Does Yoga Flatten Your Stomach?

在徒劳无功的扁平腹部做瑜伽吗？实际上，没有。虽然瑜伽没有包装一些燃烧的拳激烈的有氧训练, it can still contribute to establishing a calorie deficit — and it has other less tangible benefits that may help you lose weight too.

普遍接受的仪表对于活动有关减肥的贡献是它燃烧的热量。但找到特定类型的瑜伽的卡路里烧伤估计是挑战 - 特别是当瑜伽被簇被陷入一般的“拉伸”类时。

例如，否则优秀的卡路里燃烧估计Harvard Health Publishingonly evaluate Hatha yoga, a relatively gentle style. It reportedly burns between 240 and 356 calories per hour, depending on your body weight. That's about the same as walking at a 3.5 mph pace.

比较略有不同的比较来自2017年8月的一项研究体育活动与健康杂志, in which researchers recruited a small pool of 38 participants to compare their energy expenditure during relatively strenuous Vinyasa yoga sessions, treadmill walking at a self-selected "brisk" pace and treadmill walking at a pace that matched the heart rate they'd achieved during the yoga session.

科学家们指出，虽然Vinyasa瑜伽确实符合中等强度体育活动的标准，所以能源支出 - 这正是“卡路里燃烧”措施 - 在瑜伽课程中较低，而不是在行走锻炼期间。

There are a couple of key takeaways from this information. The first is a reminder that unless you're hooked up to sophisticated clinical equipment, calorie burn estimates are just that — estimates — and are affected by a number of factors, including your body weight, percentage of body fat, hormone levels and how hard you work out.

The second is that even though yoga isn't necessarily the biggest calorie burner out there — for example, placing it roughly equal to walking means it's easily eclipsed by activities such as running, fast dancing, pedaling an elliptical trainer, downhill skiing and playing tennis — it can_,_ just like walking, be a foundational part of your weight loss efforts.

这是因为真正的减肥的基础is creating a calorie deficit, or burning more calories than you consume. This forces your body to use stored energy — usually in the form of fat — to get rid of that deficit.

虽然逃跑或绊倒了滑雪斜坡的活动可能会在短期内燃烧更多的卡路里，但选择健身活动，你真的很喜欢长期更好地收益。那是因为如果你享受自己的练习，你更有可能留下来燃烧比你留在那些勉强的跑步，或者你不喜欢的其他类型的运动。

Read more:10 Best Yoga Poses for Beginners

它很诱人致力于减肥和损失，以简单的卡路里和卡路里的游戏 - 以及一定程度，这是真实的。但是，由于它的身体内部增加了很多，因为它收入或失去了重量，科学家们仍在努力了解影响这种复杂机制的所有不同因素。

One of the best-known factors that can influence weight gain is stress, with the so-called "stress hormone" cortisol as the standard bearer. As exercise physiologists at the新墨西哥州大学解释，“皮质醇直接影响强调个体的脂肪储存和体重增加。”

As an unfortunate bonus, cortisol can even relocate fat cells deep into the abdomen as visceral fat, which is associated withmore health risksthan subcutaneous (just under the skin) abdominal fat. That visceral fat can also create the look of a rounder belly, even on otherwise slender individuals.

但有希望，它呈现出来的形式瑜伽，太极拳和其他思想身体做法，监控人员笔记通常建议用于压力管理。瑜伽还鼓励支持其他自我保健实践的思想，如冥想，吃得好，睡得足够的睡眠 - 所有这些都可以帮助减轻你的压力，并抑制你身体的压力诱导，以储存在腹部周围的脂肪。

Read more:13 Standing Yoga Poses to Improve Your Balance

No matter how core-centric your yoga classes may be, they can't spot reduce fat off your belly — the whole idea of现场减少是一个神话. But if the circumstances are just right, even a few yoga classes might make your belly look slimmer in the mirror.

Aside from the just-discussed stress response, which can take time to abate, what gives?

这里可能会在这里玩几件事。首先是瑜伽强调核心开发和全身，综合运动可以让你走出课堂上的姿势比你走进去的更好的姿势 - 并且姿势的变化是即时“苗条”的最佳方式之一从腰部脱掉英寸。寻找一个“瑜伽侧面脂肪”或“瑜伽为腹部胖子”课，至少起初可能就像找到你喜欢的课程一样简单，给你姿势提升。

Finally, asHarvard Health Publishingpoints out, yoga can have a profound effect on how you view your own body. "Surveys have found that those who practiced yoga were more aware of their bodies than people who didn't practice yoga. They were also more satisfied with and less critical of their bodies," they write, adding that yoga can be an integral part of programs designed to boost self-esteem.

So, there you have it. Not only can yoga help you work toward the figure you're looking for, it can also help you feel better about the stomach you have right now — even if it's not as flat as a washboard — and maybe even give you a postural lift to see some speedy results.