Yoga for Weight Loss: Does It Work?

As a mind-body practice that supports physical, mental, and spiritual development, yoga can help you lose weight. Yoga consists of three parts—the physical poses (asana), meditation (dhyana), and breath work (pranayama). The combination of these components creates a practice that can have positive effects on overall health.

The physical practice of yoga can be great exercise, especially the more active forms of asana, the poses. The poses can help you build muscle, create endurance, and burn calories, leading to weight loss.

While practicing the poses can lead to weight changes, the combination of the physical movements with the mindfulness components of yoga can lead to a sustained change in how you approach food, physical activity, stress, and other elements that affect weight.

Yoga and Mindfulness Can Aid Your Eating Habits

While many people think of yoga as simply doing the poses, the practice of yoga can influence all aspects of life. The literal translation of yoga is “to yoke,” “union,” or “to join.” People who practice yoga translate this to mean the union of the body and the mind.

The work done in the physical practice of yoga is meant to carry over to the mental state. For example, when you hold a challenging pose, you learn that enduring a challenge can create change. Moving through the poses also requires much attention to detail.

Paying attention to how you move and feel in each moment creates mindfulness around the body. This mindfulness can lead to more healthy eating and less emotional eating. You may also begin to pay attention to how food makes you feel.

People with chronic stress often turn to “comfort foods” to help them deal with the stress. One theory suggests that the stress response system lessens with the consumption of higher-calorie foods, and a pattern of becoming stressed and eating comfort foods to cope with the stress emerges.

Yoga is a stress management tool that can help change this pattern. Yoga lessens the stress response, leading to more healthy dietary choices. 

Yoga and Better Sleep Are Also Associated With Weight Loss

Yoga can help with sleep patterns and assist in weight loss efforts. Getting good sleep is beneficial for weight loss. Better sleep health is associated with weight and fat loss. People who get adequate sleep without interruptions are less likely to experience issues with body weight regulation.

Various studies have shown people who practice yoga reported better sleep quality. While the physical practice of yoga can help with sleep patterns, other aspects of yoga can also help with sleep.

Yoga nidra is a type of meditation that is known as yoga sleep. It helps people achieve a deep relaxation state that can leave the body feeling well-rested without a full night’s sleep. Lying in savasana at the end of a yoga class and allowing the body to fully relax is a type of yoga nidra.

What Types of Yoga Burn the Most Calories?

While practicing yoga burns calories, some types of yoga burn more calories than others.

Vinyasa Yoga

Vinyasa yoga is a type of yoga that involves flowing from one pose to another without much rest. The focus is on moving with the breath. Constant movement, along with poses that challenge the muscles, leads to an increased heart rate and higher caloric burn.

Vinyasa yoga increases cardiorespiratory fitness and is a great alternative to other aerobic exercises. 

People who practice yoga also experience an increase in muscle mass, which leads to a higher overall caloric burn.

Power Yoga

Power yoga is like Vinyasa yoga but takes an athletic approach. It adds variations to poses like planks (a move for core strength) and focuses more on muscle strength and endurance.

A power yoga class can feel like a fitness class focusing on whole-body conditioning.

Ashtanga Yoga

Vinyasa and power yoga were derived from Ashtanga yoga, a type of yoga that uses a set series of poses focused on strength, endurance, and flexibility. Ashtanga is known for being highly disciplined. People who practice ashtanga follow a set schedule, practicing nearly every day.

Can Restorative Yoga Help With Weight Loss?

Restorative yoga focuses on slowing the body down and relaxing into the poses for a deeper stretch. In restorative yoga, poses are held for longer periods of time. Props such as blocks or bolsters help hold the body in these poses so there is no discomfort.

While restorative yoga might not directly affect weight loss in terms of calories in, calories out, restorative yoga can reduce stress and promote better sleep which are factors that can contribute to weight loss. 

How Often to Practice Yoga for Weight Loss

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that adults achieve 150 minutes of moderately intense physical activity a week to maintain baseline health and prevent disease. The intensity and duration of activity need to increase to lose weight.

People starting a fitness routine may only need 150 minutes of physical activity to experience weight loss. If yoga is your only physical activity, practicing at least 150 minutes a week can lead to weight loss. This can look like doing three vigorous 50-minute classes a week.

People adding yoga to their physical activity routine may find that practicing one to two times a week is enough to lead to weight loss. However, others may need to practice yoga daily to see results.

Yoga Poses to Do at Home

Creating a yoga routine does not need to be complicated. Several basic flows and core poses can build endurance and muscle strength and can be done at home. If you are new to yoga, it can be beneficial to go to a beginner yoga class or work with an instructor to become familiar with the poses before practicing them at home.

Sun Salutations

The sun salutations are a group of poses focused on moving the body. They are often used as a warmup and a way to add a cardiovascular element to a yoga practice.

Sun Salutation A

• Mountain pose: Begin in mountain pose. Stand tall with your hands at your sides. Distribute your weight evenly through the feet.
• Extended mountain pose: From mountain pose, inhale and keep the arms straight as you circle them up overhead. If you can keep your elbows straight, touch your palms above your head.
• Standing forward fold: From extended mountain pose, exhale as you reach your arms out to a “T” and fold forward at the waist with a flat back. When you cannot go any further, release your hands to the ground and relax your neck.
• Half-forward fold: From standing forward fold, inhale, and lift the chest. Hands can remain on the ground or slide up the shins until you can remove any rounding from the back.
• Plank pose: From the half-forward fold, exhale and step back to the top of a push-up. Take an inhale here.
• Chaturanga: From plank pose exhale and shift the weight slightly forward and begin to bend the elbows as you hug them in toward the ribs and lower to a half push-up. Hold for an inhale. To modify, lower the knees to the ground.
• Cobra or up dog: From chaturanga choose between cobra or up dog—cobra if you have back issues and are working on core strength, up dog if your core and arms can support you without straining the back.
• Cobra: From chaturanga, exhale and lower all the way to the ground. Flip your toes under so the tops of your feet are on the ground. Press into the palms as you roll your shoulders back and lift your chest.
• Up dog: Remain in chaturanga, then inhale and straighten your arms as you lift your chest and slightly arch your back. Flip your toes under so the tops of your feet are on the ground.
• Down dog: From either cobra or up dog, exhale, tuck your toes under, and lift your hips up and back to form an upside-down “V” shape. Press evenly into your hands and let your heels yearn toward the ground. Inhale and step your feet forward between your hands. Exhale into standing forward fold. Inhale into half-forward fold. Exhale forward fold. Inhale, circle your arms out to the side then overhead as you rise to stand. Exhale bring your arms alongside you.

Sun Salutation B

• Mountain pose: Stand up tall and comfortably, arms alongside you.
• Chair: From mountain pose, inhale and circle your arms up overhead and bend at the waist, sitting back as if lowering into a chair. Shift your weight into your heels and your knees back to see your toes.
• Standing forward fold: Exhale, bend the waist, and straighten your legs as you fold forward with a flat back. When you cannot go any further, release your hands to the ground and relax your neck.
• Half-forward fold: From standing forward fold, inhale, and lift the chest. Hands can remain on the ground or slide up the shins until you can remove any rounding from the back.
• Plank pose: From half-forward fold, exhale, and step back to the top of a push-up. Take an inhale here.
• Chaturanga: From plank pose exhale, shift the weight slightly forward, and begin to bend the elbows as you hug them in towards the ribs and lower to a half push-up. Hold for an inhale. To modify, lower your knees to the ground.
• Cobra or up dog: From chaturanga, choose between cobra or up dog.
• Cobra: From chaturanga, exhale and lower all the way to the ground. Flip your toes under so the tops of your feet are on the ground. Press into the palms as you roll your shoulders back and lift your chest.
• Up dog: Remain in chaturanga, then inhale and straighten your arms as you lift your chest and slightly arch your back. Flip your toes under so the tops of your feet are on the ground.
• Down dog: From either cobra or up dog, exhale, tuck your toes under, and lift your hips up and back to form an upside-down “V” shape. Press evenly into your hands and let your heels yearn toward the ground.
• Warrior 1: From down dog, inhale and step your right foot forward on the inside of your right hand. Lower your back heel down and point your toes on that foot forward towards the left front corner of the mat. Inhale and rise up as you bend your right leg, working toward being parallel to the ground. 
• Take a vinyasa is the combination of plank, chaturanga, cobra/up dog. Then return to down dog.
• Repeat Warrior 1 on the other side.
• Take a vinyasa and return to down dog.
• From down dog, inhale, step your feet forward between your hands. Exhale into standing forward fold. Inhale into half-forward fold. Exhale into forward fold. Inhale, circle your arms out to the side, and then overhead as you rise to stand. Exhale and bring your arms alongside you.
• Repeat as necessary.

Boat Pose

Boat pose is a core-strengthening pose. To practice boat pose:

• Start seated with your feet flat on the ground.
• Place your hands on the sides of your thighs and wrap your fingers around to the back of your thighs to gently hold on.
• Begin to lean back to find a place of balance on your sitz bones (the two bones at the bottom of the pelvis that sit on). Find a place of balance here as you lift your feet off the ground.
• Bring shins parallel to the ground. Keep a straight back to avoid hunching over.
• Remain here in balance or further challenge the core and balance by letting go of the thighs.
• For a greater challenge, straighten your legs.

Plank Pose

Plank is another core strengthener. To do it:

• Get on your hands and knees.
• Draw the belly button to the spine to tighten the core.
• Extend your legs behind you and tuck your toes under to end up in a push-up position.
• To modify the pose, lower the knees to the ground and keep the belly drawing in.

Summary

Yoga is a mind-body practice that can help you lose weight. The physical poses, combined with attention to mindfulness, breath, and stress reduction, can lead to sustained changes in how you approach food, stress, and sleep—all factors that influence weight.

Mindfulness may lead to better food choices and less emotional eating. Yoga can also reduce stress, which can reduce the need for “comfort foods.” Yoga can also help with sleep, which can aid weight loss efforts.

Vinyasa, power, and Ashtanga are more physical types of yoga that burn more calories than other types. While these types of yoga can lead to a higher calorie burn, restorative yoga and its focus on relaxation can also contribute to weight loss.

You should get at least 150 minutes of physical activity a week, but likely more to lose weight. Depending on your current physical shape, you may need to practice yoga twice a week or daily to achieve weight loss.

Creating a yoga routine to lose weight at home does not have to be complicated. Sun salutations combined with boat and plank pose can be a great start to getting the body moving and strengthening the core and other muscles.