Yoga shows promise for weight-loss maintenance, study finds
Yoga shows promise for weight-loss maintenance, study finds
Yoga burns fewer calories than aerobic exercise so it’s usually not the go-to workout for people who want to lose weight. But what if the mind-body connection fostered by yoga could help them maintain that weight loss for the long term?
It’s an idea researchers set out to test in an intriguing study, published last month in PLOS One, with some promising preliminary results.
Lead author Jessica Unick, an exercise physiologist at The Miriam Hospital’s Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center in Providence, Rhode Island, started looking into yoga’s potential after taking up the practice herself.
“I enjoy playing tennis and so I started taking yoga classes just to increase strength and flexibility. But what was so interesting to me is that I’d always leave the classes feeling more relaxed and less stressed,” Unick, who is also an associate professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, told TODAY.
“I feel like yoga has been overlooked in the weight management field… people just assume because you don’t burn a lot of calories, that it’s not going to be effective for weight. But I was more interested in the psychological benefits.”
Specifically, Unick and her colleagues wanted to see if yoga could help people maintain weight loss by improving their:
Mindfulness, or becoming more aware of their behaviors or habits. “It’s so easy to mindlessly eat food,” she noted.
Distress tolerance, or being able to deal with uncomfortable feelings and sensations. People often regain weight due to emotional or stress eating, “so if you’re better able to tolerate these uncomfortable sensations, the thought would be that it would maybe help prevent some of these dietary lapses,” Unick said.
Self-compassion, which could help end the vicious cycle of having a dietary lapse, feeling guilty about it and then eating more because of that guilt.
Surprisingly very little research had been done on combining both a weight-loss and a yoga program, Unick said.
'People are just generally feeling better'
The study involved 60 women who were overweight or obese. They first took part in a three-month weight-loss program that prescribed eating 1,200 to 1,800 calories a day and regular aerobic exercise. It also included weekly group sessions with a psychologist and nutritionist.
After losing weight over that period, the women were then randomly assigned to either take two yoga classes per week or two nutrition/cooking classes per week for the next three months.
Researchers tracked their weight and used questionnaires to gauge their psychological states.
It turned out the women who did particularly well in the initial weight-loss program and were then assigned to do yoga classes lost 3.5% more weight than their counterparts who attended the nutrition/cooking classes.
“(If you) lost a significant amount of weight in the first three months and you were in the yoga group, you continued to lose weight from three to six months,” Unick said.
She didn’t have a scientific answer why — the effects likely weren’t due to burning many more calories since the study used a low-intensity type of yoga on purpose — but pointed out that those participants also had greater improvements in mindfulness, self-compassion and the ability to tolerate uncomfortable feelings and sensations.
“I would suspect people are just generally feeling better so therefore, they may be less likely to stress eat,” she said.
At the same time, the findings suggest yoga may not be particularly helpful as long-term weight-loss maintenance strategy for people who don’t initially lose a lot of weight.
Unick cautioned these were preliminary results from a small pilot study that involved women only. She’s planning a follow-up study that includes men as well.
Yoga is for all sizes
To see if yoga can help you maintain your weight loss, the researchers encouraged just trying it. The vast majority of the participants in this study had never practiced yoga before but ended up rating it very highly — whether taking in-person or online classes.
“There’s this misconception is that yoga is for predominantly thin women. But these were all women with a BMI between 25 and 40, so they are classified with overweight or obesity, and they can do yoga. Yoga is for all sizes,” Unick said.
This study involved Iyengar yoga classes twice per week for 60 minutes, but there are many types of yoga to try — less and more intense.
The participants did yoga in addition to their regular aerobic exercise routine, not instead of it, which Unick recommended because research shows aerobic exercise is important for long-term weight-loss maintenance.
“Many people would surprise themselves in terms of how yoga makes them feel,” she said. “Yoga is one of those exercises that people may not always be open minded about… (but) even if you’re not sure you’re going to like it, just give it a try and see what you think.”
A. Pawlowski is a TODAY senior contributing editor focusing on health news and features. Previously, she was a writer, producer and editor at CNN.
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Psychology Today
Source: Kike Vega / Unsplash
A new study published in the academic journal PLOS ONE suggests that yoga is a viable way to improve the physical and cognitive faculties necessary for maintaining long-term weight loss, even if it lacks the physical intensity that is often the focus of calorie-burning workouts.
Jessica Unicke, a researcher at Brown University and lead author of the study, stumbled upon the idea after experiencing the benefits of yoga firsthand.
“I am a tennis player and was looking to increase my flexibility and strength through yoga,” said Unicke.
However, the more I practiced yoga, the more I began to notice how relaxed I would feel after each class and how I was more mindful of how I was feeling throughout the day.
Being a weight loss researcher, it piqued my interest into the role of yoga for individuals seeking to lose weight. Surprisingly, when I reviewed the literature in this area, there weren’t any prior studies that tested the combined effect of yoga and weight loss.
To explore this further, Unicke and her team recruited 60 women that were either obese or overweight. The women first took part in a three-month behavioral weight-loss program which included diet and exercise goals. Then, the researchers randomly assigned the women to one of two groups. One group took part in 12 weeks of culinary classes and nutrition education, while the other group participated in a 12-week yoga course (with classes meeting twice per week).
The researchers then compared the two groups on measures of weight loss/gain, perceived stress, mindfulness, and distress tolerance. They also tracked participants’ enjoyment and satisfaction with the programs.
“Participants reported enjoying the yoga program, being highly satisfied with the yoga program, and being glad that they were assigned to do yoga,” reported Unicke.
Our preliminary data suggests that for individuals who lost a significant amount of weight during the 12-week weight loss program (>5 percent of initial body weight lost), those in the yoga group lost an additional 3.5 percent of their body weight and had greater improvements on psychological measures when compared to those in the nutritional education group.
The authors believed that, beyond its physical benefits, yoga instills people with a mindset that makes it easier for them to follow through on their weight loss goals. Specifically, yoga is able to benefit long-term weight loss in the following ways:
Reducing stress. Prior research shows that higher levels of stress are associated with higher body weight and more unhealthy eating behaviors.
Increasing mindfulness. It is common for individuals to mindlessly eat in response to emotions (e.g., boredom, stress, anger, etc.) rather than eating when one is hungry. Frequent emotional or mindless eating could lead to less weight loss. Because yoga increases mindfulness, it reduces one’s automatic response to eat when faced with unsettling emotions.
Increasing distress tolerance. Becoming more ‘distress-resistant’ — i.e., increasing one’s capacity to withstand negative emotional or physical states — can improve one’s ability to resist cravings or dietary temptations and can lead to fewer dietary lapses.
Unicke encourages individuals who have lost weight and are looking to keep the weight off to give yoga a try. And according to their study, practicing yoga virtually is just as beneficial as attending classes in person.
“You may enjoy it more than you expected, and you may find that the skills practiced during yoga assist with sticking to important weight control behaviors,” said Unicke.
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Yoga for weight loss—why it works, when to practice and the three moves you need to know about
Woman practising yoga for weight loss in a studio with brick wall © Provided by Woman&Home Woman practising yoga for weight loss in a studio with brick wall
Yoga for weight loss may not seem like the perfect combination when compared to the calorie-burning potential of running or strength training, but it can be just as effective as high-intensity exercise when it comes to getting in shape.
Whether you want a workout with minimal strain on your joints or you want to add another exciting element to your training plan, yoga may be just the activity you need. A practice that's been carried out for thousands of years, it focuses on combining strength with flexibility and breathing for a workout that targets your body and your mind.
And all you need to get started is one of the best yoga mats to help you get comfortable and a good pair of workout leggings, along with advice from some of the top trainers around.
Does yoga for weight loss work?
Yes, doing yoga can help you lose weight. Research from The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health found that restorative hatha and vinyasa yoga were particularly beneficial to those who were overweight or obese in helping them to lose weight. While all participants saw changes on the scales, those who lost the most were those who did the most yoga.
However, yoga will only help substantially if you maintain a calorie deficit. Without this, you won't be able to lose any weight for a longer period of time.
"If your goal is to lose fat, then you need to be in a calorie deficit," explains Steven Virtue, fitness development manager at Total Fitness. "This is when you consume slightly fewer calories than you are burning which in turn makes your body tap into the stored body fat for extra energy."
While there are plenty of ways to get into your deficit, from utilizing a plan like the Cambridge Diet plan to basic calorie counting, research from the University of Vienna confirms that it's the only way to lose fat mass.
While not always 100 percent accurate, having one of the best fitness trackers on hand is always a good idea to find out roughly how many calories you burn every day.
What are the benefits of yoga?
The benefits of yoga for both the body and the mind are endless. As well as helping with weight loss, there are plenty of physical changes you'll likely see. These include:
Increased flexibility
Muscle growth
Increased muscle strength
Improved respiratory system
Increased energy levels
Improved cardiovascular and circulatory health
Reduced risk of injury
So, if you prefer going slow, you're in luck. "High-intensity exercise, as we know, has big benefits, especially towards fat loss," says Nick Hewitt, personal trainer for The Training Room. "However, high-intensity exercise often includes a good level of strength and fitness to perform safely without the risk of causing injury. Low-intensity exercise reduces the likelihood of injury.”
Yoga also helps to build muscle mass, a study by the University of Mississippi explains, as participants tend to hold poses for a longer period of time and repeat movements several times during a workout. Not dissimilar to strength training in this way, it can help to prevent conditions such as arthritis, osteoporosis and back pain.
It also helps learn how to deal with stress, one of the biggest contributors to weight gain. When we're feeling under pressure, our bodies produce cortisol—a stress hormone that's been known to lead to an increase in appetite, insulin resistance and high blood pressure. All of which, according to University College London, are contributors to weight gain.
Just remember, if you’re working out at a lower intensity, you will need to up the duration to reap the same benefits.
Best yoga practices for weight loss
Here's the good and bad news. Yoga for beginners is fun and accessible, while yoga for back pain is often slow and gentle. But, for the practice to make an impact on your weight loss, you need to go for a more dynamic style.
As leading yoga teacher Sarah Highfieldsays, yoga can help some people to lose weight but they have to try a more intense practice, like a Vinyasa or power yoga. “While most styles of yoga are not strenuous enough to be considered exercise, it will definitely help you to strengthen your body and reduce stress,” she says.
What are the best yoga moves to help you lose weight? 1. Hip opener
First, get into a downward dog position. In downward dog, lift your left leg towards the ceiling, foot flexed, and hips level. Bend your left knee and let your heel move towards your hip. Hold for 15 to 30 seconds and repeat with the other leg. Return to downward dog before walking your hands to your feet and slowly curl up to a standing position. Repeat on the other side.
Easy lunge twist
In downward dog, exhale and bring your left foot forward and place it between your hands. Bend your left knee to 90°. Then place your right hand next to your left foot, so it’s directly under your shoulder. Inhale and lift your left arm up towards the ceiling by rotating the upper body to the left. Rotate your gaze up to the ceiling and lengthen through your spine. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds and then repeat on the other side.Malasana yoga squat
Stand feet slightly wider than hip-width apart, toes pointing outwards. Squat as deep as you can and bring your elbows to the inside of the knees and bring your palms together. Use your elbows to push your knees apart and hold the pose for 30 to 60 seconds.
How to get the best weight loss results from yoga
“For best results, practice as often or as little as makes you happy," says Sarah. "Yoga should never be an activity that you don’t look forward to."
Try to find a balance that works for you. For some people that might be a 30-minute session every day. But, for others, it’s three 45-minute sessions per week or it could even be one 60-minute session per fortnight.
“My recommendation is do what you can, and you will find that if you enjoy it, you will end up doing more and if it’s not for you, then don’t worry,” says Sarah. “I personally try to fit in three 45-minute sessions per week and that helps to keep me feeling healthy and balanced.”
Other low-intensity exercise to help you lose weight
Not sure yoga is right for you? These other low-intensity exercises could also help you lose weight.
Tai Chi
“Tai Chi is great for your mental health as well as physical wellbeing, as it can help reduce stress whilst improving your posture and strengthening your legs,” says Nick. “It can also improve your balance and general mobility, which, if you are an older adult, will help reduce the risk of falls.” Practitioners recommend that you attend two to three classes a week and diligently practice 10 to 20 minutes a day for beginners. If you want to practice at home, search ‘tai chi for beginners’ on YouTube for a wealth of videos.
Walking
Walking briskly is a great form of low-intensity exercise, as it can be done anywhere. All you need is a pair of the best walking shoes and you are good to go. “If you are not very active, start with a stroll and gradually increase the pace and distance,” says Nick. “Walking can help you build stamina, improve your muscular endurance and body composition, burning any of those excess calories.”
Swimming
Swimming is a great full-body workout and can help you tone up and lose weight. Swimming a few lengths works all of the muscle groups, and you'll get a good aerobic workout if you increase the pace. How much will you lose? This depends on your weight. As a rough guide, someone weighing around 9st can burn up to 590 calories in an hour when swimming fast and 413 an hour when swimming slower. To lose weight, aim for two to five hours every week. Want to burn more? Try outdoor water swimming. The cold water will make your body work harder to keep you warm, meaning you’ll burn more calories. Do make sure to acclimatize first, always swim with others and speak to your doctor if you are unaccustomed to cold water swimming.
