For me, sleeping well has always been a great help towards meeting weight loss goals, but I am confused why.

The mathy part of my brain wants to think that since I am burning more calories while being up and active, I should lose weight more quickly with less sleep. That's not what happens though!

Does anyone have a science-y explanation for this?

I was trying to type out an explanation for you, but I figured this might make more sense

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/he...real.html?_r=1

I think that not getting enough sleep can mess up how your body metabolizes carbohydrates and in effect increases glucose blood levels...which then leads to your body having higher insulin levels and then a higher body-fat storage. Either way i sleep a whole lot, and that means i can't be stuffin' my face with all kinds of bad stuff i shouldnt be eating!! and probably if you havent had enough sleep, you feel sluggy and arent very active.

I don't do math nor science.... so this answer may not interest you at all.

When I'm sleeping regularly and enough, I'm being kind to myself. When I'm not sleeping enough, chances are good I'm attempting to do too much too fast, I'm overly stressed out or I'm just in some sort of focused rut. One way or another, I'm not giving my body what is needs and I feel like my body knows it....and is scared that I'm going to push it even further. So it holds onto every lb because it might "need it".

So be kind to yourself and hopefully your body returns the favor

From http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...1004211637.htm -

Cutting back on sleep reduces the benefits of dieting, according to a study published October 5, 2010, in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

When dieters in the study got a full night's sleep, they lost the same amount of weight as when they slept less. When dieters got adequate sleep, however, more than half of the weight they lost was fat. When they cut back on their sleep, only one-fourth of their weight loss came from fat.

NPR also interviewed a sleep specialist doctor who explained the study and expanded on the findings:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=130432596

I have definitely noticed that if I get less sleep (under 7 hours a night), my diet goes off the rails. I get very hungry, especially for crappy carbs. The less sleep I get, the worse it gets.