How important is high-calorie burn? Calling all yogis

mrst17

So I want to talk about exercise.

Last fall, I decided I was going to actually work out more. I took cardio classes and worked out 3-4 days a week for an hour a day. I gained like 5 pounds in three months, even though I was still watching my calories. And it couldn't have all been muscle gain. My pants were tighter.

When January came around, I decided to go another route. I stopped exercising, pretty much entirely, and lost 8 pounds in one month. I felt good about kick-starting my weight loss, but I also felt, well, pretty lazy.

I participate in activities that keep me dancing and active in the summer, and this summer with my dancing and some yoga I lost quite a bit of weight (for me).

Now that summer is over, I've mostly been doing yoga everyday for like a half hour. Sometimes I do an intense yoga session and sometimes a light one, depending on how I feel. Sometimes I do fast paced yoga that makes me sweat and gives me good cardio, other times I do slower yoga that builds muscle, and still other times I do slow yoga that just stretches me out really well.

My thing is this: Yoga doesn't burn as many calories as most other exercise. Yet, yoga puts me in a much better mental place and my overall well being benefits from this. I HATE the notion of "going to work out". With yoga, or dance, or only a handful of other activities—I actually have fun. I don't see it as a workout, I see it as an activity that benefits more than just my waistline. I look forward to doing it. I see it as an activity that I actually want to be good at. I don't feel the same way about running or lifting weights.

Obviously, it's better to move than not move, but sometimes I feel like if I really want to lose weight, I should suck it up and do those boring, long runs (no offense to people who like to run). On the other hand, I remember when I was working my butt off last fall, I gained weight.

Have other people experienced weight gain when they started exercising harder?
Should I be forcing myself to do a higher intensity cardio in addition to my yoga?
How much impact will my yoga practice alone have on my exercise and weight loss goals?

TeaBea

Diet is for weight loss. Exercise is for fitness. 100% of your calorie deficit can come from cutting portions. You don't HAVE to exercise. By just cutting portions, you have to be really dilligent with measuring.

Why would you WANT to exercise?

1. Resistance training while on a calorie deficit helps you maintain muscle mass. Most people cannot gain muscle while dieting.

2. Regular exercise is good for you physically and mentally. Cardio for endurance and your heart / resistance for strength & bones / yoga for mental health, balance & flexibility.

3. Exercise (regular movement) does burn calories .... this will make maintenance easier.

I think of exercise as a lifestyle change too. I do the amount of exercise I plan on doing for the rest of my life. If you enjoy yoga then that's what you should do. I have never been able to get any kind of cardio effect from yoga, but I'm not terrible athletic either. Dance can be really good cardio. Keep trying different types of exercise from time to time.

sillygoosie

What have your results been so far? It sounds like yoga is making you feel great so why question it? I personally couldn't only do yoga but if it's working for you then go for it. I would never recommend cutting out all your exercise because...well duh. Why would you do that? Don't make it all about weight loss. Think about doing good things for your body. Exercise doesn't have to be a long, boring run. The best workout is the one you enjoy and will stick to.

trogalicious

Diet is for weight loss. Exercise is for fitness. 100% of your calorie deficit can come from cutting portions. You don't HAVE to exercise. By just cutting portions, you have to be really dilligent with measuring.

Why would you WANT to exercise?

1. Resistance training while on a calorie deficit helps you maintain muscle mass. Most people cannot gain muscle while dieting.

2. Regular exercise is good for you physically and mentally. Cardio for endurance and your heart / resistance for strength & bones / yoga for mental health, balance & flexibility.

3. Exercise (regular movement) does burn calories .... this will make maintenance easier.

I think of exercise as a lifestyle change too. I do the amount of exercise I plan on doing for the rest of my life. If you enjoy yoga then that's what you should do. I have never been able to get any kind of cardio effect from yoga, but I'm not terrible athletic either. Dance can be really good cardio. Keep trying different types of exercise from time to time.

/thread.

RawIndian

Wow, you are having the same problem as mine.

My cardio workouts does not appear to help with my weight (& waistline) loss so I have pretty much stopped doing them. I have lost lbs as well as inches with yoga. The yoga I do is physically demanding so I sense a larger impact around my waist.

Personally I love yoga and it is such a bliss at the end of every session in the morning. I also own a elliptical machine which I do enjoy doing cardio but not as much as yoga.

For diet I follow about 80% of the Eat to Live diet by Dr. Fuhrman. So far I am pleased with my progress on weight loss as well as waistline loss.

However I may look at starting a cardio session based on the results of my blood work from annual physical. But right now I am perfectly at peace with my yoga.

Pinkranger626

The only thing that I would suggest would be to add in strength training two to three times a week. But I recommend this to everyone. Yoga is awesome for core strength, balance and flexibility, you can strengthen your muscles a good deal just doing yoga. Where it is lacking is the bone density part. Because it's so low impact to no impact you miss out on the piece that the other forms of exercise like running and weight lifting hit: building bone density. I did a little peeping on your profile and I'd say now is the time that you should be acting, ESPECIALLY if osteopenia and/or osteoporosis run in your family. Adding in weight training 2-3 times a week would help you in the bone density department as well as talking to your doctor if it does run in your family, your doctor can recommend whether you should be taking supplements or not if it does.

it also depends on what your goals are, if it's strictly weight loss and yoga is doing the trick then yes continue! For me I like to have the full balance: cardiovascular and pulmonary fitness, strength, balance and flexibility, and proper nutrition. When I'm doing good in all the areas then that's when I feel the best, and yes I include yoga. It's GREAT for a lot of things! Granted you can get a small amount of cardio from the faster moving yogas but I would still recommend doing traditional cardio (running, elliptical, dancing, swimming, rowing etc.) to help develop good cardiovascular and pulmonary fitness (especially as a former smoker). If you're doing yoga a lot then maybe add in the other cardio 1-2 days a week.

As for your weight gain while working out hard, I always find that when I'm working out particularly hard I'm eating more than I think I am. It may have been that you were just consuming a couple hundred more calories than you thought you were.

1princesswarrior

I agree with workoutgrl.

If you are not weighing and measuring everything you eat it is easy for calories to sneak in there. Plus when you start running and/or lifting weights (and they do need to be heavy) you retain water because your muscles need it to recover so you should drink more of it so that could also explain some of your weight gain.

The first two weeks I started running I gained 4 lbs but it was all water weight, as soon as I started drinking more it came off almost over night.