30 inch

Question
QUESTION: Hi,
I am 26 years old, 5 feet 3 inch tall and my weight is 109 pounds. I have a waistline of 30 inch which looks really awful for my small frame body. I believe I eat healthy. I do not drink or smoke. I brown rice twice a week. I take lots of chicken, various kinds of bean, walnut, almond, fat free soy milk, salads, and different kinds of fruits everyday. I do not drink more than 2 cups of tea a day. I pretty much run everyday for at least an hour. I went to see my doctor a month ago because of sudden hair loss and my doctor informed me that I am very low in 慖ron? That抯 why I take 慖ron?tablet and vitamin 態?tablet every day. I also take Calcium since I ran almost every day. After all these effort there is no change in my waist line. I have been eating and living the same routine for last 6 months. What should I do? All I want is to have a 26-27 inch waist line.

ANSWER: Hi Nash,

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your weight is as low as is healthy and your waist may just be something you'll have to adjust to. Our bodies are shaped in ways we are genetically predisposed to and no matter how much I would love to be taller than 5-feet-nothing, or a lanky guy would love to bulk up, sometimes it's not going to happen. There is no solution to losing weight on your body  where you would like to. Unless you've had a waist that small before and something has changed, you would do well to focus on keeping up your perfect weight, healthy diet, and current fitness level. I'm glad you are taking supplements to assure a balanced intake of nutrients!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi,
Thank you so much for your reply. I am trying to change my diet AGAIN now. I am especially worried about my hair loss. I have decided to drink some protein milk shake (made by whey protein isolate powder) with some berries. Do you think it will help? I have heard that a big part of hair growth is protein. I do you think the protein shake made by the whey protein (isolate) powder, skim milk, some berries is a good choice? I was thinking to start my morning everyday with a shake like that. Is there any chance that it might cause more hair loss? I would like to mention that on the container of the whey protein isolate powder, it is suggested to use 3 scoops a day. However, I do not want to over dose myself and that抯 why I have decided to take about one and half scoop of the powder. I would like to mention that I ran or fast walk almost every day for 40 minutes.

Answer
Hi Nash,

Your doctor will have to diagnose the reason for your hair loss before you can treat it.
If he said it's because of low iron, then protein will not help. If you have been eating chicken, beans, and milk you are probably getting enough protein. The shake you have may be adding 10 grams of protein per day (Not sure how many grams are in the scoops, but often it is 5 grams per scoop) and it's a reasonable level not to worry about overdosing.

Sometimes hair loss is due to stress. I do not know what country you are in but there are groups here in the US that may be helpful for information(see http://www.naaf.org/site/PageServer).

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