Can Meditation Help with Weight Loss?
So you’re wondering if meditation can actually help with weight loss? Well, the short answer is yes! While it might not magically make the pounds disappear overnight, it can certainly be a helpful tool to support your weight loss journey. Meditation can help reduce stress, increase mindfulness, and promote physical activity, all of which can contribute to healthier habits and better weight management. So let’s dive in and explore how meditation can help you reach your weight loss goals!
Understanding Weight Loss
Before we dive into the connection between meditation and weight loss, it’s important to understand what weight loss is and how it works. Simply put, weight loss is the process of reducing the amount of body fat you carry. This is typically achieved by burning more calories than you consume, either through exercise or by reducing your calorie intake.
There are many factors that can contribute to weight gain, including lifestyle, diet, and genetics. Let’s discuss each one and see where it stems from so you can have a better chance at losing the weight and maintaining it afterwards.
The Main Reasons Why You are Gaining Weight
1. Sedentary Lifestyle
First of all, one of the biggest culprits of weight gain is our modern, sedentary lifestyle. With the rise of technology and desk jobs, we’re spending more time sitting and less time moving our bodies. This eventually leads to many health problems, including chronic pain (back pain, knee pain, neck pain, shoulders pain), mental health issues, diabetes, and a general risk of heart attacks or cardiovascular diseases. Even more, with our lifestyle becoming less and less active, our obesity rate has skyrocketed in the past 50 years alone.
So while it’s great that we are living with more comfort, better technology, increased medical care, and a lifespan longer than our ancestors, we are also rapidly decreasing the amount of movement we do each day. This leads to a slower metabolism and fewer calories burned throughout the day. Outcome? Weight gain.
2. The Change in our Diets
Another factor is our diets, which have become increasingly high in processed foods, sugar, and unhealthy fats. These types of foods are often high in calories and low in nutrients, making it easy to consume more calories than our bodies actually need. This is part due to the rapid appearance and expansion of fast food chains more readily available to everyone (including those who live in rural areas), but also part due to our globalization effects, making it easier and easier to consume sweets or snacks with high caloric intake and low level of nutrients (if any) from all over the world.
And because we are moving less due to the nature of our modern life and desk jobs, we are in a caloric surplus. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem if our goal was to increase muscles. However, unless you are an active gym-goer (meaning someone who goes regularly to the gym, trains properly, follows a protocol, and counts their macros), chances are you’re probably burning less than the calories you’re eating. And keep in mind that these are just calories with very little nutrients. Result? Fat stored in the body. Aka weight gain.
3. Stress Management Through Food
Stress is another factor that can contribute to weight gain. When we’re stressed, our bodies release the hormone called cortisol, a fight-or-flight hormone that tells us “we are in danger. Let’s act immediately.” Because of this rise of alertness, focus, and heightened state of stress, we look around for comforting triggers or cues to remind us that “it’s all good. We are safe.” This is why food is the guilty pleasure of many. It gives us a sense of safety since it signals the brain the opposite message than that of cortisol’s: we are safe now, we can go back to our parasympathetic nervous system, we can rest and digest.
This loop tends to be a hard circle to break for many. And since cortisol is the hormone being released in the body when stress occurs, naturally it increases appetite and cravings for unhealthy foods. It can also disrupt our sleep, which leads to fatigue, making it even harder to make healthy choices throughout the day.
4. Lack of Restful Sleep
Deep, restful sleep is a big factor that contributes to weight gain. When we don’t get enough sleep, our bodies produce more of the hormone ghrelin, which increases hunger and appetite, and less of the hormone leptin, which signals to our bodies that we’re full.
On top of that, the longer we are deprived of sleep, the harder it becomes to control ourselves and our actions, making the unhealthiest of choices become the norm. Generally speaking, sleep deprivation is a serious matter and can lead to noticeably bad consequences in a short time span.
But what does a normal, healthy sleep ratio look like?
Well, keep in mind that just because you slept 6 hours last night instead of 8 does not automatically mean you lack sleep, nor does it automatically mean you’ve had plentiful sleep. Each person is unique and what may be the perfect sleep ratio for some, could be the worst ratio for others.
As a rule of thumb, if you experience mood swings, sugar cravings, binge eating, unhealthy snacking, irrational behavior, loss of temper, excessive anger (or any other emotion that is coined “bad” or “unappealing”), emotional turmoil, lack of concentration or focus, lack of memory, or any other symptom that you didn’t have before, chances are your sleep might not be as restful or restorative as you thought.
It’s advised to get a good night’s sleep and have proper nighttime routines in place in order to get the most effects of restful sleep as much as possible.
If you’re looking to create a better nighttime routine for yourself, we recommend you start with this article in which we discuss 10 best candles for sleep that will help you relax and unwind.
5. Genetics
Finally, genetics can play a role in weight gain. Some people may be predisposed to gaining weight more easily than others, and it can be harder for them to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Since genetics is the category least in our control, it makes sense why for some of us weight loss can certainly feel like an uphill battle.
And when we don’t know where to turn for help or information, we turn to comfort which is usually masked in unhealthy habits (like binge eating for instance).
While these factors can certainly make weight loss feel like a difficult and frustrating process, it’s important to remember that they’re not insurmountable. This is why many people turn to alternative methods to help them achieve their weight loss goals. With the right tools and strategies, anyone can make progress towards their objective. Meditation is one such tool that can be helpful in this regard.
What is Meditation?
Meditation is a practice that has been around for centuries, and it has been used to help individuals achieve a variety of goals, including stress reduction, relaxation, and improved focus. Meditation is typically practiced by sitting or lying down in a quiet and comfortable place, focusing on your breath or a specific object, and clearing your mind of distracting thoughts.
There are many different types of meditation, including mindfulness meditation, loving-kindness meditation, candle meditation, and transcendental meditation. Each type of meditation has its own unique benefits, but they all share a common goal: to help you achieve a state of inner peace and calm.
Can Meditation Help with Weight Loss?
Now that we understand what weight loss and meditation are, let’s explore the connection between the two. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to weight loss, meditation can be an effective tool to help you achieve your goals.
Meditation and Stress
One of the primary ways that meditation can help with weight loss is by reducing stress. Stress is a common trigger for overeating and binge eating, and it can also lead to the accumulation of belly fat. When we’re stressed, our bodies release cortisol, the hormone that we’ve mentioned earlier that leads to your increased appetite and therefore weight gain.
By practicing meditation, we can reduce the amount of cortisol our bodies produce, which can help us better manage stress, make healthier decisions, and reduce our risk of overeating or eating poorly (eating with few to no nutrients at all). Meditation can also help us become more mindful of our eating habits, making it a great tool for those of us who are over-indulging, stress eating, or have a predisposition to emotional binge eating. By becoming more aware of what we consume, we can make healthier choices when it comes to food.
Meditation and Physical Exercise
In addition to reducing stress, meditation can also help us become more physically active. Many people struggle with motivation when it comes to exercise, but meditation can help us develop a more positive attitude towards physical activity. This is due to the fact that when we are meditating, we are essentially practicing mindfulness, a way of being present with what is, but not distracted by thoughts that make us feel in a certain way.
When it comes to physical exercise, meditation can help in two distinguishable ways: by changing our perspective towards movement and exercise, and by becoming more aware of our bodies. Both outcomes influence each other.
Firstly, when we practice meditation we practice using less of our habitual neural pathways that have been hardwired into our brain and more of the pathways we are slowly developing. For instance, you may not like to go to the gym, however this does not mean that you can’t change your mindset about it. In this regard, meditation helps you think less (both consciously and subconsciously) about the things you hate, and focus more on the things you appreciate. In essence, it helps you develop a better view of physical exercise as well as a more appreciative state in your day to day life.
Secondly, it has been shown that meditation is one of the most powerful and potent tools to increase awareness, a skill that will aid tremendously in our weight loss journey. By becoming aware more often throughout our day, we can start noticing our own patterns and where we act on autopilot. For example, you might not think why those cookies on the living room table are sitting there, but when your stomach gives you the craving signal, next thing you know your hand is between those cookies. By then it’s already too late to change the behavior.
However, if you become more mindful, you become more intentional too. Soon you’ll start asking yourself questions you never did before. “Why are those cookies in the middle of the room? Won’t that make me find them easier and therefore eat them as a snack the next time I crave something? Are they even healthy? Could I maybe put some walnuts there and see if I can change my behavior by eating the walnuts instead?”
Meditation and Emotional Triggers
Our emotions govern our choices. It’s a fact that many scientists have tried disproving, however, as much as we’d like to think we can program ourselves like a machine, we can’t.
Humans are complex creatures, and so we tend to give rise to the illusionary idea that we can control our emotions and our choices. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Though meditation is regarded as one of the best tools to help us regulate, feel, and transcend our fleeting emotions, this does not mean we are free entirely.
Take for example the last time you watched a sad movie where a heartbreaking scene shows up on the TV, the music starts playing in one of the sobrest ways, and the main character devastatingly whispers two lines that make your eyes pop out of your head and tears fall down your cheeks like Niagara falls. Despite meditating the day before the movie, it’s the very moment you watch the movie that you grab the nearby Kleenex and next thing you know, your hand is patting the table for the glass of Coca-Cola and the nachos you prepared for the movie.
In essence, meditation won’t suddenly change you and make you immune to any unhealthy binge eating decision that stemmed from a heightened emotion like sadness or anxiety. However, meditation helps you become more and more aware of your choices as you are making them. This means that it gives you a window of opportunity to start questioning yourself and possibly choose a different outcome. If you choose a different option 37 out of 56 times during the month, it might not seem like much has changed. But when you add up the many small moments you chose walnuts instead of cookies, water instead of coke, and any other healthier choice instead of the bad one, you’ll be feeling better throughout the year and you’ll start looking better too.
Result? Weight loss. Mission accomplished.
How to Use Meditation for Weight Loss
Now that we discussed the importance of meditation and how this powerful tool can help with weight loss, let’s talk about how to incorporate meditation into your weight loss journey. Here are some tips to get started:
- Start small: If you’re new to meditation, start with just a few minutes a day and gradually increase your practice as you become more comfortable.
- Find a quiet and comfortable space: Find a quiet and comfortable place to meditate, free from distractions and interruptions. Turn off your TV, put your phone on silent if you need to, and set your ambience for a quiet, undisturbed, peaceful meditation session.
- Choose a meditation style that works for you: There are many different types of meditation, so experiment with different styles to find one that works best for you. Mindfulness meditation, for example, is a popular choice for weight loss as it can help you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings around food. Try to listen to a guided meditation if you are a beginner.
- Make meditation a daily habit: To see the full benefits of meditation, it’s important to make it a daily habit. Set aside a specific time each day for your meditation practice. Don’t get overwhelmed by the idea that you’ll have to fit in meditation on your calendar now. Start with 5 minutes a day and decide a specific part of the day to always have this uninterrupted time. If you cannot commit to the same time each day, don’t fret. Simply do your practice later in the day when possible.
- Use guided meditations: If you’re struggling to get started with meditation or you can’t seem to relax and stop thinking whenever you try meditating, we recommend you listen to a guided meditation. There are many apps and websites that offer guided meditations specifically designed for weight loss. Here are a few apps that you can try for free that work offline too!
- Practice mindful eating: As you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings around food through meditation, try to apply that awareness to your eating habits throughout the day. Practice mindful eating by eating slowly, savoring each bite, and paying attention to your body’s hunger and fullness signals. If you are craving sweets, try to pay attention to the hidden signal your body is giving you: are you truly hungry or was your lunch simply not nutritious enough?
- Stay patient and consistent: Like with any lifestyle change, weight loss through meditation takes time and consistency. Be patient with yourself and trust the process. Note down every small win you had since the beginning of your journey so that you don’t make the end results your only reason for meditating, but rather because this is who you want to be and what you want to do daily.
Other Benefits of Meditation
While weight loss is certainly a benefit of meditation, it’s not the only one. Here are some other ways that meditation can improve your overall health and well-being:
- Stress reduction: Meditation can help reduce stress by lowering cortisol levels in the body.
- Improved sleep: Meditation can also improve the quality of your sleep by helping you relax and slow down racing thoughts.
- Better mental health: Meditation has been shown to be effective in treating depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.
- Improved focus and concentration: By practicing meditation, you can improve your ability to focus and concentrate on tasks, leading to improved productivity and performance.
- Lowered blood pressure: Meditation has been shown to help lower blood pressure in individuals with hypertension.
Conclusion
While there is no one solution to weight loss, meditation can be an effective tool to help you achieve your goals. By reducing stress, improving mindfulness, and promoting physical activity, meditation can help you make healthier choices and manage your weight in a more sustainable way.
It’s important to remember that weight loss is a journey, and it takes time and consistency to see results. Incorporating meditation into your daily routine can be a powerful way to support your weight loss goals, but it’s important to also focus on other healthy habits such as regular exercise and a balanced diet.
So, can meditation help with weight loss? The answer is yes, but it’s up to you to make it a part of your daily routine and use it as a tool to support your overall health and well-being.
