A New View on an old New Years Resolution

Every year I make that "New Years Resolution" (mentally - not aloud) to drop the extra love handles! And each year I fail miserably! I don't make these resolutions to be "thinner" and I'm certainly not looking to be "Barbie". No, my need for weight loss is much more serious. My entire family has weight issues. I am the youngest four (2 sisters and one brother). I am the only one that does not have diabetes, yet. My father died at age 58 of lung cancer and heart related issue. My grandfather had one leg removed due to diabetes. My dad's sisters and brothers all had diabetes and they all died in their mid 50's, early 60's from related causes!

This year I'm taking a new approach. I'm doing my research, I'm making a plan and I'm posting pictures as an added incentive. I mean really once you post those fat pics and tell everyone your gonna do it, then you'll push that much harder right?

This is what I know:

SLEEP LOSS = WEIGHT GAIN!

According to recent studies conducted at the University of British Columbia and another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, sleep loss tends to increase hunger and affects the body's metabolism making it difficult to maintain weight loss or lose weight.

Sleep loss results in less deep sleep, the kind that restores our energy levels. Losing deep sleep hours decreases growth hormone levels. Growth hormone is a protein that helps regulate the body’s proportions of fat and muscle in adults. With less growth hormone, we reduce the ability to lose fat and grow muscle.

Hormone function affects the way fat cells respond to the food we eat. Cortisol is a hormone that is commonly released in response to physical or emotional stress. When we are deprived of sleep, cortisol is released at an increased level and makes us feel hungry even if we are full. As a result, people who continue to lose sleep on a regular basis will tend to experience hunger even when they have had an adequate amount of food.

A lack of sleep goes hand in hand with a lack of energy. Not only do we accomplish less with less sleep, we also don’t burn as many calories. The body’s reaction is to hoard calories as fat, making our weight loss goals more difficult than they need to be.