How Yoga at Home Can Help You Lose Weight

The battle to lose weight is such a rollercoaster for all of us.

We commit to losing weight -- for the 50th time. And we promise not to let ourselves down this time and to push through until we finally reach our end goal.

But, we mess up.

And let me tell you something. It’s OK to mess up.

We ALL mess up and eat the ice cream and cookies that we promised ourselves we wouldn’t eat and blow off our workout for the day because we just didn’t feel like doing it.

Media tries to convince us that there are all these secret tips and tricks that we need to know to lose weight FAST.

But, honestly… losing weight is a personal journey, and it looks different for every single person.

Some people’s thing is running, for some, it’s lifting weights, and for some, it’s yoga!

Be patient with yourself. Experiment. And you’ll eventually find the thing that works for you.

Maybe you’ve come here to find out if yoga could be your thing. And I’m so glad you did.

Here are a few ways that yoga can help you lose weight.

Yoga Helps You Burn Calories while Gaining Lean Muscle

Yes. Despite what many people think, yoga can help you burn calories and gain lean muscle.

If you’ve ever done a yoga practice that’s made you sweat like crazy and challenged your body in ways that you didn’t know were possible, then you know what I mean.

Some yoga is highly focused on mindfulness and those practices aren’t what I’m talking about here.

Practicing yoga to lose weight and to help you burn fat and gain muscle will be more in the category of power yoga and vinyasa flows.

These types of intense yoga practices will challenge your body, raise your heart rate, and help you burn fat. They’re fast-paced practices that are the perfect blend of cardio and strength training to help you lose weight by yoga.

With power and vinyasa flows, you can burn anywhere from 400 to 600 calories per hour, making them incredible for weight loss.

Yoga Encourages Mindful Eating

You might be thinking, but what does mindful eating even mean?

Well, you know the times when we stuff our faces with snacks while we watch our favorite TV show or while we’re bored in our house just scrolling through Instagram? Yeah, there’s nothing too mindful about those times… right?

And I GET IT. We’ve ALL been there, a MILLION times. And unfortunately, it really isn’t helping anyone reach their weight goals.

Mindful eating simply involves listening to your body and the signals it’s giving you. So, eating when you feel hungry--rather than eating when you’re bored, anxious, or sad. And it means, stopping when you’re full, too!

The daily decisions of choosing what we eat and why we eat it, play a huge role in everyone’s weight loss journey.

Yoga helps with mindful eating because one of the main principles in yoga is creating a meaningful mind-body connection.

Mindfulness not only applies to the yoga practice itself, but through all aspects of life, including eating!

Yoga Relaxes your Body and Mind and Releases Stress

Did you know that stress is often one of the main factors of weight gain?

Stress can lead to overeating and hormonal changes in the body that can lead to weight gain.

Not only are healthy eating and exercise important in the journey to lose weight, but allowing time for you to relax and destress is crucial as well!

If you often find yourself with little time to sit back and relax and spend some quality time with yourself, yoga might be an amazing answer to those problems.

Yoga not only provides physical exercise and movement, but it can help you release stress and anxiety through mindfulness practices and breathing deeply.

Try these yoga poses to help relieve stress and anxiety!

If You’re Ready to Lose Weight by Yoga, Remember to be Consistent in your Practice

Consistency is key. Don’t expect results if you’re only doing yoga once a week.

If you are serious about practicing yoga to lose weight and want to see results, try to make yoga an almost daily practice.

Aim to practice a 60-minute power flow or vinyasa flow 5 to 6 days a week.

Practicing consistently, eating mindfully, and breathing deeply will do amazing things your weight loss journey!