Have You Ever Considered the Connection between Breath, Fat & Weight Loss?

Have you ever considered the connection between breath, fat and weight loss? When you lose fat where does it go? It is definitely worth pondering....

Video transcript:

Hi everyone!

I had one of those a-ha moments recently... I've been doing yoga a long time, more than 15 years and I've become pretty good about breathing deeply, smoothly and steadily on my yoga mat, because that's one thing we do learn and focus on in yoga a lot is deep smooth steady breathing and different breathing exercises.

But I came to the realization that I'm a terrible breather in everyday life. I tend to be a shallow breather - I rarely pause long enough to take really nice deep breaths.

Take the time for a few relaxing breaths

And interestingly enough, I've been experimenting a little bit with intermittent fasting and in one of the books I was reading, I came to learn and understand that—surprisingly enough—everything is interrelated.

How Our Bodies Release Fat

One of the surprising things I learned—that I had never known before—was that the way that our body releases the metabolites fat, which is essentially C0₂, is through exhaling. Deep, smooth, steady exhaling. I couldn't believe it, so I actually went out and did some Google research (I know)— so I think we all just want to start panting to lose a few extra pounds!

It was sort of a surprise to me think that we can probably—we might be able to expedite and improve our likelihood of losing weight by doing something as simple as exhaling.

Inhale. Hold it. Exhale. Smile.

And I went online and did further research and came across an interesting article from a doctor—a naturopathic doctor in Maine—who said that when she runs lab tests on a lot of her patients, the one thing that tends to come back abnormal was unexpected high levels of C0₂ in their blood. So I thought, oh my gosh, C0₂ at it's most basic level is stored fat that hasn't been released. How crazy?

Can You Improve Weight Loss By Breathing More?

So I put this all together and I thought, could it really be that we could improve our weight loss just by breathing more? By taking the time to breathe more steadily and smoothly and to release more of that C0₂ that's building up. I think it's true.

Deep Breathing

And another aspect of breathing that we fail to remember is that deep breathing, when we're breathing deeply, we're more relaxed. And whenever we're more relaxed, whenever we're less stressed, we are apt to make better decisions around what we are eating and we are probably apt to be more mindful.

So everything's all interconnected and interrelated.

30-Day Challenge: Sit Quietly and Breathe

I'm not always a fan of 30-day challenges, or any type of challenge that's really, really extreme. I don't believe in extremes. I think that's part of why we're in the situation we're in—I'm really a believer in moderation and keeping things simple and small. But, I thought a 30-day challenge on just spending a few minutes everyday breathing is something that would be beneficial for all of us. And really not that challenging.

Don't Miss: Take a Breather with Dr. Weil's 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise

So what I'm proposing here is that we set a 30-day challenge, whereby we try to set aside 5 minutes every day just to sit quietly and breathe.

We could do it first thing in the morning as soon as we are waking up. We could do it right before having our coffee. If the day gets busy and we forget, maybe just make a note for ourselves to check-in before bed and if we haven't taken that 5 minutes to just breathe deeply - to do it.

Breathe for Weight Loss - Credit - Flickr - Shawn Z Rossi

Breathing deeply just means getting comfortable sitting, or lying down—or wherever you're comfortable—closing your eyes and just breathing smooth and steady through your nose. Inhaling. Exhaling. For 5 minutes. Or, 2 or 3 minutes if you don't have the time for 5 minutes. But 5 minutes would be the ultimate goal.

And then the other challenge, in addition to that, try to set up some triggers for yourself to cause you to take a deep breath. One good one might be when you're stopped at a red light. Or, right before you brush your teeth. Or, right before you check your email. Just anything you are doing, anything you are transitioning into, to help set that trigger to just pause, take a big inhale, take a big exhale, and then just let it go.

And let's see how we feel, because I've noticed a difference. I noticed a difference immediately after two or three breaths—I feel calmer, I feel more relaxed and I'm getting rid of excess fat. How cool is that?

You Might Also Like:

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• Yoga Bites: Gentle 2-Minute Routine to Start Your Day
• Weekly Weight Loss Devotional: Breathe
• Take a Breather with Dr. Weil's 4-7-8 Breathing Exercise

A Simple Approach To Losing Weight