Bikram Yoga, which is also known as Hot Yoga, is getting more popular among yoga community. One of the key reasons is that people believe that hot yoga will help them to lose weight in a quick and easy way. The perception comes from the experience of sweating profusely in the class.
Now, is it true that Bikram Yoga will help you to lose weight? Read on to find out more.
Bikram Yoga class is conducted in a room heated to 105°F (40.5°C) with a humidity of 40%. Therefore, everyone will sweat like pig. Some gyms are pushing hot yoga packages to their members with the following claims:
- Hot yoga make you sweat. The more you sweat, the more calories you burn.
- Sweating will also detoxify your body with healthier circulatory system which brings positive effect on metabolism. With better metabolism, you can shed your weight easily.
- Warm temperature warm your muscles easily. By warming your muscles, you can burn fat easily.
- Hot yoga will help build your willpower and mental strength that comes from the challenge of practicing yoga in a heated environment. You can then resist temptation to overeat and will lose weight.
Now, are all of the claims true?
Let’s look at the first and second point. Hot yoga makes you sweat. Fine, but is sweating really a good indication of detoxification and therefore helping you to lose weight faster? When you sweat, you lose mainly water. Once you drink water to rehydrate yourself, you will regain the weight. In fact, it is not true that the more you sweat, the more calories you burn. Check out my article of The Truth Behind Losing Weight by Having Sauna or Steam Bath which is based on the same concept.
As for the third point saying warmed muscles will burn fat easily. I do not find any scientific proof about the direct correlation between warmed muscles and calories burning.
Last point, hot yoga build your willpower. I think that it is possible and it may really work for some people. But, many other sports or activities you can do so to build the similar mental strength too.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying hot yoga is bad. Hot yoga, just like the other types of yoga, is good. My thought on this issue:
- My concern is that people are expecting miracle after attending only few sessions of the hot yoga class. Right after the class, some people will quickly stand on the scale and jump for joy after seeing the “weight loss”. Those are temporary loss. Like other exercise, you can only see results after attending Bikram yoga for several times a week and for at least few months. After practicing yoga for sometime, you will develop muscle tone through various asanas or postures.
- Second, hot yoga should NOT be the only weight loss tool if you seriously want to lose weight. You need to have health eating plan and do other exercise too. In fact, other cardiovascular exercise such as jogging, swimming or cycling may help you lose weight faster than yoga.
Weight loss should not be the only reason you start learning yoga. Yoga improves flexibility and also help release stress. At the end of the day, exercising frequently is important to lose weight and maintain your weight. So, if you join Yoga class next time, do not expect you will experience weight loss immediately. Treat it as a bonus if you really lose weight.
Category: Yoga 
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Karin // Nov 3, 2008 at 9:21 AM
We will just discussing this topic with our yoga teachers the other day and most of us agreed that hot yoga does not help to loose weight but might result in dehydration. We are told that we should only stay in a sauna for not more than 10 minutes but people are doing yoga in a hot room for an hour!
I have attended a hot yoga class and nearly fainted due to the poor ventilation coupled with the Malaysian hot weather as the class was held on a Saturday afternoon.
Keane // Nov 3, 2008 at 12:05 PM
Going for yoga can surely make us slim. But due to busy life it might not be possible ti go for this work outs. Going for good weight loss diet will surely do for me to get my weight down. It is really the best way.
gWallet // Nov 3, 2008 at 5:22 PM
I’ve heard about this as well, and to be honest, I’m not entirely convinced. Yoga is like any other sporting activity – something that requires the body to act and react to various scenarios. I’ve yet to see ‘hot’ running, or ‘hot’ cycling, etc. Put in these terms, wouldn’t this almost run the risk of being dangerous?
smittenkitt // Nov 4, 2008 at 6:38 AM
Since my friend is yoga instructor and she teaches hot yoga, so I tried some of her hot yoga classes..my opinion is there are many options to lose weight, doing yoga alone might not make you lose weight but…yoga can be alternative as varitety of your workout and practicing your flexibility.
Oliver // Nov 4, 2008 at 10:47 AM
ya..Mun, Good article and you are right, in fact, some of the Hot yoga instrutor look mealty but they are conducting hot yoga almost everyday more then 1 to 2 class.
The 4 points claims from those gyms are just MARKETING GIMMICK!!, I in Marketing industry and I know how is their pratice..
Mortal // Nov 5, 2008 at 6:16 PM
I have never tried yoga, but i have tried pilates, and I know people who swear by it, so I definately believe that for some body types and for some people, yoga or pilates is a good way to go, even when it comes to weight loss.
Nappy // Nov 11, 2008 at 3:58 AM
I’ve done hot yoga 3x-4x a week. I can say it doesn’t help me lose any weight. However, I have pre-hypertension and after doing yoga, my blood pressure has gone down to normal. I do have increased flexibility, but this might just be a result of all the stretching in yoga, not hot yoga specifically.
muchacha // Nov 14, 2008 at 4:10 PM
Tried hot yoga enough to not like it. Here’s why
1. The excessive sweating from the forehead made me lose focus
2. As the body becomes damp &/wet from the sweating, binding and balance poses become even more challenging
3. Unlike power or ashtanga yoga, there is no cooling down period
reem // Jun 9, 2009 at 6:56 AM
I tried it for about 8 sesions before i got married; i was eating healthy, was working out twice a DAY and then did bikram’s yoga 2-3 times a week. I lost weight but i wouldn’t attribute that to the yoga solely. I agree with the author of the article, after every session I’d lose a lot of water weight and then gain it back. But, from experience I’d say that yoga makes your muscles stronger and improves your posture, and that is very important when trying to lose weight which not a lot of people realize. When you’re using the right muscles even daily walking can help you burn more calories than usual only because you’re using your core muscles more. I had to learn to use my core to stabalize myself during the yoga moves probably because my other muscles had losened up because of the heat. Hence during my other wokouts too, I wasn’t substituting my core for my thighs or shoulder or back. Thats my two cents.
Nappy // Jul 12, 2009 at 9:48 AM
After practising for over 1 year, at least 3x a week. I have lost about 5 lbs. Overall, I don’t think it’s a good/fast way to lose weight, but that’s not really the reason that I continue to practise yoga…
Karen Mount // Aug 11, 2009 at 7:30 PM
Bikram yoga balances the hormones and realigns your body. The effect it has is to rebalance your digestive system as well so that if you are someone who overeats you have no desire to do so and the sort of food you fancy changes, for example I now have a penchant for melons. If you undereat it changes that as well. Being overweight is the result of an inbalance in your body, attitude and lifestyle, this is where yoga comes in and I have found when I practice regularly I do lose weight and feel lighter.
Tina // Sep 6, 2009 at 2:01 AM
I started hot yoga about weeks now. i am doing it 5 times a week (atleast so far). i feel nauseaus/dizzy every so often, but i take plenty of small water breaks and deep breathing which really makes all the difference. i haven’t lost any weight (not that i expected to so soon) but i do notice i am standing taller, i am stronger (asanas i couldnt’ do 2 weeks ago, i can sorta do them now). and i am a tad little itsy bitsy leaner (especially around my thighs/hips) which is soooo motivating!! i am 5.2inches tall, 130 lbs. had a baby 2 months ago. i am looking to lose 20lbs hopefully soon. i am trying to eat healthy too, but you know how that goes…..*sigh*
A // Dec 23, 2009 at 9:08 AM
Sweating does help you detoxify, the water you drink on a daily basis helps flush out toxins in the first place by urination, sweating is a bonus for eliminating waste. Why do you think your sweat smells so bad? You’re getting rid of harsh chemicals in your body. You don’t lose weight right away, hot yoga is here to help find balance in the body, if you need to gain or lose weight it will happen, you need to practice quite a bit before results. Obviously you’re going to see you lost a few pounds right after class, you just sweated out 5lbs of water! An average person gains and loses 5lbs on a daily basis, depending on how much you eat, how much you drink, how often you eliminate waste.
The part about metabolism is also based on how and what you eat. If you starve your body all day then indulge in something late at night the meal usually goes straight to fat, or if you eat tons of carbs, meat or junk food.. well it’s not exactly going to create healthy cells are they? If you mess up your eating schedule all the time, your body will get used to that and always do the same thing to your foods – store it as fat. It’s recommended that you eat 5 or 6 small meals a day.. that’s pretty crazy and takes lots of time. It’s best to bring tons of healthy snacks around with you (carrots,almonds,apples) so when you’re out you don’t go into starvation mode until you actually get a chance to make or buy a meal. Also in Hot yoga there are many positions that stimulate the pituitary gland, which is the main controller of your metabolism. By stimulation this gland your body will have a better chance at controlling a healthy weight for you.
You warm your muscles so that you don’t injure your body and that you’re able go deeper into the stretches. Try doing a simple posture when you’re body isn’t warmed up properly you’ll see that you have difficulty and it’s painful! It’s like any other exercise you need to be properly prepared. Yoga helps you create balance and stability, the postures help work each and every little muscle in parts of your body, you can increase strength and elongate your spine. There’s tons of spinal postures, and everyone knows that your spine is connected to every part of you body. So by stimulating the spine you’ll receive many benefits.
Now, the will power part is basically you trying to breathe, do each and every pose to the best of your ability without letting your body take control of you, you’re not allowed to let the sweat dripping onto your face, the heat, your mind telling you “you can’t do this” Because it’s mind over matter!! No matter what happens in the room, just breathe and focus. It’s meditation. It’s like any other form of meditation- clear your mind, focus on one thing.. even if you just meditate in your home for 20 minutes a day, well that’s increasing your mindpower! It’s not easy.. to think of nothing, all these words popup or feelings or ideas. Even with extra meditation it’s still hard to only focus on hot yoga postures, that’s why practice makes perfect right?
I don’t think I know any workout that you see results faster than hot yoga. Wait at least a month before you notice anything! If you’re not happy with your results in class, like you’re not bending over backwards enough, or you cant lock your knee.. think about when you are in class- do you try that hard? Are you really wanting to improve?Are you doing the bare minimum? If you focus on little things, like locking your knees, Just make sure on those postures you LOCK YOUR KNEE! And don’t think of ANYTHING else! Very soon you’ll notice it’s becoming easier. You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
Matt // Jan 17, 2010 at 4:42 PM
To the poster above, sweat doesn’t smell bad because it’s full of toxins. Most of the time sweat smells because of the bacteria and dirt that’s on our bodies. Bacteria feeds on it, and the biproduct produces the smell. As far as weightloss, yep, bikram can help you lose weight. But as with any fitness activity, the usual caveats are attached, along with some others. Like drinking much more water than you would doing any other excercise or simply laying down or sitting if you do feel faint. My classmate has lost 30 lbs. I can’t speak to the benefits of sitting in a hot room while you do nothing but stay still and sweat. What I can say is that doing these postures will force you to engage certain muscle groups while disengaging others. You will find your muscles firming up and reconfiguring as you pose, this is where the weightloss comes in. I’d probably compare it to an isometric routine. It’s not just a product of the heat and humidity.
For those who haven’t tried it, I highly recommend taking a session or two.
I alternate workout days between bikram and strength training days. Between my flexibility and posture the results have been good.