sleep deprived = mega hunger! (sugar especially)

shunkawakon
shunkawakon Posts: 37 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I work 2 full time jobs one as a banquet chef in the morning (4 or 5am start) and the second one a line cook at a top restaurant in the cities (starting at 1 to 2pm and walking out the door between 11pm and midnight).

I used to only have the one job (the banquet chef 4-5am start) and my weightloss/fitness/health journey was incredibly important to me and my top priority in my life (next to family & friends, and lastly, job). I have a lot of bills and was struggling financially so I took on this second full time job.

Since then, I've been getting like 4 hours of sleep or less a night, and 5-6 hours on a good night (on the plus side, i'm no longer struggling financially). I don't really have days off. I still fit in my workouts when I can, but my hunger has skyrocketed. I am totally and completely drawn to sugar. I know that's due to a imbalance in my body because of sleep deprivations (leptin, grehlin, I keep myself educated on that stuff).

I will BINGE on sugar. And I mean BINGE. First thing in the morning, I see chocolate at work, and I'll go nuts. Same thing, all day, I can't stop. Its ridiculous,

What can I do to stop this? I can't get more sleep, not an option. Any advice? I've lost alot of weight, I don't want to go backwards. This is incredibly frustrating :(. My workouts are still better than ever, heavy lifting with HIT training and some cardio, I'm proud of that, but my eating...it's just destroying my process. Any advice? I know some of you will comment about self control..I have written bullet points and put them on my car, made them my background on my phone of my goals for the week but its not working...ahhhh

advice?

Replies

  • WhatDoesLisa
    WhatDoesLisa Posts: 214
    I am right there with you. Ever since I discovered frappucinos, I am totally out of control with the sugar. I would love to hear advice too!
  • basschick
    basschick Posts: 3,502 Member
    I can so relate to this. I work two jobs 9 months out of the year and sleep about 5 hours a night. I believe that sleep deprivation is what contributed greatly to my gaining weight. Even though I'm now back at my goal weight, I still tend to binge when I'm extra tired. What I do is log all of my food for the day ahead of time and if I see a plate of cookies in the teacher's lounge I just remind myself that they're not on my food journal for the day and that I already have a snack planned for later. I might have a sweet snack later but it's something I've brought, it's a set quantity, it's planned for, and fits into the set number of calories allotted. *Most of the time* this works for me.

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