People passionate about hot yoga tell you it’s all you need to get fit — it offers cardio, flexibility and strength with a tremendous calorie-burning potential. With those benefits, this version of hot yoga, which is based on 26 specifically ordered postures practiced in a room with a temperature of 105 Fahrenheit with 40 percent humidity, should surely lead to weight loss. While yoga has benefits that do include increased mindfulness and stress reduction that can lead to weight loss, hot yoga is no different from any other practice in offering these benefits. If hot yoga appeals to you, makes you more active and helps you feel health benefits — go for it. But, don’t expect it to magically melt away pounds.
Hot Yoga is a great tool for weight loss.
As we’ve seen, from a calorie-burn perspective, hot yoga isn’t as effective as cardiovascular-intensive forms of exercise like running or cycling. However, yoga may lead to weight loss indirectly—by influencing practitioners to make better food choices. What comes out of a yoga practice is the development of mind-body awareness. When you practice yoga after a while, you smoke a cigarette or excessively drink or overeat, and you are very keenly aware of the effect of that on your body. Yoga, in that sense, is a practice that can encourage people to desire better behavioral choices and lifestyle choices.
So will practicing yoga alone cause you to lose weight? Not necessarily. But it may cultivate mindful eating, improve quality of sleep and combat stress, which will in turn lead to weight loss.
There are so many reasons why one should be physically active other than weight loss. If it’s something you really enjoy and it provides other benefits, there’s no reason you should give it up
Calorie Burned Hot Yoga
Hot yoga involves a sequence of 26 postures and two breathing exercises performed in the same order, no matter where you take your class. Hot yoga can involve any type of postures but is still performed in a heated classroom. You will sweat profusely, thereby ridding the body of toxins and the intense heat enhances flexibility in your muscles.
Hot yoga, which is performed in a room heated to around 105 degrees and usually lasts around 90 minutes, is probably the most misunderstood form of yoga.
When the body is working hard to cool itself, as in a hot yoga class, heart rate does increase, but that does not necessarily mean there is a higher physical demand on the working muscles. We might expect to lose anywhere from 1 to 3 pounds of water weight in a hot yoga class, but that is likely to be replaced when we rehydrate.
Caloric expenditure in yoga is said be anywhere from approximately 100 to 450 calories per hour, depending on the person, and the practice.
Why Yoga Good
Better Sleep
Sort of a continuation from above; is that people often find that their sleep dramatically improves once they start regularly practicing hot yoga. Better sleep means a less stressed system; which again means the body is less in fight or flight mode, and happier to release fat rather than store it.
Better Moods
Let’s face it; when life is sucky it’s super easy to reach for the chocolate / ice cream / pizza {insert your comfort food of choice here}. Again, there’s a reason for that (know that our bodies are always working towards helping us feel better) – but I’ll not get into the science of things like the opiate effects of some of these foods and so on… suffice to say, regular practice replaces the need for those kind of “hits”, as the high you get from regular practice simply means you don’t experience the lows of life so much.
Plus a hot yoga class makes you feel so clean (you’ll know what I mean when you try it) that you just don’t want to go eat rubbish after…. so I’m not promising you’ll never leave a yoga class feeling like you want to drown yourself in something a little on the naughty side from time to time – but I’m pretty sure you’ll find that you want those things less, and will find yourself searching out your local juice bar more…
Better Breath & Less Stress
In addition to all the other amazing stress-reducing related benefits, the more you practice, the more you’ll notice your breathing improves dramatically – which in turn also allows you to handle stress so much more effectively. And less stress = well, you know the answer to this one by now…
Morning Yoga for Weight Loss
Yoga in the morning is amazing! After 7-8 hours (hopefully) of shut eye, our body responds affectionately to movement, and our mind is clear and receptive to positive ideas and messages. Our breath is ready for us to deepen and expand its potency, and our energy is just waiting to be stirred up after a long siesta.
