From the article: Will doing yoga help me lose weight?
Have you tried yoga as part of your attempt to lose weight? Did it work or not? Share your story about yoga and weight loss, whether positive or negative. Readers Respond
Biggest Loser wii Yoga
- Believe it or not, I love the weight loss yoga with Bob on the wii Biggest Loser. You'll sweat up a storm and feel wonderful after he works you out.
- —Guest Love my wii
Vinyasa yoga has done wonders
- I have been practicing Vinyasa yoga and have lost 20 lbs in two months. I have 20 to go before I'll be at ideal weight, but I feel great! I get up at 5 AM, eager to do my workout every day. nothing else could keep me motivated; I will continue my practice.
- —Guest Raine
Healthy body, healthy mind.
- Regular practice of power/vinyasa yoga has helped me shed 10 lbs in one month, mostly because of the decreased stress, improved body function (eliminating toxins, increased circulation, etc), and the appetite control that Christine mentioned above. Yoga is a body balance program... if you are overweight it will help you lose lbs, if you are underweight it will help you gain lbs. Even if you lose no weight you are guaranteed to feel better about yourself.
- —Guest KB
Personal benefits
- For almost 40 years, I was invested in running and cycling (both included highly aerobic and anaerobic elements) in which weight gain was improbable, and maintaining weight was through consistently consuming massive amounts of high quality food. Through a meditation session 6 ½ years ago, I discovered a release to continue these sports, at which point I initiated my practice of Yoga. Conscious eating has helped to maintain body weight; with a 5-day per week practice, my body has bulked up dramatically, thus maintaining or even gaining weight–of good quality proportions. Along with cardiovascular benefits of my Yoga practice, I have added 3-4 walks per week of approximately 1 ½ hours. Aside from increases in strength and flexibility of areas of injury received from running/cycling crashes, a most significant benefit of my practice is a mental flexibility, which allows me to attain a personal silence within, facilitating my personal growth and healing potentials.
- —josephbd
younger, firmer, trimmer
- Yoga has helped me. It motivated me to lose weight. I was in all that spandex. It helped me gain muscle tone which increases metabolism. I lost 25 lbs in 5 months and am maintaining that easily. I also walked on a treadmill for 30- 40 mins 5 days a week. Additionally I ate smaller portions. It is the mind connection which makes it easier. Yoga really gives you a balance of strength training, mindfulness, and breathing. I love it. Just wish I had started in my 20's or 30's. I am mid 50's.
- —Guest library links in KS
Yoga does work
- I have been doing yoga for about 4 years. It has recently started to help now that it is at least a 5 day practice. I also run or spin. Yoga is my favorite form of exercise because of the mind, body, spirit integration. Over the past 6 months, I have been working on the primary series of asthanga. Yoga makes me feel better and full of energy. I do a few asthanga classes a week, a hot power flow class and a regular vinyasa class each week and my weight is starting to fall but as usual - not fast enough.
- —nycck
Losing Weight with Yoga
- I restarted Yoga two years ago and my Yogi assured me I would lose weight. I was 50 pounds overweight. I kept waiting. Then in April it dawned on me that Yoga had given me the pathway to losing weight. It wasn't the Yoga that was going to make me lose weight. It was the discipline of Yoga that was extended to the rest of my life. My mind was in the right place now and on April 4th I started my journey. I recently upped my Yoga classes to two a week and have lost 25 pounds in under three months using a simple fasting program, a Yoga practice. I have never felt better and have every intent to continuing the Yoga practice to my weight loss program. I was especially delighted to tell my instructor that she was right and of my wonderful inner discovery. She continues to encourage me and with Yoga my body is becoming well toned. I am 62 years old look 20 pounds lighter than I am and the oldest and strongest student in class. People say I look 10 yrs younger. Thanks Patty.
- —candyreedy
Yoga gives great muscle tone
- I began practicing yoga almost daily at the beginning of 2008. I had already been managing my weight through diet and pilates, but yoga really reshaped my body. My arms are much more toned and I love how strong it makes me feel. Weight is just a number, so strength and stress reduction are much more important to me. I love yoga and learning about how to do the positions correctly through this site.
- —Guest WebHealthWriter.com
Yoga kicks butt
- Yoga has been an easy solution for me not just for weight loss but for my headaches and back pains. I am a working mother who is always on the run I never thought I would have time for yoga. I discovered how ten or twenty minutes of yoga would not only give me a good workout but it also relaxes me and helps me wind down for the day. I felt going to the gym for a hour was selfish but now I know I don't have to go to the gym, my little one can even join me for my yoga time. For people who don't stretch every day yoga can be hard at first but once you get the hang of the poses you will be amazed how great you feel!!
- —Guest Busymom101
I couldn't have done it without Yoga!
- I began my yoga training about 8 years ago. At 28 I was 35lbs over weight after having quit smoking then having my third child. I was horribly out of shape and because I had smoked, working out was difficult at best. I started yoga because I couldn't do anything else! In a few short months I was not only more flexible but stronger and firmer as well. I was able to begin doing cardio and strength training. I lost 35lbs pretty quick! I am now 36 years old and I teach fitness classes and dance plus do my yoga several times a week. I never could have accomplished all of this without yoga!!
- —Jenn08carter
Yoga definitely has and is helping me
- I was dragged along to a Beginners Vinyasa, Flow or Power style yoga just over a year ago by a Canadian student studying in Australia who was too shy to go alone. She dropped out half way through the 10 week beginners course. I stayed. I have lost 45 Kilos in just over a year doing 3x 90 minute classes a week once I completed the Beginners classes. The heart rate does go up and I do sweat for sections of the class, but there is the breathing at the beginning and 10-15 minutes relaxation at the end, both of which are very calming. I have dropped 5 clothes sizes. I did not initially radically alter my diet but found I could not do the class if I had eaten up to 4 hours before and was not ravenous afterwards, so the three days a week I was yogaing, I naturally started eating less. My stomach shrank, so I found I was eating less other days eventually. I cut out bad food gradually as I became less and less interested in it. My blood pressure is now down. It works!
- —Guest Christine
Yoga is my sanctuary
- A combination of Iyengar style yoga & aerobic exercise practiced faithfully at home(almost every day) over the last year has allowed me to drop close to 20 lbs. I firmly believe the yoga has been crucial in building upper body/core strength since I have not done any weight training. Two unforseen additional benefits: 1) Body acceptance. For the first time in my life I have finally accepted my body for what it is. I am no longer constantly comparing its shape to other peoples' bodies & criticizing. Now I can appreciate it for all of the things it CAN do for me. 2) Yoga has given me something else to do instead of eat. Before yoga I spent a lot of time trying to fill the emotional void with food. Yoga can be a very nourishing practice : )
- —lotus77
yoga helps
- I lost 31 pounds 15 years ago, through diet and exercise. I do yoga, low impact aerobics and weight lifting. I have been successful in keeping the weight down.
- —Guest Aracely Gonzalez
My yoga/veg/weight loss experience
- I've been overweight since puberty, but I never understood how people "allow themselves" to become morbidly obese. Then I reached a place in 2007 where I realized "this is that watershed moment." I knew that I would either find a way to lose weight or just give up and keep gaining weight for the rest of my likely-shortened life. I was 265 lbs. (I'm 5'8".) Yoga had been something I wanted to do whenever I "got thin," but I thought maybe it could help me now. In addition to starting yoga, I decided to take the advice of so many yogis and become a vegetarian. I needed a drastic change of lifestyle and this was it. Long story short, I began a home yoga practice along with vegetarianism in May 2007, and had lost 70 pounds by August 2007. I chose Ashtanga, which is definitely a workout, but consistency is the name of the game. I still have some weight to lose, but I know how to do it!
- —Guest Soulfood76
Weight control for Hypothyroidism
- I have lost most of my thyroid in 2004 and I have found when I stick to my Yoga practice it is relatively easy to control my weight compared to when I'm not doing regular Yoga. It is not just the fact that one is getting exercise. There is more to it. There is better lymph drainage and improved metabolism as well as a more positive mindset with reduced "cravings" and a greater awareness of what one eats and drinks.
- —Guest Suzette le Roux
