Did you know you can cut back on calories just by sleeping? Diet and exercise alone may not be enough to help you slim down. It turns out that sleep and weight loss are deeply interrelated. For some, sleep may be why you can't lose weight. Going as far as saying that "Sleeping will make you lose weight" is stretch to say the least. However, how much sleep you get affects your diet in many ways including your appetite. Lack of sleep for 2 days, greatly damages your appetite. At this point you may be thinking, "Why can't I lose weight?" Well, maybe it is because you lack sleep.
When dieting, do you find yourself piling on stress trying to fight off hunger pains? - Losing sleep sets you hunger lose increasing the chance that you gain weight
What if I told you that all it would take to pin down your appetite preventing overeating was too...get more sleep!? (Sleep loss and weight gain - Lack of Sleep Causes Weight Gain!? A Sleep Deprived Diet) that's right! The reason you can seem to lose weight may be due to lack of sleep. That is your sleeping habits are tying down your ability get slim.
Cut back on calories!! - Count the number of hours you sleep before worrying about how many calories are in the food you eat
Want to burn more calories? - Sleeping gives you an extra 5 percent because not getting enough sleep at night slows down your metabolism making it even harder to burn the calories you need to slim down your body losing weight.
One reason why you cannot lose weight is simply because you may not burning enough calories. That's your metabolism. In a sleep and weight loss study, it was found that getting enough sleep may help you burn more calories. Maybe that's why you cannot lose weight.
"… insufficient sleep increased total daily energy expenditure by∼5%" - Impact of insufficient sleep on total daily energy expenditure
What that means when you are trying to lose weight is that if you had to decide between losing sleep and workout out, it is in your best interest that you get sleep because working out may be the Achilles heel in your diet if it causes you to lose sleep at night.
Lack of sleep increases the hormone that makes you hungry
What to do when you can't lose weight? - When you can't lose weight because you are not able to prevent overeating, getting enough sleep at night it there first place you should look to get your diet back on track. How sleep affects your ability to slim down is because of how sleeping affects your hormones.
Not getting enough sleep decreases hormone levels of the hormone (Leptin) responsible for controlling your appetite while increasing the hormone (Ghrelin) responsible for making your hungry.
One thing that you may have trouble with while dieting is holding back on bottle up feelings (or pressure to eat). If you've ever been hungry, you know stress is like cold water on hot oil.
In order to pin down your appetite and eliminate excess stress from being hungry, getting enough sleep decreases the secretion of the hormone ghrelin increasing your appetite while giving your more leptin making you feel less hungry, helping you to control your hunger.
Sleep and weight loss study says that "Women who get enough sleep at night are less likely to consume excess calories"
In a study by the University of Colorado investigating the impact of insufficient sleep on food intake, findings showed that "Getting less than 5 hours of sleep a night (lack of sleep) leads to increased food intake especially at night" concluding that if you want to cut back on intake getting enough sleep may be the key to weight loss.
The energy expenditures were measured for 16 fit men and woman using a device called the human calorie meter.
| 1st Stage: Initial three days Every participant of the experiment got 9 hours of sleep eating just the right amount of food. Preparation for the second stage. |
| 2nd Stage: Five day period beginning on the fourth day Participants split into two groups, one group getting less than five hours of sleep and another unchanged getting 9 hours of sleep a night. More than adequate amount of food was prepared in advance. Both group spent five days under these conditions. |
| 3rd Stage: Last five days after the ninth day Groups switched roles spending the five days under these conditions. |
The group getting less than 5 hours of sleep showed substantial increase in food intake at night
The study showed increases in calories consumption with decreases in calories burned for participants getting less than or equal to 5 hours of sleep resulting in almost 2 pounds (0.82kg) of weight gain.
In particular, consumption of food increased at night when participants snacked in the later in the day. This explains the increase in calories from diet.
Woman getting adequate amount of sleep are more likely to consume less calories
Results showed no significant difference between men and women participating in the experiment. The calorie consumption of men increases with respect to the food they ate whether getting enough they got enough sleep. However, in the case of women there was resistance to eating as much as they wanted.
Both men in women experienced an increase in appetite due to lack of sleep. If you are worried about the calories in your food and are not getting enough sleep at night, you should probably start worrying more about sleeping. In that respect, simply getting more sleep at night may help you cut back on calories.
Get more than 5 hours of sleep at night to pin down your appetite, lowering your calorie consumption.
Lack of sleep may increase the chance of you eating high calories foods
Can't seem to lose weight? - Chances are that you are eating high calorie foods like junk food or are just snacking too much at night. When you are unable to lose weight mostly because something is making your appetite uncontrollable, then sleep might be the key to getting back on track.
If you though that lack of sleep making you hungry was enough, then you will be surprised when you find out. When you are not getting enough sleep at night, you are more likely to end up staying up late sitting next to a bag of potato chips eating junk food and snacking than you think says University of California, Berkeley.
Not only do you want to eat salty high calories foods in addition to sweets like chocolate, lack of sleep doesn't stop ruining your diet yet. It also affects the food you want to eat.
So, if you find yourself unable to quit snacking and are always eating junk food, then it may be time to take a second look at your diet, starting with how many hours of sleep you get at night.
