Meditation For Weight Loss: Can It Help You Lose Weight? Full Guided 2024

Meditating is increasingly popular. What was once a well-defined sacred practice^[1] has become accessible to anyone with a smartphone. Technological development has resulted in an extensive range of meditation programs in the form of apps and podcasts.

You may incorporate these practices to improve your emotional well-being by reducing stress, and emotional regulation, mood, focus, or a combination. This simple behavior can lead to many positive outcomes when practiced regularly. Meditation for weight loss, in particular, is a correlation worth exploring.

Weight loss programs fixate on individual behavior changes, but do not provide effective strategies to do so. Unhealthy eating habits such as frequently having an intense sugar craving or excessive fast food intake can result from emotional eating. Your emotions can drive food behaviors in the hope of mitigating unfavorable feelings.

With this in mind, it’s reasonable to suggest that meditation may provide a useful strategy for weight loss.

How To Meditate For Weight Loss

Meditation and mindfulness practice can be productive steps in establishing healthy eating behaviors and achieving weight loss goals. Meditation practices can be implemented in many ways, from guided sessions to mindfulness programs accessible through apps and podcasts.

Mindfulness focuses on bringing awareness and attention to the mind and concentrating on the present moment. Meditation, while often used interchangeably, emphasizes calming the mind while also bringing awareness to the mind.

The overarching concept, regardless of terms, is about simply raising awareness. Mindfulness meditation can be implemented by various methods allowing for individual preference and lifestyle considerations to be accounted for. Methods include:^[2]

• Mindfulness training led by professionals.
• Sitting quietly and simply becoming aware of your thoughts.
• Focused breath-work.
• Sound work.
• Guided meditation through a podcast or app.
• Mindful eating.
• Becoming aware of sensations through the body, by doing a body scan.
• Walking meditation.
• Mantras and phrases.
• Box breathing or simple breathing techniques.
• Nasal breathing.

How Meditation For Weight Loss Works

Meditation and mindfulness practice can aid you in weight loss in various ways. Improvements in your sleep quality, eating patterns, and lower stress levels are key lifestyle areas essential for a successful weight loss program. Reducing weight requires a multi-faceted lifestyle approach that addresses diet, sleep, activity levels, and stress.

Mindfulness interventions^[3] resulted in significant weight loss when included in weight loss programs. Therefore, meditation can serve as a valuable component for losing weight.

Improved Stress Levels

High levels of stress^[4] over a long period are associated with greater levels of body fat. This association can be driven by a multitude of factors – a common being the link between chronic stress levels and increased food cravings^[5] for comfort.

Further, chronic stress^[4] results in elevated cortisol levels. These heightened levels can interfere with weight loss efforts and are related to greater levels of abdominal fat.

Mindfulness^[6] practice can influence many positive outcomes on physiological stress markers, including; reduced cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate.

Implementing mindful meditation practices as a regular lifestyle component could be a proactive way to manage your stress to prevent long-term effects. Effective stress management strategies are an essential component for weight loss and optimal long-term health.

Additionally, reduced stress levels may have a flow-on effect influencing food choices and further promoting weight loss with improved eating habits. Mindfulness meditation^[7] done for 5 minutes daily can improve mood and reduce anxiety levels. One simple breathwork method is cyclic or box breathing which you can easily perform anytime, anywhere.

How to perform cyclic/box breathing: 

• Start by sitting down in a chair or lying down comfortably. If neither option is available, you can also perform it standing still.
• Inhale for a count of four seconds.
• Hold that breath for a count of four seconds.
• Exhale for a count of four seconds.
• Hold for a count of four seconds.
• Repeat the pattern above for your desired number of cycles or duration.

If you prefer to be guided by an external source, there’s an extensive range of online and app-based resources available.

Improved Eating Behaviors

As we’ve learned, eating habits and behaviors can be influenced and driven by emotions or used as a response to stress. As mindfulness improves stress, it can, therefore, indirectly improve eating habits, too. Emotional eating^[8] has been tied to binge eating disorder, weight gain, obesity, and depression.

Mindful eating^[9] is designed to increase your awareness of the present moment concerning food or eating. The key focus points of mindful eating include a non-judgemental approach so you can become more aware of your senses. It is often included as part of a weight loss program or on its own.

Mindful eating can be implemented in various^[10] ways and the exact definition differs depending on who you ask. Despite this, the overarching concept can help facilitate a healthy relationship with food and eating habits.

Some additional potential benefits include:

• Greater weight loss^[11] outcomes.
• Improved fasting glucose^[11] levels.
• Reduced cravings. 
• Decreased food intake.
• Slowed rate of eating.
• Improvements in binge eating and emotional eating.^[12]

Improved Sleep Quality

It’s well established that sleep is a critical component of overall health. Further, consistently failing to meet recommended amounts^[13] is associated with higher chronic disease risk including weight gain and obesity. For adults, at least 7 hours each night is vital for promoting good health.

Improvements in sleep^[14] quality were displayed after 8 weeks of incorporating meditative yoga practices into lifestyle routines. While a small sample, improvements in sleep quality^[15] have also been observed after four weeks of practicing mindfulness via an app. The emerging evidence^[16] shows promising trends in support of the benefits of mindfulness meditation and improved sleep outcomes.

Other Tips For Weight Loss

It’s no secret that losing weight requires attention in more than one area of your life. Further, once the weight is lost, successfully maintaining the new body weight can pose a challenge for you. Continue reading to learn key strategies you can implement in meet and maintain your goals.

Achieve A Calorie Deficit

The predominant driving force behind weight loss is establishing and maintaining an appropriate calorie deficit. A calorie deficit can be achieved by reducing your food intake, increasing activity levels, or combining both. Although, you will first need to determine your energy requirements.^[17]

Once you have established your daily energy requirements, you can determine an achievable calorie deficit. Generally, a daily deficit of 600 calories can result in approximately 0.5 kg or 1 lb of weight loss per week. A sustainable amount of weight lost per week is about 1 to 2 pounds.

Fill Up On Fiber

Dietary fiber is under-consumed in Westernized countries. This is unfortunate, considering the many positive and protective health benefits that are deemed public health concerns. Dietary fiber^[18] supports healthy body weight and optimal digestive system functioning and contributes to feelings of satiety and fullness.

In addition, fiber helps regulate blood sugar levels and lower cholesterol. Fiber-rich foods are usually less energy-dense, which could result in lower total energy intake.

Dietary fiber is found in plant foods:

• Fruit such as bananas, apples, and berries.
• Vegetables such as spinach, kale, arugula, broccoli, and sweet potatoes. 
• Legumes and beans such as lentils, black beans, and chickpeas.
• Nuts such as walnuts, cashews, and almonds.
• Seeds such as chia seeds, flaxseed, and sesame seeds.
• Whole grains such as rolled oats, brown rice, and whole-grain bread.

Pay Attention To Food Quality

While we’ve learned that food intake is vital in achieving weight loss, the quality of the food can also play a role in results. For weight loss and optimal health, you should increase nutrient-dense foods.^[19] These include vegetables, grains, legumes, and fiber-rich foods.

Avoid or reduce foods containing high amounts of sugar and fat. Additionally, the CDC^[20] highlights key food groups for a healthy body weight.

Key food groups for a healthy body weight and optimal health:

• Fruit – can be fresh, frozen, or even canned if it’s in its juice and not in syrup.
• Vegetables – fresh or frozen are both excellent options.
• Proteins – include a variety of sources like lean meat and poultry, legumes, beans, tofu, and eggs.
• Calcium-rich foods – low-fat dairy products like milk, yogurt, and cheese or calcium-fortified plant-based alternatives.
• Whole-grains – foods such as oatmeal, whole-grain bread, or other whole-grain cereals.

Further considerations for a healthy diet^[21] include:

• Making water your drink of choice.
• Avoiding or limiting sugar-sweetened beverages.
• If you don’t like the taste of water try natural flavor enhancers such as citrus or berries.
• Reducing or avoiding ultra-processed foods.
• Focusing on a variety of colors in your meals – from different fruits and vegetables.

Consider Meal Timing

When you eat your meals can play a role in body weight regulation. Eating late at night^[22] can interfere with your circadian rhythm (your body’s internal clock) resulting in adverse consequences. These include increased cortisol production, decreased tolerance to glucose, and a decline in resting energy expenditure.

These can impact weight management and following a regular eating pattern throughout is another important consideration. Including balanced, healthy meals can help prevent weight gain and obesity. Further, skipping breakfast^[23] has been linked to poorer diet quality, body fat, and an increased risk of adverse health effects.

Engage In Regular Physical Activity

While it’s possible to lose weight by creating a calorie deficit through diet alone, regular physical activity can accelerate results. It’s common knowledge that exercise is good for our health; what may be less known is that you can still experience some benefits immediately after exercising,^[24] even with light movement. Many activities count as physical activities, from non-structured exercises like gardening to traditional methods like walking, swimming, and jogging.

The suggested physical activity recommendations^[25] for adults are:

• Strength or resistance training-focused sessions at least twice per week.
• Performing at least 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise per week.

You can determine the exercise intensity^[26] by calculating your maximum heart rate first, then the target ranges.

• To calculate your max heart rate, subtract your age from 220. 
• A moderate intensity is considered to be from 64% – 76% of your maximum heart rate.
• A vigorous intensity is considered to be from 77% – 93% of your maximum heart rate.

It’s also essential to be aware of your resting heart rate^[27] which you can assess by finding your pulse and counting the beats in 60 seconds. This will give you your heart rate based on the number of beats per minute. An average resting heart rate is between 60-100 beats per minute, although this can be lower for highly active individuals.

Following these ranges will give you a more informed approach to physical activity, providing better guidance to meet the recommendations. If you are new to exercise, you can start small and work up to the recommended weekly amounts. Remember that there are an array of activities that can count as exercises that are outside the traditional scope.

Skip The Quick Fixes

Fad diets and quick fixes are rife amongst the health and wellness industry. Furthermore, there is always something new you feel inclined to try. While it could lead you to wonder how much weight you lose overnight to fast-track your results when you have an upcoming event – unfortunately, it does not lead to long-term maintenance of results or behavior change.

The CDC^[28] states that a sustainable rate of weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. Further, gradual weight loss leads to greater maintenance of results in comparison to rapid weight loss. This reinforces the notion that fad diets are not going to serve you in the long term.

While making proper lifestyle changes may feel slow initially when trying to establish new habits – it will ultimately result in time saved in the long term. Taking time to develop lifestyle habits properly can lead you to your desired results and maintenance of those results. Comparatively, fad diets or quick fixes may only lead you back to where you started, creating a continuous cycle.

Establish A Clear Roadmap

Progress may not always go as planned or be entirely linear. Establishing a roadmap of your starting point that outlines the end goal you’d like to achieve can be a valuable step. Rather than wondering how long weight loss takes, determining a timeline could keep you motivated and engaged in your journey.

We now know that a sustainable weight loss is between 1 and 2 pounds per week; with this number in mind, you can determine how long it would take to achieve your goal. Having a clear outlook on the time required to reach your goal may help avoid disappointment from unrealistic expectations.

Once you’ve consistently maintained all key areas for optimal weight loss, you could consider other implementations. Exploring dietary additions like diet pills or fat burners could act as an adjunct to further support your goals.

Conclusion

Mindfulness meditation techniques may be the missing link for an effective weight loss program. The potential benefits experienced from only a few minutes each day are reason enough to warrant attention. Further, the ability for various mindfulness and meditation techniques to be easily incorporated into the day highlights its accessibility. Implementing a technique that suits you can help improve stress levels, emotional regulation, and sleep, influencing weight loss outcomes.