Subject: RE: Team Skinny April 2011 ... April Showers wash away my Fat jtbricker3 - 2011-04-29 2:24 PM Can sleep really have that much of an effect on weight loss? If so, I might be working against myself. I work A LOT during the week (and some on the weekends). I get to work at about 6:30am and I would be lucky to get all of my work done and be home by 7:30-8pm. By the time I get home and eat dinner and have a little time with the wifey it is ~9:30. Off to the gym and working out by 10, home by 12:30am and up again by 6am. In my life that is a good nights sleep (~5 1/2 hours). If I workout I can't sleep, if i sleep i can't workout....catch 22? Are there any insights you all have to offer on this? Not an expert, so grain of salt here, but yes, sleep is very important to overall health and to weight-loss, specifically. Not getting enough sleep affects your body in numerous ways, including lowering both your energy and metabolism. Your body is more prone to holding onto fat stores when it's not well-rested, so it could definitely factor in to why you're having trouble losing weight. I've had some health problems over the past couple of years, which I'm now close to straightening out, but one of the major issues I was having was that even though I was getting enough hours of sleep, I was not well-rested. I put on a lot of weight, and regardless of diet and exercise I could not get the scale to go in the reverse direction. Now that I am actually getting quality rest during the hours I sleep, I've stopped gaining weight and am starting to be able to lose it, as well (diet and exercise dependent, of course!!). This is a brief synopsis of a many-layered scenario, but the short answer is YES, lack of sleep could definitely have a major impact on weight loss. |