss, as I have only lost 4lbs in 3 months.

It has gotten so I am afraid to wash my hair and comb it.

I am taking supplements, including a very good Biotin blend called Hair Gain by Therapro.

I am an incredible slow loser. (7 lbs in almost 4 months) if I don't stay on Induction levels, I don't lose. Could this be causing this?

I kid you not, my scalp is showing and I will be bald in the near future at this rate. No exaggerations.

Like you, I love this WOE, but I don't think it is worth being bald.