Feel Good 52 - Week Five

Hey Fit Fam,

My husband and I are back home after being gone for 10 days! We were in LA for the LA Fit Expo (mainly for work) and then we set sail on a REAL vacation (no work/no competitions.) It was a great time and I'll be doing some blogs for you soon! Let's just say being gone that long had pretty much zero impact on my body! I'm not saying it was easy to stay on track (especially on a cruise) ... but it was possible! I did have 3 days where I decided to put away my food scale and my fitness pal app and STOP tracking my macros and simply be mindful! Whaaaat?! ME?! Let go?! Well ... not exactly ... but something like that :) Let's just say (for now) that I used my word of the year .... Adapt :)

WiFi on the cruise ship was HORRIBLE so I gave up on doing anything that involved the internet! I am home and (somewhat) settled back in and realized I forgot Week 5!! I'm sorry for slacking ... but better late than never!

Here is your WEEK 5 "assignment" :) You still have 5 days to get it done and your body will really thank you for this one!!

I hope you saw that I did post Week 4 while I was gone. If you missed it ... don't stress. Just get it done as soon as you can! Sometimes I get busy and forget to post on my socials .. so make sure you SUBSCRIBE via email and you will get an email each day if I posted! The little box is at the bottom of the homepage!

WEEK FIVE

I do not want to hear any excuses on this one. This week all I am asking is that you get at least ONE full night of sleep.

What is a FULL night of sleep? Well that number will vary from person to person and may take some time to figure out. So for now let's just say it is whatever it takes for you to be fully rested and aim for no less than 7 hours... okay? And don't let this weeks challenge stop when the week ends. Every week aim to get at least one solid night of sleep. Then try to increase your goal to .. two, three, four nights, etc.

Sleep hands down seems to be the MOST neglected aspect of health/fitness. I can't begin to tell you how many people I see post that they sacrifice sleep JUST to get up and do their cardio "fasted" because someone told them, or they read somewhere, that it's better for fat loss and "the best way" or "the only way" to do cardio. Whether there is any truth to the fasted cardio theory is a rant for another day (or never because this is a very touchy and opinionated subject) .. but if you are only getting a few hours of sleep just to drag yourself out of bed for cardio ... that is VERY counter productive ... no matter what a study, coach, article, etc., says!

First off .. if you are only getting a few hours of sleep ... are you really even fasted? Chances are you ate not long before bed. So what ... you are 4-5 hours fasted? How is that much different than if you were to do cardio at the end of a workout when it's likely time to eat again? Think about it for a second ...... ((okay I'm kind of ranting and getting off the sleep subject. Moving on.))

Second ... There are the obvious negatives to no sleep. Most people (especially non competitors and/or those with less will power, etc.) are more likely to eat like crap when exhausted. They are in a hurry so are more apt to grab unhealthy foods on the go, or forget to eat all day and then binge eat later.  Then there is the big one ... no sleep will result in less energy .. which will hands down equal crappier workouts. No amount of caffeine or pre-workout will help if you start skimping on sleep regularly.

Last ... there are all kinds of scientific/solid studies out there that prove skimping on sleep leads to a messed up metabolism and screwed up hormones. There are literal books about this .. so I could write paragraph and paragraph referencing various reasons .. but in short (very short) ... lack of sleep has been proven to affect two "weight loss" hormones. Ghrelin (the hunger hormone) and leptin (the satiety/fullness hormone.) You can do one quick google search to learn more. But essentially ... No sleep = more gherkin & less leptin and therefor potential weight gain. Another recent discovery is that not getting enough sleep reduces fat cells' ability to respond properly to the hormone insulin, which is crucial for regulating energy storage and use.

So if you are "stuck" and not seeing the results you want and feel like you are doing EVERYTHING ELSE you should be doing ... maybe lack of sleep is the problem!

Let's give it a try! I challenge you :)

Eat Clean. Train Dirty.
Stacy

PS .. if you have problems sleeping (it has been an issue for me since I was born) ... I have finally found some things that really work well for me! There are a few 1st Phorm supplements that really work well .. but the biggest help for me has been .... Essential Oils! If you are interested in them ... email me at simplystacyfitness@yahoo.com and I'll get you all the details so you can order and see for yourself!