about sleeping

I've heard it can but I am doing fine despite only getting about 4-6 hours a night because I have a three month old who wakes every two to three hours to eat.

There are some posts that discuss this, sorry i have no links. Sleep affects ghrelin and cortisol, hormones which can fluctuate weight and affect hunger signals, masking your weight loss or causing water retention. General consensus is to aim for ~8 hrs of sleep a day, but that's a subjective number.

Weight has effected my overall loss pattern, but not the loss itself. I bounce around a lot more now that I'm sleeping less (job change). If you look at my graph I have huge spikes (4-5 pounds up sometimes) but I'm still losing about 4-5 each month.

I'm ~ 75 down with 10 or so to go.

They say it does, but I haven't met a mom yet who doesn't have the same issue. My kids are grown, and I STILL only get 4-6 hours a nite, my body is so used to the broken sleep. Good luck, do the best you can, it's all we can do. If you can find ways to increase your sleep hours by one or two, that will probably do a lot for your emotional wellbeing, like Lemurcat12 says above xo

I am a terrible sleeper, very rare that I get more than 6 hours. I lost weight fine, pretty consistently and still make muscle gains at age 48 despite sleeping horribly most nights.
Cant compare it to my clone who sleeps well though

Yes it does...I have a 2 month old so I am still waking up in the middle of the night but I have found that I am exhausted by 7 and I usually fall asleep after the kids are in bed. I don't wake up until 5:30 am when I need to roll out of bed to work out.

ninerbuff wrote: »

You BURN the most fat sleeping. If one lacks getting enough sleep to get into REM, then GH balance is disrupted and GH is needed to help burn fat. Believe it or not, one burns more fat sleeping 8 hours than if they did an 1 to 1 1/2 hours of cardio. Why? Because fat is the primary source of energy when the body is at rest.
Of course none of that will matter if one isn't in a calorie deficit to lose weight though.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Really?

ninerbuff wrote: »

You BURN the most fat sleeping. If one lacks getting enough sleep to get into REM, then GH balance is disrupted and GH is needed to help burn fat. Believe it or not, one burns more fat sleeping 8 hours than if they did an 1 to 1 1/2 hours of cardio. Why? Because fat is the primary source of energy when the body is at rest.
Of course none of that will matter if one isn't in a calorie deficit to lose weight though.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

OMG, love this. I do try to get as much sleep as possible because I just feel better and it's easier to stick with eating and exercise goals the next day, but this is the piece of information that will encourage me to turn off the computer and hit the sack earlier from now on!

If I don't get enough sleep it sends hunger cues when I know I'm not hungry, because my body is looking for a source of energy. It very hard for me to stay on a deficit and be sleep deprived. My understanding is, if you can stay on a deficit you will still lose weight.

CountessOCandy wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

superhockeymom wrote: »

ninerbuff wrote: »

You BURN the most fat sleeping. If one lacks getting enough sleep to get into REM, then GH balance is disrupted and GH is needed to help burn fat. Believe it or not, one burns more fat sleeping 8 hours than if they did an 1 to 1 1/2 hours of cardio. Why? Because fat is the primary source of energy when the body is at rest.
Of course none of that will matter if one isn't in a calorie deficit to lose weight though.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Really?

Yep. Any physical activity will burn glycogen first. One would have to be doing 20 or more minutes of steady state cardio before a mixture of fat starts to get burned and that percentage from one's overall workout would be small.
That's why it's a myth when people say to focus on cardio to burn fat. Cardio burns calories in higher ratio per duration than other exercises (dependent on intensity of course) which helps with CALORIE DEFICIT, but fat is primary fuel source for the body at rest. Truth.
That's why I discourage my clients from having alcohol before bed. Alcohol before bed would inhibit fat burning because until it's metabolized out of the body, alcohol will be the primary source of energy.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

So is this why they say not to eat 3 hours before bedtime? Or is that just another dieting myth?

It's a myth in the sense that when people say this they are often saying as well that you won't burn those calories and they'll become fat - that's not true. If you are in a deficit you'll lose regardless of when you eat your calories. That said, eating shortly before bed can negatively impact your sleep (although some things can help sleep such as warm milk, things with tryptophan). However, there is some interesting research suggesting benefit to your circadean rhythm (therefore your general body regulation) to an eating pattern that is earlier in the day and cuts off in the evening. Nevertheless, the primary issue with weight loss is calorie deficit. So, I would say if being more free with your eating time helps you to maintain a deficit, that's good. Some people have schedule issues, or a tendency to overeat at night if they tell themselves they can't eat, or simply really value being able to eat later... all of which would be good reasons to let yourself do so.