Yoga and weight loss?

[cowfishpro]

Just wanted to add that yoga keeps me pretty fit and eating mindfully. I enjoy Power Yoga the best, but also like Kundalini and occassional restrorative yoga. I notice that my particular body responds very well to yoga with lots of twisting (at the waist). So Kest, Finn, and Pyle work well for vinyasa or power yoga flows, but Kundalini fits the bill with lots of twists, too.

[SharonH]

After two years of struggling, I finally got down to a weight I'm very happy about. It was surprising to me because this summer, due to the heat and humidity, I've mainly done just yoga and long walks. I've done some Kundalini, but mostly just general, hatha-based workouts at my gym. My appetite has also tapered off because of the heat, but I think also due to the fact that my workouts are not as intense. When I recently did a cycling class, I found that I had not lost any cardio endurance. My lower body and abs look good. Only my arms look flabby, but my triceps were always a trouble spot.

[alikruegs]

I've lost weight with kundalini yoga, but usually because I've also lost muscle and kundalini yoga seems to kill my appetite.
A about two years ago I participated in a research study about yoga and weightloss. I had to sit inside a metabolic chamber of sorts. They measured my resting metabolic rate (I had to sit VERY still for 30min). Then they had me do 30min of yoga. Then I had to sit still again for a while. Then they had me walk on the treadmill set with a reasonable incline. I've got to tell you, yoga is not the calorie burner marketers claim that it is. Now I'm not sure about what the added effects of heat (from Bikram yoga) might do, because I was in a temperate room doing some slow-paced ashtanga.
If anything, I think yoga (and this is true probably for kundalini yoga) works to relieve stress and probably affects people's eating habits more than anything else. From what I've seen, a lot of people who get into yoga also start to adopt other healthy lifestyle choices. Yoga maybe has a bit of a gateway effect.

[ellaenchanted]

Originally Posted by alikruegs

I've lost weight with kundalini yoga, but usually because I've also lost muscle and kundalini yoga seems to kill my appetite. A about two years ago I participated in a research study about yoga and weightloss. I had to sit inside a metabolic chamber of sorts. They measured my resting metabolic rate (I had to sit VERY still for 30min). Then they had me do 30min of yoga. Then I had to sit still again for a while. Then they had me walk on the treadmill set with a reasonable incline. I've got to tell you, yoga is not the calorie burner marketers claim that it is. Now I'm not sure about what the added effects of heat (from Bikram yoga) might do, because I was in a temperate room doing some slow-paced ashtanga.
If anything, I think yoga (and this is true probably for kundalini yoga) works to relieve stress and probably affects people's eating habits more than anything else. From what I've seen, a lot of people who get into yoga also start to adopt other healthy lifestyle choices. Yoga maybe has a bit of a gateway effect.

In my personal experience, when I reduce intensity w/ my workouts by doing mostly walking and stretching or pilates...my appetitie is reduced simply because my workouts aren't as strenuous. This seems to go w/ the findings of your study. I can't get into yoga videos but I have gone through phases of walking/light cardio and pilates. I felt great but I definitely wasn't as strong as when I do traditional muscle conditioning. I now do a mix. I do hav eto say that stretching has been very beneficial because it helps my muscles recover more quickly. I do mostly athletic stretching w/ some yoga-inspired poses.

[annetteb]

This is very interesting thread indeed! I read or heard somewhere, eat like you were going to do yoga. That means very little or as much as one needs to eat. That makes sense to me. But I do Kundalini yoga on Sundays (when no one is around-kinda hard to explain why I am spinning a cirlce doing 5 Tibetians). I usually try and do yoga before I do my rotation. It is something about perhaps mind, body, soul does come together on the mat.

The other week, I had a bad day and yoga seemed to help. I just "put" on the mat sort of speak. I have found myself getting strong with the low pushups. I finally got Cathe's combo pushups, with pyramids with planks (I think that is Cardio/Weights dvd-sorry I forgot which Cathe).

I also enjoy the Fitprimes which incorporate everything as well. After reading about yoga, I understand somewhat "why" and "what" yoga does. I still need to work on my abs and there is celluite still on my thighs. I am sure in due time, that will help as well.