Hey Femme Phorm readers! Here’s an update for all of you – I’m 32 weeks pregnant now and expecting a girl on July 22nd! I’m so excited for the new addition to our family! This has not been the most pleasant pregnancy, but all I can say is that beautiful children are miracles that worth all the pain and suffering of pregnancy and labor! This month, 1st Phorm has created a fan page for me so that all my readers can keep up with all my blogs, articles and fitness tips! I’m excited to turn this page into an opportunity to share my progress back to the bikini competition circuit after my second child! I will be sharing my fitness journey on this page along with workout tips, recipes and meal plans for all of my readers to follow along!
Here is the link to my fan page: Facebook.com/GillianRisebury
In this edition of my blog, I’m going to discuss the role of sleep in weight loss. You can probably all recall at some point growing up, an elder telling you how important it is to get your “beauty sleep”. Well, did you know that what they meant was “skinny sleep”? It’s true! Getting adequate rest is crucial to weight loss success. There are many reasons why getting enough sleep is good for your body. When at rest, the body repairs and regenerates itself and without proper sleep, the aging process accelerates, as we do not provide our bodies enough downtime to recuperate from the daily stresses of life. As active as most of my readers are, sleep is especially important in helping us recover from strenuous exercise. Sufficient rest can also effectively reduce the release of stress hormones that lead to increased appetite, carbohydrate cravings and fat storage.
Getting adequate sleep reduces the secretion of the stress hormone cortisol, an important factor in weight loss success. If you have read my blog in the past, I’m sure you are well aware of the nasty hormone known as cortisol. Did you know that when we are sleep-deprived, cortisol levels rise? This action is due to the fact that cortisol is released by the adrenal glands in response to stress or lack of sleep. Why is this a bad thing? Well, when too much cortisol is released, the body switches into survival mode and mobilizes glycogen stores from the liver and muscle in order to provide us with energy to survive. This causes an increase in blood sugar levels thus leading to high levels of insulin, resulting in fat storage, particularly in the abdominal region! In addition to this, high levels of this hormone in the body can make us feel hungry even when we have eaten enough! Have you ever noticed that you seem to crave starchy foods when you are sleep deprived? How much sleep you get will dictate your cravings throughout the day. Many dieters crave carbs when they have not had adequate rest.
Femme Phorm Skinny Sleep tips!
I hope you find these tips helpful! I love hearing your thoughts and getting your questions! You can reach me on my facebook page or via my email at Gillian.Risebury@1stPhorm.com!
Gillian
The post The Role of “Beauty Sleep” in Weight Loss appeared first on 1st Phorm.
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