Sleep & Weight Loss

One of my lofty goals in this next 3 months is to develop a habit of going to bed at an early enough time to get 7 hours of sleep each night. Most days my husband is up at 5 in the morning, and then wakes me up around 5:45am! That comes really fast and early in the morning, so I need to be getting more sleep. I notice that the amount of effort I put into my workouts is so much more when I am well rested. So, why seven hours you might ask?

Well, research has recently shown that those who are attempting to lose weight have a greater success when they are sleeping more then 6 hours and less then 8 hours a night. This makes sense, since when I sleep more then 8 hours in a night I feel just as bad as I do if I slept 4! I also have found that my husband is a much happier guy when he gets this much sleep too, and he frequently calls me a night owl with a little bit of disdain in his voice.

So, how can we all make our night’s sleep better and helpful in our weight loss? Well, at sparkpeople.com they have given some helpful tips to share with all of you.

1. Set the right environment: use your bedroom for what it’s intended for – the use of a bed! We don’t have a TV in our room, mostly because the room is too small, but I’ve come to love not having the distraction in our space either. Turn off electronics and use the room the way it was meant to be used!
2. Get yourself into a routine: Got to bed at a set time every night, and get up at a set time every day. This helps to develop a sleep cycle for your body and allows it to know when it will rest and recoop!
3. Limit beverage intake before bed: I have a hard time with this since I workout in the evenings, so I’ll attempt to cut off water drinking about 30 minutes before bed.
4. De-stress: Going to bed mad, stressed out and emotional can really wreak havoc on your sleeping. So, if its bed time and you still have huge emotions going on or you’ve just had a hard day, write it down, pray about it, and talk with your partner or best friend. Don’t allow it to take over your dreams that night and move into the next day. Allow those emotions to be lifted away as your body regenerates.

I hope these little tips can help you to begin a healthy step to your weight loss. And, if you didn’t get enough sleep, just take some extra vitamins and get in the gym anyways! ;)

Best of #9

Stress is such a huge part of our daily lives and sometimes it takes over our mind and body (especially). This past post doesn't have any tips or helpful thoughts, it's just a reminder to you that we all have a hard time. I'm having a hard time even this week, only 2 weeks into the new year. Let's refocus on our goals, and remember to simplify your life instead of complicate it.
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March 06, 2010

Help me De-Stress!
Ok, so apparently I didn’t get the message that I gained weight yesterday since I baked chocolate chip cookies tonight. I only had 2 cookies, but it’s just not something I should be eating. I know that this journey is not suppose to completely restrict me from enjoying life and all that it has to offer, but I feel guilty for eating them. I should be proud that I only had 2, and that I didn’t sit and eat the whole bowl of batter instead.

I’ve noticed that my stress tolerance is much lower the past few days and that usually leads me to eating and stress is a huge factor with your body holding onto fat instead of allowing you to shed it. It can cause blood pressure increases, headaches, fatigue, and digestion problems. I’ve probably had all of these issues this week, so I need to distress some how. My at home exercising doesn’t seem to be allowing for the distressing that I need at this point, and I’m not sure where I can get it from. Some people drink, I usually eat, so I need to find some better coping mechanisms. I love to scrapbook and usually it’s a great outlet for me, but I’m at a pass in that road for the time being as I wait to pick up new photos I’ve printed. So, any suggestions followers?

Other things I’ve been trying include cleaning, sleeping, longer walks, zoning out, baking and not eating all the food, and of course the useless crying jag. I might go track down my knitting and try to finish the baby hat I started in the hospital 2 years ago.

4 foods to help defeat your stress!

So what type of foods make you feel less stressed out? I have a lot of emotional foods that I turn to when I am stressing out. But, most of the time these foods are not going to benefit my weight loss. Most people turn to chocolate, salty or fatty foods, and some people even stop eating; which can also hamper weight loss.

You may be surprised to learn that there are foods that you can turn to when you are feeling stressed out and overwhelmed that will promote belly fat weight loss. I will share with you 4 foods that will help you fight stress without taking you off the path of your weight loss journey.

1. Fish: Studies have found that an increase of Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet can help calm your nerves and get rid of anxiety. So make sure to include an ample amount of healthy fat in your diet to help control your anxiety. I tend to lean towards white fish for the cheap factor, but salmon is one that will give you this in an ample amounts.

2. Spinach: The mineral, magnesium, found in spinach, helps to decrease the effects of stress on the body. Consuming about three cups of spinach daily, about 40% of your daily need of magnesium will help to control your blood pressure during stressful events. This is so helpful when you are adding stress on your body as well during your exercise programs too.

3. Oatmeal: Oatmeal is FULL of Vitamin B, which helps to produce serotonin in your body. Serotonin is an essential neurotransmitter that sends calming signals to your brain. Oatmeal is also a complex carbohydrate, thus the slow digestion of oatmeal provides for the steady production of serotonin in your body and the steady calming of your nerves. This can be especially beneficial to those of us who deal with mild – severe depression, and can boost your levels early in the morning before you have taken anything other supplements or medications.

4. Chocolate: Yes – I’ll let you have a small amount of chocolate, especially since the cocao boosts the levels of neurochemicals in your body. I’ve said this before that this journey we are taking is not about eliminating things from our life, but learning to have them in moderation and allowing you those little pleasures. These neurochemicals produced by chocolate help the brain produce the feelings of happiness and relaxation. However, don’t over-indulge with the chocolate – just a few squares of dark chocolate are all you need to relax and smile. Another side note on the chocolate, don’t just go to the convenience store to find chocolate, go to a nice chocolate store, Godiva; See’s Candy; or even a local candy shop in order to find something to keep around for those stressful times.

These foods will help during those unexpected stressors in our life come out and hit us in the head, but they can also help during those times we know are coming. Such as, holidays and birthdays, our monthly PMS week, a change in your job schedule, the night you have to write out your bills, and even on a rainy day that you wish could have been better. Enjoy your foods and use them to your advantage instead allowing food to get in the way of your weight loss.

Making the Diet into a Lifestyle Change

So one of the traps we tend to fall into as we are attempting to lose weight is saying to ourselves we are on a diet and limiting our choices in food. Instead we need to begin to change our mindset into telling ourselves we are making a new lifestyle for ourselves.

Here are some of the basic differences between a diet and a lifestyle change.

1. When we are on a diet we have a goal that is self-limiting. When you get to your goal weight, you stop the diet. And when we make a lifestyle change the goal is open-ended, and weight management becomes part of your daily life, with strategies that vary as circumstances, priorities, and needs change.

2. A diet is a surface level change. It involves simple changes in behaviors you are already doing (or not doing). You take in fewer calories from food and (maybe) expend more calories on activity. Foods are "good" or "bad" based on calorie content. When we make a lifestyle changes are made on many levels. In addition to healthy changes in your relationship with food and exercise, you will challenge the basic attitudes, beliefs, thoughts and feelings that made you overweight (and unhappy) to begin with.

3. During a Diet progress and success are measured by the scale. Anything that results in weight loss is considered acceptable, even if it poses potential problems or risks. Failure to lose weight as fast as desired is very upsetting, and the process feels like a constant battle. High stress is constant. When we make a lifestyle change our progress and success are measured in terms of satisfaction & quality of life. Weight loss and maintenance continue to be important, but are put in perspective as one way you can move towards larger, more rewarding goals. Daily ups and downs become much less stressful.

4. Sometimes when we are going through out diets, we tend to have the thoughts that the results don't last. We yo-yo diet a lot and never manage to keep the results we get. Even if you manage to stick with all the unpleasantness of a diet long enough to reach your weight goal, your odds of keeping it off permanently are less than one in twenty. Making a lifestyle change gives you lasting results. Your lifestyle change is an open-ended, ongoing process with goals that continue to expand and grow. There is no reason to go back to the habits that got you overweight in the first place.

Topic and information courtesy of Sparkpeople.com

Conquering Stress with your weight loss

So, the last 2 weeks have been an enormous amount of stress for me. Not 24/7 intense stress, but that lingering feeling of impending doom stress. That I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop before things just get worse. Every time my cell phone rang I feared the worst. I attempted to combat this stress with the normalcy of my life. Making meals, playing with Julia, have the older kids over to hang out, baking, and especially going to the gym. But even with my gym time and my battles against the stress it still seems to have won over my battle with weight loss. Is there any real ‘weight’ to this? Is the stress really causing me to not loose my weight? And how do I get past this wall?

Research does support some link between stress and weight. Stress often causes people to drop good eating and exercise habits that helped them lose weight. This is certainly true in my case. I had Dairy Queen for desert one night, and caught myself several times attempting to over snack between meals. My intensity in the gym even went down the hill. I just couldn’t get motivated!

The other problem was my fatigue that went along with this stress. I had so much going on in my head that most nights I would wrestle with bad dream, or just not fall asleep at all. When people are stressed they have trouble falling asleep. Studies show that a lack of sleep leads to lower levels of the hormone leptin, which can cause an increased appetite. Tired people often turn to food, too, to replenish their energy. I so did this! I remember thinking how eating more “healthy” foods would benefit me during the time of stress, but just ended up over eating and then taking a nap.

When we are stressed most of us who are attempting to change our habits and loss weight become emotional eaters. When we are making these changes it takes so much more than good intentions and information about nutrition and exercise to be successful. The ability to manage difficult situations and feelings effectively—without turning to food and eating—is a necessary foundation for a successful weight loss plan and healthy lifestyle.

Even when we are having challenges in our lives we are still on this journey to make a better self, and need to find ways to conquer the effects of the stress when avoiding the stress is not an option. I need to remember to have these posted on a wall or the fridge to remind me what I need to do when all I feel like doing is eating or sleeping away the stress. Here is a list of healthy stress reducers.
• Take a walk – even at a slow pace, your body will release chemicals to help build back you’re your feel-good moods.
• Stretch – turn on the radio or TV and stretch out the stress in your muscles. Basic stretches can be found here.
• Work up a sweat – when we exercise we release so much tension in our bodies and this is the best way to allow your body to loose weight and de-stress at the same time.
• Get a massage – this isn’t exactly cost affective in my world, but I have a husband who will work out those tense muscles for me too. This really can help or you to be able to ignore the emotional eating and sleeping, and bring you back to the reality of your weight loss.
• Eat something healthy and tasty after you work up a sweat – fruit smoothie, yogurt & granola, trail mix, and just some plain fruit cut up.

So, how to I move from just making healthy habits to making this my lifestyle and not struggling with these hurdles anymore? There are five most common problems that people run into when attempting to identify, work through, and overcome emotional and mental (attitude) problems that people face when they set out to change their lifestyles. These include inadequate problem-solving skills; unrealistic expectations; toxic guilt & negative self-talk; emotional eating; and lack of intrinsic motivation. We will revisit some of these problems this week with a series of motivating and helpful articles on getting past these challenges.

In the meantime, here is this week’s challenge. Weekly Challenge: Keep a journal of your daily food intake and track when you are emotionally eating (stress, bored, tired, or happy). You don’t need a fancy web site to do this, just pull out a notepad each day and write it down.