How Many Pounds Do You Lose Overnight?

We wrote on another page about the best sleep positions to lose weight, but failed to quantify how much weight you can drop during a night’s slumber. We’ll correct that here so you have realistic expectations on what your metabolism is like overnight, and ways you can give it a boost while you’re off in dreamland.

How Much Weight Do You Lose During Sleep?

We go into further detail here on how a lack of sleep contributes to weight gain, but it is worth reiterating here just how crucial a good night’s rest is to your overall health. It can lead to all sorts of health issues, including obesity. Make sure you are practicing good sleep habits to get a good night’s rest.

As for quantifying the question posed on this page, the answer varies from person to person. Everybody’s metabolism is unique to them as there are so many factors that go into it. However, as a general rule, you can expect to burn 0.4 to 0.5 calories per pound of body weight per hour. For sake of round numbers, an example of a 100-pound person would burn 40 to 50 calories in an hour, and 320 to 400 calories over the course of 8 hours of sleep. If you’re 150 pounds, that equate to 480 to 600 calories overnight.

To find out how much you’re burning while you sleep, take your body weight and multiply it by 0.4, then multiply that by the # of hours you sleep. That’s the low range, so repeat this calculation with 0.5 as well to get the high end of the range.

Why Do You Burn Calories When You Sleep?

Your body’s metabolism keeps churning while you sleep because it needs to provide energy to your heart, lungs, brain, and other vital organs during this time of rest. If it didn’t happen, you’d have no energy to power these crucial body parts and you’d stop pumping blood or breathing.

How Can You Increase Your Sleeping Metabolic Rate?

Muscle burns more calories than fat. One way to up your fat burning while you sleep is having a more fit body. It can also help to have protein before bed as this goes straight to your muscles and kicks your metabolism into gear. Check out these lean foods packed with protein for suggestions.

Another thing you can do is add a nighttime fat-burning supplement to your diet, such as this one we recommend here. It gives your metabolism a boost and helps you burn calories at a faster rate.

Lastly, you also will want to change your sleep habits so you can get the best night of rest possible. Quality of sleep is just as important as the number of hours, perhaps even more so. Make sure your bedroom and mattress are a comfortable environment, turn off the lights and electronics, and try your best to stick to a consistent sleep schedule and you will get better rest.