Mindfulness for losing weight: Being aware of your body and health
For many people, a healthy body means losing weight. Being overweight is unhealthy, and for some people losing weight is also a matter of the eye wanting something too. Whatever your motivation to lose weight, mindfulness can help you be more mindful of your body and therefore lose weight and also accept your body if you are already at a healthy weight.
In this article, I discuss ways that mindfulness can help you lose weight.
Most people lose weight by making changes to their diet and increasing their physical activity. As a result, weight loss is often a process that requires lifestyle changes, which some people find very difficult. It’s good to know that when it comes to weight loss, 80 percent depends on diet and 20 percent on exercise. So exercise alone won’t cut it! Dieting alone often does, but it’s a slower process than when you combine it with exercise.
So those who want to lose weight quickly, or as quickly as possible, need to change their diet and exercise more.
Losing weight through diet modification
Dietary adjustments are easier said than done. The best way to lose weight is to simply abandon meat and dairy products and eat fewer carbohydrates. That's quite a change: to go from omnivore, to vegetarian or even to a vegan diet.
Fortunately, mindful eating can help you adjust your diet and eat healthier almost automatically. Many people eat unconsciously. By that I mean that while eating, you’re reading the news on your laptop, rushing to catch the train, or catching up on work—and as a result, your attention isn’t on the food you’re eating.
This allows you to unwittingly eat all kinds of unhealthy things that you may not even really like.
In mindfulness eating, your mind is with the food. You look, smell, feel and taste the food. This also allows you to have all kinds of realizations about the food. When I eat mindfully, I actually can no longer enjoy a bag of chips because I realize that I'm really only eating fat, salt and carbs. The whole enjoyment that snacking during a movie gave is then immediately gone.
In addition, mindfulness eating also helps you become more conscious about nutrition and, as a result, eat more foods that truly care for your body. Foods with fiber, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats.
Mindful eating makes it easier to adjust your diet.
Lose weight by eating less emotionally
Excess weight is often caused by emotional binge eating or emotional eating. Mindfulness is a way to manage emotions without relying on an external factor such as food.
Therefore, when you get hungry, the first question you can ask yourself is whether you are really hungry or if you want to eat for some other reason. For most people, boredom is a good emotion to start eating, but there are other reasons as well.
Research ( 1) has also revealed that people who are overweight suffer from stigma and may actually fall into a vicious cycle of eating and emotions.
With mindfulness, it’s possible to be less affected by this stigma and accept yourself as you are. This automatically reduces binge eating caused by negative emotions.
In the study, overweight people have weekly mindfulness therapy that they can also apply in everyday life. The results were that quality of life improved, the subjects were less bothered by stigma and had even lost weight.
Losing weight with exercise
Rapid weight loss also requires exercise in addition to diet modification. Exercise provides additional calorie burning and can cause you to gain more muscle mass, which automatically makes you burn more energy.
Losing weight by walking with mindfulness
A walk a day can make a big difference if you don't otherwise exercise. Mindful walking can be a way to unwind during that walk as well.
Mindfulness and running
Running is an endurance sport that evokes many thoughts. At first you may still be thinking about your work or the day, but at some point thoughts arise that cause you to run less fast or even stop altogether.
This is a great shame because cardio is important if you want to work on your fitness and lose weight. By applying mindfulness while running, you enjoy yourself more and can push yourself further.
The thought "oh I'm getting really tired now" can be seen as a distraction, but can also be reason to do stop. You are aware of every step you take and the effect it has on your muscles. As you run more often, you notice that it gets easier and easier and your muscles develop. Your breathing gets a little faster, maybe you pant too. This is all part of it. This realization and awareness, that running works for a healthy and strong body, can be a great boost to your self-confidence.
Mindfulness running is most enjoyable when done outdoors and without music. Then you enjoy the fresh air and your surroundings. Distracting thoughts that make you stop get less chance just because of that, and you set your own rhythm instead of the music.
Mindfulness yoga
Cardio is important for losing weight, but stretching after exercise and building muscle is also healthy for you.
Yoga is a way to strengthen and stretch your muscles. Yoga is already widely used to create a stronger connection between body and mind. The best-known way to use mindfulness to strengthen the connection between your brain and your body is the body scan. In addition to the body scan, you can also practice mindfulness yoga.
With mindfulness yoga, with each pose you are aware of your breathing, the muscles you are using for the pose and the muscles getting a wonderful stretch. This also makes you perform the exercise correctly faster than if you don't pay attention to it.
In addition, yoga also helps you practice mindfulness at other times of the day .
Tips for losing weight with mindfulness
Mindfulness can do a lot to take good care of your body. That's why I've come up with a few more simple mindfulness tips you can use for losing weight.
Start with mindful breathing 2.
Whether you are eating or exercising, start every thing that is for your body with mindful breathing. This makes it easier to hold the mindfulness while taking care of your body. So before eating, walking, running or whatever exercise you want to do.
Check your emotions 2.
If you are working on something for your body. Then monitor your emotions. Taking care of your body is not a punishment; it is something good. Therefore, never do something to punish yourself. Do something because you want to be healthier.
If you find yourself having a negative thought, let it go and refocus on what you are doing. If necessary, return to mindful breathing before returning to healthy eating and exercise.
3. Meditate daily
Whether you apply mindfulness body check, mindfulness yoga or mindfulness eating doesn't matter. By applying some form of mindfulness meditation daily you reduce your stress levels.
Reducing daily stress can already help curb binge eating and encourage you to eat healthier and exercise more on your own.
4. Don't judge
If you are working on losing weight through mindfulness, it is important to distance yourself from your thoughts. You become a kind of witness to your thoughts rather than a judge. This prevents a negative thought spiral which can undo your good work.
Would you like to learn more about the benefits of mindfulness—not just for your body but in other areas of your life as well? Then come to a seminar or check out the courses offered by the Hypnosis Institute of the Netherlands.
Sources:
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12160-009-9083-x
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/meditation-hypertension-and-weight-loss