Sleep and the HCG Diet

Often times we underestimate the importance of sleep. It’s either we stay up late at night trying to finish whatever things we need for the next day or we simply watch our favorite late night show. Sometimes, we wished we didn’t have to sleep at all but sleep is what our body needs.  It’s even more vital on the HCG diet.

What will happen if you don’t get enough sleep? Can lack of sleep affect your weight loss result? Many things will happen if you are sleep deprived. When your sleeping pattern is interrupted or they are irregular, your metabolism will not function the way it should when you are getting enough sleep.

1. You feel more hungry the longer you stay awake

This has something to do with your Ghrelin and Leptin hormones. These two hormones balance out your eating patterns. Ghrelin is the “go” hormone that tells you when to eat. If you are sleep deprived, your body produces more Ghrelin making you want to eat more. Leptin, on the other hand, is the “stop” hormone that tells you to stop eating. And when you lack sleep you have less Leptin.

When you lack sleep, chances are you are going to get unhealthy drinks and foods to keep you going. You might as well go and buy yourself some vanilla spice latte or grab some energy drink from the service station on your way to work. All these can slow down your weight loss process. To avoid Ghrelin and Leptin imbalances stay healthy. Do your best to get at least 7.5 hours of sleep each day. This will give your body time to regulate the hormonal imbalances.

2. You will lose more muscle than fats

There was a study conducted on two groups of people. One group slept only an average of 5.5 hours a night while the other group slept 8 hours. Both groups lost the same amount of weight. However, the ratio of their fat loss and muscle loss differs. The group with the least amount of sleep losses more muscles than fats while the other group loses more fat than muscles.