Can You Lose Weight with Yoga?

can you lose weight with yogaYoga is more popular than ever before. That said, you might be looking to jump on the bandwagon—and I don’t blame you. It offers many benefits for women. However, if you’re not in shape and you’re looking to lose weight, you might be wondering if yoga is right for you.

Will you lose weight with yoga? That’s a pretty straight forward question without a straightforward answer. A lot of people will say “YES!” either because they want you to sign up for their class or they are in love with their yoga routine. Others will disagree because a typical yoga routine doesn’t burn as many calories as cardio or strength training.

I’m going to answer, it depends.

 

How You Can Lose Weight with Yoga

You aren’t guaranteed to lose weight with yoga, but you can. In fact, there are plenty of great YouTube videos out there to guide you through the process. Here’s a great one from one of our favorites, Yoga with Adrienne.

Here are some things to consider when asking if you can lose weight with yoga:

  • If you aren’t currently doing any exercise, you could lose weight through yoga. After all, if your baseline is no exercise, adding any form is going to help somewhat. Something is better than nothing, right?
  • Yoga will get you in touch with your mind and body. As a result, you will likely become more conscious of what you eat. And quite frankly, changing your diet is the number one way you are going to see weight loss results.
  • Yoga can be a gateway drug. Once you see how good you feel while doing yoga, you will be more likely to get into more strenuous exercises. It’s also great for people who aren’t flexible or who have been injured because it can get your body loosened up so you can perform normal exercise pain free.
  • It does burn calories. And to lose weight, you want a caloric deficit.
  • Once a week isn’t going to do much for you. I’d recommend doing yoga a minimum of three times a week. If you implement other forms of exercise into your routine, you can do yoga post-workout or on off days. Or both.
  • Try different forms of yoga. Yoga like Bikram or DDP Yoga may increase the likelihood of weight loss.

Have you lost weight through yoga? Tell us about it in the replies!

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