Calories burned during Bikram Yoga?

Who cares if it's frowned upon?! You're paying money for the class and if you want to know how much effort your heart is putting into it, what's the problem? I say wear it, turn it upside down and don't check it during class. It's not bothering anyone.

Actually, it DOES bother people if it's like mine and beeps if my heart rate isn't high enough. It's frowned upon for a reason and if I am going to pay $15/class I want to be able to focus and not hear "beep....beep beep...beep".

Edit: Sorry, that sounded rude and it wasn't meant to!

To the original poster, I've heard something along the lines of 1200cal as well. I say, just go and enjoy your class! I miss living in a city with a Bikram's Yoga College of India! When I lived in Vancouver I went every day and even considered doing the training in LA!!!

FYI, it's almost impossible to burn that many calories. I had a real wake-up call when I got my BodyBugg and realized my 1,200-calorie sessions of Turbo Kick were more like 700-calorie workouts. That made a LOT more sense considering I was eating for that and now I've lost weight. (Before I was just maintaining.)

Wear your HRM if you want; people can get over it. As long as it doesn't beep, it's fine. My HRM could be silenced in the setup too. Check your manual to make sure.

Update: I wore my Body Bug at this mornings Bikram and it reported only burning roughly 180 for a 90 min Bikram class. Yes, it still feels good but I do need to know these things for my calorie management. I mean, otherwise, why are we all signing on to myfitnesspal.com daily, right?

So there you have it, folks. Don't be fooled by the high calorie burning reports. Double check with your HRM.

Happy Holidays, all.

While I think many yoga enthusiasts wildly overestimate the calories burned during their classes, 180 for 90 min sounds too low. At your weight, that's close to your BMR. My understanding is that BodyBuggs don't really do a good job with exercise, esp if the exercise is in a relatively stationary position.

I don't think it makes that much difference since yoga, for all of its benefits, is not a big calorie burner. Personally, I would consider it casual activity and not count it at all--but I have pretty strict standards for what I consider "exercise activity".

Glad you found Bikram! I have been a fan of it for a couple years now. I always log 500 to 600 for my sessions, depending on how hard I feel I worked, if I sat out more poses than usual, etc. 180 is WAY to low for 90 mins of that much exertion and sweating. You can just feel your heart pumping during class! The other reason I know that it has to be higher than 180 ( I don't wear a monitor in class) is because on my class days I am STARVING! I know my body burned calories because it is crying for food! :laugh: I burn 180 on the treadmill and don't get that same result. The only exercise I do that burns 500 or more calories is Bikram and I can tell on the days that I burn those calories. If you feel safer about it, you can still log the lower number, but I would caution you that you may not be eating back all of the exercise calories you burn.

Another note: Bikram was designed as total body wellness. The poses were designed specifically to block blood flow for a very short amount of time then release it to increase the function of every system of your body, flushing out toxins that have built up in the system and those that are released from muscles during the poses. This is very different than the typical exercise of more aerobic activity, which is what heart rate monitors were based on. Even though it may not be registering on your body bug, have faith that your body is working in ways that may not register with normal measurement methods, but nonetheless, it is working. Detoxing burns calories just like running does.

Enjoy the yoga! Namaste :happy:

Yoga is great for weight loss . . .but not for the reasons you might think.

In Bikram Yoga (I am a certified Bikram yoga instructor and hold certs in several other yoga modalities as well), you are doing static poses, holding them for a relatively short duration in an extremely hot room. The weight you are losing is mostly water weight from sweating profusely. You are getting weight bearing exercise, core work, muscle toning and a big de-stressor, but you are not really burning calories. The 180-200 cals burned for 90 minutes sounds about right to me. Remember in the last 30 minutes of the class, you are essentially lying on the floor and the movement is very minimal. No big calorie burn there and don't let the crazy hot temperature fool you into thinking that there is anything cardio/fat burning going on!

That doesn't mean yoga isn't an awesome tool for weight loss however. It is excellent regulator of the endocrine system. And yoga absolute bludgeons stress, very effectively, and any scientist will tell you that stress makes you fat. Read up on how raised levels of cortisol production, brought on by increased stress and linked to the adrenal glands, makes it very hard to manage weight.

Yoga also makes you more aware. Aware of your body. Aware of how you are nourishing yourself. How you feel about yourself. What you are putting in your mouth and why. It raises general consciousness and that is a huge help in weight loss. Awareness is the first step in any behavioral modification program and yoga is brilliant for that.

So, walk, run, swim, lift weights AND do yoga. Yoga three times a week will change your life and your body. And it'll make you a nicer person, to boot! Namaste and good luck everyone!

While I think many yoga enthusiasts wildly overestimate the calories burned during their classes, 180 for 90 min sounds too low. At your weight, that's close to your BMR. My understanding is that BodyBuggs don't really do a good job with exercise, esp if the exercise is in a relatively stationary position.

I don't think it makes that much difference since yoga, for all of its benefits, is not a big calorie burner. Personally, I would consider it casual activity and not count it at all--but I have pretty strict standards for what I consider "exercise activity".

Bikram Yoga isn't your typical yoga classes you normally see on tv - the room temperature is held at 105F with a humidity around 40%. Just being in the room & not doing anything for 90 minutes would make you burn a few calories.

I've been putting 600-650 cals burned during my sessions. I know it'll vary with everyone, but I knew 1000+ seemed too high (which is what some estimates were). I may get a Polar HRM to get a better number.

While I don't dispute that Bikram is intense, you can't always equate sweat with calories burned. Consider this: a runner, early morning outside, in winter, will sweat a lot less than than a runner outside at noon in August.

So "Just being in the room & not doing anything for 90 minutes" will make you SWEAT a lot, but that MAY not equate actual calorie burn.

Excellent post, Yogadevi! Thanks for the expert opinion.

Cheers.
-J

+1 Thank you!

Yes. Thank you! I've been trying to figure this out. I just started Bikram this week and I've been putting it in at 600 calories based on seeing things online suggesting one burns anywhere from 500-1200+ calories during a Bikram session. Now I realize I need to bump it down.

Sorry about bumping up an old thread, but i've attended two classes so far and burned 820/890 calories respectively. I am 5'1.5" and weigh about 148.6 pounds. I wore a Polar HRM to class. I was definitely expecting to burn a lot lesser. Anyone else who wears an HRM ?

I burn about 450-600 in a hot yoga class. I also wore my HRM.