Sleep for Weight Loss

campjodie
campjodie Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey everybody

I am trying to lose a couple pounds and I am exercising and eating right and everything and I still can't seem to lose anything. Lately I have been stressed and very busy and I haven't been getting a lot of sleep and I was wondering how much that would effect my weight loss. Lately I have been getting between 4 and 5 hours a night.

Thanks guys!

Replies

  • Howbouto
    Howbouto Posts: 2,121 Member
    OH yes it can. Personally, if I'm tired I have little control of my appetite. But as well, if your body is low on sleep it can affect your metabolism. IMHO, I think sleep, good diet and exercise are all equally important.
  • brighteyesxluv
    brighteyesxluv Posts: 334 Member
    sleep is very important with weight loss, i read atleast 7 hours of sleep is good/ the best amount for weight loss. It all depends on the person too. It's so hard to get the right amount of sleep sometimes so i completely understand your struggle. just gotta try and make more time to rest, even if its only 20 extra minutes,it does help. :)
  • kmm7309
    kmm7309 Posts: 802 Member
    I'm going to be honest. I sleep 10-12 hours a night. I can't function on less. I know I am setting myself up for a long life of sleep, but I'm not opposed.

    Sleeping has so many positive benefits for you- specifically muscle repair and leveling out hormones. Both of these things are so important for weight loss, and for life. You can't deny your body what it needs. You wouldn't starve it of protein or vegetables, so why deprive it of sleep?

    Sleep can be just as, if not more important, than your other weight loss efforts.
  • brighteyesxluv
    brighteyesxluv Posts: 334 Member
    did you also know what if your super tired it increased the ghrelin and stuff in your body, the "stuff" that tells you you are hungry even when your not > leads to overeating,etc.
  • erookjr
    erookjr Posts: 48 Member
    Yes, SLEEP is very important as everyone has said. I normally get about 4-5 hrs of sleep of night. But last week, I tested this theory. Each night last week I got 8 hrs of sleep. Not to mention that my nutrition and exercise is ON POINT! I was losing weight weekly, but I did some google searching on how lack of sleep could affect weight lost.

    Last week when I got 8 hrs of sleep each day, I tell ya, I lost 1 lb more than what I normally lose a week. I was very impressed. My diet and exercise regimen was the same. The ONLY thing I added was 3-4 hrs of sleep each night.

    Think about it...that means that my body gain 21-28 MORE HOURS of sleep in one whole week. I felt good during the day and I was energize and my mood was pretty good.

    Overall, SLEEP IS VERY important. I didn't realize what a difference that sleep made.
  • waffleflavoredtea
    waffleflavoredtea Posts: 235 Member
    From what I've gathered online and through my own college experiences, when people don't get enough sleep they:

    a. are hungier
    b. crave bad foods and make poorer food decisions
    c. have less energy to work out or be generally active
    d. stressed more (so bad cortisol levels raise)
    e. body can't repair itself as well which means your body might not lost fat as easily
    f. basal metabolism might slow depending on the person

    But honestly I would NOT worry about it unless you plan on not getting sleep for several weeks or months. A few bad days here and there might explain slower losses, but sleep deprivation affects you a lot more if it's over a longer period of time.
  • erookjr
    erookjr Posts: 48 Member
    From what I've gathered online and through my own college experiences, when people don't get enough sleep they:

    a. are hungier
    b. crave bad foods and make poorer food decisions
    c. have less energy to work out or be generally active
    d. stressed more (so bad cortisol levels raise)
    e. body can't repair itself as well which means your body might not lost fat as easily
    f. basal metabolism might slow depending on the person

    But honestly I would NOT worry about it unless you plan on not getting sleep for several weeks or months. A few bad days here and there might explain slower losses, but sleep deprivation affects you a lot more if it's over a longer period of time.


    I definitely agree!
  • iammegs
    iammegs Posts: 38 Member
    This is especially for those of you who managed to go from 4-5 hours to 7-8:

    Over summer vacations (in college and now that I'm a teacher), I do get my 7-8 hours, but my body wants to go to sleep late and wake up late. How do you shift your clock so you can go to sleep early to fit that many hours in?
  • lovetheinsanity
    lovetheinsanity Posts: 5
    I'm going to be honest. I sleep 10-12 hours a night. I can't function on less. I know I am setting myself up for a long life of sleep, but I'm not opposed.

    Sleeping has so many positive benefits for you- specifically muscle repair and leveling out hormones. Both of these things are so important for weight loss, and for life. You can't deny your body what it needs. You wouldn't starve it of protein or vegetables, so why deprive it of sleep?

    Sleep can be just as, if not more important, than your other weight loss efforts.

    Hey! Actually ive read that sleeping over 9 hours is not good as it can develop alzaheimer. 7-9 hours are quite enough to satisfy the body's need to repair itself.
  • aimforhealthy
    aimforhealthy Posts: 449 Member
    This is especially for those of you who managed to go from 4-5 hours to 7-8:

    Over summer vacations (in college and now that I'm a teacher), I do get my 7-8 hours, but my body wants to go to sleep late and wake up late. How do you shift your clock so you can go to sleep early to fit that many hours in?
    Little by little! Try to go to sleep just 10-15 minutes earlier every day. I am adjusting from having a job that required me to work from 8PM to 5AM after which I would wait up for my son to go to school then sleep from 8AM - 3PM, to having a normal 9 to 5 schedule in the fall. The fact that I am typing this at 2 in the morning tells you how hard it's been to adjust, but I'm exhausted at 2AM, whereas this used to be the equivalent of mid-afternoon for me just 6 weeks ago. That's how I did it - I'd go to bed 15 minutes earlier than usual for a few days, then earlier again, etc.

    I also do Gaiam's PM yoga DVD an hour or so before bedtime, drink some sleepytime tea and read from a non-backlit source (book, magazine, e-in Kindle) for a while too. These little things really help!
  • Rachiepie6
    Rachiepie6 Posts: 423 Member
    If you can't manage 7-9 hours a night, try adding and 80-90 minute nap in your day.
    Google biphasic sleeping, that might be your answer.
  • papate
    papate Posts: 67 Member
    My sleep record is a wreck. On a GOOD night, I get between 4 to 5 hours. Most often it is significantly less, my tracker has me and 1.1 hours for some nights and i have even been known not to go to bed at all. I have tried everything, change the bedroom, change the temperature, exercise just before, exercise hours before, hot bath, over the counter sleep aids, prescription sleep aids, I have even had full hospital sleep study done.....nothing seems to help.
    Please, does anyone have a solution? Thank you.
  • couponfun
    couponfun Posts: 714 Member
    This is something I need to work on. I start work at 2 am, 7 days a week, and most nights I'm lucky if I get to bed by 10, so I average about 4 hours of sleep at night (work from home). Then whenever I get the toddler down for nap that's usually my laundry/cleaning/more work time so I can't take a nap myself. I can definitely tell my self control is down, including my alcohol intake from stressing out, etc.

    I gave notice to my boss to lower my account totals, so I'm hoping that I can change my schedule and put this theory to the test, as I think the whole lack of sleep thing is very, very true. It's kind of like a domino effect- while it won't really make you lose a ton of weight by itself, it affects hormone levels, mood levels, which if you're an emotional eater can mean overeating, and then if you have a borderline drinking problem like I do can affect your alcohol intake, etc etc etc.

    I almost wish we could track hours slept on here so we can correlate loss/gains versus how much sleep we got. That'd be interesting to see.

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