Hot Yoga and Calories Burned

On my Christmas List!

How many calories are burned during a hot yoga work out? From my research, it looks like you burn more calories during a Bikram yoga session than with many other forms of exercise.I didn't start doing hot yoga specifically to lose weight but I have lost some pounds and some inches since I started 6 weeks ago. I decided to do some research into how many calories I was actually burning per 90 minutes.

At the website Diet and Fitness Today, you can put in your weight and the minutes you practice and get the calories burned during Bikram yoga practice. Another website I looked at, however, says that when figuring the calories burned, this isn't taking rest periods into consideration.

According to this website, I am burning 892 calories during each hot yoga session. Even if I deduct rest periods and I'm only burning about 600, that is more than most forms of aerobic exercise. I think water aerobics burns about 300 per hour.

Rocky the Rescue Kitty enjoying life!

In 6 weeks I've only lost 3 pounds doing Bikram. However, I had already lost about 10 pounds this past year, mainly from giving up eating a lot of meat and eating more raw foods, so I knew I would lose more slowly at this point. The thing that amazes me, though, is the inches I've lost.

I started out on November 11 with these measurements:

Weight 140
Waist    31 and a half inches
Hips 37 and a half inches

Now on December 6, my measurements are

Weight 137
Waist 30 inches
Hips 36 and a half inches

Not only these measurements are less but overall, my clothes are looser so I've lost inches pretty much everywhere in my body doing Bikram 4-5 times a week. I've been exercising pretty much all of my life and have never seen anything make such a difference in my measurements as these hot yoga workouts. I've noticed too that the older I get, the harder it is to lose any weight at all, let alone try and work on the muffin top that formed around my waist.

I guess that's how Bikram gets to be addicting. You notice all the great benefits like losing weight and inches, clearer, softer skin, less body aches and pains, and you can't stop going!

How It Went in My Second Bikram Class

My shelter dog Molly and Rocky the Rescue
Kitten have gotten to be best friends!

My second Bikram yoga class was a little more difficult than the first class, mainly because I my body was sore from the first one! The muscles around my knees and in my thighs were very sore and I thought they were in pretty good shape until now.

To ease the soreness I drank some cherry juice, which is good for muscle recovery, and took some alfalfa pills, plus some slippery elm bark capsules, which is like a natural aspirin. Still wasn't enough though.

My balance seemed a little off this time too in the balance poses. Still, I know we have our great days and not so great days.

I did realize last time, though, that I needed to get some short sleeved tops and shorter yoga pants. I have to admit that it's been years since I've worn short sleeved tops of any kind or short, either, for that matter. My upper arms are showing my age as are my thighs so I've always just covered them up. Sleeves are hard to deal with in Bikram though.

I definitely know I won't ever be wearing those little bikini suits that some of the younger women wear but I can do shorter pants and short sleeve tops.

This class I just took an old blue mat I had at home and it worked fine, plus a bath towel. I did order a better mat though which is coming tomorrow- mostly for inspiration!

Another thing I noticed in my second class is that my neck is feeling the strain of the first breathing exercise, I think. I've been going to a holistic chiropractor who has been working on my neck alignment so it will be interesting to see what she says on my next visit. I am trying to be careful with my neck until I get better at Bikram.

I will have to take tomorrow off since that is the day of my tai chi class. I take tai chi twice a week and practice also for about 20 minutes each morning. Tai chi is moving meditation and also helps massage internal organs, improve balance and circulation and increase chi, or good energy. It is wonderful for health and healing. I think my poor, old body may need a day of rest anyway.

We'll see how class goes after a day of rest and recuperation. I remember the last time I tried Bikram, I only went for 4-5 days but I could actually see improvement in that time in how well I did the postures.

Today too, I weighed myself and measured my waist and hips so I can keep track of improvements. This past year, I've lost about 15 pounds, mostly due to eating much less meat and a lot more raw foods, but I'd like to lose a few more pounds and take some inches off by firming up.

So here it is:

Weight 140
Waist measurement 36 1/2 (down a whole inch from the last time I measured due to losing some weight!)