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Those who've noticed my sig can see that I've had some setbacks in my weight loss journey. Basically, what happened was a little more than two years ago, I went back to working in a corporate setting. While I didn't completely fall off the wagon, I ate like I was on maintenance. However, the different lifestyle brought about by a corporate job, eating fastfood, drinking way more coffee than usual, and less time to work out, brought about weight gain of about 20lbs in a span of a year.
So I did what any Atkineer worth his salt would do. Since it seems my carb count for losing changed, I went on induction again and tried to climb the OWL ladder, cut the caffeine, and reduced the number of meals eaten at fastfood outlets (tons of hidden carbs in meats). While that stopped the weight gain, I wasn't losing either. Well, not exactly...
You see, for the past year, my weight would move between 195 to 200lbs within a week, I'd gradually gain 5lbs from Monday to Friday, and then whoosh it all over the weekend. I figured stress had something to do with it.
A couple of months ago, I read an article citing a study where lack of sleep was linked to obesity. I vaguely remembered Gary Taubes citing a doctor who claimed that his patients lost more weight just by sleeping. It dawned on me that during workdays, I tend to average between 5-6 hours of sleep, then I try to make up for it over the weekend by sleeping for 12 hours.
Last month, work became very light so less overtime for me. I decided I'd try to get at least 7 hours of sleep during workdays. The result, in the first week, my weight stayed at 195 instead of creeping upward towards 200 as it used too. I also lost an inch off my waistline. The second week, my weight dropped to 193lbs. Today is the end of the third week and I dropped to 190lbs.
You'd think that by sleeping less, one would be burning more calories. But it seems that the recommended 8 hours of sleep is crucial for weight loss, at least in my case. I only wish i had figured it out earlier.
So I did what any Atkineer worth his salt would do. Since it seems my carb count for losing changed, I went on induction again and tried to climb the OWL ladder, cut the caffeine, and reduced the number of meals eaten at fastfood outlets (tons of hidden carbs in meats). While that stopped the weight gain, I wasn't losing either. Well, not exactly...
You see, for the past year, my weight would move between 195 to 200lbs within a week, I'd gradually gain 5lbs from Monday to Friday, and then whoosh it all over the weekend. I figured stress had something to do with it.
A couple of months ago, I read an article citing a study where lack of sleep was linked to obesity. I vaguely remembered Gary Taubes citing a doctor who claimed that his patients lost more weight just by sleeping. It dawned on me that during workdays, I tend to average between 5-6 hours of sleep, then I try to make up for it over the weekend by sleeping for 12 hours.
Last month, work became very light so less overtime for me. I decided I'd try to get at least 7 hours of sleep during workdays. The result, in the first week, my weight stayed at 195 instead of creeping upward towards 200 as it used too. I also lost an inch off my waistline. The second week, my weight dropped to 193lbs. Today is the end of the third week and I dropped to 190lbs.
You'd think that by sleeping less, one would be burning more calories. But it seems that the recommended 8 hours of sleep is crucial for weight loss, at least in my case. I only wish i had figured it out earlier.
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316/301.5/140 POUNDS 
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