We all know how important is having a good posture. A good posture is not only attractive but it has many health benefits too. Sitting and standing straight in good posture can keep you healthy but do you know that it can also help in weight loss? You work really hard to lose pounds but did you know by incorporating a good posture to yourself can actually help you lose pounds while giving you additional health benefits? Do you want to know how? Then keep reading.
1. The Way You Look
When you slouch you are letting your guts hang out and so, you will look heavier than you actually are and when you stand up straight properly then you are pulling yourself up and so, you look thinner. It’s about how you look based on how you stand. The same goes for your sitting posture.
2. Build Strength
Keep practicing to stand straight and observe how you build muscle. The core muscles in your abdomen and your back will slowly strengthen. Initially, you have to work hard especially if you slouch a lot but slowly it will become natural.
3. Utilize More Calories
A person who has more lean mass always spends more calories than a person who has more fat. So, once you have some muscle, with the help of your posture, you will slowly increase the number of calories you spend every day. And you know that spending more calories means losing weight. So, you can say this is an addition to your workouts and diets.
4. You will Breathe Better
Do you know that when you stand up straight you breathe better than when you slouch? Breathing better means more oxygen supply to your body organs which will result in better metabolism. An improved metabolism will always help you burn more calories. So, start taking deep breaths standing straight or sitting straight.
How To Improve Your Posture?
Now that you know the reasons why better posture helps in weight loss, the question is how to improve your posture. I know it is difficult to explain this through writings as every person is different from another and we can’t give same instructions to everyone but still, there are few tips that will help you improve your posture.
Your Standing Posture
- When you stand, make sure you feel all the weight going down into the Earth through your feet. Even when you walk to make sure your steps move neither slow nor fast to maintain the posture. Usually, the posture goes bad for fast walkers. So, go slow initially.
- While standing makes sure your spine always stays straight and never slouch there.
- Next, you need to concentrate on your shoulders. This is where many slouch; keep them straight by widening your chest. Even though your spinal cord is straight, what’s the use if your shoulders are slouching? By just following this one step, your spine will automatically go straight.
- Next is your head. Your neck should stay straight and this depends on your head position. We have seen many who keep looking downwards resulting in the slight bend at the neck. Always look forward unless required; this will boost your confidence levels too. The more you look down the more you will feel low. Keeping your sight forward will help you in this. It’s useless if you do not follow the previous tips and follow this alone. Your overall posture should be straight.
Your Sitting Posture
- Most of the steps are same for sitting as the standing posture. However, your weight doesn’t fall on your feet but on the butt.
- Keep your spinal cord straight as usual.
- The same way keep your neck straight and head up so that you always look forward. However, when you are sitting in front of a system or laptop it is not always possible. For this, make sure to place your laptop at some height in front of your eyes such a way that you don’t have to bend your neck much.
- There are people who move their head slightly forward while working on the system. Your system might be slightly low compared to your eyesight but in that case, you still maintain your neck alignment with your spinal cord. Try not to lower your head as much as possible and just move your sight instead. This helps a lot.
- While sitting, it’s important to check the height of the chair you are sitting on, especially if you are sitting for long hours. Your knees should fold at an angle of 90 degrees so that your feet fall straight on the floor.
- Usually, it is harder to sit straight than to stand straight. Many get pain in the back and spinal cord. No need to push hard on yourself. Whenever you feel the pain, relax slightly but without slouching too much as you always do. Stand for some time and then within a minute go back to the posture.
These were few tips that can help you improve your posture. If you are already habituated to slouching a lot then you may find it difficult to follow these tips but slowly you will get habituated to it.
