Bikram for weight loss – any stories for me?!

Bikram for weight loss – any stories for me?!2009-06-25T09:34:19+00:00
Viewing 25 posts - 26 through 50 (of 55 total)
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  • Micherie
    Participant
    Post count: 54

    Hi! I’m new, too… in the middle of my 4th week, going 4 times a week – Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri. I started at about 145lbs… not sure what that translates to in kilos. About a week ago I was weighed for the doc and I was 143 which doesn’t mean squat. But…. I have lost about 2 inches in the way my clothing fits and I look much better naked and feel amazing. Which is what counts! Muscle weighs a more than fat so you may not change much on the scale… at least in the beginning.

    ps… I love that it’s so addictive. I have never craved any kind of exercise before. I am thankful for Bikram!

    lvgrl
    Participant
    Post count: 3

    I’d like to add my weight loss experience since starting Bikram in June of this year. As a “compulsive-obsessive” person I am going 5-6 times a week, usually to the 7PM class, which means I get home about 9PM, eat some fruit (usually ice cold watermelon) and go to bed. I have to get up really early for work. Over the last 6 months I have dropped from 163 to about 142 pounds and have noticed a change of shape in my lower body (yeah)…smaller glutes shall we say…I am 5’10”, female, 65 years old. I eat breakfast, lunch and snacks during the day and am hopefully getting a balanced diet. I do think that the weight loss is due to burning more calories than I am consuming. I’m considering this a way of life to continue since I feel great and have lots of energy. I’ve done a 30-day challenge (September) and will do the 60-day challenge in January 2010 at my studio. 🙂

    Commited2Change
    Participant
    Post count: 24

    I’ve lost 9 pounds in the last 4 weeks doing solely hot yoga (well and running around after a 23 month old!). I’ve got about 30 more pounds to go and I’m hoping that this continues. I do find that my eating habits have changed. I crave different foods, desire less food and drink a ton! It’s been interesting to see how my body is reshaping day by day and definitely is encouraging!

    Missjinne
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    Hello everyone! This is Jennifer Clark or you can call me Jennifer C. I didn’t know where to post this but I guess this forum will fit my topic since I love this section lol.

    I was referred here by someone ; but I don’t know his username just yet so I couldn’t enter it when signing up.

    I am very interested in this forum as I am new to forums and posts and these kind of thing also I hope I can get the full benefit from this forum 🙂

    So, let me know if I am welcomed here ^^

    Kind of Regards.

    Jennifer C. 🙂

    Robert Scanlon (Webmaster)
    Forum Owner
    Post count: 266

    You are welcome here Jennifer!

    I just tidied up your post since it had some funny code in there.

    And we don’t really allow using someone else’s username thanks!

    Ilyzium
    Participant
    Post count: 32

    Robert,

    Sorry took me a while to respond back to your comment. Interesting that you mentioned the NLP, and no I didn’t know that both you and Gabrielle are NLP practitioners. Yes I’ve actually been going for my NLP sessions in the past 6 mos and found that it helped me tremendously. It’s excellent for reprogramming your mind and getting rid of the old clutter and garbage that we have stored in our subconscious mind.
    And the reason I decided to do it back then was because I had been brainwashed by all the negative people around me that as you get older you automatically gain weight and will never lose it. I believed all those inane stereotypes back then, and today I can say that it really helped me to lose 30 lbs in the past 3 months. I actually have a family friend that’s doing it right now. He’s quite overweight, in poor health and believes that he’ll never get better in any way and that it’s all over for him now. Consequently, he’s become extremely lethargic, won’t exercise and eats crap. I know some people view it as some “new age” “mumbo jumo” like my Doctor for example, but if more people were open minded and enlightened they would see it for what it really is.

    Anyway always enjoy reading your comments.
    Ily:)

    Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)
    Forum Owner
    Post count: 3047

    Hi Ily

    You know, this brain stuff is so fascinating. I recently saw the movie “What the Bleep do we Know?”. If you haven’t seen it then it is definitely worth checking out. I watched it – TWICE – and then borrowed the book from the library. I love the book and will now buy it. It definitely explores the possibilities of the mind and how we create our reality. It talks of addiction to our own emotions and how that serves us to rehash the same emotions again and again rather than programming ourselves to find the newness, to be curious and to create something different for ourselves.

    Anyway I thought I would share that with you. As I read it I have interesting conversations with Robert and I also am pleased to note that it is giving me a new focus to examine my habitual responses.

    So when I read that you have had some resistance from others (including your doctor) about NLP or other mind sciences, I find that amazing that people (including me!) will get stuck in a certain way of thinking.

    I’m interested to know if you’ve had exposure to this book/movie/concepts of quantum physics and what your thoughts are.

    Namaste
    Gabrielle 🙂

    Ilyzium
    Participant
    Post count: 32

    Oh hello Gabrielle,

    I agree that the brain is incredibly fascinating and so intelligent as well, and I also believe that the body is also intelligent, knows what it wants and is capable of great healing. I have actually seen that movie: What the bleep do we know and found it quite interesting. And yes that’s true how we create our own reality with our thoughts. I know as soon as I get any type of negative thought, I have to stop myself and make a concentrated effort to switch my thoughts, so as to not “ruin” the rest of my day.
    I myself am really into my vision boards, power of positive affirmations, NLP, EFT even, try to avoid all negativity including TOXIC people as well. It’s unfortunate that many people haven’t quite realized that and seem to be forever making these same mistakes over and over. I’m hugely fascinated by quantum physics and have read many of those kind of books, everything from that movie, to Law of Attraction, Wayne Dyer’s books, books by Louis Hays (How to heal your life), The Secret, anything by Esther Hicks. Currently I’m reading one by Gabrielle Bernstein called : How to add more ing to your life. You can hear more about that one on youtube as well. But yes this is a topic I could really talk to death about!

    Namaste to you too,
    Ily:)

    scorpiowoman73
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    Hi there,
    I have only been practicing Bikram solidly for the past 5 weeks, and already my body is changing. Although I haven’t lost any weight from the scales, I’ve lost 6cm from each thigh and 3cm from each bicep. More than that though is the way I feel inside! I am relaxed and calm, positive and clear-headed. All the clutter has gone. Although weight loss was the main reason I started practicing, that has quickly taken a backbench to how I feel within.
    Best of luck on your journey-
    Michelle

    bhakta
    Participant
    Post count: 18

    I’ve lost 30 pounds in the three years I’ve been practicing Bikram yoga, but I think some of that is due to coming off of some antidepressants that put weight on you. I still have 35 pounds to go and my doctor says that in order to take off weight put on by those medications, I need to exercise 60 to 90 mins/day, 7 days a week. I’m not strong enough to do Bikram everday yet and I haven’t lost any weight on the scale in a few months. But, my clothes are swimming on me and people are always making remarks about how much slimmer I look. I’ve gone down 4 or 5 dress sizes, and constantly try to better refine a vegan vegetarian food plan. Take heart!

    xtina26488
    Participant
    Post count: 2

    Hi!
    I’ve been doing Bikram yoga for about 7 weeks, attending class about 3-5x a week in conjunction with 1-2 cardio sessions (gym or dance classes). I’ve lost about 5kgs and about 2 inches off off my whole body. I think Bikram yoga has made my mental state a lot stronger because I am able to choose the right foods my body needs. I’ve cut a lot of processed foods, sugar, rice and bread and fatty meat out of my diet. I drink about 2-3 litres of water on the days I don’t do yoga and about 4-5 litres when I attend a class.

    I’ve got a lot of comments that I loook slimmer and built lean muscle. But the main thing for me is that I can control what I eat better (less cravings for bad foods), my back has never felt stronger in my life and I feel a lot stronger as a person. My only concern is that I hope I can keep this up for the rest of my life! 🙂

    zerlornosse
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    Gday everybody I’m completely new to this site. How’s everybody doing today? I really like it here! I really hope to learn a lot hopefully even make some new buddies! 🙂

    jupaz
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    hi everyone,

    I’m new to this site but love it – there’s so much information here!

    I tried bikram a few years ago, but found it was too expensive for me at the time and could never go regularly.

    Now I can go and I love it!

    For the past 2 months I was only going about 2 times/week, and trying to do some other gym (cardio/weignts).

    Now I’m doing a 30 day challenge, and I’m on day 18. I find it too time consuming to fit other gym activities in and I’m worried about that because I am not losing any weight (and I want to). I’m also not losing any inches (or even centimetres) and I’m getting frustrated.

    I want to lose 1 pound a week and in the two weeks of going to bikram every day, I have not lost anything.

    I thought I eat okay, snacking less, eating less desserts, but I guess I need to eat better and less? Maybe I need to make sure I do cardio and weights at the gym too?

    I do feel stronger, and I can see a difference in my flexibility and stamina, and just in general I can see a lot of improvement in my postures. And I love that. I also love how it makes me fee every day.

    But I also want to see a difference in my body and tone – I want to be skinnier. I want one of those yoga bodies…but I don’t know how to get it.

    recipegirl
    Participant
    Post count: 3

    I began hot yoga in October 2009. I’ve lost 9 lbs. so far, but what I’ve really noticed is the inches I’ve lost. My clothes feel great and my body is taking on a new shape. Much leaner! I love that I found hot yoga. I’ve honestly never felt better in my life.

    texgolf63
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    I started Hot Yoga on April 1, 2010. As of June 4, 2010, I have lost 8 lbs. and one dress size. My body has changed (toned and tightened) significantly. More importantly, my flexibility has increased dramatically, due, in part, to the Hot Yoga MasterClass DVD that I practice twice a week at home in addition to the studio sessions.

    Granny Judy
    Participant
    Post count: 2

    I have lost 24 pounds since June 26, 2010 but it wasn’t just doing Hot Yoga. I had to drastically reduce my caloric intake. I am 5’7″ and weighed 162 at 64 years old and had been unable to loose any weight for several years with caloric reduction alone. When I started doing Bikram in March I was nearly crippled with two bad knees that caused me to sit around all the time so I was very weak.

    My daughter encouraged me to try Bikram so I decided to try.

    After a month going several times a week my strength grew and my knees got stronger. So I began going every day.
    By the end of June I was really doing better; more stamina, strength and vitality. So I cut back on food, dropping to about 1200 calories/day and the weight flew off, a pound a day sometimes. It seemed strange to reduce calories when I was working so hard, yet I have more energy than I had before.

    I believe the key is to build up the core strength so you can move further in the poses and in life, as well as reducing calories. It is also important to have a positive, excited attitude to encourage the body as it “looses” the weight.

    Catalina
    Participant
    Post count: 2

    I am really enjoying this forum! I feel that having the right purpose and mind set as I am going into class is key! I don’t go in critical or thinking about my weight (I weigh 150 and am 5’5″) or whatever.
    It is such a personal experience and one day I feel fantastic in a class as opposed to others. I do feel that eating well is important though some dark chocolate here and there is good too 🙂

    I do see my body is changing for the better, sleep much better and the high I feel at the end of class is priceless and addictive!

    projectmanager
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    Personally I think weight and weighing are over-rated (within reason obviously). Anything I do makes me smaller but I don’t loose weight and have been to known to put it on with resistance training (still loose size.

    I think if you have all those benefits and can see you have changed shape – stick with it.

    I highly recommend you measure yourself – chest, waist, hips, bottom, upper arms and thighs and see what changes occur every four weeks!

    Also, if you are looking to do some other type of exercise, resistance training and uphill walking would be a great addition to your Bikram!

    Best of luck!

    drchiro
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    Last June we went up to Canada and I tried Hot Yoga for the first time. I was immediately hooked. Through the years I have tried every type of exercise.

    I have always felt a need to exercise, but have never felt passionate about it. I am a chiropractor and have always felt it was important to exercise but had a hard time staying consistent.

    When I came back to my hometown there was not a hot yoga studio here. So I order ALL of Gabrielle’s stuff. The pose tutorial and everything.

    In the 2 pictures that I have attached I have only had about 12-15 lbs of weight loss. But I feel like I have had more than that. Others have also told me that it appears that I have had more.

    Since this picture I have added some other things into the mix and have lost another 10 lbs.

    The Yoga inspires me and I am passionate about doing the Hot Yoga on a daily basis. My son just started as well and he just started a teacher training as well. He’s loving it.

    Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)
    Forum Owner
    Post count: 3047

    You’re looking fabulous Dennis

    Thanks for the inspiring photos.

    Namaste
    Gabrielle 🙂

    evericer
    Participant
    Post count: 1

    hi I am new here, but let me give you some hope, I started doing bikram and just bikram in september 1, 2010 and up to today march 10th, 2011 I lost 40 lbs…I love bikram yoga and recomend it to everyone…after i did a 30 day challenge my weight loss really kick in..good luck

    jacky0403
    Participant
    Post count: 10

    Hello Sally

    I hope you have had time to look around at the stories that so many others have already shared. You will find our most read thread here: I Am Quite Overweight And Doing Hot Yoga. Check out many inspirational stories, advice and others’ experience in this section of the forum: Weight Loss and Hot Yoga.

    It is my opinion that if you go at least 4-5 times a week and maybe even more, you can lose shape quite fast (does depend on the person – but it can happen VERY fast) and you don’t have to do any other exercise. It is your choice. When you settle into a maintenance routine then you can introduce other types of exercise.

    There are definitely differing opinions regarding what to do. Let’s see what others suggest.

    Namaste
    Gabrielle 🙂

    I really loved your links.
    Thanks for sharing

    laura.fleischmann
    Participant
    Post count: 2

    I’ve been doing Bikram for about 3 months now, but haven’t lost any weight, in fact I’ve gained about 3lbs. I basically started doing the yoga in place of running (used to run 5-6 days/week), now do yoga 5-6 days a week and run once or twice (with weight training 2x/week). I couldn’t figure out why this was happening because people are always talking about how you can torch up to 800 calories doing Bikram. I’m on a strict diet of 1300 -1400 calories, vegetarian, berries, nuts, yogurt, etc. Well, I wore my runners Garmin heart rate monitor to class today (a class that actually went extra long) and turn out I burned 193 calories for the 138 minutes (that’s like a little over a calorie a minute). I’m 5’7, 140.

    I love the yoga so much, it’s had countless other benefits, but don’t have the time to do both running and yoga (and continue to fit into my wardrobe)!

    Do you think there is any way this is inaccurate, or must weight loss through Birkram be supplemented with vigorous cardio 4+ days/per week?

    Gabrielle (The Hot Yoga Doctor)
    Forum Owner
    Post count: 3047

    Hi Laura

    Sorry for the delay, I am on holidays.

    So!! Any progress since end of June? For me what usually happened and what others have often noticed is that change doesn’t always make itself obvious. Sometimes things just look as if they’re static and then all of a sudden you notice that your shape is changing rapidly… It’s as if it drops all at once.

    Sometimes too I find that obsessive attention to weight or shape change can somehow be counter productive (others find it essential). Has counting calories worked for you in the past? (I am not calling you obsessive but simply drawing attention to the constant state of awareness that needs to be there if you’re counting calories and checking scales and counters). I know some need to have a rigid set of actions. Others simply need some food or activity rules. Each needs patience (mostly!).

    Most people find that 4+ hot yoga sessions per week is enough to keep them sufficiently challenged and they don’t need extra CV workouts. May I ask if you are still doing 5-6 classes per week? And also I want to know if you are taking electrolyte supplementation in the way of sea salt or some commercial product. Some people retain water because of a complex scenario regarding water/electrolyte imbalance.

    Over to you

    Namaste
    Gabrielle 🙂

    kofilino
    Participant
    Post count: 6

    Thanks everybody for for your experiences; the picture of before and after is very inspiring. I will now try practice hot yoga at least twice a week. I have been going to class only once a week and I see a lot of benefit in it.
    Kofilino

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