Few years ago, when I became a new Mom, my weight was at 190 lbs and things went haywire, postpartum. My cholesterol shot up, I developed high blood pressure, had shortness of breath, my lipid profile did not look too good, my clothes size went up 3 times and pretty much was seen as oversized..plus size. The point here is beyond my looks getting oversized, my health went for a toss. Losing weight with yoga was an option, but I wanted to be sure.
The doctor had said that I need to change the way I live forever, if I need to live longer and get my health under control. Change the way I live? I did not even binge eat too much junk food, either. I was pretty much balanced in my food intake. Nevertheless I put on lot of weight, developed water retention, edema which led to high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
I was immediately put onto a high BP medication and was given a little gap to get started on cholesterol control medicine. With a history of diabetes in my family, the biggest fear was it should not be the next event in my life. The worst part was when I met the nutritionist who said everything that freaked me out. I was dejected, as I felt I have a long way to go and did not want any medical condition to hold me back. I was all of 30 years old, at that time. No one would have believed that I had all this going on inside of me, beyond my broad heavy frame I was still young, you see.
The next 48 hours was not an easy one to pass as I had to process all this information.
I did not want something else decide my fate and drive my life. I wanted to be in control of it. Quite often, we get to such a point only after a hard truth which is difficult to swallow, hits us. Until then, things are taken for granted, such was my case. In my case, I was more of a sponge to absorb deeply anything stressful. I had this ability to take all the world’s stress and worry about it. This habitual trend led to me developing these health challenges. But the good part is that I would go to the other extreme to get the matter into my hands to reverse it back to normal.
I did a lot of research, attended demo sessions for aerobics, Zumba, gym membership and some how was not pleased with the flow or the instructors. I gave myself a year to lose all this weight and reach my goal of 120 lbs, come what may.
After few weeks, I finally found a very good yoga instructor in Hatha yoga category. And I immediately joined the yoga sessions, from home. I was referred to a good diet, a normal one not extreme one (which is not sustainable in the long run)- which was timed well in terms of frequency of eating and the calorie intake. I was surprised that I was eating more than usual in this diet form.
My losing weight with Yoga routine, at home
I used to think yoga was slow and was for older people. But I was so wrong. In fact I got to discover that yoga was indeed both, balanced and intense. During the sessions I used to sweat so much that I was soaked in my outfit. It looked like someone poured a few mugs of water over my head.
I continued this regime for 2-3 months and I started loving it! I eventually started seeing results, my skin started glowing, my face looking toned up and slimmer, my weight started spiraling down, my eyes started opening up, hair getting healthier, energy shooting through the roof and looked great! Life started getting amazing! In fact I looked better post yoga, postpartum, rather than how I looked in my younger days. I began enjoying motherhood and my life in general.
Losing weight with Yoga Burn Challenge– A review
If I could, so can you!
This lockdown we can make wellness a habit. On doing additional research I found Yoga burn challenge as a great relief to women, who can burn calories, tone their bodies, look amazing from the comfort of their own home.
You can workout and do intense yoga with a close guidance from internationally acclaimed yoga instructor Zoe Bray-Cotton.
Yoga burn is a yoga program which is exclusively for women, which can be done from the comfort of your home. This has been created by Zoe Bray-Cotton.
Zoe is a certified yoga instructor and female transformational specialist to over 1 million women across the globe. Yoga burn, created by Zoe, is a best selling fitness system.
Yoga is a great way to lose weight and improve your overall health. What better way than to start in the comfort of your own home, that too, via Zoe, trusted by millions of women.
Why is it called Yoga burn?
Yoga burns calories the entire day, long after a yoga workout session ends.
Yoga burn is a yoga program which is exclusively for women, which you can do from the comfort of your home.
Yoga burn has been created on the basis of dynamic sequencing, which is crucial for shaping the feminine body in a healthy and a steady manner. The dynamic sequencing challenges the body to keep pushing the bar up, as and when the body is getting used to a certain style of workout. Yoga burn’s unique 3 phase program foundational flow, transformational flow and mastery flow.
These phases ensure to prep your body while progressing into the transformation phase. This is good for beginners or advanced yoga practitioners alike. You will be surprised at the agility your body is blessed with but perhaps, never explored.
For moms, beginners, for super busy women….irrespective of being a beginner or not, you can do these yoga sessions, guided step by step by Zoe, in the comfort of your own home.
I cannot stress more that this lockdown is a great opportunity for us to make wellness a habit. As cliched as it may sound, the lockdown has its own impact on our body and mind.
About yoga burn challenge
Explore more about ‘Yoga Burn’ Don’t miss the FREE kickstart kit
My entire view about yoga changed for good. And I believe it is easy to sustain, no matter how busy you are.
Yoga is great for new moms, professionals, travelers, or anyone who wants to put minimal effort and see great results. Yoga syncs up your internal systems and the chakras get corrected, in case of any imbalance.
Losing weight and other Yoga benefits
- Say hello to calmness of mind and clarity in mind
- Say hello to a toned body and lesser pounds.
- Say hello to an improved, smart gait and walking style
- Say hello to mindfulness in better eating
- Say hello to more awareness to your feelings and your inner self
- Say hello to more charm and mojjo added to your personality
- Say hello to multiple reasons to love life
- Say hello to better sleep at night
- Say goodbye to clumsiness and lack of strength
- Say goodbye to fat and flabby muscle
- Say goodbye to face puffiness
- Say goodbye to plus size clothes
Yoga is a slow and intense form of workout which involves a dynamic sequencing of various yoga poses. It is a combination of moving from one yoga pose to another, while gently breathing in and out, during the course of these movements.
Each yoga pose is vital to optimal functioning of different internal organs. We have yoga poses that are good for your kidneys, some others good for the abdomen core traverse muscles, other poses which have amazing impact on strengthening your spine, and another which is good for your thyroid.
All in all, these dynamic sequencing yoga poses do so much goodness to your body that you don’t even realize.
The effect of these yoga poses results in losing weight by the constant calorie burn that takes place, the increased metabolic rate, the improved functioning of the internal systems, increased harmony of the interconnected systems.
A lot of internal alignment takes place, syncing up the out of balance elements.
The result is a beautiful “you”, losing weight is only one of the many beneficial outcomes of yoga.
one of several yoga benefits
Listen to your body: Yoga quick tips
While losing weight with burning yoga is a great way to achieve your weight loss goals, here are some tips that will help you:
- When starting off, discuss with your doctor, if you have any long term health challenges like back pain, high blood pressure, bone related issues.
- We do have people (like me) who have done yoga, despite having high blood pressure.
- Listen to your body and observe the signs your body is giving off.
- Do not get discouraged, if you are starting slow in the beginning.
- Yoga is a unique journey to each of us. Do not compare yourself to others.
- Start slow. Perhaps with 15-30 minutes of yoga.
- At first, your body may shiver or shake, while holding yoga poses. Do not worry, it is quite normal.
- As you progress and continue to do yoga, your body will start getting acquainted with this and you will be surprised by your body’s ability to do more and more, before you even know it.
- If you experience too much gasping and discomfort, take a break. Discuss with your yoga instructor and share your experience.
- Manage your calorie intake, during your weight loss journey.
- If you do yoga, but eat high calorie food during the day- it nullifies all your efforts and may take longer to lose weight.
All of the above is not just based on research but also, based on my own personal experience. I love myself more than before, ever since yoga started in my life.
Sustained consistency is key for seeing results, in any field in life. Lose weight with yoga!
Try yoga once and you will love it for life, if you do it the right way, with the right instructor– while listening to your body.
A quick tip on breathing, if you are new to yoga:
If you do not remember when to breathe in and breathe out, focus on simple and easy breathing throughout. Listen to your body. But do not hold your breath!
Beginner’s tip
Yoga
Yoga is my choice, any day. Not just in terms of the fabulous results I got in weight loss, but mainly because of its sustainability and long term benefits for my overall health. Unlike some other extreme weight loss methods, yoga does not give you quick extreme results and then, disappoint you, later, with gaining back lost pounds.
It is steady and intense in an absolutely healthy way. Any weight loss effort needs to reflect choices which are in sync with your weight loss goals. Yoga, a wise choice of foods and a positive attitude will surprise you.
I earlier, heard that yoga brings out the ‘best form of you’ but I really understood it, only when I experienced it myself. Maybe it’s time you give yourself a chance, too.