Has anyone lost a lot of weight doing yoga?

Hot yoga can get your HR up and burn some major calories.

I don't care what the haters say. It's true for me.

When I go out in 90 degree heat and mow my lawn it increases my HR too - I don't necessarily think it's doing much for me fitness wise (although it is better than sitting on the couch). There is definitely no hating on Yoga - it's great stuff - I just think it needs to be part of an overall fitness program that incorporates strength and cardio.

I am currently eating a Low GI diet for health reasons and Hatha Yoga is my main type of exercise. So far I have lost 17lbs in 5 weeks, although I do have a long way to go. At times I do also walk and belly dance and use the fitness ball and band, but mainly I do Yoga. I love my Yoga practices, all of which I do at home 5 days a week.

Thanks for this question and advice. Basically, you can do yoga, but you have to make sure to mix in cardio and strength along with it. Also, eat right as well!

BUT LOSING A LOT OF WEIGHT IS GOING TO COME FROM YOUR DIET. Not from cardio, not from yoga, not from lifting. It all starts and ends at the kitchen table. Get your intake right, and then you can pick whatever physical activity you want to sculpt your body.

QFT

diet is what gets you slim. exercise gets you fit. it all depends on the body you want. do you want to look like a swimmer? hit the pool. do you want to look like a runner?? start running and etc etc.

so much of the fitness side of things is an experiment. you need to go and try something for a few weeks, preferably for a month or more. go slow. so many people want to try something and then over do it, such as running 6 days a week, with no prior experience.

personally, i like yoga. i go to a power yoga twice a month or so, for active rest from my regular routine.

Go to You tube and type in

Man-Barely-Able-to-Stand-on-his-Own-Does-the-Unthinkable-Amazing-

You won't regret it.

Gah. Someone posted him on FB a few days ago. Made me cry. He is a total inspiration!

omg YES!! i cried.

here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU0BzZlwU4o

I've done yoga on and off for 20 years. For the last 5 weeks Ive been doing a 30 minute power yoga video 5 times a weeks and a little extra exercise on the side. I feel I may have thinned out in a few key areas, but mostly just "feel better." It definitely has not been the answer to my weight loss goals, but I think in general it is a good thing and will continue with it.

BUT LOSING A LOT OF WEIGHT IS GOING TO COME FROM YOUR DIET. Not from cardio, not from yoga, not from lifting. It all starts and ends at the kitchen table. Get your intake right, and then you can pick whatever physical activity you want to sculpt your body.

QFT

diet is what gets you slim. exercise gets you fit. it all depends on the body you want. do you want to look like a swimmer? hit the pool. do you want to look like a runner?? start running and etc etc.

so much of the fitness side of things is an experiment. you need to go and try something for a few weeks, preferably for a month or more. go slow. so many people want to try something and then over do it, such as running 6 days a week, with no prior experience.

personally, i like yoga. i go to a power yoga twice a month or so, for active rest from my regular routine.

^^Yes!!

In addition I would like to add, depends on the kind of yoga you are doing. People talk yoga as it's one type. It's like combining walking/jogging/running. Someone says "i walk but i don't lose weight." Another posts "I run and I have seen improvements." Same thing with yoga. What kind of yoga are you doing?

Hatha yoga is the slower of the yoga's and is meant for beginners to learn the practice of yoga. It may not get your HR up (it could) but it's about focusing on learning the breathing and postures. Once you feel comfortable with the postures, move up to a power or flow class (ashtanga or vinyasa). This is where your HR can go up and you can get into your fat burning zone. I did a power class and wore a HR monitor and I was up to 70% of my max HR. This style is continous movement, vinyasa more than ashtanga will really get you moving and burning. Great for strength, flexibility and cardio.

Now bikram is actually a slow practice. You sweat a lot and lose water. You can probably walk out of class and see weight loss but drink some water and you get it back. It doesn't burn as many calories as you would think. Vinyasa challenges you more, moves faster and will burn more calories. Just look it up. Compare the calories burned on this calculator. It's pretty accurate based on what my HR monitor has told me about me: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc

You can get toned doing yoga, you can lose weight as well. It can be a cardio workout but you have to find the right class for you. But true what others have said, eat right first. If all you ever want to do is yoga, that is okay too. You can lose weight.

The P90 yoga, along with the MTV power yoga, are the toughest workouts in my routine and leave me tired, sore, and with serious appreciation for the people that do it on the regular. I know some women whose only physical fitness is a bikram class down the street from me, and they look F'n AMAZING. Absolutely, you can use yoga to get in and stay in shape.

BUT LOSING A LOT OF WEIGHT IS GOING TO COME FROM YOUR DIET. Not from cardio, not from yoga, not from lifting. It all starts and ends at the kitchen table. Get your intake right, and then you can pick whatever physical activity you want to sculpt your body.

I couldn't agree with this more.

Great question, I'm anxious to hear what everyone says also. I am new to weight lifting but really enjoy the challenge. Cardio is miserably boring. I'd like to try yoga or pilates. Just figured out we have a Yoga thing on the Wii Fit so maybe I can learn some basics first.

I guess you havent seen the other posts like this in the past that usually wind up like this:





ETA: The search function is very useful when inquiring about certain topics.....

Cardio Cardio Cardio.....do you use an HRM? How do i know I am getting the right calorie burn if I dont? Should I do HIIT? Should I lift heavy? Is 50lbs heavy? How many reps should I do? Which exercises? Should I do abs? Does yoga work my abs? How about nutella? Should I eat that within 1 hour after my yoga? I wasnt sure if I should eat right after because I want to make sure I eat my 6 small meals a day to keep my metabolism fire stoked. Ive also cut out all bad foods cause I want to eat clean. Yayy

YES!! You absolutely can lose weight and tone muscle from doing yoga. What matters is the TYPE of yoga you are doing. While all yoga is beneficial, creating a better mind/body awareness, teaching proper breathe work, and to an extent working and stretching muscles, you need to be doing POWER YOGA to really see results. You are not going to be torching calories sitting in a slow moving hatha class, or chanting kirtan (don't get me wrong both of these things have ample benefits, but weight loss is not one).

In a power flow class you can burn up to 350 calories in 45 minutes. Most classes run 1.5 hrs. That's 700 calories a class (this is on the higher end, how many calories burned really depends on your metabolism and what shape you're in). You combine that with a calorie deficit, high nutrient diet, you're going to lose weight, just as much as you would from running or any other cardio activity.

There is another great benefit to doing an hour and a half of yoga vs the same amount of time doing straight cardio...you are not only getting your heart rate up and SWEATING you are also building strength. More lean muscle mass = more calories burned during daily activities, and an overall better metabolism.

Power yoga is incredibly challenging. When I first started out I could barely lift my arms/walk for the first couple of days after the class.For beginners I would recommend doing one day of power yoga, followed by two days of rest, eventually moving to one day on one day off, and finally doing 5-6 days a week with one or two days rest. This is very challenging but you will get hooked. Yoga is FUN and it totally puts you in touch with your body. I've never felt so comfortable (or looked so good) in my own skin than when I was regularly practicing yoga.

Personally, I hate hot yoga. I sweat like a pig, but I never really know if that sweat is coming from me burning calories, or because the room is so damn hot. The heat exhausts me way earlier than I would normally be into my usual yoga routine, and so I don't work as hard. You are also at risk for injury from over extension, and it can be tough on joints.

If you want results, do an hour and a half power yoga class 3-5 times per week, with a low cal, high nutrient diet. You will absolutely lose weight. I challenge any gym junkie, cardio nut, or weight lifter to try a 90 min power yoga class and tell me they didn't sweat! Of course if you are trying to build up huge bulky muscles, yoga is not the way to go. You are not lifting weights, you use your own body weight instead, but if you're looking to increase strength and tone, power yoga is the way to go!

I have the privilege of going to Bryan Kest's power yoga studio in Santa Monica. For those of you not the area I believe he has a dvd. If you just check google though nearly all major cities have power yoga classes. Ashtanga is another great form of yoga, which power yoga developed from. Ashtanga is also a great workout, but much more disciplined and traditional than power yoga.

Sorry I know this has been long, but power yoga totally changed my body and my life, so I wanted to share the benefits. I have totally fallen off track after losing my father last year. I fell into an extreme depression and completely abandoned my mat. I've gained 25 lbs, developed a sluggish metabolism and lost an incredible amount of strength. Today is January 1st, a new year, and the first day of me going back to yoga and getting back control over my life, so I felt inspired to share

If I did it once before, I can do it again...and so can you!

Namaste