Can a lack of sleep effect your weight loss results? A question we get asked many times here at the The HCG Diet.

On many occasions, we have discussed with our clients the importance of getting enough sleep each night. One client recently was getting frustrated that her weight loss was not as rapid as many of our other clients. She was only losing about 50% of what she should on a weekly basis. She was also only getting around 4-5 hours sleep per night. Once we identified this, she was able to make the changes so she could get 7-8 hours sleep per night and her weight loss picked up within a couple days and she began losing 300-400 grams per day.

But why is this?

When your sleep cycle is interrupted and/or irregular, your metabolism doesn’t function the way it should.

If you are only getting 4-5 hours of sleep each night then your metabolism has a lot less time to get to work, and your body doesn’t have regulate hormones that are essential for regulating your appetite. These two hormones we are referring to are called Ghrelin and Leptin.

Grelin is the “go” hormone that tells you you when to eat. And when you are sleep deprived, you have more Ghrelin,”  Breus says

Leptin is the hormone that tells you to stop eating, and when you are sleep deprived, you have less leptin” – Dr Michael Breus

It’s highly recommended that if you are trying to stay healthy and to avoid those ghrelin and leptin imbalances, that you sleep for at least 7.5 hours each night. This gives your body the much needed times it needs to regulate your hormone levels.

So Remember…

When you don’t sleep enough, your ghrelin levels will elevate causing you to have a bigger appetite, and your leptin levels will lower causing you to overeat.

When you aren’t sleeping enough, chances are you are going to try and get energy from foods and drinks that are unhealthy. You might swing by Starbucks on your way to work for a caramel latte with a double shot of espresso, or you might grab V or Red Bull from the dairy or service station. It’s extremely hard to make smart, healthy decisions when you feel low on energy. These choices are going to slow down your weight loss.

Also when you feel tired, you are also less likely to respond well to stressful situations. Instead of dealing with your stress in a positive way, you might default to the dreaded “stress eating”.

As you can see, lack of sleep can certainly affect your weight loss results. When you don’t sleep enough your hormones are imbalanced, your metabolism isn’t functioning as it should, and you are more likely to make poor eating decisions.

Each night, do your best to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your HCG Diet journey.