Is Pilates good for weight loss? The question on everyone’s lips, and seriously the question we get asked ALL the time. We wish the answer could be simple! But because we live in a world of Diet Culture, where looks, body shape and thinness are deemed more important than physical, mind, and general health, it’s not.
After years and years of feeling a deep self hate towards our bodies, years of trying to lose weight, counting the calorie burn, obsessed with body composition, body fat percentage and trying to figure out the next effective weight loss method, we realised we had to make a change. Not a change with the newest fad weight loss method, but a change with our mindsets.
We had to let go of the thinness = beautiful mentality. We needed to focus on well-being and self acceptance instead of weight loss goals. We also wanted to do it all in a joyful manner, because for us, spending hours in a gym screams boring.
During those years of hating our bodies we were on the never ending goal to lose weight. Oh wow, did we try all the things to lose weight. And often they worked, but they didn’t last because the methods we used to lose weight were far too intense for everyday life. Too much restriction, with no joy and they ended up causing more damage than good anyway.
The ultimate question, is Pilates good for weight loss?
Alright now that we mentioned the diet culture stuff and reminded you that your beauty and worth are not related to your weight or what you look like. The truth is, Pilates is good for weight loss and building lean muscle mass, actually many different types of movement are good for weight loss! Movement is required for body and mind health, it’s also fun and will help you feel amazing and joyful. Movement is magic, just 5 minutes of Pilates will shift how you feel.
The thing we love about Pilates exercises is that they suit you through all life situations and goals. Especially good for women ages between 12 and 105, yes, all ages will experience amazing benefits from a Pilates workout and any gender too! Whether you’re wanting a full body workout to sculpt muscles or you’re working on improving your posture, practising Pilates will do all this and more!
Pilates was founded in the early 20th century by German born Joseph Pilates. The way we personally practise Pilates and what we teach inside our MerryBody Online Studio is rather different to the Classical Pilates style that Joseph created.
While Classical uses apparatus like the Pilates Reformer, we prefer to simplify it and use our Yoga mats. While the Classical type will usually be very slow, we like to speed it up and add some fire. So not only do we build muscle, we also get our cardio exercises ticked off in one efficient workout!
Our recommendation for using Pilates for weight loss
What we’d recommend is to give all the varieties of Pilates classes a try and see what works for you!
And if you are wanting to lose weight, our recommendation is to absolutely include Pilates in your weekly schedule.
If you were a MerryBody Member, we’d suggest doing our Pilates classes 3-6 times per week, choose the Challenge and Cardio filters within the app to fire up your practice! And then, add some fast paced walks, you could even add an additional strength training session which is especially good for bone density. Eat a diet filled with good food, lots of veggies and less processed food (keep it simple!). You can try one of our classes below!
We don’t follow a restrictive diet anymore, we eat pasta, we include sugary desserts… but not everyday.
In our eyes the most important thing is that you work towards weight loss with a mindset of self-acceptance. That you realise your weight loss won’t make you more beautiful, because you are already beautiful. Your weight loss won’t make you instantly healthy, because there is so much more to health than weight. Your weight loss alone won’t make you happier, because happiness goes so much deeper.
All this is easy to say, but to remember and truly believe it takes practise and this is why we created MerryBody Online Studio. It’s a movement practice of Yoga and Pilates with a focus on the mindset work of self-belief and self-acceptance.
Always merrymaking,
Emma + Carla
Ps. if you’d like to learn more about MerryBody Online Studio, really the best way is to try out our Yoga and Pilates classes! We have a FREE 5 day program where we’ll send you a 10 minute class every day over the 5 days. Simply, sign up here and we will send the first class direct to your inbox.
