Use science for a free, natural and easy weight loss

Appetizer - (for love handle destruction)

Losing weight is a hard enough task for anyone. You should gratefully grasp all the low hanging fruits in your attempt. The little-known scientific facts in this article, increases your chances of success immensely. And it will make you lose weight faster.

Follow a more holistic approach to getting rid of your love handles. This is without a doubt the faster way to fat loss. The 'trick' is 100% natural, and it's so easy, it works for anyone, even if you're pregnant. You will feel healthier and better from the very first morning, after you apply this routine. And it is completely free!

Read on, and be rewarded with some more surprising though non-sleep related bonus weight loss tips.

Increase the amount of hours you sleep, and lose weight faster.

It really is that simple. You will skyrocket your chances of a successful weight loss with the science-backed weight loss tips in this article.

Scientific evidence is clear. Sleep for 8 hours per night, and increase your chances of losing your love handles.

The reasons for this are simple:

Your brain releases the vast majority of the muscle growth hormones in the later hours of your sleep. That's after the first 6 hours. If you only sleep 6 hours per day, your weight loss primarily comes from lost muscle mass, not from lost fat.
You tend to snack more, and generally eat more unhealthy, when sleep deprived.

The first 6 hours of your sleep

During the first 6 hours of your sleep, you spend relatively more time in the non-REM deep sleep phase. This phase is all about top tuning your brain for the new day. That means:

Moving the latest days experiences to a long term storage.
Cleaning the brain from the 'exhaust fumes' of handling these experiences.

It is only after your brain has been cleaned, that your brain starts doing some good for your body and muscles. This happens in the light sleep and REM sleep phases. After 3 - 4 sleep cycles, you spend less time in the deep sleep phase. You spend more time in the light sleep and REM sleep phases instead.

You can read more about REM sleep and non-REM sleep stages here: REM sleep and the other 3 sleep stages.

This is why those extra hours of your sleep, are so important for your weight loss. The brain releases hormones, that helps you gain muscle mass (lean body mass) in those phases (light and REM sleep). If you're sleep deprived, it disturbs the brains release of growth hormone.

Lose muscles or lose fat - your choice

A recent scientific study proved how important sleep is for keeping a lean body mass. 36 slightly overweight persons were only feed 95% of their daily energy expenditure. After 8 weeks, they had all lost weight - on average 3 kg.

This weight loss, was an expected outcome. The difference between this study and other similar studies, were that here, the researchers measured loss of fat mass as well as lean body mass.

The result was that for those who did not sleep enough, 80% of their weight loss came from losing lean mass. You still lose weight, but the weight loss primarily comes from lost lean mass (=muscles).

This is a disaster for your efforts to become a leaner version of yourself. Your muscles use fat as one of it's two primary energy sources (the other is sugar). Less lean mass means less muscles to burn your fat mass.

Compare that to those who actually did sleep enough. They experienced that 85% of their weight loss came from lost fat mass. This is exactly what you want.

Notice: the only difference between the two groups, was the amount of sleep they had. The last thing you wish, if you are trying to lose weight, is to have your lean mass reduced.

It does not matter if you try lose weight by changing your diet, or by doing more exercise. If you are trying to lose some belly fat, find a way to combine this with sufficient sleep, for the fastest results.

Sleep deprivation makes you snack more.

Lack of quality sleep makes you snack more between your meals. It also causes you to make poorer decisions about the types of snacks you chose.

When sleep deprived, you crave unhealthier snacks, like chips, crisps or chocolate bars.

Have you ever been hungover, and felt like drinking some coke, eating a burger or some french fries. You keep feeling like eating something, but not quite sure what. That is a very similar reaction, to when you're snacking because of sleep deprivation.

You feel peckish because the sleep deprived brain, produces extra amounts of ghrelin. Ghrelin is a hormone, which makes you feel hungry. At the same time, your body produces less of the 'fullness hormone' leptin.

As a result of this hormone combination, you will fell more hungry, and you will become less full from the food you eat. You do not want this, if you are trying to lose weight.

Another way your body responds sleep deprivation is the release endocannabinoids. This chemical compound is produced naturally within the body. It binds to the same brain receptors as compounds (such as THC) derived from cannabis. You may know that marijuana can cause 'the Munchies'.

Works with any weight loss method:

To avoid any confusion: you will probably not lose weight only by sleeping more. You actually might! The combination of your preferred weight loss method and 8 hours of sleep is the shortcut to lose your love handles fast.

This works, no matter how you have decided to lose weight e.g.:

Follow e.g. a keto diet.
Eat less.
Eat healthier
Exercise more or
Any other diet you may have found.

Science says, you improve your chances of a successful weight loss by sleeping at least 8 hours per night.

How much sleep do you need?

There is no one size fits all answer to this. Babies need a lot more sleep than adults. The numbers in this article are primarily a guideline for otherwise healthy adults aged 18 - 65. Women often need more sleep (30 minutes on average) than men.

Numerous studies of sleep and athletic performance proves that if you sleep less than 8 hours a day, your lean mass will deteriorate. Furthermore, sleep deprived athletes get exhausted quicker, and are more likely to get injured.

So the quick answer is to aim for 8 hours for men, and 8 - 9 hours for women, per night. And since you're asking NO, you can not make up for it, by sleeping longer in the weekends.

Very few people can walk on water. Roughly the same amount of people can make do with 6 hours sleep.

Those who think they can do with 6 hours or less, are busy driving down the highway to hell. In addition to obesity, they look into increased chances of Alzheimers, Dementia, Diabetes and strokes. Be smarter than them - and get rid of your love handles at the same time.

In one study the participants were 26 basketball players from university teams. 11 of those players agreed to try to sleep at least 10 hours per day for a period of 5 - 7 weeks. Their sleep as well as various basket ball parameters were measured. On average, they prolonged their sleep by 1&half; hours to more than 8 hours.

After the 5 - 7 weeks with more sleep, those 11 players had improved in several ways:

10% (= 1 second) faster on a 100-meter sprint
9% increase in their shooting accuracy
increased mood
increased well-being

Prioritize your sleep, and it will make you a better athlete. That's proven i numerous independent scientific studies. It makes you better, it makes you feel better, it is infinitely good for you.

It does not only work for athletes though. Do you wish to live your life to the fullest, and be the best version of yourself at any time?

Start by sleeping some more - it is completely free, and you will feel the benefits from the very first day. What have you got to lose - apart from some excessive belly fat?

As promised more free tips to help you get rid of love handles.

If you're still reading, you've deserved these extra scientifically proven weight loss tips:

Reduce the time span for your food intake to only 12 hours per day. You may have heard of this with an 8-hour reduction. The scientific study was 12 hours. However, the reporter, who wrote about it, thought that 8 hours sounded better. Eat the same amount of food, but within a 12-hour time span, and you will get rid of your love handles.
The calories you drink count just as much as those you eat. And they fill you up way less, so it's too easy to have a huge calorie intake, without even noticing.

Soft drinks, beer and wine of whatever brand, contains lots of calories. This is also true for all the light, zero sugar and similar versions.

Try water instead. It cools you down, and helps you lose weight.

Water is zero calories!

Best of luck with your efforts - and may the sleep be with you!