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Daily Steps To Mindful Living

weight loss

How the Right Community Can Boost Your Weight Loss

Like a lot of college kids who are away from home for the first time, I let myself go during my four years on campus. Taking advantage of my newfound freedom (and comprehensive meal plan!), I stayed up late, frequented local pizzerias and burger joints, and didn’t do much to make up for the fact that I was no longer playing high school sports.

By graduation day, the damage was evident: I was 20 pounds heavier and would have gotten lapped by my younger, teenage self in a timed mile. In pictures from that day, I look happy but also a little cherubic, if you know what I mean. A few months later, once I was out in the “real world” and had managed to find a job, I committed myself to getting back into shape. [Read more…] about How the Right Community Can Boost Your Weight Loss

Originally posted on April 26, 2016 @ 8:30 am

Does Yoga Make You Lose Weight?

The founders of the ancient practice of yoga probably didn’t think just how far its reach would become. Today, yoga is practiced all over the world, although its popularity in the U.S. has skyrocketed only recently, with 21 million Americans saying they’ve tried yoga in the past year.

Yoga has become an industry – and a huge one at that. With yoga centers charging fees, clothing companies creating special lines for yoga, books, apps – you name it, you can find it.

That may be distasteful if you think about it, but it’s the reality, and it helps people who turn to yoga for their own reasons.

In an old post of ours, “What to Remember About Yoga“, we highlighted yoga’s focus on holistic health. It’s all about the mind and body.

People do have their own reasons for doing yoga, and its health benefits are numerous.

  • Better blood circulation, which can lead to lower blood pressure
  • Lower pulse rate, which means a stronger heart
  • Gastrointestinal functions are improved (especially with those who already have issues in this area)
  • Pain tolerance is increased and yoga has been known to help ease chronic pain
  • Balanced metabolism

But what about losing weight? Is yoga weight loss real? Or is it just a myth?

Different poses have their own purposes. Some help you to relax and meditate. Others strengthen your core and target other areas of your body. So if you think about it, you do burn calories while practicing yoga.

yoga weight loss

But how much can yoga contribute to weight loss?

Unfortunately, the answer isn’t straightforward. Studies have shown that yoga in itself does not burn as many calories as cardiovascular activities such as walking or jogging.

However, it does have the potential to burn a huge chunk of calories, depending on factors such as your weight, the length of the session, and the type of yoga you practice. Based on a Livestrong article, “Hatha yoga…burns about 298 calories in one hour for a 155 pound person reports Harvard Health…while Ashtanga facilitates a higher calorie burn — as much as 362 calories in an hour.”

With those numbers, we can say that yoga weight loss is not a myth.

However, I think that if you decide to practice yoga, weight loss shouldn’t be the main reason. Its other benefits such as peace and centering yourself is just as important – maybe more.

Beginner I may be, but I already am experiencing all the benefits of yoga – plus some weight loss.

Back to you: are you practicing yoga or plan to? Why are you doing it?

Also read: Why Yoga Is Good for the Mind and Body

Originally posted on July 21, 2015 @ 8:00 am

Why Exercise is NOT the Key to Losing Weight


Creative Commons License photo credit: John Steven Fernandez

Six months ago I weighed 93 kilograms (204 pounds). Today I weigh 83 (182 pounds). In just six months I have dropped a solid 10 kilograms and feel healthier than I have since high school. So how much exercise did I do to achieve that goal? Almost none.

In this post I am going to share with you how I lost the weight and why I am convinced that weight loss has very little to do with the exercise that you do. If you have your own weight loss experiences I would love to hear about them in the comments.

Why my teeth helped me lose weight

So here is the confession. About six months ago I got a new form of orthodontics called Invisalign. Invisalign is basically a series of invisible plates that you wear all day that move your teeth one by one. Every two weeks you change to the next plate and at the end of the series your teeth have gone from crooked to perfectly straight. Which I badly needed.

Anyway, the real kicker is that you can’t eat with them in. You take them out to eat (and drink) and you can only have them out for around 20 minutes at a time. Say goodbye to snacking, sugary drinks in between meals and, of course, say goodbye to second helpings after dinner.

These changes that have been “forced” upon me are the reason I lost 10 kilos so quickly. The secret to lasting and healthy weight loss is not exercise, it is the amount of food you are taking in.

Why exercise is not the answer

Prior to getting these plates I spent a lot of time exercising trying to lose weight. I didn’t have much luck. I would lose one or two kilos but the weight would always come back on as soon as I stopped the intense work outs. Why? Because I was still taking in way too many calories.

Let me show you some maths that I have been thinking about:

One can of Coke has around 155 calories in it.

Running on a treadmill for 20 minutes burns around 150 calories.

That means that after 20 minutes of exercise you have burned off one sugar drink and hardly any fat stores.

As you can see by this simple bit of maths, exercise is not the best way to lose weight. Diet is. It is your diet that will make or break your progress. It is simply too hard to burn off all the calories you need by exercise alone.

Why portion sizes will help you lose weight forever

I am now a firm believer that your portion sizes are one of the most important things when it comes to losing weight. And to prove this we can use a simple example and a bit of maths again.

Let’s say you use an extra large bowl for your dinner every night and fill it up so that you get 100 more calories than if you used a smaller bowl. Now, over a year that is 36,500 extra calories that you wouldn’t have had if you used a smaller bowl. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat so in one year you have added around 10 pounds of fat. And that is just from dinner.

It is really important to control your portion sizes and think of it as extra calories that add up over a year or over ten years. By just making your dinner smaller you will essentially save 10 pounds of fat in a year. It is very powerful.

Why you have to keep exercising

After all this diet stuff is said and done it is still vital that you keep exercising on a regular basis. The exercise helps to increase your metabolism and thus will assist your weight loss progress. It isn’t the main thing, but it will make a massive difference to the way you look and feel. This is especially true if you want to add a bit of muscle or tone – diet can’t do that. Exercise also helps you to feel better about yourself due to the large amount of endorphins that are released. These feel good chemicals go a long way to keeping you healthy.

Does anyone have any weight loss stories to share? I would like to know what has/hasn’t worked for you.

Originally posted on November 3, 2010 @ 11:47 pm

Top 10 Ways You Can Lose Weight at Work Today


Creative Commons License photo credit: Spring Dew

One of the worst places for your waist line is the office. We binge. We snack. We stress eat. Here are the top 10 ways you can lose weight at work.

1. Get off the coffee
Coffee is not a weight gainer in itself but the sugar, cream and biscuits you have with it are. How many coffees do you have each day? How many sugars do you have in them? Coffee is a drug and it leads to addictive behaviors. It is bad for your weight.

2. Take the stairs
If you have some stairs at work you should use them. However, if you work in a high rise building do not feel like you have to take all of them. It would take way too long! Instead get off a floor or two early and dash up a few flights. Running up stairs is one of the best ways to burn calories. Perhaps after lunch would be a good time.

3. Sit on a fitness ball
A lot of places in Australia now sit on fitness balls instead of chairs at work as it is much better for your back and posture. The advantage of this is that you can also drop down and do a few crunches in your spare moments. Any calories you can burn during the day are a bonus.

4. Bring lunch from home
You don’t have to bring lunch from home everyday but the more often you do the more likely you are to eat healthy. Stuff brought from home (salad, sandwhich, soup, etc.) is a better alternative than going out to the local eatery. You will get more nutrients as well and as such have a more productive day.

5. Park the car further away
If you drive into work consider parking in a carpark that is about ten minutes walk from your office. A walk of this time would burn quite a few calories. It is good for waking you up as well if you start nice and early.

6. Ride a bike
Many top executives I know actually ride their bike into work on days they know they won’t have to leave the office. For example, if you have no meetings on Friday you can ride into the office and not worry about being anywhere in a hurry. The more often you do this the more weight you will burn. And it is exercise that is part of your daily routine in that it ges done while you do something else (go to work).

7. Snack on mixed nuts
The protein in nuts keeps you fuller for longer. It makes it a perfect snack. If you eat nuts you will be less likely to snack on sugar filled snacks like candy, soda and chocolate.

8. Drink green tea
Green tea has a lot of fat burning properties. It is very good for you and will stimulate your metabolism. If you need your caffeine fix it is also a much healthier option than coffee.

9. Eat more often
If you have one big meal at lunch and that is it your metabolism is bound to be very slow and sluggish. Try to eat more often; smaller portion sizes of course. This will keep your digestive system cranking which is actually one of the best ways to burn fat.

10. Don’t stress
If you stress too much you will end up snacking or not eating properly. All stressful situations can be dealt with so relax and take it easy!

Originally posted on February 28, 2008 @ 5:08 am