Now you won’t need to lose sleep over losing weight
How often do you hear this? “I think I’ve put on weight; I need to slim down” - and this could lead to frantic discussions on ways to somehow shed those extra pounds.
Working out at the gym for long hours, training our taste buds to eat only healthy - you might have already tried all these and more to come back to good shape. Now, how about adding something that’s natural, has no side effects, is extremely easy and hardly takes 15-20 minutes of your day?
Meditation; a simple yet powerful technique. Wondering how something related to the mind can have anything to do with shedding pounds and kilos? Let’s see how meditation helps you lose weight naturally:
#1 Lower Your BMR Effortlessly
If you are on a weight-control program, you might be keeping a regular check on your body’s basal metabolic rate (BMR). By knowing your BMR, you can reduce calorie intake, in turn reducing body weight. When you meditate, your body’s BMR reduces. This means the extra calories intake by your body reduces. Weight loss is, then, a natural outcome.
#2 Tweek Your Work Out Regime
Have you noticed that the minute you stop working out for a few days, you immediately tend to put on a lot of weight? This is because you continue eating without burning as much. Exercising at the gym simply increases your appetite but may not necessarily improve assimilation.
By practicing yoga and meditation, assimilation improves and desire for calorie-rich food decreases. So you feel hungry but are satisfied with lesser quantities of food. This has a more long-term effect on the body weight. Even if you are not able to exercise for some days, you won’t start gaining weight suddenly.
#3 Restore Your Balance
Excessive weight gain and weight loss are sometimes outcomes of hormonal imbalances in the body. Meditation helps restore that harmony in the system so that if you are overweight, you lose pounds and if you are underweight, you gain the ability to put on.
#4 Reduce The Number of Go-to's
Your craving for all kinds of food could be your biggest roadblock when it comes to losing weight. How easy is it to stop yourself from buying a doughnut each time you pass the bakery shop with the fine aromas floating around? With regular meditation, it can be slightly easier.
Meditation increases awareness so that you become more watchful of your food habits. The next time you stretch out to grab a packet of chips or chocolates, you are immediately aware that it’s not going to help you reduce weight and you can substitute them with healthy alternatives. Also, over a period of time with regular meditation practice, you will find that your cravings have dropped. So you won’t be reaching for that bag of chips or cookies all that often.
“Till about one year back, I used to eat a lot of chocolates to the extent that if I would have chocolates at-least once a day, I used to feel very restless. My weight would only increase and I did not how to stop myself. Within 2 months of regular practice of meditation, I saw my cravings drop and I found it easy to control myself to chocolates. I continue to meditate and my weight has come down by 7 kg,” shares Divya Sachdev
# 5 Boost Your Commitment
Have you noticed how easy it is to fall prey to the threats of your weight- loss program? Sleep, junk food, sweets – all of these have the power to make you drop out of your weight-control plan very easily. This is a check on your commitment where meditation can help. Daily meditation practice helps strengthen your intention to lose weight so that you become more committed to exercising, following a moderated diet and other healthy practices.
Meditation gives the strength to realize an intention.
“Meditation gives me the inner strength and will power to remain committed to daily practice of exercising,” says Mayank Thakkar
#6 Beat the stress & Hog On To Veggies
The next time you gorge on chocolates or anything junk, observe for a while why you are doing this? Are you stressed for some reason (at work or home)? Stress in the mind has a direct impact on the tendency to keep snacking at odd times. This gives temporary relief from stress. Yet when you meditate, you release deeply stored stress in the system naturally. It’s a much healthier way to beat stress and also to stay in perfect shape.
“Earlier rough relations with my boyfriend would really make me stressed and food would always be my stress buster. After each fight with him, I would end up over eating. I added Sudarshan Kriya and meditation to my weight loss plan because it would help me calm down. Thanks to these practices, now I do not over eat and it had definitely helped me reduce,” says Komal Kaur
#7 Add Hours To Your Clock To Implement Your Weight-loss Stratagy
If time is stopping you from working towards weight control, your all time solution – "meditation" will help you find more time in the day! And to meditate, you only need 15-20 minutes a day. That of course can be easy to squeeze out anytime of the day as per your convenience, isn’t it? After all, your body does deserve at least 20 minutes of your time. And when your work efficiency increases with meditation, you can finish all your work in less time and also find more time to plan out your weight-loss strategy.
#8 Make Yourself Your Favourite
Sounds strange? Wondering why is there a need to lose weight when you have already accepted that you are fat? That’s because when you accept your physique, you become calm and settled within and stop worrying about things. With such a state of mind, it becomes much easier to work towards losing weight and your effort is also more effective. Try this out once. So what if you are a bit on the healthy side? Relax, love your body and see the difference in your life.
Note: Each body type is different so the results of yoga and meditation practice may vary in each person. Your experience could be different from others. Do not compare and don’t lose hope and patience. Meditation is not a quick-fix; it needs to be practiced daily for results to show.
Inspired by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's wisdom talks
By Pritika Nair
Based on inputs by Bharathy Harish and Piyadarshini Hariram, Sahaj Samadhi Meditation Teachers.
Feeling lack of motivation or restlessness? Are emotions taking a toll on your personal and work life? Fill in the form below to learn more about how meditation can aide you in overcoming daily issues and improve your life.
