Sun salutations for weight loss: 10 ways they help

If you’re practicing yoga, you probably understand that sun salutations are an essential part of most types of yoga practices. But did you know that the sun salutation pose can help you lose weight?

The truth is that sun salutations or Surya Namaskars, help yogis burn more calories than most other popular yoga poses. That’s why I decided to focus on sun salutations while I practice yoga.

In this article, I’ll share some practical insights from my research about the sun to let you know 10 ways sun salutations can promote weight loss. Let’s get started!

1) Promotes and fastens burning calories

After exploring studies conducted on the benefits of sun salutations for weight loss, I’ve figured out one thing that made me convinced that this type of yoga pose is effective and helpful in losing weight.

And here’s the thing:

Believe it or not, a single round of sun salutation can help you burn about 13.90 calories.

Sounds impressive, right?

Well, if you have a habit of practicing sun salutations at least 3 times per week, you can expect to burn about 51.70 calories each week.

That means if you practice sun salutations for weight loss every day, you can expect to lose about 2.5 pounds of fat in one month!

And this is indeed one of the most effective ways to lose weight safely and healthily.

That’s why I’m convinced that sun salutations can help you burn calories and lose weight in a short time.

And guess what?

Maybe that’s one of the major reasons why the sun salutation, or Surya Namaskar, is one of the most popular yoga poses in the world.

It turns out that it is practiced by millions of people during the morning hours every day. And the reason behind this popularity is that it can help you lose weight and improve your overall health.

The interesting thing about sun salutations for weight loss is that they do not require any additional equipment or machines to perform them.

All you need is a yoga mat for comfort and a place where you can practice it at least 5 days per week for at least 20 minutes each time.

Sun salutation exercises can be performed anywhere, anytime, and without any hassle whatsoever.

So, if you want to lose calories without worrying about heavy exercise, try sun salutation and burn calories quickly and effectively.

2) Works on every muscle in the body

One of the main reasons why I enjoy performing sun salutations whenever I want to lose some weight is that it works on every muscle in the body.

I’m sure you know that the more muscles you work out, the more calories you burn. And the number of calories you burn directly affects your weight loss efforts.

The thing is that in order to lose weight, you should engage as many muscles as possible. The more muscles you work out, the more calories you burn and the faster you lose weight.

That’s why I find sun salutations to be perfect for weight loss since they work on almost every muscle in the body.

That way, you can lose weight faster and more efficiently. And you will be able to burn off fat by burning a lot of calories.

But how often should you practice sun salutations to work on every muscle in your body?

Well, in a typical beginner’s yoga class, you’ll likely do sun salutations, also known as Surya namaskar, at least three times.

That can add up to nearly an hour of practicing this routine, and that gives you a great opportunity to work every single muscle in your body.

I can tell you from experience that the mere act of getting up and down from the floor several times during one practice is enough to make you sweat, especially if you’re doing it in a hot yoga room.

And sweat is one of the best ways to work your muscles and help them become stronger and more toned.

So, don’t forget to include sun salutation in your daily yoga practice in order to focus on all your muscles and fasten weight loss.

3) It’s a great cardio exercise

Did you know that sun salutations are considered among the greatest cardio exercises?

Well, that’s right.

According to professional yoga trainers, practicing sun salutations is an excellent cardio exercise that can burn more calories than running, jogging, or even swimming.

Of course, I’m not saying that if you want to shed fat and get six-pack abs for the summer, practicing sun salutations will be enough.

However, I’m sure you should incorporate sun salutations into your workout routine if you’re aiming to lose weight naturally and without too much effort.

Why am I so sure?

Because it tones your body!

Yes! Sun salutations help build muscle mass in your chest and shoulders, tighten the muscles in your abdomen and hips, and improve posture by strengthening the muscles in your back.

The combination of these effects tightens and tones every part of your body.

Let me explain how this works.

If you take a look at the typical sun salutations sequence, you’ll notice that it involves a series of flowing movements that are meant to be done in a continuous flow.

What does it mean?

It means that it’s a great cardio exercise because it gets your heart rate up, and burns calories.

The truth is that sun salutations are designed to be done quickly, so it’s a form of cardio that doesn’t feel like you’re working out.

In fact, you may even find yourself laughing at yourself as you get lost in the flow of the movements and forget what you are doing.

But here’s the thing you should be aware of:

When you get used to doing sun salutations, you can increase the speed and intensity of your movements to really increase the number of calories you burn.

Considering this, if you want to look leaner and fitter than ever before, I highly recommend practicing sun salutation regularly.

4) Improves flexibility

Speaking of cardio exercises, one of the ways cardio help us lose weight is that it improves our flexibility and makes us more flexible than before.

And you know what?

It turns out that stretching is important for weight loss and getting fit.

In fact, as studies show, stretching before exercise helps prevent injury and allows you to lift heavier weights. On the other hand, post-workout stretching helps you recover faster and reduces the risk of injury.

It also improves flexibility. And improved flexibility helps you lift heavier weights and do other activities with ease.

That’s how it’s related to sun salutations.

Sun salutations are designed to increase our flexibility and improve our range of motion. They help us to stretch out our bodies, especially our hips and other parts of the body that are usually tight.

Now, if you’re already flexible, you might think that this isn’t a big deal.

But studies have shown that being a little bit less flexible can help you lose weight. Most people who are overweight have a few areas of their bodies that are particularly problematic.

For example, they may have a very large stomach or very large thighs.

If you have a lot of weight in a few specific areas, it can be especially challenging to lose that weight because you don’t have enough flexibility in your muscles or joints to fully exercise those areas.

This is why sun salutations also make us more flexible than before and make us feel more comfortable in any activities we do throughout the day.

Even when we sit down on a chair or get up from a chair, we’ll feel less pain from these movements because of the increased flexibility of our body.

This means that practicing sun salutations will get you two benefits at the same time: you’ll become more flexible and you’ll lose weight easily and effectively.

5) Improves core strength and posture

Let me take a wild guess.

You won’t be surprised if I tell you that your posture and core strength are some of the key factors that contribute to weight loss.

Why?

Because a strong core is crucial to your overall well-being. It’s one of the most important components of good posture, which in turn is a key factor in preventing back pain and improving your health and fitness.

In fact, it’s well-known that you can lose weight by merely improving your posture. But did you know that yoga can help improve posture and core strength?

That’s right!

Yoga can help improve your posture and core strength, especially if you practice sun salutations or Surya Namaskars.

From my experience, sun salutations are actually the best exercise that can help strengthen your core muscles. That’s why they’re so popular among yogis and bodybuilders.

You see, when I was searching for reasons to practice sun salutation for weight loss, I found out that there are many other benefits of practicing this pose as well. And one of them is that it helps strengthen your core muscles.

What’s more, it also helps improve your posture and flexibility as well as balance and coordination skills.

If you’ve ever looked at before and after photos of people who lost a lot of weight, you may have noticed that many of them also have better postures after losing weight.

This is because when you lose weight, you also lose fat, and fat is what gives our bodies that round shape.

Our bodies naturally want to regain their original shape, but it’s not always easy to do so.

When you strengthen your core by practicing sun salutations, you naturally improve your posture and make it easier to stand up straight.

When you practice yoga, you are engaging your core muscles and strengthening them so that they can better hold your body together and support your spine.

This can help you lose weight because it will be easier for you to exercise and build up muscle in your core more quickly.

6) Builds endurance and stamina

Are you also trying to build your stamina and endurance and improve your stamina level?

A lot of people think that you can’t do it without a good workout. But guess what?

Sun salutations are an excellent way to build endurance and stamina in your body.

This is because it keeps you moving for a longer period of time – around 10 minutes if you’re doing it right!

During sun salutation, you have to keep moving your body forward and backward, which helps you burn more calories than if you were just standing still.

The result is that you’ll be able to last longer in any physical activity without feeling overly tired or exhausted. You should have enough energy left over to take on your daily tasks without feeling tired.

Therefore, sun salutations help in improving your stamina and endurance level as well as your breathing capacity through a series of poses that you perform in a sequence.

Each sun salutation pose is designed to build the strength of your core muscles, which helps you gain stamina and endurance.

To get the maximum benefits from sun salutations, I recommend that you practice them every day. You will feel more energetic after each session, and as a result, your stamina and endurance will also improve day by day.

It goes without saying that increasing your stamina will directly influence your body weight and help you lose weight faster.

7) Improves breathing and lung capacity

As I mentioned briefly above, by improving your stamina, sun salutations also result in improved breathing and lung capacity.

How does this happen?

Well, that’s because they provide an aerobic workout that helps to build up your lung capacity and improve your breathing.

As you get better at doing sun salutations, you will notice that you naturally start to increase the pace of your breathing.

This is because when you exercise intensely, as you do with sun salutations, you will naturally begin to breathe more quickly.

You may know that increasing your breathing rate is a great way to burn more calories, but did you know that it can also help you lose weight?

When you have more fat in your body, your organs can have a harder time getting the oxygen they need and your lungs have a harder time fully expanding.

But practicing yoga and increasing your breathing rate can help you get more air into your lungs and increase your lung capacity.

8) Helps to lose weight faster by increasing metabolism

Now after I mentioned that sun salutations improve breathing and lung capacity, chances are that you won’t be surprised if I tell you that they also promote weight loss by increasing metabolism.

What’s the connection?

Well, the fact that sun salutations increase your lung capacity is in direct relation to enhanced metabolism. And this, in turn, leads to weight loss.

The truth is that sun salutations also help you lose weight faster by increasing your metabolism at an incredible rate.

Let me explain how this works.

Studies show that people who have a slow metabolism have a hard time burning calories and losing weight. On the other hand, people with fast metabolism are able to burn calories faster, which leads them to lose weight fast.

So guess what?

Since sun salutations help you breathe better and increase your lung capacity, they also help your body improve its metabolism.

The increased blood flow and increased metabolism will cause a rapid breakdown of fat cells, resulting in weight loss for sure!

That’s why it’s important to make sure you’re practicing sun salutations in the best way possible.

That way, you can boost your metabolism and benefit from its weight loss potential.

This can help you lose weight because it can lead to a higher metabolism and more energy.

When you have more energy, you are likely to find it easier to stay active and do more things.

So, here’s the thing:

Practicing sun salutations can help you lose weight because you’ll be more likely to push yourself to do more physical activities instead of sitting around.

And that is another benefit of sun salutations for weight loss.

9) Calms the mind and reduces stress

Have you ever thought about the influence of your mental state on your body weight?

Well, excessive stress levels in your body are one of the main reasons why you find it hard to lose weight.

It may seem like an unlikely connection, but stress is actually one of the biggest contributors to weight gain.

When you are stressed, your body releases a hormone called cortisol, which can make it difficult to lose weight.

Considering this, stress can even lead to weight gain.

That’s why you need to work on reducing your cortisol levels and other stress hormones to make your body burn more fat.

One way to reduce cortisol levels is to practice yoga regularly. And sun salutations are one of the best ways to do this.

In fact, many people practice yoga to reduce stress and improve their mental health.

Whenever you feel stressed, you should try to switch gears and do something that makes you happy.

This can be as simple as taking a walk in nature or reading a book. Alternatively, you can try yoga as a way to reduce your stress levels.

Studies have shown that yoga is an effective way to reduce stress and improve mental health.

When you are less stressed, you will find it easier to maintain a healthy weight and avoid gaining weight.

It’s well known that yoga supports mental health conditions by improving mood, reducing stress levels, and promoting relaxation.

And this is the reason why many people prefer yoga over other types of exercise programs. But did you know that there’s more to the story?

Well, performing sun salutations is an even more effective way to improve your mood and mental health. And trust me, as a result, you’ll have more control over your body weight too!

10) Improves blood circulation

And finally, the last way that I figured out that sun salutations help us to lose weight is that they help to improve blood circulation.

As you continue to practice yoga, you may notice that you feel less tired and more energetic as time goes on.

This is because yoga helps improve blood circulation, which can help you feel more energized.

When you practice yoga, you are engaging in both cardiovascular exercise and strength training. These two activities are known for improving blood circulation.

Regularly exercising, especially a form of exercise like yoga that works both your muscles and your cardiovascular system can help increase your blood circulation.

This can help you feel more energized, and it can also help you lose weight.

For example, a person who has been experiencing joint pain may notice that their discomfort goes away when they exercise regularly. This is partly because exercise can help increase blood flow to that part of the body, which can make the pain go away.

As a result, we get a lot of oxygen in our bodies, and that improves our overall health.

And I’m sure you understand how much losing weight depends on the blood circulation in your body.

So, what are you waiting for?

If you’re ready to  release toxins from the body, improve your blood circulation, and lose some weight, here’s what you should do:

Start organizing a yoga class in your area, make sure to include sun salutations, and invite your friends to join you!

Final thoughts

Hopefully, now you’re sure that when you take the time to practice yoga and do sun salutations regularly, you will notice many health and fitness benefits.

Not only does yoga improve your mental health, but it also increases your flexibility and strength, and it helps you improve your blood circulation.

That means this one exercise can help you reach your fitness goals in many different ways. And that’s why I believe it’s important to make time for sun salutations in your daily yoga practice.