PERIODS:
I had my WLS when I was 47 and i *thought* I was already menopausal, as I hadn't had my period in a couple (few?) years before that.
Well.
2-3 weeks after surgery, I got my period...heavily...for like 8 days or something like that (which for me is an anomaly as when I used to have periods, they would only last 4-5 days max, and were very light).
Then I got my period like clockwork every 4 weeks after that for about 4 years. Go figure...I wasn't menopausal at all, I was just fat, lol
I am actually going through it now i think as my last period was in the spring 2022 last year (i'm 5 yrs post op now).
So yeah, i raise my hand for weird period happenings.
HAIR LOSS:
Yep, i lost a significant amount of hair. It all grew back eventually, and I feel like its actually thicker now...but that may be due to the fact that my diet is better? I dunno. Bonus as well is that my hair now has a little wave to it, which i love. Unfortunately, I don't think there is anything you can do to prevent it. My advice if it happens to you, is to just ride it out. its temporary and just a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things.
STOPPING WEIGHT LOSS:
My not-so-surprising answer to this: EAT MORE. lol. It took me few months of increasing my calorie intake until i figured out what calorie amount i needed to maintain. I lost 10+ lbs while i figured this out, but at least i did, ha!
Now in my case (and alot of others) my restriction was still very much in effect, so I had to invoke the strategy of eating more higher-calorie foods vs. just more food in general. It was a little bit of a challenge as I was still in weight-loss mode thinking so switching mindsets to allow myself eat things i avoided for 7 months was a bit of mind f*ck.
I'm really good at it now though, lol.
Good Luck! ❤️