Sleep and weight loss

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legblonde355
legblonde355 Posts: 41 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone else not lose as much weight when they don’t sleep well or is that just me?

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  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,141 Member
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    Lack of sleep can increase cortisol production, which can increase water weight. Or you have trouble sleeping because your cortisol is elevated from stress, with the same potential result of water retention.

    Also, lack of sleep can impact our appetite, increasing cravings etc. So it might be more difficult to stick to your calorie goal.
  • inga38
    inga38 Posts: 4 Member
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    Absolutely, I have noticed the same impact! Being up and working until very late and even if not eating the same time the result is an increase in weight :(
  • legblonde355
    legblonde355 Posts: 41 Member
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    Yea I eat the same but I don’t lose as much when I sleep too little or have broken sleep. I’m glad it’s not just me! Gotta work on those sleep habits!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,293 Member
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    Another possible factor: If you eat late when you stay up late, and do weigh-ins first thing in the AM, you may see a higher weight just from the relative amount of food (on its way to becoming waste eventually) that's in your digestive tract, or a bit of water retention from timing of sodium. That's something that makes a difference, for me. Since I'm aware of it, and it's not fat, I don't worry about it.

    Ditto to the stress potential for water retention, also not fat.

    One day's weight is kind of irrelevant, on its own. What matters is the trend over many days, because that's where fat loss shows up. Significant scale weight changes overnight, sometimes even over a small number of days, are likely water weight or digestive contents differences, as long as there hasn't been some truly major change in eating or activity level to explain it. No point in stressing over "gains" (or celebrating "drops") that aren't fat.

    Best wishes!

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