Yoga Or Exercise Which one is Best

I agree with you Mary, it is few hard to confirm which one is the best for weight loss. Both are great for weight loss and we should select the one that we enjoy more and we will be more reliable.
 
Great question!

First off, both are great for a healthy life, with that being said, if we are only talking about weight loss or more specifically, fat loss, most forms of exercise are completely inefficient. Before I continue, I need to say, if you love doing yoga, keep doing it! Do what you love! But if you want to just talk about fat loss, I'll over simplify a complex answer.

1. Any form of exercise that is consistent over a period of time qualifies as aerobic exercise. Aerobic is the most inefficient form of exercise for fat loss.

2. What form of exercise melts fat 24/7 even when you're not working out? High-Intensity Interval Workouts (or commonly known as HIIT). Why? Basically, Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption or EPOC. This means when you do cardio, you burn calories, but when you stop exercising, you stop burning calories. When you do a proper HIIT workout, studies should you can still burn calories up to 48 hr after your workout!

What are HIIT workouts? There are great posts found on this forum and others, and all over the web on HIIT workouts. Basically its intervals of any form of exercise. For example, run 100% sprint for 10 secs, take a 30-second break and repeat 10 times. It can really be anything you want, but the most important aspect is giving it 100%, not 90% or 50%! It doesn't work unless you give it your all. Another example could be riding the stationary bike: 15 sec on/10 sec off for a set of 10. Literally becoming a 10 min workout, AND it burns more fat than an hr of running or yoga! Cool!

3. To top off the list of fat burning exercises: Weight training! Yes, studies show lifting out-performs HIIT workouts. Why? For the same reason HIIT out-performs cardio. And if you are afraid that lifting will make you big, it won't! Trust me. If you are eating well, as a female, you don't have enough testosterone and other hormones to 'get big'. If you are worried, stick to higher reps and a shorter break between.

4. At the end of the day, the most proven way to lose fat the fastest and keep it off is your diet change! Studies show that 80% of your results will come from your change in diet. So eat SMART and well-balanced meals!

I hope that helps and keep doing yoga too!

- To Your Success
 
I say that cardio exercise burns more calories than yoga. One hour of yoga and posed stretching burns about 180 calories for a 160 pound person, but moderate aerobic exercise burns closer 475 calories. For the person of the same weight cardio will take off weight more quickly than yoga.
 
I think yoga is better. As it is not about your body only but about mental health also. I love yoga so much more <3 I think GorgeousGirl has some videos and posts on yoga exercise so you can always check there :)
 
Exercise and more specifically HIIT is absolutely the way to go IMHO. I like a 2:1 work to rest ratio, the length doesn't really matter. You could be working for 20 sec and take 10 sec off, or for 2 min and take 1 min off. Just be sure to respect the high intensity part of HIIT (i.e. push to the best of your abilities) and you're golden. Like Caleb Kruse said, a quick 10 min session has the potential to burn more calories than an hour of running.
 
If you do proper exercise, an intense cardio it can give you a good weight loss result. Yoga for me is about enhancing your health, increasing your strength and flexibility.
 
From my personal view, the easiest and efficient way to lose weight is Yoga and meditation. Recently I lost 3 pounds weight by doing half-hour yoga and meditation daily in just 15 days. If you want weight loss quickly, you must include Yoga in your weight loss plan.
 
I appreciate that you mention this just being your own personal experience but to then add
If you want weight loss quickly, you must include Yoga in your weight loss plan.
is very strange. Mostly because 3 pounds in 15 days is not particularly quickly, especially when you don´t specify if you changed other things in your life and whether or not your weighing conditions were similar before and after. If I weigh myself after dinner this evening, sleep late tomorrow and weigh myself again after going to the toilet but before having breakfast I´ll easily have a 3 pound drop. If doing more relaxing activities leads you to need less comfort food that will likely help you lose weight slowly in the long run but calorie-wise a daily 30 minute walk would probably be more effective than yoga. Yoga can be fun and healthy (although it´s definitely not for everyone) but it´s not a magical weightloss aid.
 
Isn't yoga a form of exercise? I always thought so.
 
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