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Less sleep equals more weight?
By workoutmommy | December 20, 2007
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According to a new study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente and Harvard Medical School, new moms may have trouble losing their pregnancy weight because they are not sleeping enough.
Well, I could have told you that! The article says that in theory, those who sleep less should actually lose MORE weight because they spend more time being active. They plan to do more research to determine why that isn’t the case.
People, you don’t need to do more research! As a sleep deprived new mom, I can tell you that when I am overly tired I like to eat carb-loaded junk food to help pep me up. I tend to do this late at night when I am having “me time” and getting things done. Without enough sleep, I am often more anxious and stressed and I tend to placate myself with unhealthy food choices. Without enough sleep, I am irritable and have a tough time convincing myself to workout because if given the time and opportunity, my body would much prefer sleep over exercise. All of these factors combined help work against me dropping the weight I gained while pregnant.
It really isn’t rocket science but the researchers want you to know that they have
“looked at the weights and sleep patterns of 940 women who enrolled in a study in Massachusetts during early pregnancy from 1999 to 2002″
That is a pretty long period of time to discover something so blatantly obvious to me! You can see the full article here.
What do you think? Did you feel this way when you were (or if you still are) a new mom?
And have you been active today?
No excuses!
Topics: just for moms |
December 21st, 2007 at 12:59 am
Yep, that’s me! I’m hoping that with no school the next two weeks I might get a little more sleep not having to get up between 4:30 and 5:00am. May be baby girl will sleep in too. (That’s a BIG maybe!)
December 21st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
[...] YOU can usually tell when I wake up early because firstly, I POST EARLIER AND! I probably have more positive things to write. Naturally, I feel more goal-oriented because I get more done before 10am than most people! In addition to waking up early, getting enough sleep period (especially during your optimum REM hours) is key to weight loss. I whole-heartedly believe that if you don’t get enough sleep, you will get fatter. [...]
December 21st, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I SO totally relate to needing a high-refined-carb snack to keep me going when I’m tired. If I get enough sleep then I don’t even crave the dark chocolate & cherry kisses in my cabinet. But less than 8 hours? I can eat a whole stinkin’ bag. (and yeah, I’m a new mom too although my baby is 14 months old now, he’s still not sleeping through the night…) Thanks for the reminder Lisa!
December 21st, 2007 at 8:16 pm
PS> Yes, I have been active today! Did one hour of kickboxing followed by an hour of Pilates on the Reformer. My legs are still quivering;)