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Here we will talk about yoga for weight loss.

 

Is using yoga the best way to lose weight? Well that depends on the person, the style of yoga we are talking about and other environmental factors that may be present.

First we must understand what it means to lose weight. For most of us it means to lose fat.

How does our body lose fat? This is what we need to understand if we are going to be successful in loosing weight.

In reality there is ONLY ONE WAY to lose weight (fat), you must use more calories then you take in. With ALL the products and marketing out there it all comes down to that one statement.

This is why diets do not really work, Yes you do need to watch what you eat, but not eating is worse for you then eating to much (I know it is not worse for your hips, but it is worse for your health). We need to have a balanced diet that gives us the nutrition we need and also keeps the calories to a manageable level. For more information on that visit my Yoga Diet page

However sometimes there are things that influence how much weight we can lose, and how effective our weight loss program can be. Let us talk about a couple of them.

1. Stress is a common factor in people who have the extra pounds. When we are stressed our metabolism suffers and because of that we retain more calories and calories retained become fat. Coming soon to this site will be a whole section that will deal with stress and stress reduction. Until it is online just be aware that the more stress you have the harder to lose the weight. So be kind t yourself and one piece of good news is regular exercise has been proven to reduce stress. When er use yoga for weight loss it also helps reduce our stress.
2. The level or intensity of our training will also affect how much weight comes off. If you are like me you like to work out very hard and push yourself to your limits and then past them. However this is NOT the best strategy to loosing weight. For me the hardest part of my training for weight loss was not getting to the gym, but making sure I did not work out too hard. For some of you this will be great news since you do not want to work out hard anyways *SMILE*. More on this will be added on a separate page detailing my program. When we use yoga for weight loss it fits perfectly with this philosophy, since yoga is a more balanced form of exercise.
3. What you eat is more important then counting calories. Yes, you do need to make sure you have a calorie deficiency to lose weight, and it takes a 3500 calorie deficiency to lose 1 lb of fat, in using yoga for weight loss you will have all the calorie burning power you need. However you will have the best results by making sure you have some calories from Carbohydrates before your workout (not a lot but some). It is really funny since we all know carbs turn into fat, but most of us do not know that the body cannot burn fat without carbs. There is a quote I like: Fat burns in a carbohydrate flame. Remember it. Also vegetables, fruits and fish are best to eat during fat loss. You can still eat red meat, but try to cut back on it if you can... fish and beans can give you the protein you need. When using yoga for weight loss you should also think about your diet, you can see my page on yoga diets for more information.
4. DO it with a friend. Having someone to keep you motivated really helps and having some friendly competition will keep you honest outside the gym during the day, when you need to watch what and how much you are eating. Also with two people using yoga for weight loss if becomes more fun.
5. People say dieting does not work, and they are right. To lose weight and keep it off you need a healthy lifestyle. Your diet is part of that, just remember your diet is what you eat and it is not stopping eating.

 

How a yogi would lose the weight if a yogi needed too.

How would a yogi use yoga for weight loss? He would do it with a healthy lifestyle of course and by listening to his body. This includes a number of things. I will be including pages in this section to talk about them

Here are some of the topics I will discuss here over the next couple weeks.

1. Yoga conditioning for weight loss
2. Yoga and low carb diets
3. Research to supplement and speed up your weight loss.
4. Internal body cleansing, why this is important and how it helps.
5. Do I need to be a vegetarian?
6. My weight loss diet.
7. My weight loss program that helped me lose 6 kg in 7 weeks. Even with not following it strictly!
8. Another thing I think you will find helpful is my friend's site, he has some very good information that can supplement mine.

 

These will be the first topics of discussion in this section, there will be more added.

Remember a healthy lifestyle is made up of your Diet (what food you eat and also what supplements you use), regular exercise (yoga, weights, tai chi, karate, swimming, whatever you love) and stress reducing activities (meditation, hobby you love, time with your family, playing video games whatever activity makes you happy) on a daily basis. This will give you not only the body you want (with tools from this section of my site) but also a happier and better standard of living.

 

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This section on using yoga for weight loss is actually very important to me since I needed to lose a lot of weight after my 2nd knee injury (6 months being unable to walk without a cane will get you fat). I will be updating this site A LOT in the coming week so come back often. You can also find alot more general information about weight loss at my friends site easy weight loss tips.

 

 

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