Recently I was asked by a client about whether yoga helps you lose weight, so I thought I would attempt to put the answer down in writing.
Yoga can help you lose some weight, although results do vary, and also depend upon the types of yoga one does.
Hatha yoga, does cause some weight loss, over consistent practice of at least one class a day. It can also cause muscles to become more toned and flexible, a desirable benefit. A study conducted by Alan Kristal in connection with the National Cancer Institute showed that those who practiced yoga one hour a week lost an average of 5 pounds over a four-year period. This data was compared to those who did not practice yoga and gained 14 pounds during the same time period. So practicing yoga, even once a week theoretically helps one shed a small amount of weight, while keeping weight gain at bay.
Some believe that yoga causes some weight loss because it focuses on mind/body awareness. Such awareness may translate to different eating habits, and more care regarding what kind of food one puts into the body. People who have greater body awareness may also notice when they feel full and stop eating. This belief actually suggests that it is not the exercise but the philosophy of regular yoga practice.
“Yoga is a phenomenal way to put you in touch with your body the way nothing else can, and yes, it can help you lose weight,” says instructor Dana Edison, director of Radius Yoga.
Celebrity yoga trainers Ana Brett and Ravi Singh, who have worked with Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, also believe in yoga’s weight-loss powers.
“We have seen it in ourselves, we have seen it in our clients – yoga can give you a real workout even if you are a beginner,” says Brett.
How Does It Work?
In 2005, medical researcher and practicing yogi Alan Kristal, set out to do a medical study on the weight-loss effects of yoga.
With funding from the National Cancer Institute, he led a trial involving 15,500 healthy, middle-aged men and women. All completed a survey recalling their physical activity (including yoga) and their weight between the ages of 45 and 55. Researchers then analyzed the data, teasing out other factors that could influence weight change – such as diet or other forms of exercise.
The end result: They found yoga could indeed help people shed pounds, or at least keep them from gaining weight.
For the study, he says, practicing yoga was defined as at least one 30-minute session per week for four or more years.
Kristal says it’s not clear just how yoga might help people keep off the pounds, at least from a scientific standpoint. His own opinion is that the effects are subtle, and related to yoga’s mind-body aspects.
Adds Edison: “Yoga makes you more susceptible to influence for change – so if you are thinking you want to change your lifestyle, you want to change the way you think about food, you want to get over destructive eating patterns, yoga will help give you the spiritual connection to your body that can help you make those changes.”
Even if yoga does not offer huge weight loss benefits, it certainly offers fitness benefits, specifically for the muscles. Greater body awareness and honoring the body may also result in changing habits or attitudes toward eating.
