Sleep. You'll lose weight. No, seriously.

Hello everyone!



I am sorry that I didn't post earlier today, I had a lot of personal drama come up and it kept me occupied for a bit.

I also didn't work out all weekend because (TMI alert) I recently went off of hormonal birth control and switched to Paragard (non hormonal IUD).  I now have my period and I am not feeling well. Lots of pain, etc.  The good news is I haven't been overeating, but I am bloated beyond belief.


So, today, I am going to talk about something very important with losing weight.  Getting enough sleep.

Ok, we all know this, but I actually found out exactly what happens when sleep is considered.


There was a study in which 2 groups of overweight people were put on the same low calorie diet.  The difference, however, was the amount of sleep they got per night.  One group got 5.5, the other 8.5 hours per night.

While both groups lost the same amount of weight, the major difference is where that weight left from.

Those who were sleep deprived lost half the amount of body fat as the others and twice as much muscle and lean body mass.  Keeping lean body mass intact helps a lot with metabolism of fat. The low sleep group also felt hungrier more often.  

Why does this happen? Here is a quote from the article that I read.

"Dr. Penev and his colleagues were surprised by the stark difference in the losses of body fat associated with each sleep regimen. On average, they found, the dieters lost 3.1 pounds of fat with adequate sleep and just 1.3 pounds with restricted sleep.

They also found that sleep deprivation raised levels of the hormone ghrelin, which stimulates hunger and increases fat retention."

So now, I am going to try my  best to sleep at least 7-8 hours per night in order to get this effect.

Do you sleep enough? If not,  you should!