how much can sleep effect weight gain?

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trulyhealy
trulyhealy Posts: 240 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i don’t really sleep prolly today o got 4-5 hours asleep and today i didn’t eat in a calorie surplus if anything just in a slight deficit maybe even maintenance

i’ve got a lot of water weight to lose rn bc recently i was eating bad and the weight gain increased so much to the point it can’t all be fat gain i’m talking 10lbs in a few weeks

but basically this week i the water weight hasn’t moved and i don’t know what to do. in the past it would go away a pound a day until i was back at my regular weight
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  • trulyhealy
    trulyhealy Posts: 240 Member
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    but then i’m also confused bc i’m not as bloated as i was a week ago and there’s more definition in my face so i’m so confused and yes the scale doesn’t matter but i have goals i want to reach
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    Even if you were getting a bunch of solid sleep every night, expecting to lose a pound a day isn't realistic.
  • trulyhealy
    trulyhealy Posts: 240 Member
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    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Even if you were getting a bunch of solid sleep every night, expecting to lose a pound a day isn't realistic.

    it’s water weight and when i’ve gained a bunch of weight before it would go down a pound a day until i got back to my regular weight so i know from experience

  • trulyhealy
    trulyhealy Posts: 240 Member
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    i’m struggling not to give up tbh i’m fed up
  • hipari
    hipari Posts: 1,367 Member
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    Could it be related to your menstrual cycle?

    Don’t give up. Give yourself some mercy and take it easy on yourself. Sometimes things take time.
  • penguinmama87
    penguinmama87 Posts: 1,158 Member
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    When I don't get enough sleep, it's much more likely that I will overeat because I'm tired, or because I'm cranky, or just because I can't think straight and it's harder to make sensible choices.

    I wouldn't beat yourself up about it because sometimes life happens and poor sleep is unavoidable, but water weight fluctuates just as a part of life. If you are looking to lose weight, how your weight changes over a long stretch of time (a few weeks or a month) is going to be what to focus on to help you make decisions about what to do. In the meantime, think about what you could do to get better sleep on a regular basis.
  • littlegreenparrot1
    littlegreenparrot1 Posts: 693 Member
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    Do you have other goals?
    How clothes fit, related to gym performance or anything like that?

    That weight number is going to jump around all the time, forever. It might jump around lower numbers but it will never be static.
    If your happiness is entirely tied up in it it's going to be a long road.

    I take my measurements every month, an inch doesn't just re-appear on my thighs. My runs are faster and that feels great.
    If you can find other measures of success the weight number doesn't have so much impact. It'll catch up eventually if you keep to the plan.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    trulyhealy wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Even if you were getting a bunch of solid sleep every night, expecting to lose a pound a day isn't realistic.

    it’s water weight and when i’ve gained a bunch of weight before it would go down a pound a day until i got back to my regular weight so i know from experience

    If you know your water weight comes off at a pound per day, then there are just two options: 1) That has changed and you can't expect to always lose a pound a day in water weight, 2) It's not 100% water weight.

    Either way, it's not really worth stressing over. Even if it takes more than one day per pound, why not just stay on plan?
  • tracybear86
    tracybear86 Posts: 163 Member
    edited April 2021
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    My dad always says "If you are tired of starting over then stop giving up.". 🤷‍♀️ Maybe try to take a short mental break from thinking about it so much and give yourself some time to get back into a good headspace. It kind of sounds like you are getting into a binge-restrict cycle which is very taxing mentally.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,267 Member
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    Stress, either psychological or physical (or the two combined) is *one* of the things that can increase water retention, including the kind that sticks around longer. If you suspect your sleep may be a factor, can you change that, as an experiment: Get more sleep for a couple of weeks, see if it makes a difference?

    It may not, but if you saw the gain without eating more or doing less (including less activity in daily life, not just less exercise), then the gain is water weight, and it will drop off when it's darn well good and ready.

    For me, some types of water weight tend to drop fast, others tend to hang around, sometimes for extended time periods. It's completely irrelevant to fat loss, so as long as my clothes (or other non-scale measurements) aren't showing me I've gained, maybe even keep showing me I'm losing fat, I just plain don't worry about it. Right now, I'm in one of those phases: I restarted strength training, gained a couple of water pounds, and will hang onto those until I stop or take an extended break from that training. The slow fat loss I have going on in the background will take weeks to show up, with those extra couple of water pounds in the picture. I literally Do. Not. Care. I certainly wouldn't stop whatever good stuff I'm doing on account of it. But that's just me.
  • Strudders67
    Strudders67 Posts: 980 Member
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    Getting sufficient sleeps apparently helps ensure you make better choices regarding what to eat. I recently attended a seminar, run by a dietician, offered as part of a wellness programme at work. She stated that a study showed that people who were sleep deprived consumed, on average, 700 calories more, than they would eat normally. She also pointed out that you burn more whilst you're sleeping than you would from an hour of kickboxing. All very high level, so I don't have citations, but her point was that a good night's sleep is important.

    From your posts, my suggestion would be to eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks and get some sleep, then see what happens. I don't tend to think of eating 'good' or 'bad' - I just eat and ensure that what I fancy will fit my cals and the macros I care about - but the fact that you've stated you recently 'ate bad' implies that you're possibly diet fatigued. Eat at maintenance for a couple of weeks and use the time to work out a plan whereby you can eat things that you like, perhaps in moderation if they're calorific, and make them fit. I reduced portion sizes of more calorie dense foods like rice, potatoes and pasta whilst adding more salad and veg ingredients to my meals. That made space for an afternoon or evening piece of chocolate, biscuits, the occasional muffin etc. Think longer term - what are you going to do when you reach your goal weight? But first, give yourself a break then get back on track.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,005 Member
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    I'm sure sleep can directly affect weight in very small ways - but most of it would be indirect - affect on activity levels, food choices when stressed etc.

    If you are logging you can track those things and control them.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,005 Member
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    I dont doubt that getting good sleep is important for overall health and well being - I just dont think it is a big direct factor in weight loss.
  • wunderkindking
    wunderkindking Posts: 1,615 Member
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    I think it's pretty huge in weight loss.

    If I am tired, two things happen:

    1-) Your body is going to get energy from somewhere, be that food or sleep. All those 'late night snacking' urges are not USUALLY (for me) about boredom. It's because the sensory stimulation/act of eating keeps me awake (when I need to be awake) and also I am hungry. Because I've been awake and doing things for 20 hours instead of JUST GOING TO SLEEP.

    2-) Lack of sleep/exhaustion absolutely kills impulse control for folks.

    Hormonal stuff or whatever? I don't know.

    But increasing your energy needs without recharging is going to make you hungry and not getting enough sleep does that, and we all know sleep deprivation impacts good decision making and impulse control from a billion studies.

    So. Yeah. It's a thing.
  • ExistingFish
    ExistingFish Posts: 1,259 Member
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    paperpudding wrote: »
    I dont doubt that getting good sleep is important for overall health and well being - I just dont think it is a big direct factor in weight loss.

    Actually it has a lot to do with it.

    https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/07/20/sleep-loss-weight-gain/7507503/

    https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/molecular-ties-between-lack-sleep-weight-gain

    https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/sleep/
    Several studies show that sleep deprivation (i.e., regularly less than 7 hours of sleep a night) is a risk factor for obesity. A Nurses’ Health Study found an association between those who slept the least (5 hours or less a night) and having the highest BMI and greatest weight gain. [5] One reason may be a disruption in appetite hormones that regulate feelings of hunger (called ghrelin) versus satisfaction (called leptin). Ghrelin levels rise while leptin levels drop with lack of sleep; this can cause higher calories to be consumed due to experiencing strong hunger at the same time that one feels less satiated after eating. A preference for foods high in fat and carbohydrate has been observed. [6,7] The risk of hunger also increases simply by being awake longer, which prolongs the time from the last meal eaten to bedtime. [6] Insufficient sleep also can trigger the “reward” areas in your brain to crave high fat, high caloric foods. [8]

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