On Yoga and Weight Loss: My Personal Experience

On Yoga and Weight Loss: My Personal Experience by Emilene Leone

The Glam Slam Yoga team has very busy trying to spread the word about Glam Slam Yoga and the new classes we are teaching. Personally, I've been reaching out to friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers, asking them if they've tried yoga, or if they are interested in trying yoga.

One of the most common responses I have been getting from people is this: "Will yoga help me lose weight?"

This is a simple questions with a complicated answer. If you indulge me (i.e. "Get prepared for a huge wall of text"), I'd like to share my personal journey with weight loss, and the integral role yoga played in maintaining my weight loss.

For those who didn't know me five years ago, I was in a very different place, both mentally and physically. I had faced weight issues since puberty kicked in and spent my teens and twenties yo-yo dieting. I would go through periods of exercising, then I would stop again and lived a very sedentary lifestyle. At age 29, I had given birth to three children in the span of 24 months (there was a set of twins in there, for those trying to figure out the math on that!). My weight generally hovered around the 200-220 lb range. I was resigned to the idea that I would never be fit. I felt it was my destiny to carry around extra weight. I wasn't happy about this, but I tried to accept it.

However, an innocent comment made by a stranger caused that acceptance to crumble.

I was taking a Pilates class (part of my on-again, off-again attempts to exercise). A woman in the class asked that lethal question: "So, when is your baby due?" I answered "I'm not pregnant. I'm just fat." For the rest of the class, I was so grateful for the dim lighting of the Pilates studio because I could not stop the hot tears of shame from welling up in my eyes. I tried to contain my emotions, but after class, the front desk staff of the gym could see I was upset and asked what was wrong. I responded by sobbing. Years of pain and frustration about my weight were let loose for all the world (or at least, all the world that happened to be in that gym at that moment) to see.

From moments of pain, we can either curl up in a metaphorical ball and feel sorry ourselves or we can channel that pain into something else, something positive and life-changing. I chose the latter. A fire was lit in my (apparently pregnant-looking) belly.

I became a woman on a mission. I obsessively tracked every calorie that went into my mouth. I exercised hard every day, 2-3 hours a day. A workout didn't "count" unless I was soaking from sweat, with a racing heart, and out of breath. My fat was the enemy and I wouldn't stop until I had rid myself of it. I was in a battle with my body and in the end, I was victorious. I lost the weight.

I went from a size 18 to a size 6 in the matter of 6 months. I felt amazing.

I was so proud of what I achieved, but I couldn't help but be haunted by this thought: "What if I gain it back?" By some estimates, 80% of people who lose significant amounts of weight gain it back within two years. I was terrified that I would become part of this statistic---that the weight would return, my energy levels would drop, my sedentary lifestyle would return and I would be exactly at square one again.

Five years later, I'm very happy to report that I beat the odds. I did not gain the weight back.

I strongly feel that yoga is the reason why.

I did not begin practicing yoga with pure motivations of self-improvement. To me, I saw yoga as a waste of my precious exercise time. My mindset was "Why spend an hour "stretching" when I could be burning 1000 calories in a Spinning class instead? I didn't need to be relaxed---I needed to be feeling the burn! I though yoga looked pointless and boring.

However, I had started to teach fitness classes and was asked to be a sub for the yoga teacher from time to time. I thought it might be in my best interest to learn a little about yoga if I was going to have to be forced to teach it!

I dipped my toes in the yoga world. I started trying out different classes and different teachers. I fell in love.

As I learned more and more about yoga, I started to embrace the ideas behind it and slowly my "My body is the enemy!" mindset was replaced with a very different mindset. Yoga taught me to love, respect and listen to my body instead of punish, control and deny my body.

In yoga, we seek to embrace the moment: what our bodies are capable of at this moment. Not what our bodies could do in the past, or what we would like them to be in the future, but what they are in the present moment. With each pose, we simply can't worry about the past or present (or literally, we might fall on our *sses). Yoga requires a quiet concentration, a focus that I hadn't experienced before. With a regular yoga practice, you become incredibly attuned to your body's needs. I learned to recognize my body's signals in a different way than I ever had before. For the first time in my life, I was connected with my body. I respected my body. I honored my body. I learned to love my body, and not in a vain "Wow, I"m looking hot in these yoga pants!" way. I loved my body as a gift that had to be taken care of. I came to truly acknowledge that fact that we are given one body to use for the rest of our lives, and if we want to live a healthy life, we have to treat our body well. Yoga gave me this.

Knowing my body well helped me to embrace moderation in my exercise. I love to run, but I don't have to be out of breath for it to "count". I love to dance---ballroom, swing, Latin dances---but I do this because I love it, not just with the idea of burning calories in mind. I don't count calories anymore---I know my body well enough to recognize when it is sending me signals of hunger. I definitely still like to eat junk food, but with the body-connectedness that yoga gave me, I realize that I feel miserable with a "food hangover". I will indulge but in moderation. I respect my body too much to overstuff it with food it doesn't need or want.

I have no doubt that if I had kept on my "Feel the burn!" exercise mission, without yoga in my life, I would have ended up feeling the burnout instead. I would have bored of spending hours in a stuffy gym. Perhaps I would have injured myself by pushing myself farther, faster and harder than my body was capable of going. Counting calories gets old real fast and once the initial "Wow, you look great! How did you lose your weight" comments stop rolling in, often the motivation to deny yourself constantly is harder and harder to find.

For the sake of honesty, I did end up regaining a small portion of the weight I lost. Depending on the day, I'm about 10-15 lbs over my lowest weight. However, I strongly feel that without yoga in my life, I would have become part of the statistics and regained it all back, and possibly more. I would have regained the weight, and the frustration would have come back and I would have gone around shouting from the rooftops "Diets don't work!"

Diet and exercise helped me lose weight. Yoga kept it off.

Yoga changed my life. Whether it will change yours or not, I simply don't know. That's for you to find out.

I definitely don't think of myself as a "traditional" yoga teacher. I'm so not a hippie. I have no interest in ever going to India (why go to India and rough it when you can go to Paris or Rome and go shopping?!?!) I love pretty dresses and high heels and red lipstick. I'm definitely not a vegan (shall I show you my collection of vintage furs?) New age music makes me want to rip my ears out. My version of chanting would probably be to hum a Prince song from the Purple Rain soundtrack. I teach my classes with a sense of humor, and I think sometimes people see my approachable, laid-back approach to yoga and assume that means I don't take it seriously. Definitely not the case. Yoga is an integral part of my life and will be for the rest of my life. I am so deeply grateful for yoga and for all of the wonderful teachers I have learned from, and for all the lessons I've learned.

Thanks so much for listening to my story (see, I warned you about the wall of text!)I really felt the need to share my experience. Maybe some of you will be able to relate in some ways and open your mind to the changes and positivity that a regular yoga practice can bring to your life!