Research

Energy balance

Yogic asana practice reduces body fat percentage in obese or overweight populations, with effects being more pronounced in longer-duration interventions (8-12 weeks) compared to short-term or low-intensity sessions.

To use yoga for fat loss, commit to a program lasting at least 8-12 weeks, practicing 2-3 times per week for 50-90 minutes. While yoga alone may not burn as many calories as running, it effectively reduces body fat percentage, especially when combined with basic dietary awareness. Focus on consistency rather than intensity.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
The studies offer promising evidence that yogic asanas practice may hold promise to mitigate body fat percentage along with other body composition elements. ... The yogic asana practice has reduced the body fat percentage in moderate and long duration of practice.
Rahul Dev Choudhury et al. · BIO Web of Conferences · 2024

Why this rating

The paper is a systematic review of 13 studies, but the included studies show mixed results (some insignificant, some significant), and the review itself lacks a meta-analysis of pooled effect sizes.

Source

Exploring the Influence of Yogic Asana Practice on Body Fat Percentage - A Systematic Review

Rahul Dev Choudhury et al. · BIO Web of Conferences · 2024

DOI 10.1051/bioconf/20248601010

systematic_review
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →