Yoga for Weight Loss

Striking a pose can help with more than just muscle tone and mindfulness

- By Jennifer Huizen

Yoga has a well-deserved reputation for helping to improve balance and flexibility and for inducing calm and relaxation. But when it comes to weight loss, many people assume that other types of exercise, like cardio or strength training, will be more helpful. While you might not burn as many calories by practicing yoga as you would by running or doing some other high-intensity aerobic activity, yoga can still raise your heart rate and help build muscleand, at rest, muscle burns about twice as many calories as fat does.

"Studies show that aerobic forms of exercise, which is any exercise that uses your large muscle groups and raises your heart rate, are beneficial for weight loss," says Sally Sherwin, a yoga teacher with the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Yoga. "Power or vinyasa yoga, a type of high-intensity yoga, fits this category." Just how many calories you burn varies depending on how long and intense your workout is, as well as other factors, such as your weight, age and gender. But according to Erin Casperson, lead faculty with the Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health, practicing yoga can also help you burn more calories long after you hit the mat, even if you don't do more intense forms of yoga.

That's because yoga's other benefits can help with weight loss too. Here's more about how yoga is a complete body and mind workout.

Reducing Stress, Reducing Pounds Yoga helps manage stress, and studies show that high levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, can lead to an increase in abdominal fat. Cortisol surges can also increase your cravings for high-fat and high-sugar foods and drinks while simultaneously reducing your muscle mass.