How A Lack Of Sleep Sabotaged My Fat Loss Efforts For 15 Years

It’s funny how true the saying is that ‘if you don’t know, then you just don’t know’. I had slowly seen my weight rise and whilst this in itself was not a problem the places where the extra weight was settling surely was. You see at first, I liked the new chunkier me, it felt somewhat manly. What I had not bargained on was the dangerous increase in my waist size.

Throughout my teenage years and early twenties I had been a steady 60kgs and struggled to go beyond that despite my every effort. With the birth of my second child I bought my first car and started my first business. Life was busy and over the next 4 years I put on around 9.5kgs and in all honesty didn't really notice. Life was busy and within that period my third child was born. Roll on another 4 years and another 13kg, now with 4 children and now even busier than ever, I realised that I now needed to lose some of this fat that had taken residence around my mid section.

Misguided efforts

I had assumed that it could be attributed to the fact that I had started driving more and walking less, which I am sure had an impact, poor eating choices, which definitely had an impact. Each of these could be addressed fairly routinely for me, I cut sweets out one year, chocolates the next, sweet drinks the year after that whilst at the same time increasing my activity levels. January 1st 2009, a new year, a new plan, now eating clean and exercising 5-6 times a week and seeing some insane results, I was getting back on track or so I thought.

Whilst I was definitely fitter, better stamina and recovery and general fitness levels improved, I was not satisfied. This stubborn belly fat would not go. I started to weight train in 2013 and started to see even better results, now with 2 businesses as well as my main job, and the kids activities I was busier than ever. The exercise had given me more energy so I did more.

The light at the end of the tunnel

After 2 rounds of Body Beast and getting closer to my goal than ever, I started my latest business venture and it was this decision that started my journey to answers that I didn't even know existed to the problem that I thought I had been solving all along.

It turns out that a habit that I had been forming throughout my teenage years had been sabotaging my progress all along. What was this habit? My sleeping habits were short circuiting my results. I had since school days always found myself to be more productive during the period of 12:00 am to 4:00am and as I started my first business all those years before that was the time during which I did all of my work. It helped that everyone was typically asleep and that I could get into the zone and be productive. It seems that 15 years of typically 2-3 hours had been creating hormonal shifts that boost hunger and appetite.

I came to find out that there is a reduction in a hormone called ‘Leptin’ with reduced sleep. Leptin is responsible for sending the message of satiation to the brain and at the same time the hormone which sparks hunger, ‘Ghrelin’ is increased prompting cravings.

Such a simple but powerful piece of the puzzle that I would have never linked to my problem. I was sabotaging my own results. Sleep, or should I say, a lack thereof!
My lack of sleep was messing up my metabolism and making me fat. With this new information I have been able to see greater gains than ever before over the past 6 months and with a few other changes like increasing my water intake, I press towards my goal of a healthy waistline, to complete my aim of a body that looks good and moves well, now and into the future.

Don’t sabotage your results. Don’t take 15 years to figure it out like I did. Get that sleep, 7-8 hours a night and reset your hormones to get them working for you rather than against you. ‪#‎ItAllStartsWithOneStep‬

Anthony Odle - London based Educator, Entrepreneur, Strength Coach, Mentor, Author, Engineer, and Designer - Anthony Odle Bsc has expertise across multiple disciplines making him a modern-day Polymath. He also knows a thing or two about creating a happy life, married to Latoya for 20 years and a father of five, he lives in passion, on purpose.