Sleep and losing weight

I know that there has been a lot of study out there about the affect sleep can have on our weight.  I know personally that if I don't get good sleep then I don't seem to lose very much if anything at all.  I thought I would share my own experience with this.

I am doing a Biggest Loser challenge with my family and I'm struggling a little to stay on track on the weekends.  So I'll do great during the week and lose a little bit of weight each day and then on the weekend I tend to gain it all back.  

Here is what I do.  Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday I run in the mornings.  I have to get up during the week by 5:30 in order to do this.  Tuesday's and Friday's I have set as my biking days.  I also do this in the morning so long as it isn't storming outside. :)

I try to go to bed no later than 10.  I'm not getting a full 8 hours of sleep though.  So last night I was bound and determined to be in bed and sleeping by 10.  I said good night to my husband and went to bed.  My alarm was set and I was going to get up and ride my bike for 20-30 minutes but around 11 pm I was woken up by a lightning storm.  I was up for a few minutes and then went back to bed listening to the rain just pouring down.  I didn't turn the alarm off but didn't have hopes of going for a bike ride.

My alarm went off and I just turned it off.  After that storm I didn't even check outside to see if it was dry enough to ride.  I was also really tired.  I'm still trying to get caught up after last weekend.  I slept until 8:24.  So I got roughly 10 hours of sleep which doesn't happen hardly ever but I was down 2 pounds.  Usually I only lose a few ounces with my 7 hours of sleep.

I noticed this the last time I was losing weight.  When I went to bed early enough to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep I lost more weight faster.

Our bodies just need the sleep.  So if you are trying to lose weight and struggling with it check out your sleeping patterns.  If you aren't getting very much sleep than maybe you need to get a couple more hours.  What will it hurt to try it for a week.  You might see a huge difference in how much weight you lose.