Breathe Right for Weight Loss

Take a deep breath, in and out.

Breathing is not only essential to life, it is an important part of our fitness and weight loss routines!

In order to achieve the best benefit we must breathe correctly!

You mean there is a wrong way to breathe????

We all breathe unconsciously...that is one of the wonders of the human body. But most of us take shallow breaths which don't gather in all the oxygen our bodies crave. And if we take a deep breath we often focus on expanding our lungs--by raising our shoulders. Check it out in the mirror. Take a deep breath. Did it look like you were shrugging?

Expand our lungs, raise the shoulders--seems logical, doesn't it? But it is wrong...

To get a good, deep, fully oxygenated breath, we must breathe from our diaphragm--that area above your belly button. To train yourself into breathing correctly, sit down or lie on your back. Place your hand on your stomach--and think about pushing your hand forward with every breath in.

Practice breathing this way every day for a minute or two...or five is even better. With practice, breathing from your diaphragm will be 2nd nature. These deeper breaths get more oxygen to your bloodstream--and more oxygen helps our bodies to process our foods, burn body fat and use more calories...so just by breathing correctly we can accelerate our weight loss!

Now take that correct breathing and add fresh air as suggested by my friend Dr. Linda (Wellness Tips from Dr Linda: #3 Healthy Habit) and you have a winning combination!