Shifting to Yoga is a mind shift, but it can also help shift weight. While a certain amount of calories are burned during a yoga session, especially power yoga, Bikram, or other yoga practices that involve cardio, the experts say traditional Yoga can help you achieve weight goals while reducing stress and strengthening muscles.
In their Yoga in the Management of Overweight and Obesity review, Adam M. Berstein, MD ScD et al found that energy expenditure, more exercise because of reduced back and joint pain, heightened mindfulness, less stress, and a better mood contributed to weight loss and by connecting with their bodies, yogis also developed a deeper connection to eating habits and satiety.
Similarly, in a study of Yoga That Promote(s) Weight Loss, Ross A. et al. found that a shift to healthier eating combined with physical and psychological changes and the impact of the yoga community contributed to weight loss and the belief was that the yoga weight loss experience was different to past weight loss experiences.
Yoga And Mindful Eating
Although Yoga strengthens muscles when holding a particular posture for an extended period of time, Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, PhD, a Boston-based associate professor of medicine, says that you are connecting with how your body feels at the same time. Yogis monitor their breath and pay attention to what their mind and body tells them, which is a form of mindfulness.
Practicing mindfulness in yoga sessions can extend to practicing mindful eating habits. Khalsa said mindful eating means recognizing hunger cues and limiting binge eating, and with practice, yogis will be attracted to foods that make them feel fueled and energized and be disinclined to choose food with adverse effects, such as leaving them feeling sluggish or bloated.
These behaviors help you stick with a diet or weight loss eating plan or simply make healthier food choices.
Yoga has been associated with changes in eating behavior, including adding more fresh fruit vegetables, whole grains, and soy-based products, and cutting back on dietary fat. According to Khalsa, “It’s about listening to your body’s cues.”
Yoga To Manage Stress That Leads To Weight Gain
Unmanaged, chronic stress is one of the main reasons for weight gain but Yoga can help lower these stress levels.
Breathwork and meditation contribute to boosting energy, improving mood, and lowering stress levels, and stress causes cortisol to rise, resulting in stress-eating, and trouble sleeping, making weight loss difficult.
Deep breathing helps unwind stress and reverse some of these effects. Experts say there are physiological changes taking place in the body in response to breathing exercises, and mindfulness exercises reduce the amount of cortisol produced.
Yoga For Building Muscle
Yoga helps with weight maintenance and weight loss by building muscle mass without lifting iron in a gym. In Yoga, our own body weight is used for resistance training, and the whole body works to keep you in balance, giving every part a workout.
In a plank pose, for example, you use the shoulders, core, hips, and leg muscles to keep your body in the asana. And if you come out of a plank with a Downward-Facing Dog pose, another set of muscles in your forearms, shoulders, and back is activated. It’s this muscle-building that burns calories.
One study, assessing 30 trials, found that Yoga could reduce body mass index (BMI) in people who are overweight or obese, and waist-hip ratio in healthy adults.
Another concluded that even slower, restorative yoga classes improved fasting glucose levels in overweight or obese people by improving metabolic health.
Yoga becomes a lifestyle change and can be incorporated into weight loss goals.
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Katy has been teaching yoga and meditation since 2010, Katy is also a certified life coach.
