Yoga is one of the oldest forms of exercise that is very popular in India till date. Now, the world has recognized the benefits of yoga and started to realize and enjoy its magic.
Today, all over the world, people celebrate International Yoga Day on 21st June every year, and they celebrate lifestyle change with yoga and the health benefits for mind and the body obtained through yoga.
Yoga offers several benefits that include relaxes, stretches, and strengthens the body. It calms the mind, improves focus, mindfulness, and balance.
Yoga is an exclusive activity that integrates the mental with the physical and provides great training for overall well-being that becomes a lifestyle change for some individuals.
If you are one among many who wants to know how many calories does yoga burn, then the answer depends on the number of calories that can be burned doing yoga will depend on your workout duration and weight.
According to HHP (Harvard Health Publications), if your weight is 125pounds, you will burn 120 calories, and if your weight is around 180pounds, you will burn around 178 calories doing yoga for 30 minutes.
If you perform yoga for one-hour, then you will burn 2 times more calories than usual.
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Calories Required for Weight Loss
To lose weight, the number of calories that you consume is equally as important as the number of calories that you burn after performing yoga. If you want to lose weight effectively, then you should burn the number of calories more than the number of calories that you consume.
According to AHA (American Heart Association), you should lose one pound per week, which is considered a healthy weight loss rate.
As per the suggestion of AHA, most people can burn around 500 calories more than they consume daily. For instance, you can cut your calorie intake by 200 calories, and if you burn around 300 extra calories every day doing yoga for one hour, you can lose around one-pound weekly.
However, you should understand that the number of calories that you can burn doing yoga depends on various factors, including:
- Gender
- Intensity and length of the yoga session
- The Yoga Type, as there are multiple types of yoga are available.
When it comes to length & intensity, most yoga sessions will be around an hour-long, and it is usually safe if you want to burn calories.
Concerning gender, men can burn more calories compared to women. Also, you should know that the weight loss process varies from one individual to another as the calories that the individual can burn depend on their weight.
Types of Yoga
Different types of yoga are accessible today, and all these yoga styles are different in their pace and intensity. Here you can find some of the common yoga styles and how each type of yoga helps you burn calories on an average.
Hatha Yoga
It is a very common yoga style and involves simple and basic poses trained at a slower pace. Hatha Yoga is often used as a beginner or introductory class. Hatha Yoga helps you burn between 175 and 298 calories in a one-hour session.
Bikram Yoga
Bikram Yoga is mentioned as hot yoga. This yoga style is practiced in a heated room that is heated to around 105-degrees Fahrenheit at 40-percent humidity.
This yoga style contains 26-set poses and two breathing exercises that last ninety-minutes. Bikram Yoga style helps you burn between 330 and 477 calories per one-hour session.
Ashtanga Yoga
It is also known as Power Yoga, and this yoga style involves a set of postures that need to be performed in order, and it includes the synchronization of breath and movement. This yoga style helps you burn between 400 and 550 calories per-hour session.
Vinyasa Yoga
It is also known as Flow Yoga, and it is an energetic yoga style. This yoga type also focuses on harmonizing breath and movement, just like Ashtanga Yoga, through a constant flow of poses. The Vinyasa Yoga helps you burn around 550 to 594 calories in a one-hour session.
Iyengar Yoga
This yoga style is not very popular compared to other types of yoga. This Iyengar style yoga concentrates on alignment and placement. It does not involve much movement, as the postures are held for a longer time to increase flexibility. Iyengar Yoga style helps you burn around 175 calories in a one-hour session.
Now, it is apparent that the amount of calories burned per session depends on the yoga style of the individual. If you practice more intensively and more advanced yoga styles, you can burn more calories than you consume daily.
Weight loss goals can be achieved either by burning more calories doing physical exercises or by eating fewer calories. Most people who reach weight loss goals try to follow both methods.
According to a study conducted in 2016, yoga offers several benefits. It is considered the best option for sustaining healthy weight loss even though many physical exercises help you burn more calories than yoga.
If individuals are trying desperately to lose weight, they should try yoga (we recommend the Yoga Burn program) because yoga community also offers role modeling and social support. The study also suggests that developing carefulness through yoga might help people:
- Control eating unhealthy foods
- Control stress eating
- Resist comfort eating
- They can have more control over their body, and they know when they feel full
- Have reduced appetite
- Have fewer cravings
- It helps them reduce joint or back pain
- Improves self-esteem and mood swings
- Improve sleep
Conclusion
Yoga is the best and most enjoyable activity that offers several health benefits if you perform it daily. Yoga may not help you burn a significant amount of calories like other physical exercises.
Still, it proves a lot of health benefits, including mental and physical benefits, and improves your general wellbeing and health. Regular practice of yoga can decrease anxiety and stress and also improve cognitive functions and mood. There are different types of yoga so that you can choose the yoga style that suite you.
