Lack of Sleep: A Dieter's Worst Nightmare

Is sleep-loss sabotaging your weight-loss?

Lack of sleep appears to sabotage the effectiveness of dieting, according to new research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The hormonal changes that happen with lack of sleep mess with your diet in a ways that are far worse than you think.



It is not so much you lose less weight when you diet sleep deprived, it appears you lose the wrong kind of weight. Insomnia can lead to losing 4 times more muscle than fat! And muscle is one of the main drivers of your metabolism! So less sleep means less fat loss and slowing metabolism.

Plus, the hormone changes that occur make you more hungry if you lose sleep.

Less fat loss, slower metabolism, and more hunger. Lack of sleep is a dieter's worst nightmare.

Here are the specifics:

The study looked at sleep deprivation and whether it affected the amount and composition of weight lost when dieting, hunger levels, and levels of certain weight and metabolism related hormones.

Researchers randomized 10 overweight adults to 2 weeks of dieting with normal sleep (8.5 hours/night) or 2 weeks of dieting with 5.5 hours per night of sleep.

Reduced sleep decreased the proportion of weight lost as fat by 55%.
-Sleepers lost 1.4 kg of fat, insomniacs lost 0.6 kg of fat.

It also increased the amount of fat free tissue loss (muscle) by 60%!
-Sleepers lost 1.5 kg of muscle, and insomniacs lost 2.4 kg of muscle!

So in this study, dieters who were sleep deprived lost 400% more muscle than fat!

Less sleep led to higher ghrelin levels (the hunger hormone) and increased feelings of hunger.


"Among other hormonal effects, we found that sleep restriction caused an increase in ghrelin levels in the blood. Ghrelin is a hormone that has been shown to reduce energy expenditure, stimulate hunger and food intake, promote retention of fat, and increase glucose production in the body. This could explain why sleep-deprived participants also reported feeling hungrier during the study," senior study author Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, University of Chicago, said in a statement.

It also lowered resting metabolic rate and epinephrine concentration (a fat burning, metabolism revving hormone).

The main limits to the study were the very small sample size and short duration of the study.

"These results highlight the importance of adequate sleep for maintenance of fat-free body mass when dieting to lose weight," according to Dr. Penev.
In an accompanying editorial, Shahrad Taheri, MBBS, PhD, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD, Stanford Sleep Medicine Center in California, agree that adequate sleep might be an important factor in successful weight loss and suggest sleep might be part of a lifestyle package that has traditionally focused on diet and exercise.

Dr. Taheri and Dr. Mignot conclude that replicating the findings from this study in clinical trials is "a critical next step in addressing important questions about sleep and body weight."

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Ann Intern Med. 2010;153:435-441, 475-476.

So get out there, push play, then go take a nap!

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Keep it off! New weight loss news you need to know!

Conventional wisdom says you are born with a certain number of fat cells. It is determined by genetics and there is nothing you can do about it.

Researchers just published a fascinating study that turns conventional wisdom on its head!

First the bad news.
Scientists from the University of Colorado found that rats who were put on a calorie restricted diet to lose weight developed new fat cells when they were taken off the diet! When the weight returned in rats who were sedentary, these rats ended up weighing more than they weighed before the diet. Can anyone say 'yo-yo syndrome?'

According to Science Daily, "Small, new fat cells would not only accelerate the process of regain, but also increase fat storage capacity in the abdomen. It would also explain why sedentary rats overshoot their previous weight when they relapse."


Now the good news.
Exercise appeared to prevent the increased number of fat cells seen with weight re-gain in the sedentary rats! Not only that, but exercising rats preferentially burned fat over carbs and ate less eating than the sedentary animals.

"Taken together, the exercise led to a much lower appetite and fewer calories ending up in fat tissue."

So once again, you can lose weight by diet alone. But you can't keep it off unless you exercise.

Make it a part of your daily life. Email me (Kevin@TheFitDoc.com) for help in finding the best workout program for you!

Sources:
Science Daily article
American Journal of Physiology RICP

Vinegar: The new miracle salad dressing

The fat-loss wonder that also does windows!



It is the only window cleaner I ever put on my salad. Now, it helps you shred fat, too!!!

Ordinary household vinegar -- used to make oil-and-vinegar salad dressings or pickles -- appears to turn on genes that help fight fat, researchers in Japan report.
Vinegar has been used as a cure-all for many ills for centuries. Modern medical evidence is slowly adding credence to some of the claims. In recent years, research has suggested that the main chemical in vinegar, called acetic acid, can help control blood pressure and blood sugar.
 
The current findings suggest that vinegar might help a person lose weight or fight obesity. The researchers gave acetic acid or water to mice via a stomach tube. All were provided a high-fat diet to eat normally.
Researchers found that the mice fed the acetic acid (vinegar) developed up to 10% less body fat than mice who drank only water. The amount of food eaten by the mice was not affected.
It’s believed that acetic acid turns on genes that produce proteins that help the body break down fats. This action helps prevent fat buildup in body, and thwarts weight gain.
So consider finding a way to make vinegar a regular part of your diet. The easiest and most nutritious way is probably a daily salad with vinegar and oil dressing!
But if you choose to drink your vinegar mixed with water, drink it from the bucket BEFORE you wash your windows with it!

The findings are scheduled to be published in the July 8, 2009 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Pillsbury Doughboy's fitness secret!

BBD: a novel way to track fitness or hot new boy band?

I used to have a great way to follow my body fat. It is called the BBD test. I made it up myself. Periodically, I would stuff a pencil in my belly button (important safety tip: use the eraser side) and then record the depth. It went down from like 24mm to 16mm over the course of the p90x fitness program. A side effect of the test is that it kind-of tickles. Otherwise it worked great. BBD may be more accurate for guys 'cuz we tend to carry more of our flubber in the spare tire and less in the boo-tay. But it is worth a try for anyone!

Watch for my paper on "The Relationship between Body Mass Index and BBD: a longitudinal cross-sectional regressional meta-analysis" coming soon to a respected medical journal near you.

(If you are an outie you are SOL.)

Exercise improves thinking in children.

Exercise Improves Thinking, Diabetes Risk In Overweight Children

ScienceDaily (2007-10-22) -- Just three months of daily, vigorous physical activity in overweight children improves their thinking and reduces their diabetes risk, researchers say. Studies of about 200 overweight, inactive children ages 7-11 also showed that a regular exercise program reduces body fat and improves bone density. ... > read full article

Go Bananas: The Monkey Diet.

"The Monkey Diet". (or "What will those crazy Brits think of next?")

What happens when you take a dozen Brits, lock them in a zoo for a dozen days, and make them eat a monkey-like diet? Someone wanted to find that out and televise it, so that is what they did. Researchers gave 12 volunteers a diet of 2400 calories a day consisting of raw fruits, veggies, nuts, honey, and cooked fish. "Overall, cholesterol levels dropped 23%, an amount usually achieved only through anti-cholesterol drugs statins. The group's average blood pressure fell from a level of 140/83 - almost hypertensive - to 122/76. Though it was not intended to be a weight loss diet (with a whopping 2400 calories per day), participants dropped 4.4kg (9.7lbs), on average." This is the type of food our bodies evolved to eat over many thousands of years according to the dietician who designed the experiment. It really makes you think about what you put in your body. Since returning from a New York fitness camp last summer, I've improved the types of foods I've been eating. Without watching calories at all, my body fat has cut down to the lowest level it has ever been in my adult life. The fuel you put in your body makes a difference.

Now if they'll just let me out of the zoo.