By Jennifer Pereira
Can you really use yoga for weight loss? Yes. Most people write off yoga as simply being stretching. If you walk into a class at your gym, though, you will probably walk out with a very different perception of this type of exercise. In fact, a typical class can burn approximately the same number of calories as doing any other form of moderate cardio activity.
When you are doing yoga, you are actually doing resistance exercise as well. Think weight lifting when you hear resistance training. The weight you are lifting is your own body weight, and this can be extremely effective. This type of activity will strengthen your muscles just like any other resistance exercise would.
It is easy to find variations on exercises you would typically use in training. Yoga is full of types of lunges, squats, push-ups, etc. The reason yoga is more fun is because you are not thinking of these poses as exercises in the traditional sense. Yoga seems more like an art. You see your beautiful body reflected back to you from the mirror, and you start to appreciate it more fully.
One of the more subtle reasons yoga is effective for weight loss is that it helps you mentally as well as physically. When you begin finding a level of peace in your day, you decrease your need for less effective coping strategies. By this I mean 'emotional eating'. Most people think they don't do this-but anytime you eat for reasons other than hunger, there is something going on for you.
Obviously decreasing non-hunger eating will decrease your overall intake. This would result in weight reduction by itself. Yoga can help you get 'out of your head' for a while. When you get good at this during yoga, you begin to improve this ability during your everyday life as well.
If you can commit to doing yoga 3-5 days a week, you will certainly begin to see some weight loss results. Yoga promotes some really beautiful physical results. It can take you by surprise because it does not seem like the kind of exercise that would change your body. Sometimes you get stuck in the mentality that you have to hate the exercise for it to be beneficial. No pain, no gain, right? No, that is not true. You don't have to torture your body into submission. You can actually be really kind to it, and you will be very pleased with how it responds.
Jennifer Pereira, RD, LD, CSCS is a Registered/Licensed Dietitian, and Certified Strength/Conditioning Specialist. She works in her private practice in Arlington, Texas. If you would like to learn more about yoga for weight loss, please visit her frequently updated blog http://www.yogabender.com/ . For further information on finding balance with a healthy lifestyle, you can visit http://www.healthylifestylebalance.com/ .
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posted by Cheryl Levesque @ 6:21 PM
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