The Surprising Truth About How Weight Is Actually Lost
It’s not about the foods you eat or the exercise you do. It's more subtle than that.
I was crapping myself.
It had just gone 7:30am and my scuba diving instructor informed me it was time to get ready.
I poked my head over the side of the boat and saw a number of sharks circulating below.
“Andy, do you have your mask and fins? Your tank is over there. Mike will help you put it on.” He shouted over the sound of the engine.
Gulp.
As if in a daze, I stumbled over to Mike who lifted my left arm in first and then secured my right arm in second.
He then asked to me stand up.
The only thing that got me out of my trance was the sheer weight on my shoulders.
It was so heavy I could barely lift it up!
Maybe that’s how scuba diving instructors get their students into the water. They make it so uncomfortable on land that even jumping into a shiver of sharks seems appealing.
I jumped in, anyway, and had the most magical 45 minutes of my life.
Before I got back on the boat I braced myself for a similar impact but to my surprise, the tank was a lot lighter.
I asked my instructor why. “It’s not the aluminum tanks that are heavy,” he said, “it’s the gases inside them.”
This was the first time I began to understand how weight can either be gained or lost through breathing because my full and empty tanks proved it.
The Surprising Truth About How Weight Is Actually Lost
One of the most common misconceptions about weight loss is that fat gets converted into muscle or burnt off.
A more accurate description would be that fat gets converted into carbon dioxide and water and is breathed out.
In fact: 84% of weight loss occurs through respiration, as one medical journal recently discovered.
The rest comes out via sweat or urine.
“If you lose 10 pounds of fat, precisely 8.4 pounds comes out through your lungs and the remaining 1.6 pounds turns into water” - CNN
This is one of the reasons why exercise is so good for us in terms of weight control but it’s not necessarily because we burn off more calories per se; it’s because we breathe them out.
This fact is often overlooked by doctors, medical professionals, nutritionists, and healthcare specialists when it comes to losing weight as they prefer to recommend a healthy diet, exercise routines, and/or taking some form of medication.
As important and effective as they are, they’re not where the biggest weight gains can be made. So, it’s not necessarily about the amount of calories that go into the body, it’s more about how they get out.
So Does More Breathing = Losing More Weight?
That’s a good question. And no, not in the long term.
Deep breathing — either through exercise or breathwork — has been proven to be extremely effective at maintaining weight and keeping the body in an alkaline state.
“One study even showed that 45 minutes of deep breathing 3 times a week significantly reduced body weight and body mass index (BMI), compared with a control group.”
However, if deep breathing happens regularly, the reverse begins to happen— the body gains weight because toxins aren’t removed properly, stress levels increase, digestion slows, and the body fights inflammation due to it being in an acidic environment.
So short term deep breathing is encouraged through daily breathing exercises and breathwork but slow breathing is the way to go during the rest of the day.
Breathing Exercise
I’ve shared this one before but it’s a classic and on topic.
So, in case you haven’t tried it before or you need a welcome reminder, here is a great breathing exercise to slow the breath right down.
Box Breathing (Sama Vritti)
Breathe in deeply and smoothly through your nose for 4 seconds
Hold your breath at the top for 4 seconds
Breathe out softly and calmly through your nose for 4 seconds
Hold your breath at the bottom for 4 seconds
This is one complete cycle
Continue for 25-50 breaths or 5-10 minutes
To deepen the experience, increase the number of seconds you breathe in and out and hold for (5 or 6 seconds, for example) if it feels right to do so
Thanks for reading!
See you next week :)