People have been asking me the seemingly rather simple question, "Will Yoga help me lose weight?" Ahhh...but the answer is not so straight forward because losing weight is different for everyone, depending on your genetic make-up, your habits, your diet, your personal willpower, and your lifestyle.
Yoga focuses on having mind/body awareness. When you bring your attention inward, you may notice a shift in your perspective about how you treat your body and what you put into it as fuel. Doing yoga regularly can inspire you to take care of yourself as you become more aware of your physical and mental states. For this reason, some people believe that having a daily yoga practice results in weight loss.
Exercising frequently is the key to losing weight and maintaining your weight once the extra pounds are gone. This goes hand-in-hand with eating a healthy diet filled with fruits, veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains. This kind of diet not only will help contribute to losing weight, but it will give you enough energy to workout. It's like a cycle.
In order to lose weight, you need to burn calories, right? Like anything physical, doing yoga can help you achieve that goal, but it depends on what style of yoga you choose. You want to choose vigorous Power, Vinyasa, or Ashtanga classes. These classes move quickly, and can really get your heart pumping, which can result in greater calorie burn than slower-moving gentle yoga classes.
Hour and a half classes like these should be done at least 3-5 times a week to see weight loss results. This consistency will help you strengthen, lengthen, and tone your muscles.
Want to know if HOT yoga will help you burn more calories? Then read more
Really hot yoga classes such as Bikram will not help you to lose weight, they'll only cause you to sweat profusely, so you'll lose water weight. As soon as you drink water to re-hydrate yourself, you'll gain that water weight right back.
Yoga is a wonderful total body workout and great for strength training, and it can help you gradually lose weight, but in order to lose weight quicker, you may want to supplement your exercise routine with some days of cardio such as brisk walking, biking, or running. Doing cardio at least 3 times a week will help you burn more calories.
Unfortunately there is no one answer for everyone, and losing weight is not an easy task. It takes discipline, consistency, and a total attitude and lifestyle change. It's all about eating healthy and staying active every day.
Fit's Tips: If you're looking too get started with yoga, try this pose called Standing Half-Bound Lotus. Have someone take your picture and post it it's Fit's Group called It's A Stretch. Have fun!!
Dunelm Mill
Aftershock
Buffalo
I think the standing halfbound lotus pose would be intimidating for a beginner... I've been doing lyengar yoga for over a year now and when I first started I doubt I'd be able to do that properly. I just wouldn't want someone new to yoga to be turned off by a complicated balancing pose, yoga is accessible to everyone and i recommend it to everyone =).
1You're right muffinmaggie - Half-Bound Lotus is a hard pose and that's why I show 3 different variations. so you can start at the easiest and then work your way up. Thanks for looking out for the newbies
It's funny, but for some people, if yoga poses looked too easy, they'd be turned off. And for others, if the poses look to hard, they're turned off. I guess it depends on the person.
2It's funny -- while I know yoga isn't as great a calorie burning as running, I switched from all running to all power yoga about 3 months ago, going about 6x a week. I didn't lose weight (nor did I really want to) but I did tone up TONS and now have almost zero cellulite on the back of my legs and butt.
3Those of you that do practice yoga regularly, how do you choose to practice? At home with a book, DVD, or in a classroom setting?
I'm taking steps to incorporate yoga into my life, and am just curious. We'll be moving soon and I'm wondering if doing it at home with a book or DVD will be as good, since I probably won't have access to too many classes where I'm headed.
4Kelly, for whatever reason, going to the studio (even though they are pricey) has made all the difference in the world. I guess I just tend not to push myself as hard if I am doing it on my own. It's also helpful to have someone else watch your alignment when you get tired (and hence sloppy). If you're conscientious about your practice and not naturally lazy (like me), then you should be good with a DVD in my opinion!
5Bikram yoga won't help you lose weight?
6Guess you've never done it..I don't know what comes of, water weight or fat but it comes off and comes off fast. (and stays off). Not only do you sweat out all the toxins, tone up and get rid of cellulite, bikram is also designed to increase your metabolism so you after doing it regularly you can safely skip a month without the pounds coming back.
Without any special diet (except never eating junkfood/fried/chinese) or other exercise, going from 145 to 125 in half a year was almost painless!
stacyB - how long have you been going for? how many times a week did you do it? gotta get rid of that cellulite lol
7Hello, I wanted to let readers know that you will lose FAT, not just water weight from Bikram Yoga. I have struggled with my weight my entire life trying all the different tricks. But when I started to to do Bikram I lost 15 lbs in the first month without changing my diet, and it stayed off even a year after I quit going. I also lost those pockets of fat that are nearly impossible to get rid of.I have recently gone back, and I look just as good as I did a year ago. So, don't knock it till you try it sister, and all you readers, try it! Bikram was a miracle for me.
8Bikram burns fat! It's a serious cardio work out, you burn 500-800 calories/session depending on your effort, weight, size, etc. Obviously you gotta watch what you eat after/before. Eat healthy, nutritious food. I go 3x a week, sometimes 4x. It's super addictive. Been doing it for 1 year. 90 minutes of Bikram yoga = 9 miles of jogging. Oh, not to mention that it tones my abs, arms, back, chest, and many more. Try it! I started to see results around my 12th session. Good luck!
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