Can yoga really be implemented to help you effectively shed unwanted pounds? This is an excellent question. The answer is yes. Yoga can and will help you to lose weight, on one condition. You must be eating at a caloric deficit. Weight loss only occurs when you expend more calories than you consume.
There is no exercise on this planet that will help you to lose weight if you are eating at a caloric surplus. So, are you at a caloric deficit? You are? Awesome. Then yoga will definitely help you lose weight, get stronger and be mentally and spiritually balanced.
While yoga will help you to lose weight, we must be practical and understand that the weight loss will be slow and gradual. While workouts like interval training and resistance training are high impact and burn more calories, yoga is low impact and burns less calories. So, if you’re looking for fast weight loss, yoga is not for you.
Many obese and overweight people often have painful joints and muscles. This could be due to the fact that the large amount of weight they carry is placing undue stress on the joints. Another reason is that a poor diet could have made their body suffer from inflammation.
In cases like these, yoga is one of the best forms of exercise. There is a famous example on YouTube of a man named, Arthur. He had severe joint pains and was overweight. He couldn’t do most forms of exercise because of his condition. However, with yoga, he turned his life around and is now a living example of the power of yoga. You may wish to go on YouTube and search for ‘Arthur’s Inspirational Transformation’. The video will banish all doubts you may have about yoga’s efficacy.
In order to lose weight with yoga, it will help if you do it daily. Since this is a low impact exercise, you can do it every day. There is no need for rest days or recovery time. However, in the initial stages, if you are in pain and need a day or two to recover, go ahead and rest. But, get back to it when you’re ok.
As you progress with yoga, you may wish to do the more challenging forms of yoga. Ashtanga yoga consists of more challenging poses and routines. When your routine is more challenging, you will burn more calories and lose weight faster. Furthermore, your muscle tone will improve and you may even gain some muscle mass. When that happens, you’ll burn more calories even at rest. This is the ideal situation to be in.
What you must understand is that this is a journey. We live in a world that demands instant results, fast, quick, immediate, etc. Everything is expected at the speed of light. This will just not be the case with weight loss. It is a slow process. Even with harsh cardio sessions and weight training, weight loss is not immediate. With yoga it’s even slower. You must be mentally prepared to be in this for the long haul.
If you can accept that, then yoga will definitely help you lose weight. Give it time, be consistent and you will see results.