Sleep vs. Exercise

groucherella

I am so jealous of all you early risers that get up and at e'm before the birds chirp! I have a hard time parting with the land of nod. How do you guys do it? I'm sure once I make a habit of it, it will be second nature, but right now it's hard. How much sleep are you all getting when you're waking up at 5 am? I think for the saftey of those around me I really need to stick to 8 hours, at the very minimum 7.5...?

jrich1

Dont think about it, just do it

melizerd

I don't get up at the crack of dawn. It's just not me. I do my exercise in the evening after dinner and after our son is in bed. The great thing is the elliptical machine is where I can see the TV and I just do it while my shows are on.

platoon

I sent you a message. :-)

Stick with what you're comfortable... if you're comfortable with your routine, you'll stick with it! :-)

kuntrygurl

I am so jealous of all you early risers that get up and at e'm before the birds chirp! I have a hard time parting with the land of nod. How do you guys do it? I'm sure once I make a habit of it, it will be second nature, but right now it's hard. How much sleep are you all getting when you're waking up at 5 am? I think for the saftey of those around me I really need to stick to 8 hours, at the very minimum 7.5...?

I, for one, do better with less sleep than more. :yawn: I do not go to bed until like 11ish and get up at 5:30ish M-F, then on Sat and Sun, I sleep in. Then I feel like poo all day. :sick: 6 hours or so of sleep and I feel great. You might just try getting up earlier and see how it affects you during the day. Good luck! :happy:

p.s. your signature quote :flowerforyou:

CraftyGirl4

I get up around 6 or 7 depending on what my body feels like. I usually fall asleep somewhere between 10 or 11 at night. I exercise at night as opposed to first thing in the morning because that works best for me.

bbygrl5

It's not that hard to get up early if you are getting enough sleep. I don't always get 8.5 hours of sleep myself, but so wish I did and could if I made it a priority. The problem is that if you are getting up at 5am and aiming to get 8.5 hours of sleep, then you're going to bed at 8:30pm, which is just not reasonable for most people.

alexwalper

I usually try and get 7ish hours of sleep, and I go to bed around 11 and get up around 6:15. Trying to watch Conan has depleted my sleeping hours lately.. .
It's really hard, but I make myself do it and remember how great it feels to already be up early and ready for the day. Exercising so early also usually makes up for feeling tired, because I'll feel super energized!
I do make sure I take some mornings off though, just to catch up on sleep . I used to try and go to the gym at 4 before school.. That only worked for a week haha .

larsonp

It turns out that people that people who get too few hours of sleep have a tendency to overeat, so don't skimp on sleep too much.
What's worse is that we also have a limited amount of willpower. So, if you "use up" your willpower getting out of bed early in the morning, you'll have less willpower to politely refuse that slice of cake in the afternoon... or the dessert in the evening, thus eliminating any gains made by exercising.

ChubbieTubbie

Bump. I'm interested in this too...I usually go to bed between 11-11:30 and waking up anytime before 6:30 puts me in a foul mood for the rest of the day.

edorice

Seven hours, wake at 4:30am. Very capable of doing something once it becomes important to you.

carrieliz81

I absolutely cannot get up early in the morning and then go work out. I am the opposite of a morning person, and it's frankly a wonder that I manage to get to work on time every day! I think I have successfully completed morning workouts like 5 times in my whole life. If you don't think you'll be successful doing AM stuff, try a different plan. I too am one who has to work out in the evenings. My WiiFit thinks I'm crazy. It's always making comments like, wow, it's late, aren't you getting ready for bed?? And I'm like, No, WiiFit, I am not going to bed until later, right now I'm working out!! It's maybe not the BEST way to do it, but it's what works for me.

platoon

It's not that hard to get up early if you are getting enough sleep. I don't always get 8.5 hours of sleep myself, but so wish I did and could if I made it a priority. The problem is that if you are getting up at 5am and aiming to get 8.5 hours of sleep, then you're going to bed at 8:30pm, which is just not reasonable for most people.

This is very true! In order for me to make it to my 5 am personal training session, I force myself to go to bed between 8 and 9 pm EST. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I am in desperate times... :-)

PolkaDot88

I work part time and go to school part time, so I have an irregular schedule. On the days I'm in school I don't start until 9:30 so I get up at 7, do 30-45 minutes of exercise, then go to school. On the days I work I have to get up at 6 and can't bring myself to set the alarm any earlier, so I exercise in the evening. Only do what's convenient for you - if you manage to exercise in the evening and are happy with the way that works, keep at it!

groucherella

Just knowing that others get up early, is helping! I want to free up my evenings for family/friends/events etc. so I'd like to switch to the morning crowd. Thanks for everyone's input! I'm going to try and run on 7 hours sleep and see how zombiefied I am. I am sure once I get my tired butt to the gym and get going, it will not be an issue. It's just the rolling out of bed part. Once I'm out of the covers, i'm ok.

willimh

I've heard, getting enough sleep in at nite is just as important as controlling your eating and exercise. They all go hand in hand cause not getting enough rest can affect your weight loss. Good luck.

bbygrl5

It's not that hard to get up early if you are getting enough sleep. I don't always get 8.5 hours of sleep myself, but so wish I did and could if I made it a priority. The problem is that if you are getting up at 5am and aiming to get 8.5 hours of sleep, then you're going to bed at 8:30pm, which is just not reasonable for most people.

This is very true! In order for me to make it to my 5 am personal training session, I force myself to go to bed between 8 and 9 pm EST. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I am in desperate times... :-)

I hear ya girl! I'm getting so fed up with myself for not running early enough in the day that I'm starting to push bedtime earlier. It's a very worthy tradeoff, imo.

tesshaney

I am so jealous of all you early risers that get up and at e'm before the birds chirp! I have a hard time parting with the land of nod. How do you guys do it? I'm sure once I make a habit of it, it will be second nature, but right now it's hard. How much sleep are you all getting when you're waking up at 5 am? I think for the saftey of those around me I really need to stick to 8 hours, at the very minimum 7.5...?

I make myself go to bed at 8:30-9pm when I get up at 5.

cbirdso

I need 8 to 9 hours a night or I am really cranky and overeat without even thinking about it. I exercise either around lunchtime (going for a brisk walk during my lunch hour at work) or before dinner. This works great for me and I consistently work out every single day. If I exercise first thing in the morning is ruins my whole day.

kath711

I really do think it comes down to preference. I like to workout in the mornings because if I don't get it in before noon, I usually do not get it in. My children come home from school and the evening activities, etc, just get in the way and I am too tired. Others are too tired in the morning and seem to have more energy to do it in the evening. Don't feel bad if you are not a morning person. Just get it in when you can is all that counts!

yellowfairy

I am not a morning person either! Some people just aren't. However-I need to lose the weight-and know that I have six million reasons in the evening not to exercise-that is why I get up in the morning. I have started going to bed earlier and try for the 7-8 hours of sleep. It is worth it to me to know that I am doing something about my circumstance and stopped making excuses. (But, I love TV, and cuddling with my hubby, so evenings for me-aren't an option)