Yoga And Weight Loss: What 23 Studies Found, And Why Calm Matters More Than Calories

By Chris Lalor, Certified Senior Iyengar Yoga Teacher and certified Yoga Therapist, Flametree Yoga Darwin

Twenty-two out of 23 yoga studies found that people lost some weight. Only 12 found a loss big enough to matter for health. So can yoga help with weight loss? In studies, yes, and the gap between those two numbers shows what makes it work. This post looks at the research on yoga and weight loss gathered in a medical textbook co-edited by Dr Timothy McCall, and at the part most people miss: calm, mindful eating, and an exercise you keep doing.

Yoga and weight loss: the short answer

Can yoga help you lose weight? In most studies people lost some, but usually not a lot. The bigger losses came when people practised often, for months, and changed how they ate. On its own, yoga is a modest weight tool. Its real value is in the habits behind eating, and in being a gentle exercise people actually keep doing.

Here is the article in short form:

• 22 of 23 studies found some weight loss.
• 12 of 23 found a loss that matters for health.
• Bigger losses: more practice, for longer, plus food changes.
• In one pilot, the loss kept growing after classes ended.
• None of the studies tested Iyengar yoga.
• Mindfulness changes eating habits more than the scales.
• Five simple mindful eating habits to try.
• Next step: 2 free classes, in Darwin or LIVE online.

Props make the poses work for you

Who are we, and what is Iyengar yoga?

We are Flametree Yoga Studio in Darwin, and we teach Iyengar yoga. It is the style developed by Mr BKS Iyengar. In the 20th century he did more than anyone to set down traditional Indian yoga, through his books and his teaching. He also pioneered the use of props, such as blocks, belts and chairs. His style is sometimes called modern classical yoga.

We sell yoga classes, so we would rather say that up front. It is also why we want to be clear about what the weight research does and does not show.

Where does this weight loss research come from?

It comes from a chapter of Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care (2016), a medical textbook on yoga therapy. Its editors include Dr Timothy McCall, a US medical doctor who studied with Mr BKS Iyengar and wrote Yoga as Medicine.

Chapter 12, on metabolic syndrome and weight control, is by Kyeongra Yang and Jennifer Rioux. They searched the medical databases from 1995 to 2015 for yoga studies that measured weight, BMI (body mass index, a weight-for-height measure) or body fat. That gave them 23 studies.

The studies ran from 6 days to a year. Groups ranged from 6 people to 205. Eleven were in India and seven in the United States.

What did 23 yoga studies find?

Almost all of them found some weight loss, but only about half found a loss big enough to matter for health.

In 22 of the 23 studies, weight, BMI or body fat went down. In 12 of the 23, the authors counted the drop as clinically meaningful: roughly 5% of body weight, or at least one point of BMI. That is the size of change researchers usually treat as making a real difference to health.

One caution sits over all of this. Most of the 23 studies had no comparison group, and several were short live-in programmes where the diet changed as well. So not all of the loss can be put down to the yoga. The authors say so themselves.

Which yoga and weight loss trials stand out?

Four trials with a comparison group are worth knowing. Here is the bottom line of each first.

• Weight, body fat, waist size and belly fat all fell with yoga. Lee 2012: 16 women past menopause carrying extra weight in South Korea, 16 weeks of yoga against no exercise, 8 women in each group. A protective hormone made by fat tissue (adiponectin) rose. Read the study.
• Yoga and supervised walking both brought BMI and waist size down in 15 days. Telles 2014: 68 adults carrying extra weight in India, 90 minutes a day, both groups on the same diet. The chapter’s authors note the yoga sessions were mostly breathing practice. Read the study.
• A modified sun salutation using a chair lowered weight and body fat, and was the only programme that also improved flexibility. Jakhotia 2015: 119 women aged 20 to 40 in India, set beside circuit training, treadmill walking and no exercise; 87 finished. Read the study.
• Fasting blood sugar fell more with gentle, supported yoga than with stretching, a year on. Kanaya 2014: 180 inactive adults in the United States with metabolic syndrome (a cluster of a large waist, high blood pressure, high blood sugar and unhealthy blood fats). The yoga was restorative, with poses supported on bolsters and blankets. Read the study.

What seemed to make yoga work better for weight?

Practising more often, for longer, with changes to eating and some practice at home.

The chapter’s authors looked at what the 12 more successful studies had in common. Ten of the 12 ran for 8 weeks or longer. All of them asked people to practise at least three times a week, and every session lasted an hour or more.

An earlier review by Rioux and a colleague found the same pattern across yoga weight trials. The features linked with bigger losses were these. Read the review.

Two points stand out for everyday life. The first is regularity: the studies rewarded people who kept going. The second is food. The losses grew when yoga came with changes to eating, and that is where calm and mindfulness come in.

Does weight lost with yoga stay off?

In one US pilot, the weight kept coming off after the programme ended.

Rioux 2014 followed 12 adults through a 3-month programme of yoga and Ayurvedic lifestyle advice (Ayurveda is India’s traditional system of medicine). They were checked again at 6 and 9 months. The average loss was 3.5 kg at 3 months, 4.6 kg at 6 months and 5.9 kg at 9 months. Read the study.

It is one study with no comparison group. Still, it fits what the long-term studies of people who keep doing yoga have found: they tend to gain less weight over the years. Our guide to weight, stress eating and cortisol belly sets those studies out.

The counterintuitive part: eating less through calm

Yoga seems to work less by burning calories and more by changing what drives eating.

Dr McCall put it this way in a talk on yoga and weight loss: yoga can help with weight, “but it’s not for the reasons that you think.” In his view, yoga calms you, which lowers the stress hormone cortisol, and that lowers appetite. And it builds mindfulness, which he calls “an even bigger factor”: you notice when you are full. That is his view as a physician. His full argument, and the research on cortisol, is in our weight and cortisol belly guide.

Burning food off with exercise is slow going. Our chocolate test found a big block of chocolate takes about 22 km of walking to burn off. Eating a little less is far easier, and calm makes it feel natural rather than forced.

The stress side has its own pages: our yoga for stress and burnout guide, and our post on stress, sleep and living longer.

What does the mindful eating research show?

Mindfulness changes eating habits more reliably than it changes weight. Mindful eating means paying close attention to food and to how eating feels.

• Binge eating and emotional eating fell; the effect on weight was mixed. Katterman 2014, a review of 14 studies of mindfulness meditation. Read the study.
• People noticed fullness better, and ate less because food was there or on impulse. Emotional eating and binge eating changed less. Kao 2024, a meta-analysis (a study that pools the results of others) of mindfulness programmes. Read the study.
• People ate a little less in mindful eating experiments, but felt no less hungry. Ahmadyar 2026, a meta-analysis of 41 articles. The effects were bigger in the laboratory than in daily life. Read the study.

So mindful eating is not a diet, and it will not melt weight off on its own. What it does is change the habits behind eating. These studies tested mindfulness courses, not yoga, and they still count for our classes: holding a yoga pose trains the same steady attention. We explain that link in our guide to yoga and mindfulness, and our post on meditation for weight loss looks at the meditation studies.

Calm first, then attention

How can you eat more mindfully? Five simple habits

Slow down and pay attention: sit down, breathe, eat slowly, check in halfway, and notice how you feel later. You do not need rules or numbers. Try one habit at a time and see what you notice.

Chris’s own view is that mindfulness has to come first: “Mindful eating practices without mindfulness are like a sailing boat without a sail.” Read how she changed her sugar habit in our mindful eating post, or see how to quit sugar cravings. We teach yoga and yogic breathing (pranayama). The outcome is more mindfulness, and that helps people form mindful habits, including mindful eating.

Where does yoga fit in a healthy lifestyle?

Yoga is the exercise part that people keep doing, and it brings calm and attention with it.

Our post on healthy lifestyle habits looked at three big studies. Regular movement and a healthy weight were among the habits linked with less chronic disease and longer lives. None of those studies tested yoga, but a yoga class is regular movement: standing, bending, twisting and holding your own weight.

The weight studies keep rewarding people who keep going. So in our view the best exercise for weight is one you enjoy enough to do for years. Classes help with that, because the people in the room keep you coming back.

The benefits reach beyond the scales too. In Lee 2012, blood pressure, insulin and blood sugar improved. In Kanaya 2014, fasting blood sugar fell more than with stretching. Our guides to diabetes and blood sugar and heart health have more.

What can’t these studies tell us?

They are a useful start, but they have limits worth knowing.

• Most had no comparison group. So some of the loss may come from other things.
• Many changed diet too. Several were live-in programmes with a yogic diet, so the poses cannot take all the credit.
• Most were short. Few followed people for a year or more.
• None tested Iyengar yoga. The styles varied, and so did the teachers’ training. One trial of online Iyengar yoga for weight is under way, and our weight guide has the details. We also answer whether Iyengar yoga is good for weight loss. In our view as certified Iyengar teachers, its close attention in every pose is likely to go further than the average, but that is still to be tested. Why the kind of yoga matters.
• Mindfulness helps habits more than weight. The eating changes are clearer than the change on the scales.

Not yet tested is not the same as not working. What long practice already knows, that a calmer mind eats more wisely, is something our students tell us again and again.

How can you start yoga for weight in Darwin or online?

Come to a class at your level, a few times a week, and keep going. That is the pattern the studies reward.

Thinking about yoga and weight loss in Darwin? You do not need to be flexible, fit or a certain size. Classes are adapted to the people in the room, with props for every pose. Come to the studio in Darwin or join LIVE online.

New to Flametree, or away 3 months or more? 2 free classes, then 10 at half price. Already practising yoga? See the non-beginner half price pass. Then book a class time here.

Frequently asked questions

Can yoga help with weight loss?

In studies, yes, though usually not by much. In a review of 23 yoga studies, 22 found some drop in weight, BMI or body fat, and 12 found a loss big enough to matter for health. Bigger losses came with regular practice over months and changes to eating.

How often should I do yoga to help with weight?

The studies with the bigger losses asked people to practise at least three times a week, and the reviewers suggest four or more. Most ran for 8 weeks or longer, and practice at home between classes helped.

Does weight lost with yoga stay off?

In one US pilot of 12 adults, the average loss was 3.5 kg at the end of a 3-month programme, then 4.6 kg at 6 months and 5.9 kg at 9 months. It had no comparison group, so it is an early signal.

Did any of these weight studies test Iyengar yoga?

No. None of the 23 weight studies in the review tested Iyengar yoga. One trial of online Iyengar yoga for weight is under way.

Does yoga help my health if the scales hardly move?

In some trials, yes. In a US trial of 180 adults with metabolic syndrome, fasting blood sugar fell more with gentle, supported yoga than with stretching after a year. In a Korean trial of 16 women past menopause, blood pressure, insulin and blood sugar improved with yoga.

Sources

Each study was checked against its PubMed record on 7 November 2026.

• Yang K, Rioux J. Yoga therapy for metabolic syndrome and weight control. Chapter 12 in Khalsa SBS, Cohen L, McCall T, Telles S (eds), Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care. Handspring, 2016.
• Rioux JG, Ritenbaugh C. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2013. PubMed 23709458
• Lee JA and colleagues. Menopause, 2012. PubMed 22089179
• Telles S and colleagues. Medical Science Monitor, 2014. PubMed 24878827
• Jakhotia KA and colleagues. International Journal of Yoga, 2015. PubMed 25558131
• Kanaya AM and colleagues. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications, 2014. PubMed 24418351
• Rioux J and colleagues. Global Advances in Health and Medicine, 2014. PubMed 24753993
• Katterman SN and colleagues. Eating Behaviors, 2014. PubMed 24854804
• Kao TA and colleagues. Obesity Reviews, 2024. PubMed 39489689
• Ahmadyar K and colleagues. Clinical Psychology Review, 2026. PubMed 42341365
• Dr Timothy McCall, in a talk on yoga and weight loss, as quoted on our weight guide.

Flametree Yoga Studio, Darwin and LIVE online. This page is general information, not medical advice.