Is Yoga Helpful For Weight Loss?
Sometimes when practicing yoga, you become so immersed in the practice you lose sight of the benefits that you are gaining from your practice. We know that yoga assists in our flexibility and mindfulness, but is yoga helpful for weight loss?
Yoga is an excellent form of exercise for weight loss. It can help improve your blood flow, build muscle strength, boost your heart and lung health, and lower your stress levels. Scientific research indicates yoga offers a diverse behavioral, physical, and psychosocial effect, making “it a useful tool for weight loss.” (Ross, et al., 2016).
In this article, I’m going to emphasize the types of yoga, postures, and how often you will need to practice in order for you to attain significant weight loss.
More importantly, I’m going to explain why yoga is more effective in sustaining your weight loss from other forms of exercise.
Types of yoga for weight loss
It is important to highlight and differentiate the different types of yoga that would propel weight loss.
By doing this, it will assist in finding a suitable practice that works best for you, and your needs.
Without question, there are more active forms of yoga that are based on the foundation of intensity.
Styles like ashtanga, vinyasa, and power flow inherently help with the burning of the calories needed for weight loss.
The burning of calories becomes exponentially higher once the heat is cranked up.
Hot yoga, in essence, is bringing the active forms of yoga into the furnace. With the constant flow of movements, it will unequivocally help your body melt away the calories.
In respect to hot yoga, if you do not have access to a studio there are options to crank up the heat on your practice.
From my personal experience, on hot summer days, I will practice yoga outside, and embrace the natural heat from the sun.
Obviously, this may not be an option for everyone because the sun is not a guarantee.
Nonetheless, I’ve been able to create a hot yoga environment in my home. I will often dawn layers, and a beanie, while cranking the heat on in my room.
If you’re feeling that may not be enough, I’d suggest purchasing a small inexpensive plug-in heater just as a way of adding more heat to your practice.
Interestingly, restorative yoga, the slow, gentle practice, which involves long passive holds has garnered evidence, which supports that weight loss can be ignited through even a passive, more gentle practice.
What is remarkable is the diverse types of yoga that can have an impact on weight loss.
However, it is important to choose the style of yoga that will help you achieve your weight loss goal.
Wanna know more? 👉 Here we discuss if exercise is more effective than eating healthy for weight loss.
How often should I practice yoga to lose weight?
This is even more of a daunting question than which type of yoga to practice because the answer varies due to the uniqueness of each individual.
Although, when using yoga as a technique for weight loss it is imperative that the practice must become habituated, and fortified through routine.
So, in other words, practice yoga as much as you can.
Now, this does not mean that you have to do hot yoga seven times a week for a 90-minute session.
As alluded to earlier, restorative or yin yoga can also assist in weight loss.
Devise a weekly routine where you diversify the styles of yoga you practice.
For instance, have three to five days where you dedicate your practice to power vinyasa flow, and use the remaining days to practice a more restorative yoga, such as yin.
Here’s a disclaimer for all you beginners: start slow, and build on your incremental success. I know this is the hardest part, the ability to stay patient and build a habit with your practice.
Once, you have established yoga as a habit you’ll become more confident, which will raise your self-esteem.
This will take time, but once you’re into week three of your yogic venture you’ll be craving the next time you can practice.
Why does yoga sustain weight loss over other exercises?
As I postured earlier, yoga has an innate formula that perpetuates weight loss, which is inherently more effective than going to the gym and cardio.
This is done by, of course, the physical activity that was touched on in the previous sections, AND by the behavioral changes.
What does this mean?
Due to yoga’s predilection to turning your attention inwards, we become more in tune with your body.
This bolster’s one’s consciousness to act in a way that brings compassion towards the body’s health.
In a study published in 2016, found that yoga:
may offer diverse psychological, physical, and social effects that may make it a useful tool for healthy, sustained weight loss.
The participants reported “less stress eating, reduced appetite, fewer cravings, and a shift toward healthier, more mindful eating.”
Practicing yoga led to an authentic belief that weight loss would be easier to maintain.
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5 effective yoga poses for weight loss
I wanted to provide you with a variety of postures that have a focus on weight loss.
Each of the postures outlined will be supplemented with the benefits and a how-to.
But first, a great 20 minute Yoga workout for weight loss by Boho Beautiful. It is all about waking up your body from the inside out.
Through working with a combination of abdominal exercises, lower body toning exercises, cardio flow to stimulate your metabolism, and yoga postures that will wake up your digestive system allowing you to burn calories even after the class is completed.
1. Warrior I - Virabhadrasana
The benefits with Warrior I lie in its ability to tone your shoulders and thighs. You will find improved strength in those two areas.
Further, this posture opens your hips, groin, chest, and lungs.
Warrior I in essence strikes a resonation within the whole body.
How-to:
- The starting point for this posture is often in downward facing dog, with one leg swinging through your two hands and rising into the posture. Nonetheless, you can just start in this pose.
- Stand with your right foot a comfortable distance from your back-left foot. In Warrior I, you want that back foot at around 45 degrees.
- Your hips and shoulders are facing forward in line with the front foot.
- Inhale, and gently bend into your front knee, keeping your knee in front of your ankle.
- Bring the chest slightly in front of your hips.
- Arch your back, while simultaneously lifting your arms.
- Hold for 8-12 breaths before switching legs.
2. Boat Pose - Paripurna Navasana
Boat Pose assists weight loss by bringing focus into your core.
There will be a deep sensation within your abdominal and hip flexors.
This posture is also known for its stimulation of the intestines, which improves digestion.
How-to:
- Begin with sitting on your mat with your legs straight pressing together.
- Press your hands into the mat directly beside your hips.
- Raise your legs into a 45-degree angle, this should be done in tandem with your arms, which will be parallel to the mat.
- You should find balance on the lower part of your tailbone, also known as your sitting bones.
- Hold the posture for 10 breaths before lowering. Try doing this for 4-6 sets.
3. Chair Pose – Utkatasana
Chair pose brings tone to the leg muscles by bringing strength into the hip flexors, calves, and back.
It also stretches the chest and shoulders out for a full-body engagement.
How-to:
- Start with your feet just slightly in from hip distance
- Inhale, while straightening your arms overhead, palms facing inward, with your triceps next to your ears.
- Exhale, bend into your knees, push your glutes back, and easing into a chair-like pose.
- Stay in chair pose for 8-12 breaths.
4. Superman – Viparita Shalabhasana
Superman brings strength and flexibility to your chest, shoulders, arms, legs, and glutes.
This posture places focus on toning the abdomen and lower back.
How-to:
- Lie on your front side with legs together, forehead on mat, arms palm down in front of you
- Inhale, squeeze your abs and glutes, lift your arms and legs up – upper and lower extremities off the ground.
- Hold for 5-8 breaths.
5. Plank Pose – Kumbhakasana
Plank pose engages the core of the body – chest, abdomen, and lower back.
Moreover, it brings strength to the arms and shoulders.
How-to:
- Start in downward-facing dog.
- Inhale, drawing your torso forward with your arms perpendicular.
- Find yourself directly over your wrists, core parallel to your mat.
- Legs should be straight, with the weight being pressed into your toes.
- Keep head straight
- Hold for 5 breaths. Try doing 5 sets of 5 breaths.
Wrap-Up
We can recognize that yoga can be used as a method for weight loss.
It uses a nuanced methodology by engaging your entire body, strengthening and toning the areas where unwanted weight may reside.
It also encourages you to become more conscious and aware of your body. This is one of the nuances that other forms of exercise may not inspire.
There becomes a change not only in your body but behavior, which helps with maintaining the weight loss that you’ve desired.
Now, get out there and try some of those postures in your practice, build that confidence not only in your practice, but in your life!
If you want to read more about this you should read about 👉 What makes a weight loss Yoga retreat more effective than a regular yoga session?
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