calories burned in hot yoga

It is amazing what the right yoga class and studio can do for a person. I have tried different teachers and locations and always left dissatisfied. Until I started attending Big Fish Yoga in Jax Beach. It is the same style as another yoga studio I used to belong to but the atmosphere is different. The teachers’ attitudes are different. I leave each class feeling good. This place fits what I need.

I love going to my yoga class. I have stopped making excuses why I can’t go and I look forward to each class. I don’t avoid the teachers who are “tougher,” and I am okay with picking certain teachers based on what I need that day. I know that when I am in class, I will give it my all. And if I can’t do something day, that’s okay. The teachers are always saying to try but if you aren’t there, there is positive acceptance. I never realized how the attitude from teachers can affect a person’s yoga practice.

I do not thrive in an environment where the teachers are aggressive and challenging. I thrive in an environment where the teachers are supportive and encouraging. I am not saying that the teachers don’t push you to try new things. They do, but they are also okay on those days when you just can’t go any farther. We all have days where it takes our all just to get to our work out. Knowing that I can just go and flow some days and other days, I can go and push myself to try something new, gives me a sense of peace and freedom. I can be myself and it’s okay.

At Big Fish, I found the acceptance to be myself… and I rediscovered my love for hot, power yoga. I feel better about myself and my body and I look forward to my 60-75 minutes of sweating and strengthening. My heart beats just as fast as it did in the other studios, but I am enjoying what I am doing and I feel stronger each time. I have only lost 2 pounds in the past 2 weeks, but I can see a difference in my body. My belly is slightly flatter. My legs feel stronger. And when I look flex my arms in the mirror, there is a muscle in the left and even a slight definition in the right. My life is good and having a place that I love to practice something that I love just makes it even better.

I don’t know about you all, but I am so confused about counting calories. The concept should be simple. Count the calories you eat and avoid going over a pre-determined number. This pre-determined number is based on your height, weight, and activity level. But then you can also count the calories that you burn. You add the calories that you eat and subtract from those calories, the number of calories that you burn. This is where I get confused.

Some sites say that you keep your net calorie intake to meet that pre-determined number. Other sites say that your total calories count, regardless of how many that you burn. Some people say that you are starving yourself when you get your net below a certain number, such as 1,200. Other sites say, burn more than you take in and you will lose weight. None of these answers provide me with useful information. I just end up more confused.

Friends also give you confusing information. Some say that counting calories is fine but counting calories that you burn is inaccurate. Others say just make sure that you are burning more than you eat. So if I am eating 1,200 calories per day, I need to burn 1,201 calories per day. Is that burning through exercise or can I include normal day-to-day activities? Do you know that you can burn calories while working at your desk? Not a lot, about 60 calories per hour. Do I count those? Also, you burn calories by breathing and sleeping. Do these count?

I want to be healthy. I want to eat good food with the occasional indulgences. I want to lose 20 pounds and then maintain that loss. Counting calories and exercising are the most promoted ways to do that, but it is unclear the exact formula to use. People go to nutritionists and personal fitness coaches for help, but I don’t want to pay for those services. I just want to do what will burn off these extra 20 pounds and keep me fit and healthy. I guess I will just have to do more research.

It’s been a week since I started changing my life by changing my health. I have maintained working out during the week and counting calories. My normal workout routine is walking 2 miles twice a week with a friend and going to hot power yoga twice a week. The 5th day is flexible. I may do an additional yoga class or walk or work around the house. This past Monday, I painted for over 5 hours. If anyone doesn’t think that is a workout, first Google calories burned while painting and then do it. My arms, shoulders and back sure felt it. I have kept my calories below 1350 and eaten what I have wanted, within reason. I really wanted a cheeseburger the other day but had a roast pork sandwich instead which was far healthier and less calories. And I haven’t lost one pound.

I am feeling a little frustrated. I didn’t expect results over night, but I did expect to lose a pound or two. I do feel better. My body feels better. I just wanted the weight to go down a little. I wanted to see a difference which I don’t yet. I have never been a patient person and this is probably me being impatient. I want results immediately, but I am not willing to do some of the things that will make the weight come off quickly. Or at least I thought that I wasn’t.

This week, I am continuing my work out routine but I am also adding some diet variations for the next week or so. I am not going crazy and if I feel like eating something outside of my self-imposed diet, I will. But for the next 2 weeks, I am eating 1,200 calories per day, with two of my meals consisting of low-calorie, high-protein meal replacement shakes. I won’t risk my health with diet fads but based on my research and conversations with my local health food store staff, this is a good alternative when life gets busy and I don’t want to eat something that is q1uick and unhealthy for me.

I know that when I get to the weight that I want to be, I can maintain it. I am maintaining my current weight and not gaining with my life choices now. What I want is to lose 20 pounds and stay there. I also want to be healthy. What is going good about this life change is that I feel good. I love going to my yoga class. I love to walk, whether it’s in the morning catching up with a friend or in the afternoon sunlight, both are good. I am pleasantly sore from yoga and can’t wait to get back. Once I am there, my muscles remember the poses and I feel so powerful as I move through the flow. I have taken charge of my life and my body and I plan on being a better, healthier version of myself (minus 20 pounds).

I have written extensively about yoga and its benefits and its issues.  I have had a love-hate relationship with yoga at times and exercise often.  It is a new year and everyone is making resolutions to lose weight, be healthier, eat better.  Many people will keep these resolutions and many people will not.  I know that I have not been able to keep many resolutions that I have had made in the past.  This year is different.  I am not making any more resolutions.  I am making life changes.  I want permanent changes that make me healthier and enrich my life.

I have been a hot yoga practitioner and I have been a practitioner of low impact yoga.  I left hot yoga due to the extreme pain that I experienced in my knee and ankles during class.  I thought that I had hurt my body by pushing it to do things that it wasn’t meant to do.  That was not the problem.  I was out of alignment in my neck and spine.  Once my body was trained to keep my C1 in alignment (through visits with a chiropractor), I returned to hot yoga.  The first class was tough and I experienced the same pain as before.  I returned to the chiropractor the next day.  Surprise, I needed an adjustment.  The next class I attended was pain free…except for the normal pain from not practicing yoga in 4 weeks.

I love yoga.  I enjoy the low impact classes at my local YMCA.  The teachers are gentle and funny and the classes leave me feeling well stretched and positive.  But I am not losing weight in these classes.  I have been walking 4 days per week for quite a while (I really can’t remember how long, at least 6 months) and I enjoy my walking.  I know that it has helped with my weight, but it’s not enough.  I liked the way my body looked when I regularly attended the hot yoga classes.  I left those classes feeling not only stretched out but worked out.  I felt like my body had been pushed and made stronger through the practice.  I didn’t realize how I missed that feeling until I attended the class again without pain.

So my life change for 2013 is to be healthier and to lose weight.  I am not overweight by any definition.  My Body Mass Index (BMI) is below the limit but I don’t like the way my body looks.  When I look in the mirror, I do not see a beautiful sexy body.  I see a body that is healthy and strong, but does not have the definition and attractiveness that I want it to have.  I have an ideal weight in my mind and that is the weight that I picture myself at.  Please don’t get me wrong, I love my curvy body.  I don’t want this skinny, hard body with no softness.  I love having boobs and a butt.  I just want it to look a little leaner, a little firmer in the middle and I want to be healthy.

This blog has been many things for me, but today, it starts being my record.  I am 5’8″ and 164 pounds.  Yesterday, I started my new workout routine.  This is not just my loose resolution.  This is my life change.  I am tired of looking in the mirror and not liking what I see.  I know that I am smart and good and beautiful, but I want my body to reflect who I am on the inside.  My plan is to exercise 5 days a week and count my calories.  I am not going to stop eating what I like, but if I eat something high in calories, that means that I have to work out more.  I started last night by attending a hot yoga class.  It felt great!  This morning, I walked two miles before 7:00 am.  It felt great!

I don’t like exercise.  I am miserable when I am doing it, for the most part.  I dread going to classes or pushing my body to that slightly painful feeling.  But I love the way that I feel after I work out.  I love knowing that I have done something healthy for my body.  I have to re-train my mind to enjoy exercise…or at least tolerate it with ease.  I am not a superwoman.  My body is not made to be naturally thin anymore, which is very difficult for me, who has always been thin, to come to terms with.  I am not going to tell you all of these amazing things to do to lose weight.  All I am going to do is share my stories with you.  I hope that by sharing my stories of working out and eating right will inspire and help people not to feel alone.  This is my life change.  I hope by sharing mine, I can help others find theirs.

Let me know what you think of this.

Africa Yoga Project is a nonprofit that sponors and trains yoga teachers in Africa to encourage self-sufficiency and empowerment.  Please check out their website and see how you can get involved.  Any organization that provides tools for people to not only make their own lives better but to help others do the same inspires me.  As a people, we are not put on this planet to only look out for ourselves.  We are here to help each other.  Find ways to give back and watch your life grow in ways that you can never imagine.

One of the things that I love about yoga is its ability to provide healing as well as strengthening.  I have found myself using the techniques I learned in yoga class to breathe my way through life’s difficulties.  I remind myself to breathe in and out when I encounter challenges and face negativity.  Breathing in positive cool air and breathing out negative hot air.  Yoga is so much more than just an exercise class and the fact that the Africa Yoga Project is using it to change lives is something that other industries need to remember.  The Africa Yoga Project is teaching people a skill to make a living and to pass on a healthy, positive lifestyle.  The old saying, “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day.  Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime,” is exemplified in the Africa Yoga Project’s work.  Teach people yoga and they practice for a hour at a time.  Teach people to teach yoga and they practice for a lifetime.

http://www.africayogaproject.org/

I found this picture and thought that it was a great photo to share on Halloween.

If we all just remember these 3 simple words, we can handle whatever happens.

http://kineticvigilantes.com/?p=2105