Yoga and weight loss: the untold truth

Whether yoga can help with weight loss is an ubiquitous topic on social media and online articles, and it’s a question that every yoga teacher has been asked at least once by a prospective student with hope in their eyes, as they pictured the possibility that yoga might be, finally, the answer to their quest for the perfect body (in the eyes of certain beauty standards, that is).

It is in response to this question that we’re currently flooded with a myriad of answers, some of contradicting nature. Some believe that yoga, as a spiritual practice, cannot (and should not) in any way be part of the weight loss or fitness narrative. On the other side of the spectrum, we may find exact recipes listing which asanas to practice to reduce fat in certain areas of the body. And somewhere in between, we encounter the premise that yoga, as exercise (and particularly in its more dynamic variations), can aid with weight loss in combination with reduced food consumption, or what is often called: “calorie deficit + exercise”.

The latter has become accepted as the better approach, due to the seemingly scientific premise that if you consume less energy than you spend, you will burn stored fat. The logic is sane, but it fails to take into account the nature of our food and our biological processes. For the logic to work, the factors at play (food and energy consumption) should be fixed and easy to control at will. However, a closer look at the variability of these factors, along with our intrinsic inability to control them, easily reveals the fact that even this seemingly scientific diet approach is bound to fail. Or in other words, like all other diets: it works until it doesn’t.

Calorie deficit + exercise: the biology

Before we go into the actual effects of calorie deficit and exercise on the body, it’s important that we acknowledge the fact that a calorie is a unit of energy. It is not a unit of nutrition. This is important because our food is not fuel, and it doesn’t work with our body in the same way that gas powers a car. Our food is highly variable, and rich in macro and micronutrients. Not all calories are created equal, and they are certainly not burned for power as they drop into your stomach in the same way in which gas is burned to keep an engine running. Instead, the macro and micro nutrients, which are the building blocks of our tissues and bodily processes are metabolized differently, according to their respective roles. Understanding this first is paramount to understanding that it’s not the amount of calories you’re consuming that’s relevant, but rather what types of nutrients you’re consuming, whether they’re balanced, and whether they’re adequate to your specific needs.

When you reduce your calorie intake, you will initially lose weight, whether you exercise or not. However, after a period of time, you will hit a plateau, just like with other diets. I have experienced this first hand several years ago when I (misguidedly) went on a severely calorie restrictive diet, which eventually culminated in a full blown eating disorder as my weight not only stopped dropping but started to increase again regardless of the fact that I kept decreasing my food intake.

At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening. How could it be possible that I continued to gain weight despite the fact that I was barely eating, and I was hitting the gym daily?

This can be easily explained in reference to the results of numerous studies (*) on the effects of diets based on reduced calorie consumption and increased exercise, which show that these don’t work for the following reasons:

• When our usual calorie intake is reduced, our body compensates by reducing our overall activity (making us tired) and slowing our metabolic rate to match the new amounts.

• Additionally, the body will increase your appetite in an attempt to make up for the missed nutrition (most people will inadvertently eat more than they intended after a workout, this is a natural process of the body).

• The real calorie expenditure that we can build up based on the increased exercise is a negligible percent in comparison to our metabolic rate.

• Weight is affected by several other factors besides food and exercise, including hormonal factors (insulin resistance and sensitivity, high and/or chronic stress, etc), and sleep, among others.

The combination of these factors results in the fact that, no matter how much we reduce our caloric intake, as the body continues to slow our metabolic rate to match it, we will inevitably plateau or start gaining weight again. Further reduction of our caloric beyond this point may not be possible (depending on how much we are eating when this happens), and may be detrimental to our overall nutrition if the restrictions are severe.

So how can yoga really help?

So if calorie deficit is a flawed approach, and increased exercise doesn’t really help us burn that extra fat -- what role can yoga play in weight loss, if at all?

Yoga can actually help by addressing the underlying causes of weight gain, which cannot be summarized simplistically in terms of how much we eat and how much we exercise. Weight is also intrinsically related to our hormonal health, our nutritional choices, and even the quality of our sleep, among many other factors.

Here’s 3 ways in which yoga can impact your weight through impacting your lifestyle:

1) Reduce stress

In a society where chronic stress is our bread and butter, it’s not too far reached to assume that many weight problems are linked to this condition. Continuous elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, are linked directly to weight gain in a variety of ways, including insulin resistance, increased appetite, and relocation of triglycerides to visceral fat cells.

One of yoga's well researched benefits is stress relief, especially when undertaken as a whole body mind-body practice that includes asana, pranayama, meditation, and relaxation. A regular practice of yoga can help lower your stress levels, and regulate the hormones that have a direct impact on your weight.

2) Better food choices

As we saw above, not all calories are created equal. Another reason why calorie reduction is an excessively simplistic approach, is that it looks at food as fuel instead of as nutrition, but 100 calories of broccoli are not the same as 100 calories of pastries. They just don’t contain the same macro and micronutrients, and your body will metabolize and use them differently.

Yoga, whether you’re just practicing asana, or you’re embracing all eight limbs, is a practice of mind-body awareness. It’s in cultivating this awareness that we begin to understand the body, and to observe the processes of our mind, naturally becoming more attuned to both. Practice brings more awareness, and in this process you may find yourself making more nutritious and overall better food choices.

3) More functional body

This may not relate directly to weight on the surface level, however, it’s important to note that the practice of yoga helps increase your flexibility and range of mobility, while also toning your muscles and enhancing your well-being.

A combination of less stress, better food choices, and a functional body will change both your body and mind. You may look more in shape, or begin to glow from the inside. As your practice develops, your relationship with your body will evolve, and you may find that your weight loss journey eventually leads you to the broader path of overall wellness.

Conclusion

This isn’t but a very simple overview of a few of the reasons why weight loss is far more complex than “calorie deficit + exercise”, including an introduction to challenge the widespread notion that measuring food in calories and thinking in terms of fuel energy is an accurate way to estimate the way in which our body will metabolize the food that we ingest. Changing the way that we look at food, and the way in which we understand our body’s use for its nourishing energy is paramount for us to begin to learn how to work with this vessel in the quest for optimal health and wellbeing, the very premise that the practice of yogasana, together with the science of Ayurveda, seeks, as a step to prepare the body for the deeper practices of meditation. In this context, Yoga plays not the role of a workout that will help us burn calories and fat, and shed those extra kilograms. Instead, the role of Yoga is that of bringing harmony and balance to our endocrine (hormonal) system, along with optimizing the functions of our internal organs, so that our body can do its job efficiently. If anything, I would like for this blog post to serve as a trigger to inspire you to think deeper about any preconceived ideas around calories, food, and the idea of weight loss — don’t take my words as they are, instead, use them as a prompt to pursue further research.

At the end of the day, yoga is a journey of self-discovery.

(*) Resources:

“The Obesity Code” Jason Fung, MD | “Spoon-Fed” Tim Spector