Can Meditation Help Your Lose Weight?
Many people are eager to lose extra weight and have a healthy body. Losing weight is usually related to two things-regular exercise and a healthy diet plan. However, if you only pay attention to these two factors, then your weight loss strategy is incomplete. A healthy body is the combination of a healthy mind and a healthy body, so some components of mindfulness and creating a healthy mind are essential for a successful weight loss strategy.
Meditation not only helps to keep the brain healthy, but also helps to improve self-image, control appetite, promote regular exercise and so on. Nowadays, with the enhancement of people’s awareness of meditation, people are using it as a tool to understand their bodies and adopt healthy eating habits, which is further helpful to lose weight.
What is meditation?
Meditation can be regarded as a kind of brain exercise, which helps to connect our body, mind and soul. It brings a feeling of calm. People have practiced meditation for thousands of years. In many religions, it is regarded as a spiritual practice. Meditation can also help relieve stress and anxiety.
Different people follow different ways of meditation. Some people focus on breathing, while others chant spells during meditation.
Regardless of the type of method, meditation is helpful to understand the function of our body and mind. It also provides a clearer understanding of our thoughts.
What is the connection between meditation and weight loss?
Many people think that burning calories and avoiding calorie intake is the only way to lose weight. People ignore the importance of healthy mentality and the benefits of meditation in weight loss.
If you want to lose, you need to have strong willpower and determination. In addition, you need to find the cause of weight gain. There may be subconscious problems, such as sticking to something or lacking self-love.
These questions can only be answered with a clear head. Meditation is very helpful to find the answers to these questions. Besides, meditation helps to establish a healthy relationship with food.
Various studies have shown that stress is one of the main reasons for overeating. Meditation can reduce stress, thus reducing weight. Besides, meditation helps to reduce the levels of C-reactive protein and cortisol, which cause obesity.
Specific Ways Meditation Helps Support Weight Loss
Meditation reduces your BMR effortlessly
The basal metabolic rate (BMR) refers to the calories needed at rest or when we just breathe. Meditation often reduces BMR. This means that meditation reduces the calories our body needs, which leads to weight loss.
Meditation helps to absorb food
Most of the time, people get more calories after a lot of exercise. This increase in appetite will last until after exercise and when you are not exercising. This is due to the assimilation of food. Meditation helps to improve this situation. Besides, stress and hormonal imbalance can lead to indigestion and overeating. Regular meditation helps relieve stress and balance hormones in the body. It also helps to lose weight.
Meditation relieves unhealthy desire for fast food
Our desire and taste buds are the biggest obstacles to our health. We need the willpower to ignore this desire. Meditation helps to resist such temptation, and we are also aware of what we should eat and what we should avoid. As time goes by, these healthy eating habits become part of our eating habits.
Meditation = reducing stress
Stress hinders our body and mind. Meditation every day can help relieve stress and relax our mind and body. Sometimes, when we are nervous, we don’t even know what we are eating.
Meditation promotes commitment
Starting a weight loss program and strictly following it are two different things. One must be 100% committed to successfully losing the weight they want to lose. Only when you have confidence in yourself and a strong will to continue, can you do this. Meditation helps to clear our minds and strengthen our intentions. Therefore, it is very important to make meditation a part of your weight loss plan.
A guide to simple steps in learning meditation:
Meditation is about focusing and calming the mind. It aims to gain inner peace and self-awareness. Meditation doesn’t require any equipment.
You just need some time to make meditation a part of your daily life. For beginners, it is quite reasonable to meditate for 10 minutes every day or every other day, which can provide obvious benefits.
Find a quiet place
Meditation needs to be conducted in a quiet place without distraction. All your attention should be focused on your body and mind. Choose a place where you have privacy and will not be disturbed while meditating. If you like music, you can play soft, calm and repetitive music. You can even play music based on natural sounds, such as raindrops or running water.
Comfortable posture
Traditional meditation is to sit on the ground, in a lotus or semi-lotus position. But for those with back problems or lack of flexibility, this may not be a comfortable position. Therefore, try to find a place where you can sit comfortably during the whole meditation. Just make sure that the position you choose allows you to sit in a straight line and balanced way. If they don’t work for you, don’t limit yourself to sitting position, because you can even meditate while lying down, standing or even walking.
Deep breathing
Once you find a comfortable position, close your eyes and relax, take a deep breath and hold it for a few seconds. Breathing meditation is one of the most basic and simple meditation methods. When meditating, breathe naturally and concentrate on breathing calmly.
Keep an eye on your breathing for 5 to 10 minutes
Focus on your breath and follow them in and out with your mind. Follow your breathing path, starting from your nostrils and moving to your abdomen. Avoid judging or trying to perfect your breathing pattern, and keep breathing naturally. It lasts for 5-10 minutes.
Open mind and good attitude
During meditation, your mind may lose focus and begin to wander. This is normal, so don’t think too much, try to shift your attention to your breathing pattern. Try not to be depressed, and gently refocus yourself on breathing every time.