Yogasana To Lose Belly Fat: 5 Easy Yoga Poses You Can Do Daily 2024

Burning belly fat is one of the top weight loss goals for many people, as having excess belly fat can create health problems down the road. It doesn’t come as a surprise then that fat burners and specific exercises that target reducing belly fat are sought after. Here’s how yoga can help lose belly fat. 

Can Yoga Help You Reduce Belly Fat?

Even though there are a few other factors that need to be added to the account when it comes to losing belly fat, the short answer is yes. Yoga asanas, or yoga poses, are movements that make your body work in unison, activating every possible muscle. 

Still, there are certain yoga asanas that target core areas more than others, and these are the five that can help you get rid of that belly fat if done daily.

High Plank

Also known as Phalakasana in Sanskrit, a high plank is one of the best yoga asanas, or poses, to add to your daily routine if you’re trying to reduce belly fat. When you’re in it, you’re activating your core from all sides and really making your abdominal muscles work for it, helping build up heat where you need it the most. 

To get into plank pose, start by building a strong foundation. Place your palms right under your shoulders and lift your knees off the ground so that you’re high on the balls of your feet. Keep your hips aligned with your shoulders and activate your core muscles to prevent them from dropping down. 

Push the floor away from you without lifting your hips and make a slight concave in your upper body, like you’re trying to fill out the space in between your shoulder blades. Stay here and breathe. You can gaze down and extend your neck or look straight in front of you. 

Keep on holding your pose without moving your hips, and make sure your quadriceps are active, extending your legs all the way. If this gets hard for you, you can always modify this awesome belly fat-burning yoga pose by coming onto your forearms or dropping your knees on the floor, still maintaining a plank position of your spine. 

If, on the other hand, a regular high plank doesn’t seem that challenging anymore, lift one of your legs and then the other, and maybe even extend through the opposite arm.

Side Plank

Even though the high plank works your entire core, from front to back, the side plank is the best yoga asana for getting into those specific side abdominal muscles, and obliques, which usually store the most belly fat and cause the dreaded “love handles.”

Called Vasisthasana in Sanskrit, the side plank is a touch harder than the high plank. It’s mostly because of the isolation of those weaker side muscles, but also because it’s a balancing pose, causing you to use your entire body to perform it correctly. 

Start in a high plank position and bring your left hand to the center, slowly pivoting your feet to the right and opening your body to the side. You can leave both feet on the floor or try stacking them right on top of your left, pushing them into the ground as you do so. Lift your right arm straight into the sky and lift your hips high. 

You can stay here or try lifting your right leg into the air, making those obliques really burn. Stay here for a few long inhales and exhales, not forgetting to breathe through the whole process. On your last exhale, come down to your plank and do the same thing on the other side.

Knee To Nose

One of the great yoga asanas to reduce belly fat is “knee to nose,” also known as Jaanu Naasikaa Adho Mukha Svanasana in Sanskrit. It’s usually a part of the warming-up sequence as it prepares the body for practice. 

Start in a downward-facing dog, with your hips high and your spine extended. Make sure your shoulders are away from your ears and your palms and feet are firmly pressed into the ground. 

Inhale and lift one of your legs high into the air, stretching from your palms all the way through your foot. Exhale and bring your knee towards your nose, trying to touch it. The more you squeeze your core, the higher your knee will go, eventually really touching your nose. 

Stay here for three long inhales and exhales before bringing your leg back down to the downward dog and doing the same thing on the other side.

Boat Pose

One of the other great balancing yoga asanas to reduce belly fat is the boat pose, also known as Navasana. It’s a challenging yoga asana that takes a while to master, so doing it on a daily routine could really make you progress faster. 

Start in a seated position, with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground. Hug your knees tightly and feel your spine extending all the way from your sitting bones to the crown of your head. Keep your shoulders away from your ears and feel your neck getting some extra space to relax. 

Slowly place your hands under your knees, grab your hamstrings, and begin by lifting one leg off the ground, and then the other, alternating and feeling the activation of your abdominal muscles. When you’re ready, lift both feet and try to bring your shins parallel to the ground. 

You can keep your hands where they are or challenge yourself even further and extend them in front of you, outside your legs, palms facing in. 

Keep growing tall from your seat, with your spine extended, through every inhale and exhale. Proper breathing technique is key, so make sure your inhales and exhales are deep, sound, and strong. 

If you wish to take it a step further, try extending your legs so that your feet are in the same line as your nose. This can be very hard on your hamstrings as your flexibility needs to allow the extension to happen, so be mindful of it when trying it out.

Chair Pose

Chair pose, or Utkatasana, is a great belly fat-burning yoga asana that requires strong legs and a strong core to be done correctly and efficiently. 

Start in a standing position, feet together. Take a deep inhale and lift your arms over your head, bringing your shoulders away from your ears. Slowly bend your knees and bring your hips back down behind you, like you’re trying to sit on an imaginary chair. 

Try to get your thighs as parallel to the ground as you possibly can, keeping your upper body straight and your shoulders away from your ears. Activate your core and lift your belly button up. With every inhale try to grow taller, and with every exhale try to sit a bit lower. 

Stay for three to five long inhales and exhales before extending your legs and coming back to the starting position.

Calories In vs. Calories Out

Although the above-mentioned yoga asanas can really help out when trying to get rid of belly fat, ultimately your nutrition will do the biggest work. Cleaning up your diet and getting rid of processed food and excess sugar is a must, but keeping your calories below your expenditure levels is where the magic happens. 

The good, old “calories in vs. calories out”^[1] formula still is the most effective weight-loss tool out there, as science does not lie. In order to lose weight and reduce belly fat, you need to ingest fewer calories than you burn. It’s as simple as that. 

Burning calories is what we all do, 24 hours a day, but with our bodies being differently built and shaped, which areas tend to lose fat first vary. Sometimes your belly fat goes first, and sometimes it stays last, but working on building those abdominal muscles definitely helps. 

Of course, our bodies aren’t machines, so other factors such as sleep, stress, and hormones, also play a huge role in weight loss. It’s just that nutrition and fitness are a bit easier to place under our control.  

Other Factors That Aid in Weight Loss

Once you’ve got your effective yoga asanas and nutrition dialed up, start working on all the other factors to get rid of the dreaded belly fat. This includes, but isn’t limited to:

• Creating a good sleeping routine – Waking up and going to bed at roughly the same time, trying to get an adequate amount of sleep, as well as creating a relaxing environment that will prevent insomnia or sleep disturbances throughout the night will do wonders for your weight loss journey. 
• Proper Hydration^[2] – Making sure your hydration is on point and drinking plenty of liquids throughout the day will help flush out toxins and lower your inflammation.
• Adding cardio workouts^[3] – Whether it’s brisk walking, running, or getting on that elliptical, getting in some cardio work will definitely aid in weight loss. Bringing your heart rate up and working on your cardiovascular health can only do you good long-term. 
• Managing your stress levels^[4] – Although easier said than done, bringing your stress levels down will keep inflammation at bay, helping your body utilize fat for fuel more efficiently. 

Conclusion

Probably the best advice you can get is to stay consistent. No matter what you do, it will never be enough if you do it just for a few weeks or months. Yes, it might cause you to lose weight initially, but it won’t prevent you from gaining it all back once you return to your old habits. Keep healthy eating habits, improve your sleep, maintain a good fitness routine, and try to keep your stress at bay, and you’re bound to see amazing results in no time.

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