Losing Weight and Feeling Great

Archive for March, 2008

I hate it when I brush me hair and when I’m done, it seems like there is more hair stuck in the brush than is left on my head.

I get depressed in the shower when I wash my hair and see all the hair caught in the drain.

I keep wondering if I’ll have any hair left by the time I reach my weight goal.  Great, my body is fine but I’m bald — not an appetizing thought.

So, I went searching on the internet (as usual) to see what I could find out about what might be causing my dieting hair loss and how I could keep what I have.

Let’s see, the two  main reason that would apply to dieting in particular are:

• Weight loss stresses the body and sometimes it reacts by releasing hair follicles.

• I might not be getting enough of the nutrients that help keep my scalp healthy.

There was also another reason, in my particular case:

• After 40, a woman’s hair naturally thins with age.

So, what to do, aside from getting a fall or a wig (or use Rogaine)?  Since I can’t do a whole lot about weight loss stressing out my body or getting older, I focused on what I could do as far as nutrition.

GLA (gamma lineolenic acid), an omega-6 “good” fatty acid can help reduce hair loss and make existing hair a bit less susceptible to breakage.  Good sources are mainly in supplements for evening primrose, black currant, borage and hemp oils.

Exercise, moderate workout.  You don’t want to do stuff like a body-building routine, but a resistance band, light weight, walking or bicycling routine can help the body and the hair.

Saw palmetto, often thought of as a “man’s herb” can also help us ladies.  You can try a cup of saw palmetto tea every so often.

B vitamins, mostly because they help your body cope with stress better.  B-complex is great, but also consider a sublingual B12 theraputic dose, since B12 (and all of the B vitamins) are water soluble, meaning that the body doesn’t retain them.

Also, I saw to beware of getting too much zinc in the diet.  Apparently it depletes copper, and low copper levels are implicated in hair loss.  The amount?  No more than 30 mg of zinc a day.

I’ll leave you with a couple of interesting links on hair loss, for your reading pleasure:

Natural hair loss remedies and Historic hair loss remedies

Exercise can be a little tricky if you are an original couch potato (like yours truly).  One of the easiest ways to exercise if you’re not used to it is walking.

I wanted to do something, and walking seemed to be about the easiest — put on the shoes and go.  But I had some things holding me back.

• First, I didn’t want to appear in public in exercise clothes.  Actually, I didn’t want to appear in public at all, because I was so ashamed of my appearance.
• Next, I didn’t want to either pass out from heat exhaustion or get stuck in a thunderstorm.  Here where I live in Florida, it’s hot and humid all year, except for maybe a week in the winter.  Plus, there aren’t any sidewalks, so I’d be out in the street or trudging along the swales.

• One of my legs had been injured, and although I could walk some, I had a fear of the pain getting really bad more than a few blocks from home and have to practically crawl back (ew).

Ok, so those were my excuses, valid or not.  But I wanted to do something — I really needed a weight loss walking plan that I could do, and that I could stick to.  Even if it was only a couple times a week, it would be better than nothing.

After reviewing my options, I decided on the “Walk Away the Pounds” program of in-home walking.  It let me exercise at home, in the air-conditioning and if I really started hurting, I could just stop and hobble to a chair.

Here’s how it works:  put on your walking shoes, pick one of the DVDs, pop it in and follow the walk.  You can do anywhere from 1/2 mile on up to 5 or more.  You walk in place most of the time, but there are also a few stretchy side-to-side movements (easy even for me) to give it a little interest and move some different muscles.

The pace is a mile in 15 or 18 minutes (depending on the DVD).  There is music to keep you on pace, and the leader, too (Leslie Sansone).  Yeah, she’s a little too chatty at times, but her enthusiasm is much appreciated.

The Walk Away the Pounds weight loss walking plans have quite a few DVDs available.  Honestly, I got a few so I could vary the routine a little — the same DVD over and over again would drive me batty.

I’m almost to the point where I can walk in public — well, except for the heat and thunderstorm part at any rate.  But these walking DVDs are great for either getting started on a walking routine or for something different to do from time to time.

The DVD is a keeper for me.