Sleeping is an important factor in gaining good health among many other things. Enough sleep may also be attributed to better skin, better mood, happiness, and more energy. But can sleep deprivation be a factor to help you lose less weight? If you are on a diet or plan to lose some weight, read on and find interesting facts that can help you in your motivation to lose weight journey.

On average, a person should be getting around 8 hours of sleep every day. When sleep deprived, there are a number of behavioral and physiological changes in your body that could mean unsuccessful diets and weight gain.

Fighting Off the Need to Sleep

When you are sleep deprived, you are more likely to fight off being sleepy by snacking. And it is more likely for you to snack unhealthily by eating handy treats like chips and cookies. Not a good thing if you’re trying to lose weight!

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Less Sleep = Less Energy

Sleep deprivation further complicates your weight loss plan by causing low energy. People with low energy will be less likely to move around, leaving more unburned fat. Aside from this, when you have a low amount of energy, you will also have  decreased motivation to exercise.

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Eating When Bored or Tired

When you are sleeping less, this could only mean more time to be awake. Usually this extra time of  being awake would give extra time to do nothing  but feel boredom. And when you’re bored, you are more likely to eat. On the other hand, having extra time could also mean being over worked and tired  — these can also cause you to grab more food than you should.

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In conclusion, not having enough sleep could bring havoc to your diet. So if you want your motivation to go up, try to get enough sleep and wake up to a healthier, leaner you!

Who didn’t experience being scolded by their parents while they were eating? Parents would remind their kids to chew their food well before swallowing. Your parents did that and you might be doing the same thing with your kids. The common notion why it is important to chew well before swallowing is to avoid both gagging and choking. While these are certainly true, chewing your food well is also important because of many other reasons. Among the less popular reasons include its great effects in weight loss.

Yes, you read right. Chewing actually contributes to weight loss. How? Here are some known facts of why chewing your food well can help you take off inches in no time:

1. When people think about digestion, they most often think about intestines and internal systems and organs. But actually, digestion begins in the mouth and the process of chewing is a very important component of the digestive process. When you chew, you break down big pieces into smaller ones helping your body digest more easily. Aside from this, the more you chew, the more you allow your food to be exposed to saliva. Saliva, aside from lubricating food particles allowing for easy passage in the esophagus, contains important enzymes that aid in the chemical process of digestion.
2. Chewing thoroughly allows you to slow down and pay more attention. When you are eating slower, you give your brain more time to tell your body that you are already full, causing you to eat less, prevent weight gain, and aid in weight loss.
3. Chewing your food slowly will let your body better absorb nutrients and vitamins found in food. You might be eating a well-balanced diet, nutritious, and healthy – but if you fly by eating and neglect to chew thoroughly, you will not get the full amount of vitamins and nutrients. You need to extract these nutrients and vitamins out of the food and you can do this through chewing.

In this day and age where time is of the essence, take time to chew your food – because good health is also of the essence. Everything else becomes meaningless when you are unhealthy, so chew your food properly, relax, keep up that motivation to lose weight, and slowly enjoy your daily meals!

This has been a question in the minds of people trying to lose weight. If you think about it, wouldn’t eating 3x a day instead of 6x a day make you lose weight more? 3 is less than 6 by half. True, but the key words are BIG and SMALL. Research shows that people who eat their calories in 3 big meals gain MORE weight than people who eat the same number of calories spread over 6 small meals. Let us discuss why.

HIGHER METABOLIC RATE

Eating helps to increase the body’s metabolic rate and so eating small frequent meals (ex. every 3 hours) reassures the body that there is enough food, making the body burn calories at a faster rate.

NO BELLY BLOATING EFFECT

After eating big meals, one often feels bloated and so full that movement is not something you look forward to. Eating big meals makes you full and actually drains one’s energy. On the other end of the rope, eating small meals will keep you energized. And because small meals are digested faster, you are able to have more activities which will further help you to burn fat and calories.

To help you in eating smaller portions, try using smaller plates during meals. Just add a small amount of food to your plate and make sure to keep extra food inside the refrigerator. Also, drinking a glass of water at least 30minutes before a meal will help. With these tips in mind, try eating smaller portions instead of big ones and see if you maintain your motivation to lose weight and lose those extra pounds faster!