Why Considered Meditation to Help You Lose Weight?
Trying to lose weight can be stressful. That stress can lead to additional weight gain instead of weight lose. Meditation helps you lose weight by putting you into the right mind set to do so. For centuries, people have used meditation to clear their mind and calm their bodies.
Most doctors and psychologists recommend meditation as a stress reducing technique. Some of the benefits of meditation includes reduced blood pressure, reduced stress, an enhance sense of well-being and healthier arteries. All of these can help with weight lose.
How Does Meditation Help to Lose Weight?
Meditation is the healthiest way to release deeply stored stress within your body. When your body is stressed, it produces high levels of cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone in your body that is secreted by the adrenal glands. The main functions of cortisol are to properly metabolize glucose, to regulate blood pressure and to maintain insulin release in the body.
Cortisol is great for short periods of time. It is natural for high levels of cortisol to be in the bloodstream in the morning or during a fight or flight response. Unfortunately, many people spend their entire day stressed. As a result, cortisol stays in the bloodstream for long periods of time. Increased abdominal fat, blood sugar imbalances and suppressed thyroid functioning can occur.
Studies have shown that women who meditate have a significant reduction of cortisol levels, and they were able to lose deep belly fat as a result.
Why Exercise and Diet Often Fail?
The thought of diet and exercise stresses people out. It can be hard to fit exercise into a busy schedule, and most people pick the wrong diet to use. A good healthy diet should not be stressful to maintain. However, most people opt for diets that alters their eating habits tremendously. It can be hard for them to stay on the diet and remember all the rules. This produces more stress.
One slip up from their diet can lead to a downward spiral, and they will binge eat. This leads to guilt and more stress. For permanent weight loss, you need a diet that slowly changes your eating habits over a period of time. It will be less stressful, and you are more likely to stick to it.
Exercise does not work, because most people are afraid they cannot do it. If you are used to being physically active, there is an adjustment period to incorporating exercise into your life. If you pair meditation with exercise, you will be more successful. For example, starting yoga would be a great way to go. The meditation portion of the exercise will get you into the right mind set to be focus and determined to lose weight.
What are Some Meditation Techniques to Help Lose Weight?
One of the best meditation techniques that is associated with healthy weight loss has you taking five breaths before eating. This relaxes your body, clears your emotional palate, and helps you to decide if you are emotionally eating.
Here is another technique that works.
- Find a quiet comfortable place where you can sit.
- Close your eyes
- Relax your muscles.
- Start to breathing slowly and naturally.
- If you get distracted, learn how to notice the distraction and quickly move away from it by returning to your breathing.
- Continue breathing for 10 to 20 minutes.
- Do this twice a day.
Results of Meditation
The biggest results of meditation is the reduction of stress that can be determined by lower levels of cortisol in the bloodstream. Once meditation is introduced, it easier to see a reduction of weight loss.
Meditation can also affect brain activity. Dr. Catherine Karr, a Brown University meditation researcher, has found that meditation can change areas in the brain that are responsible for interpreting your body’s sensations. The areas most affected are related to hunger and cravings. In other words, meditation can help you control your hunger and cravings by changing your brain activity. This result coupled with the reduction of stress can lead to significant weight loss.
Summary
Most people gain weight, because they are stressed, and they cannot lose weight for the same reason. Meditation helps you stop gaining weight due to stress and helps you garner the right mindset to start the weight loss process.
