Weight loss and sleep

mburlina86
mburlina86 Posts: 20
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone have any facts (or opinions) on weight loss/gain and lack of sleep? Just in general or from a personal experience... Thanks!

Replies

  • weloveourboys
    weloveourboys Posts: 133 Member
    Apparently research has shown that those who skip out on sleep tend to gain weight. Something about when one is tired one tends to have the nibbles so munch on more junk. Not sure how scientific this all is. I personally have had no experience with it. Whether I get enough sleep or not doesn't seem to impact my appetite, though it does impact my mood. But I am not an emotional eater so it doesn't make a difference to me.
  • NatWillBeSkinny
    NatWillBeSkinny Posts: 111 Member
    the only thing i can say to this is when i first start dieting i have really wierd dreams for the first few days and toss and turn but after about a week i sleep alot better and wake up alot more fresh than before
  • chimp517
    chimp517 Posts: 185 Member
    I have a friend who was severely overweight and suffered from sleep apnea. He had difficulty losing weight even while at a pretty severe caloric deficit. Once he got a handle on the sleeping issue he made much better progress.
  • NatWillBeSkinny
    NatWillBeSkinny Posts: 111 Member
    oo i missread the post haha
  • Lisah8969
    Lisah8969 Posts: 1,247 Member
    I have found that since I started working out more, I sleep better and more soundly at night giving me more energy the next day to work out more, so I sleep better...et cetera.
  • mburlina86
    mburlina86 Posts: 20
    I have been doing MFP for 4 weeks. I do 1,400 calories (based on what MFP told me) and I started working out (60 min Zumba classes, 3 days a week). I have never been a sleeper, so basically 5 hours a night and I am happy....which sucks! But in these 4 weeks I have lost nothing, zero zip! So I wasn't sure, after hearing studies about weight and sleep, what others thought about it.

    Thanks so much for any input you have!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,454 Member
    Eating more is a side effect, if you are awake and active, you will tend to eat more, especially at night when insulin production drops off naturally.

    Lack of sleep wreaks havoc on hormone production. Lack of sleep stresses the body and more cortisol is produced, leading to weight gain (among other hormonal disruptions.)

    If I undersleep, I notice within a couple days, my appetite is all over the place. The body loves consistency.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    My husband has sleep apnea and when he went for this sleep study they told him that his poor sleep quality could be a factor in his obesity. Supposedly if you are tired your body will want you to eat sugar to get the boost it needs to keep going. You also need rest in order for your body to do all the necessary repairs to tissues and organs during that time.

    I can't say he's lost any weight since he got his CPAP machine 2 years ago but he does say he feels better.
  • gomisskellygo
    gomisskellygo Posts: 635 Member
    Recently, I stopped drinking a crazy amount of coffee. I never believed it affected my sleep as going to bed at 11-12 and getting up at 6 was never a problem. I have been on MFP for a year and I struggled to lose 12lbs (my ticker is from years of losing 12lbs/yr). When I cut down my coffee from 12 cups (yup, 12) to 3-4 last week..amazing things happened. For one, I can't keep my eyes opened past 9PM. When I wake up at 6, it is a struggle! The most crazy thing is that I lost 3lbs in a week. I didn't change anything else. I had already been crazy at the gym and journal-ling my food. I only had a splash of skim milk in my coffee so those calories were accounted for.
    It could be many things, as too much Caffeine can affect your metabolism negatively and so can lack of sleep. So I don't have anything but personal experience.
    I know this post wasn't about caffeine but it is about sleep.

    Good luck to you and get some zzzzzzz's!
  • 212ackley
    212ackley Posts: 431 Member
    Not sure if it really helps with weight loss or not..I sleep 9 hours a night no matter what...i do sleep better when I work out though.
  • hestia1986
    hestia1986 Posts: 21
    I have always liked sleeping long, if I can. That can be up to 12 hours per 'night' :happy: I don't think that sleeping so long and at weird times had anything to do with my weight gain - I think it was mostly the excess eating.
    Now that I count my calories, sleeping more or less definitely doesn't affect my weightloss. Only that the longer my days are, the more I want to eat. It makes a huge difference whether I start my day at 7 am or 12 pm. However, I try to exercise it off and sleep more on the following night or take naps. Or, if I am too tired to burn the extra calories, I exercise more on the following day instead.
    As long as I keep track of calories, I'm fine regardless of the sleep-pattern.
  • seena511
    seena511 Posts: 685 Member
    a lot of people tout the importance of sleep in your weight loss goals. you need sleep to rebuild the muscle that you tear during exercise (this is when your body is naturally producting most of your HGH to help you build) and also just to make sure you are physically and mentally prepared to take on the next day. i rememeber seeing an infographic that said that people who sleep less than 6 or 7 hours a night are about as likely to carry extra weight as those who sleep more than 9 or 10 hours - so it is possible to get too much sleep.

    that being said, everyone's sleep needs are different. i like to have 7-8, but i can run on less if necessary. in college i had a friend who absolutely could not function unless she got 8 full, uninterrupted hours of sleep every night. and some people really can do just as well on 6 hours (or 12 hours) as others can on 8. i would shoot for about 7-8 each night for awhile and see if the consistency has any effect on your mood, weight loss, fatigue levels, etc. then you can see if you personally maybe need a little more, or can get by on a little less.
  • pamwhite712
    pamwhite712 Posts: 193 Member
    I do know that when I had a colicky newborn, I'd see things in magazines that said for new moms to lose the weight, they needed more sleep. Made me want to find the authors and strangle them.

    Everyone has their own rhythms and sleep needs.
  • mayamagallanes
    mayamagallanes Posts: 85 Member
    Since ive been working out I HAVENT been sleeping the same.. I always wake up and toss and turn. I have been doing MFP and exercising for a month and maybe over the last 3-4 nights I have been sleeping better. Seems like the days I dont work out I sleep better....who knows lol
  • BarackMeLikeAHurricane
    BarackMeLikeAHurricane Posts: 3,400 Member
    If I don't eat within at least an hour or two of sleeping it can be really hard for me to get to sleep (and stay asleep).
  • 24redwine
    24redwine Posts: 43
    I agree with much of what has been said here. I've been sleeping MUCH better since I increased the number of workouts per week. When I first started cutting back on calories and quantity of food, I did not sleep well. Then when I started eating back my exercise calories, I slept great. I don't remember when I've had a stretch of sleeping so well. Be sure you are keeping up your cardio and eating enough. Consider also whether there is something on your mind. Keep a pad of paper next to your bed and write down what concerns you, and then shut it off. Sweet dreams....
  • mistesh
    mistesh Posts: 243 Member
    Is This Normal?: The Essential Guide to Middle Age and Beyond by John Whyte has an informative chapter on sleep that I can recommend. The whole book in fact is well worth reading, as each chapter touches on an important aspect of living.
  • khall86790
    khall86790 Posts: 1,100 Member
    Apparently research has shown that those who skip out on sleep tend to gain weight. Something about when one is tired one tends to have the nibbles so munch on more junk. Not sure how scientific this all is. I personally have had no experience with it. Whether I get enough sleep or not doesn't seem to impact my appetite, though it does impact my mood. But I am not an emotional eater so it doesn't make a difference to me.

    I have heard the same. When you are tired your body seeks food for fuel to keep it going whereas the more you sleep, the more rested your body is and the less fuel from food it requires.

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