Hot yoga and calories

amrita0286

Hi guys,

I've recently gotten into Moksha Yoga which is similar to bikram and also done in a hot room. It varies from 60 - 75 minutes depending on which workout I do.

I love it and it really gets my heart rate up there and I sweat like crazy.
I can really feel it working and have noticed my sides slimming down but I'm having trouble logging it into MFP.

Is there any good calorie counter? Would you guys suggest fitbit or would it not be safe to use it in the heated room?
I'm a bit confused. I want to be as accurate as possible when tracking down calories lost so I'm not going over when I eat some of my calories back.

Any suggestions or advice? If anyone else here takes hot yoga, how do you estimate calories burned?
Anyone using fitbit? or any other device to measure calories burned.

Thanks

jojopel

b

Crazibaker

I've been wondering this also.

Mad4282

I am wondering the same thing! I do a hot yoga class on fridays to supplement my turbofire and running schedule but I can't figure out how much I am really burning!

BECav0602

I wore my heart rate monitor once (a while ago) to hot yoga. I found I burned close to 500 calories in a 90 minute hot yoga class. Everyone is different tho (based on your fitness level and weight, height, etc.) To be safe I usually only log 60 minutes for a 90 minute class and figure any extra is just extra calories burned. Hope this helps. I have thought about wearing it again but I find I don't focus enough on the practice when i have it on so havent yet. It's my relaxing time!

monroe61

I would think an HRM would be fine regardless of the temp of the room. You figure you wear them hot and sweaty when you do your regular exercise. My husband wears his even when he runs in the 98 degree weather. Get one with a chest strap though, they are more accurate!!

dbarchus

Hi guys,

I've recently gotten into Moksha Yoga which is similar to bikram and also done in a hot room. It varies from 60 - 75 minutes depending on which workout I do.

I love it and it really gets my heart rate up there and I sweat like crazy.
I can really feel it working and have noticed my sides slimming down but I'm having trouble logging it into MFP.

Is there any good calorie counter? Would you guys suggest fitbit or would it not be safe to use it in the heated room?
I'm a bit confused. I want to be as accurate as possible when tracking down calories lost so I'm not going over when I eat some of my calories back.

Any suggestions or advice? If anyone else here takes hot yoga, how do you estimate calories burned?
Anyone using fitbit? or any other device to measure calories burned.

Thanks

I researched the 'net and am calculating an average of 4 calories / min for Power Yoga, which "should" be similar. It's basically a lot of vinyasas to get the blood pumping. I figure it's better to be too low than high, since I happily eat my calories back.

The fact that you are sweating in a hot room isn't really burning calories, it's pushing water out of your system....which can look like you're losing weight, but your body will soak it again with a few glasses of water. That's all good stuff and helps flush your system, just not really burning calories though.

In all reality, you'd lose more weight doing yoga in a cold room, since your body has to burn more calories to keep your core temprature up. However, that woudln't be fun OR comfortable.

amrita0286

I would think an HRM would be fine regardless of the temp of the room. You figure you wear them hot and sweaty when you do your regular exercise. My husband wears his even when he runs in the 98 degree weather. Get one with a chest strap though, they are more accurate!!

Which one do you think is good? I'm not too familiar with the chest strap ones

amrita0286

I wore my heart rate monitor once (a while ago) to hot yoga. I found I burned close to 500 calories in a 90 minute hot yoga class. Everyone is different tho (based on your fitness level and weight, height, etc.) To be safe I usually only log 60 minutes for a 90 minute class and figure any extra is just extra calories burned. Hope this helps. I have thought about wearing it again but I find I don't focus enough on the practice when i have it on so havent yet. It's my relaxing time!

Yah I figured it couldn't be as high as other people were saying on some yoga forums (like 700-1000 calories!?)
I usually log around 300-450.

BECav0602

I would think an HRM would be fine regardless of the temp of the room. You figure you wear them hot and sweaty when you do your regular exercise. My husband wears his even when he runs in the 98 degree weather. Get one with a chest strap though, they are more accurate!!

Which one do you think is good? I'm not too familiar with the chest strap ones

I have the Polar FT4 and love it. Does everything I need it to do. Also, you can find them on Amazon or overstock.com for a lot less than stores.

amrita0286

I would think an HRM would be fine regardless of the temp of the room. You figure you wear them hot and sweaty when you do your regular exercise. My husband wears his even when he runs in the 98 degree weather. Get one with a chest strap though, they are more accurate!!

Which one do you think is good? I'm not too familiar with the chest strap ones

I have the Polar FT4 and love it. Does everything I need it to do. Also, you can find them on Amazon or overstock.com for a lot less than stores.

Thanks I'll look into it

NoxDineen

I researched the 'net and am calculating an average of 4 calories / min for Power Yoga, which "should" be similar. It's basically a lot of vinyasas to get the blood pumping. I figure it's better to be too low than high, since I happily eat my calories back.

Moksha doesn't have a lot of vinyasa, it's more hatha-y, hold that pose. But I'm totally with you on aiming to under-count rather than over-count the calories.

I'll throw my HRM in my bag for tomorrow's Moksha class but last time I tried using it at hot yoga the contacts on my chest strap dried out from the heat before I was sweaty enough to keep them saturated. All the beeping while my heart rate was constantly lost and rediscovered was a terrible distraction from the yoga. I nearly threw the damn thing out the window.

Jynus

burns the same as regular yoga. which is not very much.

hot temps increase heart rate. But not calorie burn. heart rate is only really an accurate reflection of calorie burn when you're actively exercising in the cardio zone.