I have what seems to be a unique problem - I have read many many threads on this forum and have never come across anyone else complaining of this problem : I cannot fall asleep, and finally - after the point of exhaustion - I do sleep, then the sleep is FILLED with vivid dreams and only lasts approx. 4 hours.

Let me give you a little bit of background. Normally I have no sleeping problems. Right now, I am working on losing the last approx. 20 lbs. At 150 (have seen it one other time in life), I am quite lean.

I am 28 yrs old, I am eating around 1200 calories a day - always super healthy (tons of vegetables and protein and real dairy, in general low-carb- my diet is gluten and soy-free).

My body seriously fights anything below 170 - so I have to fight really hard to achieve it. I jog frequently and am ALWAYS walking (I live in Europe- no car).

On this plan, my body starts winding down after dinner. I go to bed at a normal hour, then, I just toss and turn. Next comes terrible stomach grumblings. More tossing and turning. I read a bit, try to ignore the hunger.

Next thing I know, its around 4am, my body (and mind) has FINALLY ignored the hunger and I fall asleep.

But then I am WIDE awake by 8am. You are talking to the girl who normally sleeps 10 hours.

I know my sleeping problems are directly connected to my diet and I don't know what to do about it. I really like my body the most at 150 - it is a very healthy weight and makes exercising easier and enjoyable. I had maintained the healthy 150 for a little longer than a year, then a bicycle accident combined with my quitting smoking and a NEW boyfriend caused my gain of approx. 15-20 over the course of 6 months (yikes- not exercising makes maintenance impossible).


My question is: Does anyone else having sleeping problems??? Please help, I'm tired of not sleeping!

p.s. I cannot drink anything such as herbal tea or warm milk before I go to bed, because then frequent urination will REALLY keep me awake.

I'm so sorry!! That sounds awful I have had some sleeping problems in the past that I attributed to stress-induced anxiety. I was able to get past it by accepting that I might or might not be falling asleep that night--but whatever, i wasn't going to worry about it. I literally had to tell myself that this too shall pass to get myself to stop worrying about it. Does that sound like you at all? Worrying about falling asleep while you lay there? I have recently had some trouble falling asleep because of my diet as well. I again just had to accept that I might not sleep very well tonight, but I will fall asleep eventually. It's calming to me to let go of caring.

I know you prob don't want to hear this part, but I actually think part of your problem is not eating enough. At your height and activity level, it seems like 1200 cals is too little, as evidenced by being woken up by a grumbling tummy. I used this quick cal deficit calculator to double check: http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/calor...calculator.php
If you call yourself "moderately active, it actually puts you between 1400-1500 cals a day to still have a 1000 calorie deficit EVERY DAY! Which would put you on track to lose 2lbs a week. And more cals a day if you feel like you're more active than that! Maybe try 1400 cals to see if you sleep better?

Good luck!

Yes I haven't slept good for over a year now! I did go to my doctor because I couldn't take it anymore. Now my sleep issues have a lot to do with anxiety and also I have some vitamin deficiencies. I am now on anti anxiety medicine but I still don't sleep well. I have a horrible time falling asleep and then if I do get to sleep, I wake up 10 times throughout the night and I never sleep past 5am. My doctor gave me Klonopin to take and that made me sleepy but I always woke up at midnight and couldn't really get back to sleep. Then she tried me on Ambien CR..that still took me a couple hours to get to sleep and I would wake up during the night again. So now I am trying lunesta..it seems to work okay. But I feel sleepy during the day. My doctor is just trying to get me to have 30 days of really good sleep and she thinks my body will reset itself. It hasn't happened yet..but at least I am getting some good nights of sleep.

I would really recommend you talk to your doctor. Sleep deprivation is caused by many things!

I don't want you to be hungry. That's not good.
Can you spread your calories out over a longer chunk of the day or even add a protein filled bedtime snack?

I feel your pain - I've had trouble sleeping for years. One of the main things I've noticed is that reading and such in bed only makes things worse. Try to use your bedroom for sleeping.

As for the hunger thing, I have a friend that swears by soft cheese a hour before bed. He says the slow release stops him getting hungry.

Paul McKenna has a sleep cd that's supposed to be really good too.

I've had chronic insomnia since I was 15 so I feel your pain.

With the sudden onset coinciding with weight loss I think you should see a doctor to rule out B, D, iron and other deficiencies.

You may also want to have your hormone levels checked to make sure they have not been thrown out of whack

Also yes, right before bed eat a small protein snack. This will help the stomach grumblings.

If all else fails a prescription sleep aid for just a few days can sometimes reset a clock gone awry. Over fatigue can lead to the restless sleep you describe.

Try to not exercise in the evening

If you are SO hungry that you can not sleep get up and eat 50-100 calories of protein & fat. (string cheese is a good choice) Lack of sleep will hurt your weight maintenance FAR more than 50-100 calories will.

omg i feel so very sorry for you i thought i had bad sleeping problems!

i tend to fall asleep okish after a lot of fidgting to get comfey but like you i wake up often and my dreams are vivid.

i also went the doctors who say i am fine so no hep there :-(

I agree that you shouldn't ignore hunger that is so extreme. Ennay's advice is really good, I would definitely eat something.

I'm glad I wrote this post - I really appreciated reading the responses.

shasha- I really like your advice about trying to do an activity and not 'worrying about it'. I will eventually sleep. I do have occasional anxiety before sleeping and worrying about sleep, in and of itself, does not work.

I'm not going to up my calories by much (my metabolism is slow as molasses- i WILL be able to outlive everyone in any famine that should come our way).

I am going to take the advice given by most to eat a protein closer to bed time (cheese, eggs, beans, chicken).

I know my calories are ridiculously low for my exercise level. However, my experience has ALWAYS taught me that in order to actually lose, I must endure hunger.

Of course maintenance is easier/ not so shocking to my body.

so, "Herzlichen Dank" for all your suggestions! (thank you very much in german)

Whenever I'm hungry at bedtime, I can't get to sleep. I always make an effort to go to bed not-hungry. I've read that sufficient sleep is important for weight loss, and that getting less than 6 hours can significantly slow your metabolism. Of course, it's also very important for health in general.

badpun just said what I was thinking - I've NEVER been able to lose weight when I'm not sleeping and often I GAIN. In fact, I can trace every major gain directly to periods when I wasn't getting enough sleep but eating very little. I would bet that if you add a snack at bedtime (cheese, eggs, something protein that will last), you'll start to sleep more and lose faster.

Maybe up the carbs a little?? When I am too low carb I get insomnia.

I had a similar problem but my doctor blamed in to on my antidepressants, have you tried really wearing yourself out before going to bed, i went to stay with a friend and we had a wonderful time but were so worn out by bed time i fell straight asleep and slept right through till about 9/10 am, its the best i've slept in months.

I do think no sleep is terrible for weight loss!

I also think low-carb definitely leads to a bit of insomnia. truly. i think i will try to eat some more of them!

and roobear- today i was just thinking i will 'wear myself out' and not hit the sheets until i am zombi-like. i have a lot of work i can be doing at the moment anyway..... its better than laying in bed, trying to 'make' yourself sleep.