Healthy, Painless Ways To Lose Weight & Keep It Off For Good

Recently I was attending a talk by world-renowned spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Los Angeles, and a lady asked a question to the guru: "Is life only a destiny?" To answer her question, the guru asked her, "What is your height?" She was amazed by this question, but she answered. Then came the second question: "What is your weight?" She sounded even more clueless. Then Guru said, "See, your height is destiny, but weight is your free will." Wow, what a simple explanation to such a profound question!

Losing unwanted weight and keeping it off really isn't as simple as eating less and exercising more. It requires a variety of deliberate life adjustments and experimentally combining separate-but-intertwining skill sets in five key areas: lifestyle, nutrition, fitness, psychology, and spirituality. Weight and food issues are complex, involving the body, the mind, and the spirit. Therefore, the solution must be holistic, integrating all of these aspects.

Spirituality gives us a broader outlook on life and connects us to our higher purpose. With this we are more likely to make conscious food and lifestyle decisions that have sustainable long-term effects. We are not carried away so easily by quick fixes or short-term temptations.

Studies also show that chronically stressed people tend to eat more calorie-dense junk or unhealthy foods and have irregular lifestyles. Yoga, which literally means "the union of the body, mind, and soul," is a spiritual route to weight loss. And that is why yoga is such an effective way to tackle this complex issue. Yoga is certainly a means to that end but not exactly in the way one would expect.

Typical weight-loss programs address the symptom (excess fat) and ignore the cause, which is essentially an imbalance caused by or manifested as any range of emotional problems or poor lifestyle habits. As with going to the gym, burning calories is not the most important thing to a yogi. Yes, aerobic exercise burns calories and can help you lose weight.

But does it change you internally, thereby causing lasting weight loss? The calorie-calculated weight-loss program does ultimately create a load on the system, and eventually one gets bored and stressed by constantly having to watch and burn calories! Yoga fosters a body awareness and discipline, which is something that goes deeper than calorie burning.

Yoga cleanses and purifies our body from the inside and makes you naturally want to put healthier and nourishing things into your body. Over a period of time, your taste buds change, as do your cravings and aversions. Thus it can lead to healthier eating, mindful living, and self-care. Yoga can make you fall in love with healthy living.

Are you ready for a three-week-long experiment? The next time your favorite chips are in front of you and you are tempted to eat the whole package, just snap your fingers in front of your eyes three times.

Take three deep breaths—inhale slowly for a count of four, exhale slowly for a count of six, let go, and relax. And ask yourself these questions:

Is eating this package of chips going to make my life easy or difficult? What will happen if I don't eat the package? What is a better or healthier option than eating the package of chips at this moment?