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Introduction

Does Surya Namaskar help with weight loss? How many days of Surya Namaskar practice is required for weight loss? What are the benefits of 108 Surya Namaskar?

How many Surya Namaskar in a day is required to lose weight? How many calories does one Surya Namaskar burn?

If you are searching for answers to any of the questions mentioned above, you have come to the right place. This article attempts to answer these questions.

Surya Namaskar and Weight Loss

Importance of Ideal Body Weight

Everyone knows the importance of maintaining the ideal body weight for healthy living. An overweight person is prone to diseases like Coronary Heart Disease, Type II Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Stroke, and certain cancers. Maintaining an ideal body weight will help to prevent these diseases. Not only that. Anyone who already has any of these diseases should maintain the ideal body weight to get control over them.

How to Maintain the Ideal Body Weight

The difference between the amount of energy in Calories you take in by food and the amount of energy in Calories you spent out on activities determines the amount of weight you gain or lose. For losing weight, your intake of energy should be lesser than that of the energy you spent. Hence diet and exercise are the factors that determine the weight. A consistent plan with a balanced diet and adequate exercise is the key to ideal body weight.

Why One Should Select Surya Namaskar to Lose Weight?

For a daily exercise plan, you have plenty of options to choose from, like walking, swimming, Gym, and Yoga. The following table shows the calories burnt for some exercises for a person with a weight of 155 pounds.

Activity (30 minutes)Calories Burnt
Walking149
Swimming223
Weight Lifting112
Stretching, Hatha Yoga149
Aerobics205
health.harvard.edu

In 30 minutes, one can perform twelve Surya Namaskars. One Surya Namaskar burns around 13.91 calories. That means one can burn 167 calories approximately in 30 minutes. It is better than walking and weight lifting. All other activities require some preconditions. For example, in the case of swimming, you should go to a swimming pool. For walking and swimming, the climate should be conducive.

You require no pieces of equipment for doing Sun Salutation as it is in the case of weight lifting. In walking, only arms and legs are involved; whereas in Sun Salutation, legs, arms, neck, and spine joints are stretched, Hence there is a complete and overall development of fitness and flexibility. These points make Sun Salutation a better option than others.

108 Surya Namaskar

What is 108 Surya Namaskar

Mantra Japa is a practice wherein a particular mantra is repeated daily for a specific number of times. This number is normally in multiples of 108. Any prayer to God, in Hinduism, often includes the repetition of a mantra in multiples of 108. Hence 108 Surya Namaskar becomes a conventional prayer.

How to do 108 Surya Namaskar?

It is not possible for beginners to perform 108 Sun Salutations all of a sudden. To perform this feat a beginner should increase the number of rounds every week. The following table suggests a tentative schedule to achieve this feat.

Week NoNo of roundsCalories Burned Approx.
1680
212170
324330
436500
548670
660830
7721000
8861170
9941330
101081500

108 Surya Namaskar and Weight Loss

Barring religious views, let us examine how 108 Surya Namaskar helps with weight loss.

One round of Sun Salutation burns approximately 13.91 calories. Hence 108 Surya Namaskar burns approximately 1500 calories. One should be very careful and it is not for everyone. It is for those who are obese and want to shed weight vigorously. Others may choose in between 12 to 108 as per their requirement and ability.

Surya Namaskar and Weight Loss FAQ

How many days of Surya Namaskar practice is required for weight loss?

First, one must fix the target weight. Then he should fix the number of rounds for daily practice. After reaching the target weight, one may restrict the number of rounds to six or twelve for daily practice to maintain the weight.

How many Surya Namaskar daily required for a person with ideal weight?

Six to twelve rounds are enough for a person with normal weight.

What if a person with normal weight wants to perform more than twelve rounds?

It is not necessary, if not for spiritual reasons. If anyone wants to perform for more rounds than required, he should adjust his diet plan suitably.

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