Yoga can help you lose weight, especially when you’re perform the poses that burn the most calories.

How to Burn Calories with Hatha Yoga

Yoga Can Help You Create a Caloric Deficit

A caloric deficit is an important part of a comprehensive weight loss program, and one way to burn calories is with yoga. How many calories you should eat each day to lose weight depends on various factors. Thus, the free online tool called the US National Institutes of Health Body Weight Planner can help you.

To make calorie counting easy, let’s look at the importance of the relationship between how many calories there are in 1 pound of fat and how many calories yoga burns per hour. Please allow me to explain…

3,500 Calories In One Pound of Fat

The healthiest way to create a caloric deficit is a combination of dietary changes and regular exercise (e.g., yoga).

There are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of fat. Thus, the math says

  • to lose 2 pounds per month, reduce your current caloric intake by 250 calories each day
  • to lose 4 pounds per month, reduce your current caloric intake by 500 calories each day

*While calorie counting to create a daily caloric deficit used to be “the way” to lose weight, research on the Biggest Loser contestants reported in the New York Times indicated weight loss can be far more complicated than that.

Does Yoga Burn Calories? YES

The amount of calories you can burn with yoga depends on how the length of your session and your current weight. As a general rule, heavier people burn more calories than lighter people when performing the same activity.

According to Harvard Health Publications, the calories burned per hour during yoga by weight is as follows:

185-pound person400 calories

155-pound person300 calories

125-pound person220 calories

 

A combination of doing yoga 1 hour per day plus eliminating a few hundred calories from your diet can lead to slow, steady, healthy weight loss. Another tip to keep the weight off is to eat healthy food forever.

Thus, Yoga Can Help You Lose Weight Starting Today

Start your yoga for weight loss program by attending yoga classes, or following a yoga video. There are many free yoga videos out there to choose from. Hatha yoga is one of the most accessible types for yoga beginners and offers many health benefits:

  • Burning calories
  • Building strength
  • Improving your balance
  • Reducing depression
  • Lowering blood pressure
  • Alleviating insomnia

A Hatha yoga class usually lasts for 60-90 minutes. If you’re new to fitness and wondering How can yoga help you lose weight? I recommend you start by taking 1 or 2 classes per week but make it your goal to eventually attend yoga classes at least 3 days per week – with your doctor’s permission if you have health concerns.

 

How to Burn Calories with Hatha Yoga

1) Harvard Health Publications: Calories Burned in 30 Minutes for People of Three Different Weights

2) The Mayo Clinic: Counting Calories – Getting Back to Weight Loss Basics