I Lost 20 Pounds with This Science-Backed Sleep Routine

Do you want to lose weight simply by shifting your sleep habits? Richa Prasad, along with her partner Lucy Liang, founded Coach Viva, a down-to-earth weight loss company that helps people lose fat sustainably, predictably, and rationally. In one viral video, she reveals that she dropped 20 pounds simply by changing her sleep routine. After hearing about evidence that "when sleep gets short, the waistline can expand," she changed her approach to sleep.

There Was a Clear Relationship Between Her Sleep and Hunger

Richa explains that when she slept poorly, her "hunger and cravings doubled, the portions I ate also doubled, and I'd be 30% more likely to store them as fat." She knew she needed to improve her sleep but didn't know how.

She Discovered 3 Principles to Build a Sleep Routine

"I dug into more than a hundred books, podcasts, and videos on sleep from neuroscientists, psychotherapists, sleep medicine specialists, and naturopaths. I tried and tested 33 different sleep hacks, recording how each impacted my sleep and weight loss. And after many combinations and permutations of hacks, I discovered it all boils down to three principles that you can use to build your routine starting tonight and make weight loss 80% easier and faster starting tomorrow," she says.

She Empties Her Cup

"I call the first principle, empty your cup," she says. "By the time evening rolls around for me, if I can't complete all the work I had planned for the day, I feel resistant to even ending work. I would think one more hour, then 30 more minutes, then five minutes more, which was such a blatant lie. I cannot believe I fooled myself every single time. And then, of course, by the time I got home, I'd be so tired that my willpower around food would be near zero. And when bedtime rolled around, I felt I never got any time for myself. So I'd stay up scrolling social media late into the night, sleeping late, waking up groggy, working inefficiently because I'm being tired," she says. "The problem was I had no room left to add me time because my cup was already overflowing."

Here's How to Empty Your Cup

She learned how to "empty" her cup before bed. "There are three parts to this. First is the setup. I spot two to four consecutive hours of time on my calendar that tend to be available each day of the week. I proactively block out those times to discourage coworkers from booking any during it. I call this my deep work time. I also use app blockers to schedule ahead, blocking all distracting sites and apps during deep work," she says. Then, during her 30 minutes, she reflects and plans, looking at the work that's left, "and I identify the one most important thing to complete tomorrow," she says. "Then I open my calendar for the next day and check how much of my deep work time is still available. I then trim the one most important thing until I estimate it can be done within half the deep work time. The other half is buffer time for surprises." The final thing she does is ask herself questions, like did she accomplish what she needed, what are her goals for the next day, and what bothered or excited her about the day?

She Doesn't Fill Her Cup with Overstimulation

"When bedtime rolls around, I feel satisfied with my day, get great sleep, and crush hunger, cravings, and weight loss, right?" she says. "No. My downtime would sometimes be hanging out with friends, which means eating and drinking. And then inexplicably, I'd find myself waking up between 2:00 AM and 5:00 AM completely alert," she says. During that time, she would watch TV or scroll through social media. "The problem was I emptied my cup to remove the mental simulation that had accumulated over the day, but then I filled my cup back up with mental stimulation and cranked it up to the extreme. Think about it: Which is more stimulating, work or TV, eating a just right-sized home-cooked meal or going out for dinner? I had emptied my cup only to fill it with the same stuff but on steroids."

Instead, She Refills Her Cup with Body Inhabiting Activities, Like Walking

Instead, her transition was done by "refilling my empty cup with activities that make me inhabit my body, and I do this gradually," she says. The first thing I do after my plan and reflection time is to go for a 30-minute leisurely walk, during which I can sit and scroll social media or listen to podcasts. This allows me fun screen time," she says. She also goes dancing with friends.

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She Eats Dinner Earlier

She also eats dinner earlier. "This earlier dinner allows for at least a three-hour gap between my eating and sleep," she says. Bye-bye digestion activities are causing random midnight alertness and bye-bye Midnight trips to the bathroom."

She Schedules Longer Screen Times and Big Meals for Weekends

"Lastly, I schedule my longer screen times and big restaurant meals to happen on the weekends," she adds. "This means I mainly eat out on weekends for lunch because the bigger the meal, the more time is needed for digestion before sleep. And my big screen time and friend hangout is over by 5:00 PM," she says.

Before Bed, She Has a Few Relaxing Habits

"Now that I have tired myself out mentally and physically, you'd think when bedtime rolls around, I'd be ready for sleep. But there is still a final piece missing. The walks and dance classes are fun, but my adrenaline is still pumping. So when I'd lay down to sleep, I'd be physically tired but also energized," she says. "The game changer for me was to stack a combination together that I personally enjoy. And at the end, I feel like I have been to a spa retreat. For me, this is a hot shower for 10 minutes, then formal and stretch for 15 minutes."

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She Also Practices Sleep Hygiene

"Lastly, I settle into a cool bedroom with cool sheets while in bed. I listen to a fiction audiobook on the phone in airplane mode with an app blocking everything but the Audible app. I like picking a book I have already read before and yet look forward to listening to again because then I don't end up staying awake all night to know how the story ends," she concludes. And if you enjoyed this article, take advantage of these 15 Quick Ways to Lose Body Fat Percentage in a Week.