Bikram for weight loss – any stories for me?!

Hello Sally

I hope you have had time to look around at the stories that so many others have already shared. You will find our most read thread here: I Am Quite Overweight And Doing Hot Yoga. Check out many inspirational stories, advice and others’ experience in this section of the forum: Weight Loss and Hot Yoga.

It is my opinion that if you go at least 4-5 times a week and maybe even more, you can lose shape quite fast (does depend on the person – but it can happen VERY fast) and you don’t have to do any other exercise. It is your choice. When you settle into a maintenance routine then you can introduce other types of exercise.

There are definitely differing opinions regarding what to do. Let’s see what others suggest.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

I have been going to hot yoga about as much as Bikhead does and started around the same time too. I haven’t lost any weight and maybe even gained a couple of pounds. I am no expert but this is my opinion for me. I am a gym rat so I also workout at the gym every day for at least 2 hours. It is my belief that hot yoga is the same as any other activity and that I burn calories based on the movements I do and possibly some increase due to my metabolism rising due to the heat. I am estimating that I burn approximately 400 or so calories in one hot yoga class. I wore a heart rate monitor into the yoga class one day and that was the calorie burn reading that I got. I felt it was a good calorie burn considering that it is the same that I burn in a cycling class which I feel is much harder.

Since I will skip a gym class to take a hot yoga class, as they are offered at the same time – I basically break even. If I eat back my calories, I will gain weight.

So my thoughts are that I could probably take just the hot yoga and lose weight if I was willing to cut way back on my calorie intake.

Basically it is calorie in verses calorie out = gain or lose (no matter the activity)

There is a calculator for figuring out Bikram calories burned below. I’m skeptical of the results – It calculates that I would burn 1660 calories during a 90 minute bikram yoga session. Since I’m not always able to do all of the poses and I can’t even attempt standing head to knee or toe stand, I’m sure my actual calories burned is lower, but I really can’t even guess how much lower.

Link to calorie counter at the bottom of this forum topic

Well, everyone is different of course but one of my Instructor’s is definitely looking anorexic from teh last time I saw here. She’s almost 6 ft, her face is extremely gaunt, and she is soooo thin. Not only from her daily practice I guess, but she admitted that she’d cut out all dairy, weight, meat and is only a vegetarian. I’m all for a thin physique but she looks really pasty and gangly now.

I try to do the class at least 2 or 3 x/week as well as go to the gym the other days doing power walking/running intervals, some light weights, eliptical machines, etc. I find I really crave the intense “aerobic” exercise because I tend to be on the hyper side so it helps me get my energy out, if that makes sense.

As for weight loss, yes I’m experiencing some but in my case I had other health issues, so now as they’re being healed I’m losing. I’m also eating lots more which seems to be working in my case, because my Doctor told me my body had bascially gone into “hibernation mode” that is packing on weight and not losing, as I wasn’t eating enough for my body. I know lots of other people that have had phenominal results with weight loss from hot yoga though. One instructor in particular never worked out a day in her life, went 4x/week for 2 yrs and lost 35 lbs, after which she decided to become an Instructor. She is in her late 40’s but has the body of someone in their early 20’s.

I just want to mention something else. That I’m so tired of people saying as they get older it’s impossible to lose weight, or that as each decade goes that women gain 10 lbs per decade! That is just @#$%^&*(!! My relatives, most of whom are older are all long and lean, and have maintained their bodies their entire life. Hmm wonder if I should start a sepearte thread about this issue ad it really does irk me. I’m in my lat 30’s and even when I first began Bikram, and wanted to lose some lbs, all these people around me were saying that your body is getting older and no matter what you do, you won’t lose the weight. Can you believe that dribble? Just wanted to get that off my chest! There feel better now…:)

Hi Freiamaya,

That’s great that you lost weight, or lost inches, because after all inches and BODY FAT is more important than what’s on the scale. I mean you can have two people who weigh the same thing, but the one with say more muscle less body fat is going to look quite a bit smaller. You should be proud of yourself.

But yeah I had to put that comment in because I was so frustrated with my inability to lose weight for so long. At the time I had gained almost 30 lbs in several months, without eating more and lots of exercising, despite being athletic my entire life. I remember going from one Doctor to another, all they ever did was do a thyroid test and when the results came back negative, their answer was – Well you’re getting older and as the body gets older it naturally wants to hold onto fat, and that we gain weight as we get older. Fine, but gaining 30 something lbs in a few months despite always being lean? My Doctor even said to me that oh you obviously have a hormonal balance, let’s put you on a birth control pill. Not! I went from Doctor to Doctor, tried Endocrinologists and finally found an amazing Naturopath that’s helping me lose my excess lbs. I’ll even admit to trying to something else as well. Ok, well I guess I was also one of those people who had been brainwashed to believe that I’m getting older therefore I’ll never lose my weight, so I tried a form of hypnotism for that as well to change my thinking pattern and that helped for me called NLP.

And if you’re exercising regularly, like doing regular hot yoga to lose weight, and eating low fat, there should be no reason why we can’t lose weight just because you’re getting older, unless you have certain medical issues. Proof of that is when you go to Europe, and all around you you see slim, fit women of all ages. I just think we’ve been brainwashed for too long in the media to believe that as we get older, we’ll naturally lose our bodies and be unable to lose our weight so we believe it.

I guess my point in all of this is to never give up on yourself. I think if you really truly want to lose weight you will lose it because I’ve realized that the mind is much more powerful than we think.

Hey yogalifer,

“I think that we only gain weight, lose muscle, lose flexibility as we get older because we allow that to happen.”

I absolutely agree with you. sorry had to put your quote in manually as I tried to do it by clicking on quote and I guess I didn’t know what I was doing.

Anyway, Cindy you have the right attitude and I wish I were surrounded by more positive people like you around me! Make you could whip some of those lazy slackers around here into shape!! 🙂 That’s really good though that you’ve maintained your weight, size, are very fit exercising regularly and I’m sure you probably look a lot younger than your peers too i would imagine…I’m 5 10 1/2 and usually wear a size 10 (North American size that is), and now I’m a 12 so just need to go down one more size. Could be worse though because before I had become a size 14 with a very thick waist. Anyway, I don’t have a thick waist or anything, just want to lose more in my chest, hips and thighs. The abs are looking pretty good though, I managed to get rid of my love handles. Well, I used to be obsessed with weight when I was younger, but have learned to be more positive through the Law of Attraction.

I hear you! I love good food and am a “gourmand”. Can’t drink wine though as I’m allergic to all alcohol, chocolate, citrus foods, coffees, etc,

Namaste
tat

Ilyzium, It must be nice to be slim and have it come easy for you!

I wouldn’t judge someone else and tell them their full of %$#%*& about their weight till you walk in their shoes. You don’t know everyone’s situation.

Barb

Ilyzium

Thanks for the clarification. I agree with you that the people that complain they’re gaining weight, but don’t do anything about it, shouldn’t be complaining. Eating junk food and not moving your body, has nothing to do with gaining weight because of age!

I’m going through a stage where the weight was coming off pretty easily with Bikram and then just STOPPPED! I even gained weight back. I re-adjusted my eating habits and still did not see results. Now I’m trying to mix things up with Pilates, Bikram/Hot Yoga, power walking and Balance Barre (Physique 57 type class). Menopause has hit me like a brick wall! That’s when the weight loss stopped and the gaining started. Just turned 50 and hoping to reverse some of the gain.

I guess that’s why your comment struck a nerve. I’m pretty “hormonal” right now. Trying some homeopathic stuff to help with the side effects.

Again, I appreciate the update!

Barb

Hi Ilyzium,

I just wanted to backup what you were saying about the generalized belief patterns that most of us are subjected to – not just by our circle of contacts, but in general through our upbringing; the media; cultural imprints etc etc.

Both Gabrielle & I are NLP Trained (she is a Master Practitioner and I am a Master Practitioner and NLP Trainer) and once you become aware of them, it is incredible just how many “limiting beliefs” are considered as fact by many.

It’s a great exercise to do, to ask oneself “how do I KNOW this to be true?” for any aspect of our lives (not just weight loss).

Which brings me to the whole calorie debate.

I’m actually the person who put the calculator up on our sister site – from public demand I might add – as it at least gives a comparison to other activities which seems to resonate for us.

Perhaps as a gross measurement of energy in/energy out, calorific intake has some value, but as has been stated elsewhere, too little intake *might* send the body into a kind of hibernation where energy is stored (as fat among other things).

In addition, let’s look at belief systems again: If someone believes that it is necessary to measure calories to lose weight, then they may well NEED to do that to be convinced.

It’s also been suggested that independent of calories comes the “basal metabolic rate” – and if this is higher then that person will burn calories faster than someone with a lower rate. A 1964 study of men who moved to high altitude for 82-113 days showed an increase of 10% in their basal metabolic rate (BMR) … it is even shown that the resting metabolic rate (RMR – and responsible for most/60-75% of our daily energy expenditure) is not only influenced by prolonged exercise but also by the extremes of environmental ambient temperature – hello hot yoga (though this does make a good case for “cold yoga”, which for other reasons, we don’t recommend! ;)).

Anyway, I just wanted to point out that although the calorie calculator is useful and certainly good for the curiosity factor, I would not be using it as an absolute measure.

As Bikhead points out – it would depend on consistent practice of all the poses – and I can tell you from years of experience and observation, it is possible to practice many of the poses while not necessarily working *that hard*. For example, the more you can engage quads/abs/core/tighten arm muscles etc, the more energy is being expended; more muscle strength/definition built etc This will be affected by the student’s yoga breathing practice as well – ongoing muscle use needs a good supply of oxygen!

Anyway, don’t believe me, I get all my information from Wikipedia!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_energy

(Actually not entirely true – I have referenced an excellent book by Lawrence Armstrong, “Performing In Extreme Environments“. An excellent resource for anyone interested in how one’s body does respond to exercising in extreme environments – such as hot yoga for example.)

Cheers!

Robert

PS. Just in case anyone is confused, in general Bikram yoga and hot yoga instructors usually don’t practice the poses alongside their students, so one wouldn’t expect them to be burning the same calories/joules.

Robert, pray tell, what is an NLP trainer?

Well I started to lose weight before my 5x/week bikram practice went into full swing. A big part of it was about eating healthier. Being aware of portion sizes. Eating breakfast. Taking the alcohol intake way, way down. And the like. And counting or more importantly balancing my calories was important, although I’m much less concerned with counting the calories I’ve burned. But the huge body differences have come in the last 5 weeks with bikram. Where people SEE the difference. The body is rearranging. Stronger. It’s been a bit of everything which has me 30 pounds lighter and now a size 6 dress AND pants.

Hi Tasha

So you have lost weight and shape and you can still eat chocolate! Are you enjoying your life and your chocolate? :cheese: I have no answers for the chocolate cravings. Everyone is different. Also I don’t know what you craved either: it could have been a good quality dark chocolate filled with antioxidants or it could have been an ooey gooey Mars bar.

I wonder what the feeling is like in your body with only 1 hot yoga class per week. So many people come to the forum and wonder if they should even bother without the heat. The answer: Of course!!! It just feels better in the heat but then it is better not to get attached to recreating the same sensations all the time.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂