Are Meditation and Weight Loss Connected?

Back in 2019, I signed up for a 10-week research study at Duke University, all about Health Coaches and behavior change. Of course, I just wanted to lose weight. Little did I know it would be my gateway into the world of life coaching, and what a journey it turned out to be! Picture this: I filled out all the forms, set my health goal (inevitably, it was about losing weight), and off I went. Fast forward, and I find myself amused by the memory. I thought, "Sure, in 10 weeks, I'll lose weight and change a lifetime of habits." 

Life Coach Has Different Plans

Turns out, my coach had a different plan. Instead of diving into a hardcore weight-loss regimen, she gently nudged me towards developing a meditation practice—a goal I'd been wrestling with for two decades with sporadic success.

Here's the kicker: my week one wasn't spent in a serene meditation pose chanting "Om" for half an hour. Nope! My life coach set me up to meditate three times a week, a mere two minutes each time, using a guided meditation app. I might've grumbled a bit at first. What on earth could six minutes of meditation do for my life, let alone help me lose weight?

But you know what? I liked my coach. She had this blend of competence and compassion that was hard to resist. In our subsequent sessions, we upped the meditation ante bit by bit. And surprise, surprise—with each session, I found myself inching towards consistency and embracing the action steps we'd agreed upon.

Small Steps

Step by step, my coach gently nudged me toward a meditation practice that eventually prepared me to lose weight.

The Magic of Coaching

Now, by the end of the research stint, I hadn’t lost any weight, but my life felt lighter. The magic of coaching was starting to unfold. My coach saw what I needed: mindfulness before tackling those lifelong habits that were holding me back. Two amazing things dawned on me as a result of that study. First, I learned the art of creating habits with tiny steps. Second, I got a taste of the genuine power of coaching.

Flash forward to today: I meditate almost every morning, well beyond those initial two minutes, and I've lost weight with the help of another coach and program. My lifestyle and mindset? Totally transformed. Those ten weeks, initially underwhelming, turned out to be the seed for so much growth and positive change in both my physical and mental well-being.

I had to trust my coaches, ditch the idea that my way–which had never worked for me–was the only way, and embrace the magic of those tiny changes to create new habits.

If you knew that four years down the road, you could transform yourself in ways you never dreamed of, what tiny step would you take to kickstart your journey?