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Pilates No Good For Weight Loss

Researchers have been studying the effects of Pilates. The popular style of exercise (originally developed for dancers) has become a regular class at most gyms. It's great for strengthening the abdominal muscles - but for those touting any weight loss benefits - they might want to check this out:

During the study, Olson and her team asked ten people with an average of five years' experience with Pilates to follow basic, intermediate and advanced Pilates workouts for 30 to 45 minutes each, and measured how many calories they burned... The researchers found that, on average, a person weighing 75 kilograms (or 165 pounds) burns 480 calories per hour from an advanced workout, 390 calories per hour from an intermediate routine, and 276 calories for every hour of a basic Pilates workout.

What is Pilates good for? It's a better workout for the obliques, and outperforms basic abdominal crunches.

"You can say Pilates is legitimate core training," she said. But if you're trying to lose weight, "you're going to definitely have to supplement with something else," such as a running regimen and diet, Olson noted.

I would guess that most people doing Pilates probably realized this?

However some advertisers would have us believe otherwise: The tag line of the popular Winsor Pilates is "Sculpt your body slim".

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137 Comments

barbie

how can you tell, pilates aren't good for loosing wieght? did you ever tried it? i did and it works. i've lost almost 50 lbs just with pilates so i know for a fact that they work!!

Casey Janicek

I also want to second that I lost almost 45 pounds doing pilates. So, it can be done!

christine

yes pilates does work for lossing as well as toning streching and becoming more flexable. i started pilates in jan have lost 20ibs the proper way. which is including diet. i only do pilates 2 days out the week im pretty sure if you do for 10 min 5 days out of the week with maintaing a great diet plan. you see a larger amount of results. i break a sweat in pilates i only do it for one hour. it said that joseph pilates was a nurse for military and while he was there he bunked with some of the people who served in world war one and the peple who bunked with him where the most fit and strongest in the military during world war 1. with that said that was about 30 years ago. so pilates does work it just depends on if you actually apply it the right way. pilates has alot to do with the types of food u consume. If you really wanna know more read into pilates learn its history and ignore the negativity on these websites. sometimes you have to acutually pick up a book and read after googling. i known drastic changes with in my body. i had headaches really bad thats gone, i also had back and shoulder pain from a car accident and did physical therpy. Didnt help. Then i started pilates and not only felt alot better but noticed a difference. Im only 26 and weieghed 205. Now i weigh 180 in three months. you do the math. pilates is great..... o yea stay away from fast food very bad. i work in fast food

janell

hey, you said you lost 50 lbs....does pilates just target one part of your body...because i need help all over

Eviie

really! how long did it take you? did you lose the weight in one particular spot or all over? please reply im desperate!

Nate

So all other factors in your life remained constant, including diet?

debbie

Did you stop eating too. i have done pilates and although I felt leaner, my scale did not budge. What did u do?

Kelli

Debbie, one thing I have relized about Pilates is that you can be loosing inches, without the scale changing. I lost 30 pounds in 5 weeks, 2 years ago. Dieting at first, then kept it off for a year, no diet just pilates and walking. When I stopped the pilates, I slowly started gaining it back. I am now doing "Pilates on Machines" There are 10 people in a class, 40 minutes and I wont lie, it kicks me in the butt sometimes! Then it becomes addictive. I got it from my boyfriend for Christmas and have been going 3 days a week for only two weeks now. I have not lost weight yet (not really on a special diet) but I have lost 2 inches in my waist already! So make sure you also take your measurements and not rely only on the scale. Barbie, Casey and Janell....were you on special diets also when you lost the weight fast?

dria

Pilates builds lean muscle, which in turn burns more calories than fat does. So yes, by increasing your basal metabolic rate by adding lean muscle you will burn more calories than you did before and lose weight without changing anything else. Its a simple math equation im sure you've heard a million times-calories in vs calories out. If you dont burn additional calories through exercise, you need your body to naturally burn more, which can be acheived through increased muscle.

changa

You lost weight because you changed the number of calories you eat or because of stress, definitely not because of pilates. If you want to burn fat, gain strength, increase flexibility, actually work the core the way it is designed to be used, be free from injury, shoulder, hip, knee, and lower back pain, and much more, pick up a kettlebell and some instruction.
Also begin basic calisthenics for strengthening muscles, ligaments, and tendons. Kettlebell training burns over 20 calories a minute with just one simple exercise! This is 5 times what pilates burns plus all the benefits you have been lied to believe are the result of pilates and much more. DragonDoor.com if you want to be saved from the bullshit that is keeping you dumb, fat, and useless.

Allie

I would just like to thank Barbie for her comment. This gives me a little more hope.

I do not have to lose a lot of weight, but I bought a pilates tape and mat etc. in the hopes of being able to do some exercise at home in privacy not only for my own esteem, but to save money on a gym pass. When I read that it does not help lose weight, I was upset and wondering if I am wasting my time with trying this method of exercise not only for sculpting but loss.

The fact that someone has lost 50 pounds with pilates, shows that exercise is exercise and if you persue a healthier state for your body and mind, it will physically show!

Thank you so much for the added encouragement!

Vicki

I have just started using Pilates last week, and I already feel so much better. It is a great workout, and although it can be challenging, it is worth it. My friend recommended Pilates to me after she had dropped 2 pant sizes from the workout.

jess

i just had a baby 6 months ago, and i lost 10 pounds from pilates in 1 month.

bridge

I've been doing pilates for about a year now but I started it up again because I am home for the summer from college, I have lost 8lbs so far in about a month from doing it only 3 times a week. It is very low impact and I've seen great results in the slimming of my thighs, waist line and arms. Granted I just wanted to work out a little bit and not so much loose weight, but I still lost weight doing it. I say it definately works and everyone should try it out even if its just for a few weeks.

Ryan

There's an inherent flaw in this study. There's a reason why weight training and cardio is more effective than just cardio. When you do cardio, you can burn a large amount of calories in a short amount of time. However, it only elevates your metabolism for about 30 minutes after the workout. On the other hand, weight training doesn't burn quite as many calories during the workout, but it raises your metabolism for 17 hours. Plus, the addition of lean mass will boost metabolism. Also, every pound of lean mass that's built sucks out 3000 calories from your body that won't be stored as fat.

Definitely correct Ryan.

There is no way that the only thing important about an exercise is the amount of calories burned during the exercise.

Building muscle is at least as important, if not far MORE important than the immediate caloric burn.

Cindy

I just started doing Pilates. I am curious what videos have been helpful to those who have lost weight doing Pilates. Please let me know!

kate McKenna

hi Cindy i bought Pilates perfect body its 10 min section easy to do I lost so many inches not so much in pounds I used it following foot surgery as i was unable to to do any other excerise

savannah

I started doing pilates and a diet and i lost 31lbs in like 2 1/2 months. Mari Winsor and Suhaila Salimpour pilates.

shaila

Hi!

I read your comment on the Diet Blog for Pilates. I love Pilates!! But what diet are you doing? I need to loose about 15 pounds.

Maria

I have been 50 pounds over weight for almost 12 years now. I gained weight during my pregnancy with my twins. They will be 12 in two weeks. I have tried countless diets. Nothing has worked. I started doing the Windsor Pilates Circle Workout just over a month ago and it is like a miracle. I am actually losing weight. My clothes are beginning to fall off. Please don't believe the study, Pilates exercize really does work!

Jan

Maria, any activity, even gardening, can make a person who was totally sedentary lose weight, if they keep eating the same amount of calories as they were before. That doesn't mean gardening or Pilates will "sculpt your body slim". If you enjoy the exercise, keep doing it, but don't expect it to make you look like a dancer with no other exercise or diet involved, that is the point of the study.

Vicci

That is rather rude to assume a person is sedentary just because they lose weight by doing pilates. Pilates is proven successful by the simple fact that has stuck around for as long as it has ... this is not a trend fitness program. Your statement is true, but it is only stating the obvious: no single diet or exercise program can give you everything you need for fitness.... Fitness, by definition, is a personalized program of physical exercise and a balanced diet.

Flor

Bravo! I agree! I am not overweight by any means. I'm an avid runner and I do some weight lifting, but I am about to start Pilates as a part of my routine just to add to my fitness and I am excited for the flexibility and muscle tone I have heard of. When people say it lengthens muscle, I never thought it will like, literally make you taller or something.

Kathleen

I have some questions about pilates and found this site,Barbie's comment caught my eye because I need to lose quite a bit of weight and was wondering if a Pilates starter kit and video would be a good option. I am pretty out of shape so I need something low impact and "beginner" type. Any feedback on starting a Pilate regime at home?

shumila

hi i have been trying to loose weight about 6 months i have been doing jog in park for half an hour and i have lost some weight but i was not happy about it because my body was not in shape .about 2 weeks before i went to T.K max and i bought these rubber bands i am using them for every day and i must say i look toned every body is saying what have u done u have lost lot of weight ofcourse i love if somebody says that to me.in short i think pilates r best but with ofcourse healthy eating .

Stephanie

I purchased a mat and beginners dvd at Meijer for Pilates Floor Mat, and boy 20 minutes afterwards (now) I am felling great. My core muscles are still feeling the burn.

The exercises are fairly simple and are modified if not. I honestly didn't break a sweat, grant it, today was my first time but we'll see how crazy it gets from here. But it is worth it.

No sweating, I love not sweating and yet feeling the burn as if I did 200 situps. Im an athletic girl so the fact that the 20 minutes work out has me feeling like this is exciting.

Icanhelpyoumove@aol.com is my email if you have any questions about it, although I don't know much beyond basic faq.

Steph

Suzanne

Hi everyone,
I love Pilates, i own Windsor Pilates cirlce workout plus all the other dvds that came with it. I hadn't done it in a few months then lastnight i decided to try it again and "WOW" i feel it hugely this morning, i actually felt smaller or toner or something lastnight right after my workout(lol) i did the 20 minute circle workout then the 20 minute bun and thigh workout. I love the others aswell.
Anyways, i'm 185lbs, 5'7 and want to be about 140 lbs, i have already lost over 100 lbs (yikes, i know) when i was pregnant with my daughter in 1999 i gained alot of weight, it's taken me almost 7 years ( my daughter will be 7 in January- i'll be 26 on March 6th) to get rid of it all (but it's cause i went into severe deppression and didn't work that hard for a while after) so i gues it's taken me the lst 4 years to get all my weight off, and still have more to go. If anyone wants to email me and be support for eachother, i would love that. I'm from BC Canada and enjoy lot's of things in life.
email me at: wildsassysue@yahoo.ca

hugs and good luck everyone.
Suzanne
xxoo

Brooke

Pilates was not originally developed for dancers. It was
created by Joseph Pilates for bedridden, wounded, WWI soldiers so that their muscles would not atrophy. It is an excellent way to boost your metabolism (and lose weight as long as you eat sensibly).

P.J.

So let me see if i'm getting this straight. Is everyone agreeing that pilates and cardio together is the best option. I'm trying to get back in shape and have been researching pilates and so far it sounds good. Any opinions on weight training and pilates??

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