Will Pilates Help You Lose Weight?

If you see trendy Pilates videos on social media, you will likely notice they are filled with toned, slim bodies. (I have some thoughts on that, which you can read here.) This might make you wonder if Pilates will help you lose weight. The truth is you might or might not. If losing weight is your goal, there are a lot of things to consider, including diet, stress, hydration, sleep, food, and movement. Pilates is one way to add movement, though weight loss is never a reason I’d suggest starting Pilates. 

The inventor of Pilates, Joseph Pilates, didn’t like it when someone came to him looking to lose weight. In his book “The Caged Lion”,  John Howard tells a story of a woman who came to Joe’s studio asking for him to help with how her body looked in a certain way. Joe told her he couldn’t help her and sent her away. She returned the next day and asked in a completely different way and he accepted her as a client. 

What IS Pilates Good For?

By design, Pilates is about helping you move well in everything you do. That means it helps with:

Strength. Pilates is known for its ability to improve core strength but you’ll also feel it in your arms, legs, abs, back, neck, glutes, hands, and feet. I often have clients tell me that they felt muscles that they’ve never felt before. The mat work will challenge you to execute bodyweight exercises while on the apparatus you have spring resistance; both help you to build up strength.

Balance. As they age, many people see a decline in their balance. Pilates has exercises that can help from the ground up by strengthening and improving the mobility of the feet, legs, hips, glutes, and core – all of which help with balance. You will also become more aware of your posture and learn to engage all the muscles that help stabilize you. 

Symmetry. We all have imbalances in strength and can be tighter on one side of the body compared to the other. By just lying down on the reformer or a Pilates mat your instructor can quickly see if you are off-center. Maybe your head is off to one side, or your feet or hips. As you get used to and aware of how you are positioned, you’ll start to self-correct. This can help you to even out your imbalances.

Improved Posture. With a constant focus on creating length through the body, with the addition of strengthening the back and opening up the chest, Pilates will help improve your posture. In turn, this can even help you to breathe better! 

Better Control. The more Pilates you do (and with the help of a skilled instructor), the more control you will start to find in each exercise. As this happens, the “easier” exercises will become harder. Then, as you gain more strength and control, you can start tackling more of the advanced exercises. 

Pilates is a Lot of Things

In Pilates, each exercise has a component of strength, stretch, and mobility. All of this helps you to feel good! As you get more comfortable with the full system of Pilates and can move through the workouts with more flow, you will definitely notice changes in your body, whether or not it’s in weight loss.