Shifting From the "Weight Loss" Mentality During My Yoga Journey

My entire adult life I have wanted to lose weight. But what does it actually mean to lose weight? What specific weight do I want to lose? And what weighs more, muscle or fat? The truth is, we all lump our change of lifestyle to become leaner and more toned into one term: weight loss. It is easy to get stuck in this mindset, but I want to break that. I want to change the way we see changing our bodies and becoming healthier through healthier eating habits and an active lifestyle, instead of wanting to just lose weight.

First, we really need to consider what weighs more, muscle or fat. The answer is always going to be muscle. Muscle fibres are much denser than fat cells, thus causing muscle in general to be heavier. Many people get concerned when they see their weight going up instead of down, yet ignore the fact that their clothes are fitting better. This is because as your body is toning and becoming leaner with muscle fibre as opposed to fat, you are replacing the unwanted lightweight fat cells with heavier and stronger muscle cells. Don’t be fooled, just because the number on the scale is higher than it was the last time, you are still becoming healthier. The evidence is always in the way things fit, not in the numbers on the scale.

My 20 Month Weight Loss

Even I have stated recently that I am on a weight loss journey. I only say this because it is easier than saying I am changing my habit to be healthier and live a healthy, active lifestyle. But my weight fluctuates. It moves up and its down, and I have had a difficult time getting under 200lbs on the scale. But this is because I am extremely muscular and only building more muscle with my daily yoga and exercise routine. I am learning to let go of the expectation of being under 200lbs and just be okay with whatever size I am. I’m not saying this is easy – society doesn’t program us this way. But I am learning, and hope this article can provide you with the start of your own mind shift.

Instead of focussing on my weight, I try to focus on how my clothing fits and how I feel in my own skin. I also need to let go of expectations of being perfect and losing all the weight quickly and being completely toned right away. The truth is, I have many habits that are proving difficult to break, such as my sugar consumption in my coffee. I have switched to brown sugar mind you, but I still take in a lot of sugar in one day. Another habit I need to break is not drinking enough water. I try to set goals of drinking one coffee followed by one bottle of water and switching between the two to boost my water intake, but every day I fail at this goal. (I drink A LOT of coffee). Habits are very hard to break, and I am only human. One day I will break this habit though, and when I do, I am sure my body will change again.

It is hard, very hard, to stop using the term “weight loss” in everyday life. I am promising to check myself and change my words to “starting healthier habits”, “working on making changes to my body”, and “mind set shift”. It is not easy, but in order to change anything in life, we need to change our mind-set first and foremost. I will succeed in this... one day... will you?