Can yoga help you lose weight for fertility?
I often get asked can yoga help you lose weight for fertility It’s a great question but one that I feel needs more than a simple yes or no answer.
I know many doctors tell their patients that they need to lose weight in order to improve chances of conceiving. You may be told to lose weight before they’ll even consider doing any sort of fertility treatment. But the way I see, infertility and excess weight are both symptoms of the same problem.
They’re a sign that the whole body (and probably your life as well) is out of balance. I think this is why focusing on losing weight by eating less and exercising more, often misses the mark. Yeah sure, you’ll probably lose some weight in the short term. But if you don’t address the underlying reasons for why you’re carrying extra weight in the first place, I think you’re probably destined to put it back on again.
Why you might carry extra weight
Hormones – When hormones are out of balance our body holds onto extra weight because it’s busy trying to detox all the extra hormones. This is often why you struggle to lose weight after fertility treatments.
Emotions – I’m pretty sure we’ve all eaten our emotions at one point in our lives. Am I right? Basically chocolate is way more delicious, than dealing with the uncomfortable feelings we have. (Ps. Yoga is a great substitute for emotional eating).
Mental – Is food the way you cope with stress? Or do you reward yourself with food on difficult mental days?
Protection – Many of my clients discover that they use weight to protect themselves from attention or to stop others getting too close. This can be complex to overcome but through inner work (therapy etc), you can change this behaviour.
Can yoga help you lose weight for fertility?
When you consider all of the underlying reasons you maybe holding weight, yes – yoga is an excellent way to help you to lose weight for fertility.
Not because it’s the most high intensity work-out that will physically help you burn calories (although it can do that too).
But because it helps you start tuning in and looking after your whole self (physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually).
Where to start with yoga for weight loss?
Start by watching the videos below.
Video 1 explains how yoga can help you lose weight for fertility.
Video 2 is a fertility yoga class for weight loss specifically. We’ll build heat (or tapas) during this practice that will help to burn calories, but also burns negative energy and emotions that you might be needing to let go of. Sweating also helps to detox the body of the excess hormones that accumulate in the body, especially during fertility treatments. We’ll be practicing a fair bit of twisting in this class, so I recommend practicing after you’ve finished your period up until ovulation.
Video 3 encourages you to shift your focus onto what makes you feel good. Rather than trying to restrict yourself to lose weight, I want you to focus on nourishing yourself well. Nourish with good whole food. Nourish with the movement that you choose. Nourish with the thoughts that you think. Focus on making yourself FEEL good, rather than on restriction and control.
If you’re looking for class that you can practice during the other stages of your cycle, you’ll find all my premium classes in my Online Yoga Circle membership. I’d love to see you over there.
Any questions about this class (or anything else), feel free to ask in the comments.