| Hello Erica;
Congratulations on your resolve, starting yoga and regular physical activity is a great thing
for you, regardless of whether you are loosing weight in the short term or not. It's good for your
heart, it's good for your lungs and it's good for your head!
I am in a similar situation myself, but I started I guess 7 or 8 months ago. The first thing I have to tell you is that I don't always stick to what I'm going to tell you, but I try my best 
I have been on a few diets before, that did not really work long term because I didn't really change my lifestyle, just adopted a short term fix attitude. I did loose some weight, like 10Kg or something, but put it all back on soon afterwards.
So this time I decided to be a bit more "scientific" about it and seek the help of a specialist. I booked a few appointments with a dietician. After all, it is their job, they have formal training, and they may not sell millions of books, but they do it day in day out and really know what works.
The first thing she asked me to do was to take a blood test to check my cholesterol levels and see if I had diabetes. This is very important because weight loss / weight gain can result from a medical condition, not just poor eating habits.
Then she made me keep a record of what I ate and made me bring it to discuss it in a very non-judmental way. I was looking for that because I reckoned "I made the choice to be here, I don't want to be treated like a kid". she was great. This exercise alone is an eye opener, and I realised that truly the main obstacle between "overweight me" and "healthy me" was mainly a lack of organisation and planning of my shopping. It sounds daft, but if you always have plenty of good healthy things to eat at home, it's less tempting to eat junk ... shopping on an empty stomach is a killer  ( I always go for pains au chocolat or nutella in that case, it's a tell tale sign in my case ...)
So, in my experience the main factor leading to weight loss is the determination to change your lifestyle, mainly regarding your eating habits. The reason I say that is that (guys correct me if I get the details wrong) 1 gram of fat provides approx 9 calories. So you would have to burn 9000 calories exercising to loose 1 kilo, if your body was feeding its muscles on excess fat alone, which of course is not the case, since I believe it uses sugars first, then only starts using fat when sugar has ran out, which means you have to take long sessions (>45 minutes) before the body attacks the "fat store".
What I was told is that weight loss comes down to a simple equation: to loose weight, you can either reduce calory intake or increase calory consumption. My belief is that reducing intake through healthier eating habits provides quicker and longer lasting results.
For me sport / exercise / yoga, is more something that brings about other benefits : stronger lungs, stronger muscles, improved self image, feeling of satisfaction and progress. Of course if you run you will expand energy, and if you develop lean body mass, your muscle will use more energy even when you sleep, but in my opinion this is not the main point of it.
I have to apologise for making my answer revolve around me, this is because I am not a doctor or a fitness specialist, so I can only relate what I have witnessed first hand. So far I have lost 12 kg (in 8 months), and trying to shift another ten _ I tell you, I'm really stuggling now that winter is setting in, it makes me want to eat more (well that's my excuse anyway LOL)
So in summary, my advice is get yourself to a dietician and take it from there, keep up with walking and yoga, but as something you enjoy, not something you gotta do.
Anyway, I wish you all the best, let us know how you are doing
Take care Erica
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| Hey if I may throw my two cents in. I have struggled with weight most of my life. It is real easy for me to gain weight.  It is also dang hard to lose it. Our french frog is right that you have to burn more than you take in to lose it and that there are many different ways to work at that. I have found that sugar is my weak link. Once I start I want more and the longer I go without it the easier the gravings are to talorate. Now for how yoga plays into losing weight. As for me the activity of doing the asanas is helpful in gaining fexlibilty, gaining strength, and mental calming effects. But diet has had a bigger effect than yoga or running which I also enjoy doing. I have tried to cut out processed foods and sugars. I also try to drink more water. But it is hard when you see junk food at the markets gas stations, and every where you go. Not to meantion the holidays season. Junk city at least hear in our loving usa. O I digress, yoga has provided a timeout in my daily life as a stay at home dad. My daily life is more vocused on my family, so a time out from that and spending some time on myself through yoga helps my stay focused. Yoga recharges my like a good nap. It gives me the energy to make healthlier choices rather than the easy fastfood choices for food. In short none of us have a short answer like do these series of poses and you will lose 20 Lbs. But there are lots of peple who can support you effots to lose weight abd be a Healther you |
I want to lose weight
