4th in Class B in the Arnold Amateur Figure!
Monday, March 3rd, 2008
Archive for the 'Other' Category
Muscle Inferno: How many Calories is your lean mass actually burning?
Friday, February 29th, 2008
If your answer is 30-50 extra Calories per pound of added muscle, you are … dead wrong! This muscle myth is a wide-spread and detrimental piece of misinformation; extra muscle mass will improve health, improve functional strength, and make you sizzle, but the amount of muscle gained through resistance training in the short term will not send the metabolism soaring.
A top notch article (1: Best Pract Res Clin Gastroenterol. 2004 Dec;18(6):1009-29) reviewed the impact of various kinds of exercise on weight loss and metabolism, which was compiled for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). To write this kind of paper, the authors searched extensively for the relevant scientific research about a topic and then combine all the results statistically to draw a conclusion.
The article states that 1 kg of muscle mass burns an additional 25-50 calories; the high estimate would tranlate to an additional 11.4 Calories per pound of lean muscle mass added. Consequently, this value is very similar to a value of 13 Calories/pound that I determined by statistically analyzing the data from my lab at Baylor University. The most conservative estimate predicts that an extra pound of muscle burns only about 7 Calories/pound.
A value of 30-50 kcal/lb of lean muscle is unrealistic and untrue, though it is published a lot in popular media. Numbers this high do not make practical sense. For instance, suppose a typical male bobybuilder has 100 lbs of muscle mass (not including the bone, organs and other components of fat-free mass), the mythical numbers would suggest that his muscle alone is burning between 3000-5000 Calories a day. On top of that, organs burn far more Calories per pound than muscle, so based on popular dogma, the man above maybe about 6000 Calories/day. I’ve measure the metabolism of countless athetic men, and roughly 3000 total Calories per day would be high for an athletic man of this size.
When high values are provided in articles, they are not supported by scientific literature; however, articles that reference research always suggest lower number, which generally range between 5-15 Calories per pound of muscle. Another good article that addresses this topic is below:
MADE IT TO ARNOLD AMATEUR FIGURE FINALS IN CLASS B
Thursday, February 28th, 2008I’m sooo excited to make it to the finals in the Arnold Amateur! Competitors from 22 different countries make this amateur event truly international.
My class had about 20 competitors; I managed to get a call-out in the first group of both the one and two piece.
Class D was intense there were, like, 40 uniquely perfect women in that class– ouch, hard being a judge on that one!
In any case, I’ll be wondering about the expo tomorrow…
Worried About Wheat? Celiac Sickness and Giving up Gluten
Friday, February 22nd, 2008
Hi Jean,I wanted to ask you if you had any experience with the “making” of food. I know that you are a nutritionist and are in a PhD program, but have you ever made specific food before?
I’m inquiring because I’m looking into “wheat and gluten free” products. My mother and sister cannot eat wheat, they have celiac disease, and are on a wheat free diet. They are doing fine, and there are a number of products available for them to eat.
I think that the whole “wheat free” diet could be a fast catching and healthy fad. It seems to me that it eliminates most carbs. Not sure where “wheat” stands on the healthy scale, or what the real health value of the food that they replace it with(rice based, gluten free products) is. But I wanted to ask if you knew anything about this.
-PJ
I actually worked as a healthy cooking instructor for a little over a year while I lived in Buffalo, NY. Though I didn’t have a lot of cooking experience when I started, the cooking school was required to have an RD (registered dietitian) to teach their general health and fitness cooking class. Since the manager already knew me, I got the job, though I floundered a lot in the beginning. Let me just say, it’s hard to cook four-five courses for 30 people in two hours! In any case, I’m certainly not a chef, but I do develop recipes that fit clear nutritional considerations– my recipes are generally low-processed, high-protein, low-fat, and rich in antioxidant vitamins and minerals.
Celiac disease (CD) is a autoimmune condition (the mounts and inflammatory response against itself); the disease may be “triggered” by stressful or traumatic event, including surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, or severe infections. A person dealing with CD has a body responds very badly to the gluten protein found in wheat and some other grains, specifically: rye barley, and oats (to some extent). Gluten is created in foods when two proteins, glutenin and gliadin, are processed together to make the gluten product. For example, when kneading homemade bread-the gluten forms gives the dough elasticity and allows the bread to rise and hold a shape. Thus, it is very hard to produce gluten-free breads, because it is difficult to find a good substitute with the same shape-holding ability of gluten. Furthermore, CD is distinct from a gluten allergy.
A food allergy generally results when a whole food protein or peptide is absorbed and the body mounts a immune response to protein, which the body see as an “invader.” The body’s response to the food is a lot more damaging the the actual food protein, but that’s how allergies work! Celiac disease, on the other hand, just completely screws up the small intestine and makes it nearly impossible for the person with CD to absorb nutrients, vitamins, or minerals. CD individuals also experience, bloating and other stomach problems, unexplained rashes, loss of energy, joint pain or may have no symptoms at all. If a CD patient continues to eat wheat, and other gluten containing foods, he or she will be at increased risk of malnutrition and other diseases over time.
For people who do not have a wheat allergy, gluten allergy, or Celiac disease, wheat is NOT unhealthy. I think the primary problem with wheat is that is such a dominant grain in our diet that dietary “variety” for many is defined as: wheat bagel for breakfast, wheat crackers for a snack, whole wheat bread at lunch, and whole wheat pasta at dinner– catch my drift? It’s all wheat and your body is continually exposed to the same irritant over and over if you have an intolerance!
There are many other good sources of carbohydrates in the Americans diet that are wheat-free for instance: rice, corn, all fruits, starchy vegetables (potatoes, peas, sweet potatoes), and legumes (including lentils and beans). Carbohydrates are a NEEDED part of the diet and should not be considered unhealthy, especially by athletes. My own carbohydrate intake ranges typically from 40-50% of my total calorie intake and my body fat has not been above 17.5% on the DXA in the last three years, this is despite an “off-season” where I do limited cardio and eat a lot more overall calories. Carbs are not bad. The wrong carbs (added sugars, corn/rice syrups, white flour, including rice flour!), over-representation of wheat in the general diet, and high intake of highly processed foods are unhealthy.
There are many gluten-free processed products out there. Except for the case of CD, I would not consider gluten-free processed products inherently healthier than regular highly-processed wheat products. On the other hand, an individual can make a healthy and varied gluten-free diet by focusing on whole foods. In fact, eating too many processed products that claim to be gluten-free may place individuals who have the problem at greater risk, since many factories may manufacture both kind of products, which presents a risk of cross-contamination!
If someone wanted to make a fad out of wheat/gluten-free, I think it’s possible; however, it already been a fad for years in the bodybuilding world and in some health circles. It would also be unethical to manipulative advertising to convince the general population that they should be on a gluten-free diet. About 1% of the American population has CD; however, the number of people currently diagnosed with CD about 0.25%; so, for every person found to have CD, there are 3 to 10 more who are ignorantly living with the disease, symptoms, and chronic health risks. Personally, I would love to see population-wide Celiac testing– a number of serious genetic condition are tested for at birth in the US, which have much lower prevalence (though more immediate detrimental effects). Though CD cannot be tested for until the age of two, the implications are serious and the incidence, 1 in 100, is high enough that early screening could improve the health of Americans and reduce long-term health care costs resulting from CD-associated chronic diseases.
Protein-Packed Peanut Flour Please!
Saturday, February 16th, 2008
Hi Jean,
Where can you get defatted peanut flour in 10 to 20lb bags? I found in commericial 50lb bags but not in reasonable quantities.
-DL
I love defatted peanut flour and have searched for it extensively online. Typically, it is sold for commericial purposes, and it is used in most of your favorite peanut-flavored protein bars. Typically, it is sold as a 12% or 28% fat content and light, medium, or dark roasts. The darker the roast, the more peanutastic.
The nutrition for the 28% fat version per 1/4 cup (22g) is: 120 kcal, 6g fat, 9g protein, and 6g carbs. Per 1/4 cup, the 12% defatted peanut flour has: 100 kcal, 12g protein, 3g fat, and 9g carbs. About half of the carbs from both versions are fiber. Though the nutritional profile of the 12% flour is better, the pruduct has substantially less peanut flavor than the higher fat version. Generally speaking, defatted peanut flour is a great addition to or substitution in shakes, pancakes, baked goods. It can also be processed with cottage cheese and Splenda to make a very high protein “PB Pudding!”
Though I’ve never found it in 10-20 lb bags, you can get it in a 1 lb or 5lb (little over 2 kg) portion from:
http://www.byrdmill.com/IBS/SimpleCat/Shelf/ASP/Hierarchy/0B.html
This site has peanut flour in a variety of roasts and fat%. The site offers a light roast, which is very mildly flavored–the 12% fat light roast doesn’t have much peanut flavor at all, but can be used to boost the prtoein content of recipes. Byrdmill also sells a medium roast, which is a little more robustly peanuty. Though the site claims it’s dark roast, it’s not nearly as dark as the Spices, Etc. version below.
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Alternatively, Spices, Etc. sells a 1 gallon portion, which is about 3.75 lb (1.7 kg):
http://www.spicesetc.com/product/729/3
The Spices, Etc. flour is a 28% fat very dark roast. The super dark roast is highly flavored, but also seems a little like burned nut flavor, which can turn a lot of people off. I like the extra dark roast when the flour is going to be combined with other ingredients and diluted a lot (like in shakes and Asian-inspired sauces). For a low-fat peanut sauce, try combining 2 Tbsp of Newman’s own Sesame Ginger Dressing with 1 Tbsp of dark roast peanut flour– the flour adds a little more than a gram of fat and loads of peanut flavor. The dark roast is also very good for making low-fat, high-protein African-inspired tomato/groundnut soups.
Personally, I like the highly dark roast for recipes because the overoasting doesn’t bother me; however, if you’re the kind of person who prefers mildly flavored coffee, you probably won’t like the dark roast flavor. Alternatively, the medium roast 28% fat is also good in a variety of application and doesn’t have a hint of burned taste.
The following website also offers defatted peanut flours, though I have never ordered from this site personally:
http://www.pointshop.com/Mall/Catalog/Product/ASP/product-id/36688179/store-id/1000027851.html
Also to add some intensity to peanut-flavored dishes, without the extra calories, you may want to add artificial peanut flavoring, which can be found:
http://www.watkinsonline.com/productdetail.cfm?Product=21365&gCatalogLocale=USA&ECredit=081200N
and:
http://www.shanks.com/catalog_store.html?pageid=7&module=retail&detail=42
Hope this helps!
Leg Training Revealed
Tuesday, February 12th, 2008
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Hi Jean, I was hoping you would share your leg workout with me?
My legs look sooo shapeless and I’m so frustrated!
Thanks!
KMT
It seems that I get a leg inquiry, usually from women, at least once a week, so I figured it’s about time to share a little. To preface this, I think that a lot of my leg potential is a genetic gift, but it was definately enhanced with training and good diet!
1. Love your legs like you love your chest, back, etc.
A half-hearted effort on leg day will not produce great results. In order train legs effectively, you must begin with the mindset that you are going to get an intense workout. Though you know it will be grueling, it will also be beneficial, so you love it anyway.
2. Change it up
If your leg workouts have resembled this: Squats—Leg Extention—Hamstring Curl—for the last 6 years, it’s about time for a change. Try front squats, hack squats, spilt squats, legs close together, legs far apart, full squats, partial squats, sissy quats, single leg squats, smith machine squats, fried shrimp, shrimp cocktail, shrimp kabobs—catch my drift? There’s no need to do one exercise the same way every single time the legs are trained. For more ideas go here and here. Spending a half hour or so looking up new exercises before you begin a workout can be highly motivating also.
3. No strenuous cardio before leg training
While this is true for all body parts, it is especially true for legs. Strength will diminish if you blast the legs with an endurance workout immediately before lifting. If you want to gain quality size on your legs, make sure the leg training is the focus of the workout on that day.
4. Eat like you mean it before and after leg training.
Legs are large muscle groups and require large fueling to get the most out of them! If I am not dieting for a contest, I will sometimes increase my calories before and after leg training by 30% or so.
5. Go in fresh
I will not train legs (or anything for that matter) on a day that I am physically exhausted or sick. I will actually leave the gym and take a day off if my strength is down a down 20-30%. In essence, if a warm-up weight feels heavy and I am light-headed or ill, I will not stay in the gym. I believe that my body is trying to tell me something in that case. This is a NOT the same as a lack of motivation; it took me years of lifting experience to recognize the difference. If I simply feel bad about myself or my training/life in general, I will stick it out and finish the workout. If I feel sick and weak, I go home. During actual illness, stress hormones (like cortisol and catecholamines) are increased and your muscle is already being broken down more than usual; training too hard on top of that can make it difficult to recover and excess muscle may be lost. That said, a case of the sniffles is NOT a reason to delay a workout; coming down with the flu probably is.
If you want to prioritize leg training, leg day should follow a rest day.
All that said, I don’t follow a written program for anything (hey! to each her own 
but, generally speaking, I do two leg days per week. One day is typically more intense than the other. Whether the following program is makes any kind of logical sense in terms of order or muscles worked together, I really don’t know. My workouts are, however, very high-volume, fast-paced, and intense (most of the time; we all have off-days). I take about 45 seconds to a minute between sets. I would not suggest starting with the following workouts if your leg training is not already intense and diversified. The two leg training days during the week may look something like this:
Day 1
Front Squats 5-6 sets of 10-15 reps to failure (one warm-up set for all)
Straight Leg Dead Lift or RDL 5-6 sets of 12-18 reps to failure
Stepping back and forth lunges 4-5 sets of 15-18 reps –tri-set with
- Single leg calf raises 4-5 sets of 20-25 reps, and
- 45° Reverse Calf Press 4-5 sets of 20-25 reps
Barbell Step-up with flexed kick 4-5 sets of 20-25 reps
Leg Extension 4-5 sets of 10-15 reps to failure
Lying Hamstring Curl 3-4 sets of 12-15 reps to failure
Cable Hip Abduction 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps to failure
Seated Calf raise 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps to failure
Day 2
Single Leg Smith Machine Squats 5-6 sets of 10-15 reps to failure (one warm-up set for all)
Front leg elevated dumbbell lunges 4-5 sets of 15-18 reps super-set with
Ankle flexion to stimulate anterior 4-5 sets of 20-25 reps each leg
tibialis
Dumbbell stability ball wall squat 3-4 sets 15-20 reps
Hamstring Curl 4-5 sets of 12-15 reps to failure
Leg Extension 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps to failure
Machine Hip Adduction 3-4 sets of 10-15 reps to failure
Seated Calf raise 3-4 sets of 15-20 reps to failure
I Wanna be Super-Lean Forever! Improving, Gaining, and Maintaining Health a
Friday, February 8th, 2008Hi Jean-
I want to start in the field of bodybuilding; I competed last summer as
a figure competitor and have a diet that got me down to 13% BF,
gaining 5 pounds of muscle. I am 135 lbs., 5"3′. I think that I am desperately restricting my calories to make up for
the post contest flab of now 19-20% that I need to shed. No carbs after
12pm etc… I want to build some muscle but also am motivated by the
definition and being able to see those muscles working! I also have a hard
time because I like variety and taste to my food!
What sort of diet and supplementation would you recommend other than
the initial vitamin, creatine, glutamine, fat burners, etc… and
protein?
I am currently splitting my body parts into 5 days, one hour long a
piece. Legs, Shoulders/Back, chest/abs, back/bi, shoulders/triceps. My
current weight makes it hard to get those pull-ups in as well!!!
I am doing one hour of cardio a day: 30 mins morning before eating and
20 mins after weights all in my zone-75-80%.
I know this is a lot of information, but I really need a place to go
for serious nutritional support for competing seriously. I would like to
try a contest this next year.
Thanks so much-
MD
I never thought I would be a bodybuilder. If someone told me ten years ago that I would strut around on stage in a rhinestone-studded bikini and heals, I would have actually had a knee-slapping laugh reaction (KSLR).
I started in powerlifting because it seemed logical; there was a contest and I was strong for my size. Then a series of completely random gym people told me "all I would need to do is diet" to do a bodybuilding contest. I shrugged it off at first; there was simply zero interest in starving myself and prancing around on stage. Zip.
Then I met Audra. She was absolutely the most stunning woman I had ever seen. She was highly muscular all over, but completely feminine. She looked strong, confident, and gorgeous. She was a natural female bodybuilder and had just competed (and won overall) in her first show. My ideas about bodybuilding had changed in an instant. Between getting to know her and dating a natural pro, I developed the drive to compete.
Today, I was looking through my early training logs from this period (it was three years ago) and had a KSLR from the notes. Some days detailed grueling workouts and others simply stated "One set of triceps; cried a lot; went home."
Bodybuilding is a total mind-****. I backed out of my first contest, then attended the contest and realized I would have placed well. I continued to diet for about 5 months, and during that period another bodybuilder/trainer came up to me and said "your ripped; what show are getting for?"
I wasn’t sure "Oh, one sometime soon, maybe in a couple of months."
"You’re ready now" he protested. "I have a couple of clients entering this show in 5 weeks and they’re not nearly as lean as you—you should enter too!"
That was the push I needed. After 6 months of dieting, I went on stage and won overall in my first bodybuilding show. At that time, I had a different bodybuilder boyfriend who was generally concerned about my pattern of strict dieting with no clear plans for a show in site. I was addicted to being lean. I was a little chunker my whole life and then, in a few months, I became the girl with awesome abs and ripped arms. I had totally remade my image and boosted my confidence (and arrogance) by ten-fold. I didn’t want to let go of that.
But then, being lean got less cool. I lost my period in the last two months of my diet. After that, my hair started to get brittle and weak and clumps of it fell out in the shower. My upper body, which had never lacked in size or strength, was weak and chronically injured. I was getting sick more often; my pulse was 42.
After the contest, my boyfriend kept his house stocked with all of my favorite junk foods. I knew there was Reeses ice ream in the freezer and, well, all he really needed to stock was the ice cream. He took me out to eat and ordered dessert whether I said I wanted it or not. I gained about 7-8 pounds right away and simply felt enormous; I had no abs, and my tiny clothes where too tight to wear. On the other hand, I started my period again within 2 months and was able to lift harder in the gym again, though the injuries never went away completely.
After a few weeks of ad libitum ice cream eating, I went back to a pretty healthy, clean diet, though there was a lot more of it than before and I did NOT severely limit high-carb foods, like sweet potatoes, oats, and fruits. Though I was still leaner than I was before my first bodybuilding adventure, I still felt out of shape. THAT WAS A DISTORTION! As an athletic person, with lots of muscle, you will look bigger than a "finny" person in your off-season, but, if you do it right, you are still an athlete and still look fit, even though you may be falling short of your own unreasonable expectations. Also, my boyfriend was a champion of my weight-gain for a reason. He had to be around me the more than anyone and I was probably not entirely pleasant. Chronic dieting is not only unhealthy and counter-productive, but also selfish to you family, friends and employer. If you are constantly obsessing about your food, it will be hard to be "on" in other area of your life. And you do have a life, right?
All physique competitors, and especially women, must gain a certain amount of weight to make muscular gains and be healthy. This does not mean that you need to gain 50lb and have a gut, but it does mean that you need to chill and allow your body to rebuild. What does this mean?
- Limit cardio: Cardio is a tool to get you lean; long cardio sessions like the woman above is doing are detrimental and limit its effectiveness when you need it most. She should taper down to one half-hour session per day; she should have a goal of only doing cardio 3-4 20-minute sessions per week MAX during her off-season. Wow! Now there’s time for a hobby or even a social life!
- Eat more; don’t restrict carbohydrates obsessively. Yes, you will gain weight. Yes you will gain some fat. Yes, you will walk around with a little more water in your body.
- Eat more calories overall, just make sure that they are clean. Slowly increase the portion of the foods you are eating now and add in a couple of servings of fruits or whole grain, or legumes
- Make sure you are getting your healthy fats—eat a few nuts or a serving of fatty fish every day.
- Supplement creatine, BCAA, carbs and protein, at minimum.
- Don’t go to the other extreme and be an off season slouch. Be aware that you do have goals (to compete in bodybuilding) but that you also have other responsibilities. Do what you need to be ready in the future; train hard, eat lots of good, healthy food, and supplement around your workouts properly.
To a competitor, the photo on the far left may look out of shape. But at 17.5% body fat I’m leaner than every member of a division I women’s basketball team (I tested this myself). It’s not fat, it’s just not contest shape. Your muscle with some fat over it will not be slim, but it’s important to find the beauty in your body in all forms; easier said than done, I know.
Sleep Yourself Slim: On Hormones, Appeitite, and Weight
Tuesday, January 29th, 2008<em />
Hi Jean,
You mentioned even sleep being an important factor in Christa’s regimen. Any articles you can link to explain the benefits or even consequences of its deficiency (I’m legend for sleeping only when dead tired). Thanks in advance JJ!
-azul
I hate sleep; I’m always eager to pop out of bed and start. Start anything: writing, making omelets, whatever. Though, sometimes, I wake up on a Saturday, get excited about wakefulness, and realize that it’s only 5:30am. I feel good enough to wake up and get going. But with only 6 hours of sleep, I convince myself to close my eyes, and think about anything relaxing that is not sleep. Then I usually wake up a couple of hours later. After 7.7 hours of sleep, I am really ready to start my day. But why all the fuss about sleep?
It’s important!
First, there is conclusive research that constant, inadequate sleep puts you at risk of obesity and diabetes. Specifically, sleep loss messes with 1) how your body uses glucose (sugar/carbs) and secretes insulin 2) increases appetite; and 3) decreases energy burned during a 24 hour period.
Don’t Mess with Insulin
Insulin resistance
Insulin resistance is a problem that starts to rear its ugly head in the early stages of Type 2 diabetes. Despite the fact that the body (pancreas) is still making and releasing insulin, a person still cannot get rid of the sugar in her blood fast enough. This lingering sugar is very harmful to blood vessels, nerves, and eyes; it’s also bad for the kidneys, since extra sugar is eliminated through the urine. As a result, your body has to make more and more insulin to get the glucose (sugar) out of your blood and into fat (usually) or muscle cells. Eventually, your pancreas says
“Screw it, I work hard to clean up the blood and my insulin doesn’t work anymore.”
In the advanced stages of diabetes, when your pancreas gives up, you have to start injecting insulin to use clean up carbs.
Listen up college students, shift-workers, and parents of small children, MANY studies show that a couple days of less than 4 hours of sleep per night reduces your insulin resistance (1). In essence, your body starts acting more like a diabetic’s body, and your pancreas has to work too hard. As a result, many researchers think that chronic loss of sleep may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome (which are both also linked to obesity and overweight).
Increased Desire to Eat High Carbohydrate Foods
In conjunction with insulin resistance, sleep loss also induces cravings for high-carb food (1,2). As such, the problem above is made worse because the pancreas has to secrete even more insulin to take care the gummy bear binge.
Increased Cortisol
Sleep deprivation also increases the stress hormone cortisol, which is associated with obesity, high blood sugar, and lowered immunity (disease-fighting ability). Furthermore, cortisol acts as a stimulus to BREAK DOWN MUSCLE, in order to raise the blood sugar.
The result of 2-3 restless nights is 1) greater intake of high-carb foods; 2) increased cortisol levels, which results in muscle destruction; and 3) a large spike in insulin to cope with excess blood sugar and insulin resistance. These hormonal imbalances, when you are feeling lethargic and snacky, can lead to significant weight gain.
I Can’t Eat Enough
Cortisol and insulin aren’t the only hormones affected by poor sleep. A number of hormones that directly influence appetite are also manipulated.
Lower Leptin
Scientists used to think that fat was an inert place to store extra energy. Now researchers recognize fat tissue as a powerful hormone-releasing organ that influences diet and activity behaviors. Leptin is a hormone secreted from the fat tissue itself. The more fat you have (extra energy in your body) the more leptin is secreted, generally. Leptin is a hormone that tells your body:
“You’re too fat, stop eating and burn more energy (Calories)”
As a result, appetite diminishes and the body naturally burns more calories, mostly through non-exercise activities (1,2).
But if a person doesn’t get enough sleep, leptin levels decrease. Low leptin levels tell the body that energy levels are low. As a result, appetite increases!
Increased Ghrelin
It is easy to think of ghrelin as a hormone that is exactly the opposite of leptin. Increased ghrelin tells your body:
“You are not getting enough energy; eat more and move less!”
As a result, you eat more and move less! As little as 2-3 days of sleep deprivation (4 hours per night) is sever enough to significantly increase the ghrelin in your blood. Combined, the ghrelin and leptin changes after a couple of days of crappy sleep is enough to make you overeat, no question. Research strongly supports this conclusion (1,2,3)!
Increased Time to Eat
Let’s say you’re the kind of person who likes to eat every 2-3 hours. And let’s also assume you’re sleep deprived. Your body is giving you signals that you don’t have enough energy and you are craving high-carb junk food. A sleep loss of 3-4 hours hours would translate into at least one extra meal of poor-quality food, combined with little motivation to move and burn off the extra Calories. In addition, both population and lab-based studies (3) show that people actually eat more, on average, the less they sleep!
Don’t Ask Me to Move; I’m Tired!
Low Leptin; Decreased Energy Expenditure
Low leptin and high ghrelin levels are shown to reduce Non-Exercise-Activity-Thermogenesis (NEAT) HUH? Well, NEAT is basically any movement you do that is not planned exercise. Most of the daily Calorie-burn is used to keep the body tickin’; NEAT is second and exercise is third. So if NEAT activities subside significantly, the result can be more detrimental than skipping the gym! For instance, when you are tired at 3:00pm, do you feel like playing with your little niece or getting up to go talk to a co-worker? It’s unlikely, and you’ve just given up some NEAT calorie-burn!
Lower Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH)
TSH is the hormone that stimulates, well, your thyroid, which then releases the thyroid hormones T3 and T4. These hormones are STRONGLY related to your metabolism. Sleep deprivation causes a lowering of TSH. In short, the thyroid gland will not be stimulated as much; T3 and T4 will not be fully made/released. Do not pass go; do not drop 20 lbs! Capisci?
Faster Metabolism in Second Half of Sleep
Ghrelin levels lower in the second half of sleep-night (2). Remember that lower ghrelin means less appetite and more movement! If you wake up too early, this ghrelin drop will not happen and you may wake up hungrier than you should be, in addition to all the other obesigenic fun already described. Furthermore, REM (dream) sleep is greater during the second half of the night. REM sleep is very important for a number of other reasons (long-term memory, etc), but you also burn more calories during REM that during the deeper sleep that predominated the earlier sleep cycles. So pass the 800 TC sheets and silence the cell phone!
Obesity Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is a chronic sleep-disturbing condition where an afflicted person actually stops breathing repeatedly throughout the night. This condition is highly detrimental for a variety of reasons and really screws with all the hormones mentioned above. Obesity very strongly correlates with sleep apnea, which results in a positive feedback loop in the person with sleep apnea. For instance, a woman gains a lot of weight, is diagnosed with sleep apnea and never has quality sleep; her hormones go wild, and she becomes even more obese. Folks, this is just one more reason to eat your veggies!
Baby Fat
A really interesting study done by Gunderson et al (4) also shows that women who sleep less after giving birth (less than 5 hours a day as opposed to 7 or more hours) are more than twice as likely to retain an extra 13 pounds one year after giving birth! The women (over half of a large sample) who managed to collect at least 7 hours throughout the day and night were more likely to return to their pre-baby weights within a year.
Sleep All Day?
Interestingly enough, too much sleep is also associated with obesity and other chronic diseases (1)! So what’s perfect? It really depends. Everyone is different and some lucky people (though VERY few) only need 5-6 hours/night to be fully functional. For the rest of us, one study showed the lowest risk of disease and obesity at 7.7 hours/night (3). That means if you set aside 8 hours and have a quickie, err count sheep, then you should be good to go!
References
1. Knuston et al. The metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation. Sleep Medicine Review. 2007;11:163-78.
2. Tahen et al. Short Sleep Duration is Associated with Reduced Leptin, Elevated Ghrelin, and Increased Body Mass Index. Plos Medicine. 2004;1:e62.
3. Spiegel et al. Sleep loss: a novel risk factor for insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes. Journal of Applied Physiology. 2005;99:2008-19.
4. Gunderson et al. Association of Few Hours of Sleep at 6 Months Postpartum with Substantial Weight Retention at 1 Year Postpartum. American Journal of Edidemiology. 2007; DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwm298
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