Diet is just as important, and if your diet is full of saturated fats and refined sugar, you will have a hard time losing weight and keeping it off no matter how much yoga you do. A balanced diet is crucial in maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy body. Many people think you have to do some sort of aerobic activity to get in shape and stay that way. The advantage of yoga is that yoga exercises can be done by everyone. It's not like jogging or high-impact aerobics, for example, which are difficult and even dangerous for someone who is very overweight, or maybe you have bad knees or some other physical impairment.
Yoga can be gentle to the body yet stimulating to the internal organs, glands, and metabolism.
There are also exercises like the Salute to the Sun that can be done in a very dynamic, aerobic manner. The Salute to the Sun is a series of movements that you can do quite quickly, coordinating each movement with the breath. It is a cleansing and invigorating technique because as you inhale, you energize the body with fresh oxygen, and with each exhalation you expel stale air and toxins from the body. So both your breath and your body are moving simultaneously, working together to increase circulation. So you see, yoga has such variety that anyone can adapt it to his or her own needs and fitness level.