Posted by Dorine King on September 26th, 2026 in Sleep, Weight Loss Journey

Sleep, Hunger and My Weight-Loss Journey

For years, I have known that sleep is something I need to take seriously.  Today, my blog is about sleep, hunger and my personal weight-loss journey.

About 20 years ago, I started researching some of the health issues I was experiencing. Again and again, I found myself coming back to one basic need: sleep.  At the time, I was working second shift and usually happy if I could get into bed and fall asleep by midnight, but I was waking up around 4:00 in the morning.  I simply wasn’t getting enough sleep.

This is when I was also beginning to experience several health issues, including weight gain, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and low thyroid function.  I began trying to “force” myself back to sleep so I could stay in bed until about 7:00 a.m.  Twenty years later, I’m still working on it.

Sleep Is Part of My Weight-Loss Plan

Today, I usually wake up somewhere between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m.  I also have a smartwatch that tracks my sleep and awake time.  It shows me how often I wake during the night and gives me a much better picture of how much sleep I am actually getting.  That information has been helpful because my goal is to average seven hours of sleep each night.

I have discovered something else along the way:  When I don’t sleep well, managing my appetite becomes much harder.

I notice stronger cravings, particularly for salty, fatty and convenient foods.  French fries, chips, pizza and other foods that are easy to grab suddenly seem much more appealing.  And when I’m trying to lose weight, those cravings can make things considerably more difficult.

When Sleep and Weight Loss Collide

My current weight-loss goal is to reach my lowest-ever TOPS weight by the final weigh-in of December 2026.  A couple of weeks ago, I was only four pounds away from that goal.  I was excited.  Then life got busy.

I had several appointments, not much time for shopping or cooking, and – perhaps most importantly – I wasn’t sleeping well.  The hunger and cravings showed up, too.  Pizza sounded good.  Chips sounded good.  Salty, high-fat foods sounded really good.  And now I’m 6.6 pounds away from that goal.

This is one of those moments when I have to remind myself that weight loss isn’t always a straight line.  There will be weeks when life gets in the way.  There will be times when my choices aren’t what I wish they had been.  But there is also something important I am learning:  Sometimes the thing I need to work on isn’t food. It’s sleep.

What Does Sleep Have to Do With Hunger?

Sleep is much more than simply giving us a break from the day.  Adequate sleep plays a role in appetite regulation, metabolism, mood, energy and overall health.  When we don’t get enough sleep, our ability to regulate hunger and make the choices we intend to make can become more difficult.  Two hormones often discussed in relation to appetite are ghrelin and leptin.  Doesn’t ghrelin sound and look a LOT like gremlin?  Trust me, it is!

Ghrelin is sometimes called the “hunger hormone” because it plays a role in signaling hunger.  Leptin is involved in signaling satiety—essentially, the feeling that we’ve had enough to eat.

I’m learning that sleep deprivation can affect the systems that regulate hunger and appetite.  The relationship is more complicated than simply one hormone going up and another going down, but the practical result is something I recognize in my own life:  When I’m tired, food can become much harder to manage.  And it isn’t necessarily because I’m physically starving.  Sometimes I am simply looking for something satisfying.

Full Isn’t Always the Same as Satisfied

I experienced a perfect example while writing this blog.  Around lunchtime, I made myself a big salad with turkey breast and plenty of vegetables – zucchini, green onion, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, celery, black olives, pepperoncini and broccoli.  I added fruit, including strawberries, blueberries, red and green grapes and mandarin oranges.  It was a good meal.  I wasn’t really hungry when I finished.  But I wasn’t particularly satisfied, either.  So I went looking for something else.

I found some roasted salted peanuts and had a couple of tablespoons. Then I found one of my husband’s homemade chocolate M&M cookies.  I ate one of them.  There were 3 left in the package, but now there are still 2.

I tracked everything.  I was still within my protein, carbohydrate, fat and calorie targets for the day, and my fiber intake was looking pretty good, too.  But the experience reminded me of something important:  Being technically “on plan” doesn’t necessarily mean that hunger, satisfaction and cravings aren’t affecting us.  And when I’m tired, I find those signals much harder to navigate.

My TOPS Group Is Studying Sleep

This subject is especially timely for me because my TOPS chapter is currently working through the Macklin Method.

We recently began a new module called Modulators, which looks at several things that can affect our weight-loss efforts, including stress, sleep debt, depression, ADHD, inactivity and going too long without eating.

We’re starting with sleep.  I’m grateful for that timing because sleep is one of my own major challenges – and one of my personal SMART goals.

The Macklin material points out that short sleep duration is associated with a number of health concerns, including weight, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.  In other words, sleep isn’t a minor detail we can ignore while concentrating on food and exercise.  Sleep is part of the bigger picture of health.

So, How Much Sleep Do We Need?

General recommendations for adults commonly fall in the range of 7–9 hours of sleep per night.  That sounds simple.  For me, it isn’t.  If I want to wake up around 6:00 a.m. and I know that I may spend some time awake during the night, I need to give myself enough time in bed to make seven hours of actual sleep possible.  That means bedtime has to become a priority rather than something I squeeze in after everything else is finished.

What I’m Doing to Improve My Sleep

I’m trying to build an evening routine that makes sleep easier rather than waiting until I’m exhausted and hoping I’ll fall asleep.

Finish the Kitchen

I try to finish dinner and clean up the kitchen by about 6:00 p.m.  That includes updating my food journal and Carb Manager, preparing the coffee pot for the morning and thinking ahead to the next day’s dinner.  If something needs to come out of the freezer, I do that, too.  This may sound like a small thing, but preparing for tomorrow helps keep tomorrow from becoming today’s problem.

Give Myself Some Quiet Time

After the kitchen is finished, I usually take a break and watch television for a while.  Sometimes it’s The Big Bang Theory.  Sometimes it’s the news.  I’ll admit that I prefer The Big Bang Theory.  My husband can happily watch the news until 10:00 p.m., while I’m thinking, “Yikes! I’ll get enough of that later!”  But that evening time together matters to me, too.  Even if we’re watching television, we’re spending time together.

Make Bedtime Something to Look Forward To

One of my favorite parts of the evening is taking a quiet bath.  Sometimes I use essential oils, sometimes I read, and occasionally I play a game on my phone.  I’m trying to think of this as more than simply getting ready for bed.  It’s transition time.  The day is winding down. The kitchen is done. The work is done. I have a little time to myself.  Then it’s time to sleep.

Keep the Bedroom Sleep-Friendly

We keep our bedroom cool at night—around 64 degrees – and we use blackout shades.  We also try to minimize unnecessary light from clocks and other devices.  These are simple things, but creating an environment that supports sleep is one more way of telling my body, It’s time to rest.

Pay Attention to What My Sleep Tracker Is Telling Me

My smartwatch has become useful because it gives me information I can’t always get from simply asking myself, “Did I sleep well?”  I generally get about seven hours of sleep roughly four nights a week.  The other three nights are more likely to be around six to six and a half hours.  My SMART goal is to move that average closer to seven hours consistently.

What If You Can’t Sleep?

There are plenty of reasons someone might struggle with sleep, and sometimes better habits aren’t enough.

Persistent problems with falling asleep, staying asleep, waking too early, loud snoring, gasping during sleep or significant daytime sleepiness can be reasons to talk with a healthcare professional. Sleep disorders such as sleep apnea can affect sleep quality and overall health.

I’m still figuring out what my own sleep patterns mean, and I’m paying attention rather than assuming that every night will look the same.

Sleep Is One More Piece of the Puzzle

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about food during this weight-loss journey.  I’ve counted calories, watched protein, fat and carbohydrates, worked on fiber, counted plants, and kept a food journal.  Those things matter.

But I’m beginning to understand that weight loss isn’t just about what happens on my plate.  It’s also about what happens when I put my head on the pillow.  When I’m rested, I seem to have more patience with myself and more ability to make the choices I want to make.  When I’m tired, cravings become louder and convenience becomes more attractive.

That doesn’t mean every food choice can be blamed on poor sleep.  It does mean that sleep deserves a place in my weight-loss toolbox.  And perhaps that is the lesson I’m taking from this particular chapter of my journey:  I don’t have to solve everything at once.

Right now, I’m working on sleep.  I’m working toward an average of seven hours a night.  I’m paying attention to how sleep affects my hunger, cravings, energy and choices.  And I’m reminding myself that being six-and-a-half pounds farther from my goal than I was a couple of weeks ago doesn’t mean I’ve failed.  It means I’m still on the journey.

How About You?

How does sleep affect your eating habits and your energy?

Do you notice more cravings when you’re tired?

And what helps you get a good night’s sleep?

I’d love to hear what you’ve discovered along your own journey.

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