10 Surprising Effects of Lack of Sleep
When it comes to body weight, it may be that if you snooze, you lose. Lack of sleep seems to be related to an increase in hunger and appetite, and possibly to obesity. According to a 2004 study, people who sleep less than six hours a day were almost 30 percent more likely to become obese than those who slept seven to nine hours.
Sleep deprivation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the sleep research quoted on the "weight loss/gain" section of the wiki article on sleep deprivation... the researchers used 7 hours as the baseline of NOT sleep deprived.
Seriously, if you're going to post a smart-ass response of "go Google it", you might want to read the links that Google brought up.
The links show that lack of sleep can lead to weight gain (due to people overeating). The research does not show increased sleep leads to weight loss.
It certainly doesn't show that increased sleep is more important than food management (which is the point I was arguing). I'm not saying sleep/rest doesn't factor in, I'm saying it's not, as you mentioned, the most important thing.
I will side with you on one thing, though... eating in the evening can actually be a sign that you're tired, and not hungry. Setting a strict "don't eat after
xx:xx time, and go to sleep if you
feel hungry" can be very helpful.