Work out calories and kilojoules burned during a yoga session, based on your body weight, the style you practise, and how long you were on the mat.
A yoga session burns calories in proportion to your body weight, how long you practise, and which style you're doing, captured in a MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) value for each style. The formula is calories = MET × body weight in kilograms × time in hours. A gentle hatha class (MET 2.5) sits at exactly half the intensity of a heated Bikram session (MET 5.0), so style changes your result as much as duration does. A 70 kg adult doing 45 minutes of vinyasa/power yoga (MET 4.0) burns about 210 kcal, close to 879 kJ.
| Metric | Value |
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The calculation comes down to three things: which style you practise (expressed as a MET value), your body weight, and how long the session runs. A more vigorous style and a heavier body both burn more per minute, and a longer session simply stacks more minutes on top of that rate.
The table below holds the style and duration fixed at vinyasa / power yoga (MET 4.0) for 45 minutes, so you can see how much body weight alone changes the result.
| Body Weight | MET | Calories (45 min) | Kilojoules |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 kg | 4.0 | 180 kcal | 753 kJ |
| 70 kg | 4.0 | 210 kcal | 879 kJ |
| 80 kg | 4.0 | 240 kcal | 1,004 kJ |
| 90 kg | 4.0 | 270 kcal | 1,130 kJ |
| 100 kg | 4.0 | 300 kcal | 1,255 kJ |
Here body weight is fixed at 70 kg and only the style preset changes, so you can see exactly how much the style itself affects the burn rate.
| Style | MET | Calories/hour | Calories/minute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hatha yoga (gentle) | 2.5 | 175 kcal/hr | 2.92 kcal/min |
| Vinyasa / power yoga | 4.0 | 280 kcal/hr | 4.67 kcal/min |
| Hot yoga / Bikram | 5.0 | 350 kcal/hr | 5.83 kcal/min |
The gap between the three MET values explains why a hatha class and a hot yoga class can feel like completely different workouts. Hatha yoga's MET of 2.5 puts it much closer, energy-wise, to gentle stretching or slow-paced mobility work than to a cardio session — poses are held for longer, transitions are slow, and the heart rate stays low for most of the class. Vinyasa and power yoga step that up to MET 4.0 because the poses are linked into a continuous, breath-paced flow, so the body is doing more mechanical work per minute with far less resting time between postures. Hot yoga (typically Bikram-style, practised in a heated room) sits highest at MET 5.0. Part of that comes from the same continuous-movement demand as vinyasa, and part of it reflects the added cardiovascular strain of exercising in high heat, which pushes your heart rate up even when the poses themselves aren't especially strenuous. It's worth being upfront, though: even at its most vigorous, yoga burns calories at a noticeably lower rate than genuinely vigorous cardio activities such as running, cycling, or interval training. That doesn't make it a lesser form of exercise — yoga's real value lies in flexibility, functional strength, balance, and stress reduction, benefits that a calorie count alone doesn't capture.
Australian nutrition panels list energy in kilojoules, not calories, so it helps to convert your yoga burn into the same unit your food packaging uses. Multiply your calorie figure by 4.184 to get kilojoules. A 70 kg person doing 45 minutes of vinyasa / power yoga burns about 210 kcal, which is roughly 879 kJ — useful context if you want to weigh a session against the energy value printed on a snack or drink label.
How many calories does 45 minutes of yoga burn?
It depends on the style. For a 70 kg person doing 45 minutes: gentle hatha yoga burns about 131 kcal, vinyasa / power yoga burns about 210 kcal, and hot yoga / Bikram burns about 263 kcal. Use the calculator above with your own weight for a more exact figure.
Does hot yoga burn more calories than regular yoga?
Yes. Hot yoga's MET value of 5.0 is noticeably higher than vinyasa / power yoga's 4.0 and exactly double hatha yoga's 2.5. For a 70 kg person that works out to about 350 kcal/hr for hot yoga versus 280 kcal/hr for vinyasa and 175 kcal/hr for hatha. Some of that extra burn reflects the continuous movement in a hot yoga sequence, and some reflects the added cardiovascular strain of exercising in a heated room.
Is yoga good for weight loss?
Yoga burns fewer calories per minute than most vigorous cardio — even hot yoga's 5.83 kcal/min for a 70 kg person is well below what running or cycling typically achieves. That said, yoga can still support weight management indirectly: it reduces stress hormones linked to overeating, builds body awareness that supports more mindful eating, improves strength and mobility that make other workouts easier to sustain, and works well as a complement to more calorie-intensive exercise rather than a replacement for it.
How many calories does yoga burn per hour?
For a 70 kg adult: hatha yoga burns about 175 kcal/hr, vinyasa / power yoga burns about 280 kcal/hr, and hot yoga / Bikram burns about 350 kcal/hr. These figures scale up for a heavier body weight and down for a lighter one, since calories per hour equals MET multiplied by body weight in kilograms.
Does body weight affect how many calories yoga burns?
Yes. At vinyasa / power yoga intensity for 45 minutes, a 60 kg person burns roughly 180 kcal while a 100 kg person burns roughly 300 kcal for the identical session, because calories equal MET multiplied by weight in kilograms multiplied by time in hours. A heavier body does more mechanical work moving through the same poses.
How many kilojoules does a yoga session burn?
Multiply your calorie figure by 4.184 to get kilojoules, which is what Australian food labels use. A 70 kg person doing 45 minutes of vinyasa / power yoga burns about 210 kcal, equal to roughly 879 kJ. A 45-minute hot yoga session for the same person burns about 263 kcal, or roughly 1,098 kJ.
Which yoga style burns the most calories?
Of the three styles covered here, hot yoga / Bikram (MET 5.0) burns the most per minute, followed by vinyasa / power yoga (MET 4.0), with gentle hatha yoga (MET 2.5) burning the least. The gap is entirely down to how continuous the movement is and, for hot yoga, the extra cardiovascular demand of exercising in a heated room.
Is hatha yoga a good workout for calorie burn?
Not really, if calorie burn is your main goal — at MET 2.5, hatha yoga sits closer to gentle stretching than to a cardio workout, burning around 175 kcal/hr for a 70 kg person. That doesn't mean it's not worthwhile: hatha yoga is still valuable for flexibility, joint mobility, balance and stress reduction, and it's a good complement to more vigorous exercise on other days rather than a substitute for it.