I hate that this week, I’ve lost no weight. In fact, my weight shows up a few lbs even though I’m doing everything right. Well, everything except for one thing: sleep. I’m not getting enough quality sleep.

I’ve mentioned in the past about the important role sleep plays in our weight loss, and once again, when I look over all the factors that influence my weight loss, the one area in which I’m lacking is sleep.

It’s not that I’m staying up crazy late; I’m not. I’m actually missing the mark by just a little bit, but for me, that little bit has big consequences. I have found through a lot of trial and error that I need at least a solid 7 hours of sleep for my body to process, rest, heal, and rebuild properly, and if I short myself even just 30 minutes, it just won’t happen properly. I’ll wake up with more soreness after a run, I will feel a bit groggy, and as the scale is more than happy to report, without any weight loss (or worse, a slight gain!).

So, yet again, I am beating myself up for allowing myself to short-change my sleep. If it weren’t for the good football game on TV last night, I’d have been in bed sooner, but it was a nail biter, and I wanted to see it through to the end. I’m glad I did, but the cost is no weight loss. Oh well; there’s always tomorrow (and yes, I am going to sleep in!).