- Part One: Nutrition
- Part Two: Calorie Control
- Part Three: Exercising for Fat Loss
- Part Four: Exercise Selection – Our 5 favourite fat loss exercises!
- Part Five: Importance of Sleep
This is where so many of us go wrong. I know it’s definitely my biggest downfall. Did you know, getting less than seven hours of sleep a night can decrease your fat loss by up to 50%? That is HUGE!
Sleep deprivation wreaks havoc on your hormones. It changes your insulin sensitivity, which means your body stores more fat. It also alters your hunger hormones- increasing the one that makes you feel hungry and decreasing the one that makes you feel the full. Lack of sleep also increases you stress hormone release, which obviously makes you stressed, but also makes you crave more food.
Sleep deprivation also affects your brain function. It specifically affects your decision making process, so it makes it really hard to make those healthy choices, when you’re tempted by the unhealthy ones.
Not only that, sleep’s really, really important for your muscle recovery. So, if you’re not getting enough sleep, your body won’t recover from exercise, meaning you can’t be exercising to your full potential day in and day out.
So, in summary, not getting enough sleep means you’re always hungry, you eat more than you should, you never feel full and satisfied, your body doesn’t recover properly, and your brain doesn’t function properly to help you make healthy choices.
What you can to prioritise your sleep.? Aim for a minimum of seven hours sleep per night to maximise your fat-loss results.
If you have any questions on our whole fat loss series, don’t be afraid to give us a shout out.