Will I Sweat Enough in Yoga to Loose Weight? ….
As we all know yoga has many benefits such as being flexible, toning our muscles, reducing stress. But a question we often get asked is “will I loose weight” and perhaps the underlying question is “will I sweat enough to lose weight in a yoga class?”
When some people think of yoga, they sometimes think of laying around on the floor, in soft restful positions. Or sometimes they may think of meditation or a focus on breathing…… these images may conjure up the opposite of what we think we need to do to loose weight ‘eg to sweat’.
You’ll see throughout our blog and our website, we try to explain the different types of yoga, and that means not only the different types of yoga studios, yoga philosophies, but also yoga classes. Some classes like Yin Yoga or Restorative Yoga do match those images that we’ve outlined above. Restful positions laying on the floor (I should point out these aren’t always easy), but certainly the focus of these classes are to stretch and deeply relax rather than build up a sweat.
There are however, a lot of other classes, in our Yoga Studio we call them Beginners Yoga, Yoga Flow and Hour of Power Yoga, where the class focuses on moving (reasonably) quickly from position to position, holding the position for a length of time to build strength (and sometimes a sweat) while also focusing on breathing, flexibility and mobility.
The other thing about Yoga is that it is so much more than just the poses, the sweating and the breathing – it fosters your overall improvement in your health as the combination and collection of all these things (holding a position, building internal heat, breathing, stretching, moving) means that you will sleep better, feel better, move better, think better and so yes, the result from all of this is that you will start to shed ‘unwanted things’ such as unwanted weight!
If you attend a few Yoga Flow, Beginners Yoga or Hour of Power Yoga Classes, this increase in internal heat, sweating and movement will start to help your physical body move unwanted weight. Jen Cassetty, an American College of Sports Medicine certified Health Fitness Specialist, based in New York City says “Yoga is not a high intensity exercise, usually, but the classes run 60 to 90 minutes of continual activity, so your muscles are working the whole time, strengthening and lengthening, and [doing] core work through Chaturanga and balance poses. As with any activity program for weight loss, you should engage in this activity 4 to 5 times a week to see body changes with shaping, as well as keep a portion-controlled balanced diet. So, yes, your metabolism will be raised through the activity and you can see body shaping changes and even weight loss.” (Source: www.livescience.com)
Yoga will help you sleep better, which is a huge factor when working on a weight loss program. Yoga will help you handle stress better, so you may also find yourself less likely to reach for other past support triggers (goodbye to emotional eating) Yoga will help you understand how the food that you eat effects your ability to move your body, to stretch to fold, and you’ll start to notice that some food work better in your system than others and how that old saying ‘you are what you eat’ is really quiet true. (And trust us, you don’t want to be a ‘Big Mac’ before a Hour of Power Yoga class!!)
So in conclusion – Can Yoga Help You Loose Weight? Yes we believe it can! A good balance of Yoga Classes plus proper eating is a huge step in the right direction! Come along and try a range of classes and find the right mix for your. At Yoga Everyday Stafford, we recommend 2-3 ‘moving’ classes per week (Yoga Flow, Beginners Yoga, Hour of Power) combined with at least 1 Yin Yoga/Stretch class…and the benefits you’ll see will be obvious! We often have students returning after just one class to tell us they’ve “Never slept so well in their life” “Feel amazing the next day” “Were surprised with how good they felt afterwards”.
So, regardless of whether you want to loose weight or not, the benefits of Yoga are a long long list, so come and check it out for yourself and see how it good Yoga feels for you. Check out the timetable and a bit about our studio, and see if it’s a fit for you.
