help! does not getting enough sleep effect weight loss?

most definitely.

How is your eating. How are your measurements? If you didn't lose weight are you checking other factors such as inches? You can be changing your body without it showing on the scale

Not for me it hasn't. I've always had no sleeping pattern and often 5-6 hours and I've lost 20 pounds in 40 days.

How much are you trying to lose? I looked through your profile (and pictures) and it seems as though you aren't far from your goal weight. It is going to take a lot longer for you to lose 10 pounds than it will for someone like me (by the way, I am also 4'11! :drinker: ) Measurements and weight will fluctuate daily also so make sure you are drinking plenty of water to keep from getting bloated and sleep doesn't seem to make a difference in my weight loss, it just makes me cranky if I haven't had enough. Be patient, you look great already!

Sleep does effect your weight. If I don't get enough sleep for a few days or even two days I gain weight.

Sleep can affect your workouts and weight loss. You say you are doing Insanity? In my first monty of Insanity I stayed the same weight but improved my measurements. Did you take measurements when you started, how are they different now? The 1st month you probably won't see much loss if you are new to high cardio as your body adjusts to the new glycogen and water weight. VERY important for Insanity is to follow the diet plan or similar. If you are not eating enough for the workouts your body will go into shock and and try to store as much as it can thinking it is starving, so make sure to eat enough. If you are not eating enough you may have troubles giving 100% to the workout and achieving your goals. Better to be a little high and over calories in the first month to know to drop down than to be too low and mess up the ideal diet plan in the final month.

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Ive been watching my eating and have stayed with a 1200 cal diet. I mite go over every now and then a 100 cals or so but that shouldn't effect weight loss that drastically? I measured myself over the times...I would be a 27 1/2 inch waste one morning (I measure early in the morning) and then the next im 28 inch waste. I measure in the same spot everytime. My body weight and measurements bounce back and forth. I have been dieting and exercising for atleast 3 months hoping for a breakthrough trying different techniques, and things but still nothing. Thats why im guessing its sleep. Thru out those 3 months I never got consistant amount of sleep.

Just to confirm - 1200 calories on average in TOTAL - while doing Insanity daily or almost daily?

Curious, what does MFP estimate your non-exercise maintenance could be - My Home - Goals - Calories Burned from normal daily activities?

To point in post above from MrM27, do you find yourself sitting around more now than prior, less active outside exercise?

It would be a bummer to add a 500 cal workout, but your body is so stressed it removes 300 calories of normal activity burn to compensate.
Many comment on that effect. Do big workout, sit around all evening on rear compared to before being active all evening.
Enough so that studies show that happens.

Here's the results of one study - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/06/how-sleep-loss-adds-to-weight-gain/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Thanks for that, it's actually a pretty good collaboration of studies. They all pretty much point to the same thing though, lack of sleep does not directly effect your BMR. Instead just changes your eating and workout habits.

I'm in the military, we get very little sleep most of the time. We don't gain weight because of it. It's the fact we eat more but more importantly our work outs suffer. However, I've been doing pretty good and so have 10,000+ people. It's just something you will get used to if you continue to loose sleep.

If you want it, then go out and get it.

EDIT: Of course, fixing your sleeping problem would be best solution!