You decide to lose weight, you hit the gym, lose weight, discontinue the gym after 3 months, and you look the same again! If you are also the one who has gone through this, then why not give a try to yoga for weight loss!
When you finally realize that now there’s no escape from shedding those extra pounds, most of you head straight towards gyms. But have you ever thought of yoga as an alternate option to fight obesity?
Yoga is becoming a sensation for many fitness enthusiasts across the globe to cut down stubborn fats and acquire a good physique.
You can also start your weight loss journey by employing this practical approach of workout. However, it depends on what type of yoga you are practicing and how frequently you’re doing it.
There are certain high-intensity yoga styles like Power Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga and our own, Vinod Dulal Yoga that take the cake when it comes to weight loss. Unlike regular yoga that comprises of relaxing and slow-paced yoga positions, Vinod Dulal Yoga is centered to get your blood flowing and heart pumping at a rapid rate to burn maximum calories and boost stamina.
Firstly, let us know what are the factors that make your weight gain.
- Hormonal imbalance
- Genetics
- Consumption of processed food
- Overeating
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Stress and depression
- Sleep deprivation
- Side effects of certain medications
Now, let’s understand how yoga can help you lose weight and achieve your dream physique –
#1 Head to toe workout
In weight loss yoga techniques, movements are carried out at a remarkably fast pace, so your muscles keep on stretching and lengthening during the entire session, promoting more stamina, strength, and flexibility to the whole body.
Some of the effective yoga asanas that help in weight loss are –
- Sun salutations or surya namaskar.
- Boat pose or Navasana.
- Plank pose or Kumbhakasana.
- Warrior or Virabhadrasana.
- Triangle or Trikonasana.
- Downward Dog or Adho Mukha Svanasana.
- Bridge or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana.
- Bow or Dhanurasana.
If you are a beginner or don’t have time to attend a yoga class, still you can kick start your fat loss routine, initially with12 Surya Namaskars, and gradually making it to 108 Surya Namaskars a day.
Working out 4-5 times per week would help you witness brilliant changes in your body, you will start experiencing improvement in your endurance and energy levels. Also, the loose skin and tissues around armpits, thighs, and belly will start rebuilding and reshaping themselves, giving you an overall toned appearance.
#2 Less is more!
During a few minutes of our high-intensity yoga session, your body experiences workout of as good as 60 minutes of moderate exercise. The positions included in weight loss yogas are fairly intense and constantly keeps you moving which releases more sweat and burns more calories. So, this is a complete win-win as you get more results in short durations of exercise.
#3 Inside out transformation!
Most of the gym workout results reflect on just your outer body and stays only till you keep working out in the gym. Once you stop going to the gym, your body starts filling those curves with excess fats. On the contrary, yoga transforms your body from the inside out and leaves quite long-lasting effects.
#4 A dose for the anti-sedentary lifestyle!
Tapping on keyboard keys and hovering the mouse is all the physical activity that today’s generation has been consistently involved into. People having such a sedentary lifestyle suffer from a variety of health issues like obesity, cardiac diseases, and diabetes from a very early age.
Therefore, no matter if you are obese or not, a student or a working professional, and spend 7-8 hours a day sitting every day, then you need to pro-actively take few steps to ensure your body gets enough activity and maintains normal metabolism – and yoga does it for you!
#5 Say ‘NO’ to stress-eating
Stress is one of the major factors responsible for obesity. You must have observed this – during preparation of exams or an important meeting, you tend to eat more than your normal capacity, which is also referred to as stress-eating.
Stress and anxiety already lowers your blood sugar levels, and further secretes a hormone called cortisol that notifies your brain to have more food (glucose or sugar), which leads to stress eating or overeating and consequently accumulating extra fats in your body.
As yoga is not just about the physical aspect of the body and also supports to bring balance to your psychological health, it assists in maintaining healthy temperament, and helps you smoothly cope up with stress and insecurities, thus preventing the secretion of cortisol.
#6 Weight-loss with self-awareness
People carrying some extra pounds often hold a feeling of lower self-esteem, which is absolutely not needed! If you are also among them, then high-intensity yoga training can benefit you in not just weight loss but uplifting your confidence as well.
These yoga asanas are highly focused on the synchronization of your body movements and breaths, so during the entire process, you can’t think of anything else other than your BODY, thus making you aware of your body’s potential and your worth!
This feeling of self-awareness acts as a catalyst in your weight loss journey by causing a psychological transformation that shifts your perspective of how you look and treat yourself.
#7 Prevents sleep-deprivation induced obesity
Our ancestors were very much fit and productive than us as they used to follow their lifestyle according to the sun cycle, especially the meal timings and sleep routine. But, today our sleep cycle depends mostly on the Internet and smartphones as we cannot control the temptation of ‘five more minutes’!
A research by Oxford Academics shows irregular sleep pattern is one of the major contributors of weight gain. High-intensity yoga helps to regulate your sleep cycle and promote better sleep quality which decreases the risk of obesity caused by sleep deprivation.
Remember, weight loss isn’t an easy process, there are many other aspects than a workout, like diet, will power, lifestyle, etc. that can affect this transition in either good or bad way. For better results, you can support your workout with a brisk walk, cycling or swimming to reach your goal effectively.
At Vinod Dulal Yoga Institute, along with our experts, we are always there to guide you with our unique yoga style that will aid you to get rid of extra fats and feel more light and lively than ever before. Believe us, although initially it seems challenging, once you are committed to your aim and feed consistent efforts to this desire, your success in achieving your dream of a perfect body is not far!
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