Does Pilates Help You Lose Weight? The Honest Answer

By Katherine, Lead Instructor, Certified Pilates Instructor

Pilates can contribute to weight loss, but only modestly, and it is not an efficient weight-loss method on its own. A 2021 meta-analysis of 11 trials in adults with overweight or obesity found small average reductions in body weight (about 2.4 kg), BMI and body fat percentage. Weight change mainly depends on energy balance, so food intake and your overall activity matter more than any single workout.

Key takeaways

• In adults with overweight or obesity, a meta-analysis of 11 trials (393 people) found Pilates was linked to an average loss of about 2.4 kg and lower body fat percentage, but no clear change in waist circumference or lean mass (Wang et al., 2021).

• A Pilates class burns a modest number of calories. The Compendium of Physical Activities rates traditional mat Pilates at 1.8 METs and general Pilates at 2.8 METs (Compendium of Physical Activities).

• You cannot spot-reduce belly fat. A meta-analysis of 13 controlled studies found no effect of training one area on fat in that area (Ramirez-Campillo et al., 2022).

• Pilates works best as one part of a plan that includes nutrition, aerobic activity and strength work, and progress is better judged by how you move and feel than by the scale alone.

What does the research say about Pilates and weight loss?

The clearest summary of the evidence is a 2021 meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials involving 393 adults with overweight or obesity. Pilates was linked to reductions in body weight (an average of 2.4 kg, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.8 to 4.0 kg), BMI and body fat percentage, and the drop in body weight was larger in programs that ran longer than 10 weeks (Wang et al., 2021).

There are real limits. The same analysis found no significant change in waist circumference or lean body mass, results varied a lot between trials, and the authors say larger, better-designed trials are needed. The findings apply to adults with overweight or obesity, so they cannot tell us whether a person already at a healthy weight would lose any. Our pillar guide to what the research shows on the benefits of Pilates puts this in context alongside the other outcomes studied.

The honest summary: Pilates can be a useful part of a weight-management routine, particularly if you enjoy it enough to keep doing it. It is not a shortcut, and the studies here do not show that it works better for weight loss than other exercise.

How many calories does Pilates burn?

Less than most people hope, and it varies from person to person. The Compendium of Physical Activities, a standard reference list of activity energy costs, lists: "Pilates, traditional, mat" at 1.8 METs and "Pilates, general" at 2.8 METs (Compendium of Physical Activities). A MET (metabolic equivalent) is the ratio of the energy you use during an activity to your resting energy use, and one MET is defined as 1 kcal per kilogram of body weight per hour (Compendium of Physical Activities). A 2026 review of measured sessions found a higher average of about 3.7 METs (3.0 in its more conservative analysis), still at the light-to-moderate boundary, so the practical advice below is unchanged (Vitor et al., 2026).

That makes a rough estimate possible. As an example only, for a person weighing 70 kg, a 55-minute session works out to roughly 115 kcal at 1.8 METs and roughly 180 kcal at 2.8 METs (MET value x kilograms x hours). Three things to keep in mind:

• These totals include the energy you would have used sitting quietly anyway, so the extra from the class itself is lower.

• The values are averages for an activity, not a measurement of you. Body size, effort and pace all change the real number.

• The Compendium's two Pilates entries are "traditional, mat" and "general", so there is no separate reformer figure to quote.

Even at the higher estimate, one class is a small slice of a day's energy use. That is not a reason to skip it, but it is a reason not to count on Pilates alone.

Can Pilates give you a flat stomach?

Not by targeting the stomach. The idea that working the abdominals burns the fat over them is called spot reduction, and research does not support it. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 13 controlled studies (1,158 participants) found that training a specific muscle had no effect on fat stored in that area, and the authors suggest the belief probably stems from wishful thinking and marketing rather than evidence (Ramirez-Campillo et al., 2022).

Fat is lost across the body according to overall energy balance, not from the area you exercise. What core-focused Pilates can do is build strength and control in your trunk and improve how you hold yourself, which can change how your midsection looks and feels without changing the fat on top of it. Likewise, "toning" is not a separate process: visible muscle definition comes from muscle strength together with lower body fat, as with any resistance exercise.

Body composition versus the scale

The number on the scale lumps together fat, muscle, bone, water and everything you ate that day. Your weight can stay flat while your body fat percentage drops and your strength rises.

That distinction matters for Pilates. In the meta-analysis above, body fat percentage fell, but lean mass did not clearly change (Wang et al., 2021), so Pilates should not be sold as a muscle-building shortcut either. The Canadian adult obesity guideline makes a related point: weight loss should not be the only measure by which the success of physical activity is judged, because regular activity can improve blood sugar, blood pressure and blood fats such as cholesterol with or without weight loss, and aerobic activity can reduce visceral fat (the fat stored deep in the abdomen around the organs) and liver fat even when body weight does not change (Obesity Canada, 2020).

More useful signs of progress include how you move through daily tasks, how your clothes fit, how hard a given exercise feels and how consistently you show up. Our post on how long Pilates results take to show covers realistic timelines for these changes.

What actually moves body weight?

Energy balance does: over time, weight depends on the energy you take in from food and drink compared with the energy you use. Exercise is one side of that equation, and the research suggests that on its own it produces only small changes.

A Cochrane review of 43 trials (3,476 people with overweight or obesity) found that exercise alone produced small weight losses compared with no treatment, and that adding exercise to a diet produced about 1.0 kg more loss than the diet alone. It also found improved blood pressure, triglycerides and fasting glucose even when no weight was lost (Shaw et al., 2006). It is an older review, but it matches current Canadian guidance: aerobic activity can produce small amounts of weight and fat loss and helps people keep weight off after losing it (Obesity Canada, 2020).

In practical terms, that points to a combination:

• Nutrition. Food intake is the other side of the energy balance equation. If weight loss is a goal, a family doctor or registered dietitian can give individual guidance that this article cannot.

• Aerobic activity. Canada's 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for adults 18 to 64 recommend at least 150 minutes per week of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity (CSEP). Given the MET values above, most Pilates sessions are unlikely to cover this on their own, so walking, cycling, swimming or similar activity can fill the gap.

• Strength work. The same guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activities at least twice a week, and the Canadian obesity guideline notes that resistance training may help maintain weight and modestly increase fat-free mass in people with overweight or obesity (Obesity Canada, 2020). We compare the two approaches in Pilates versus strength training.

Is reformer better than mat for weight loss?

There is no clear evidence-based winner. One 8-week trial of 58 sedentary middle-aged women (split between mat, reformer and control groups) found that both formats improved body composition: the reformer group had the largest drops in BMI and body fat mass, and the mat group the largest drop in waist-hip ratio (Bastik and Cicioglu, 2020). That is one small trial, and it does not settle the question. The format you will actually attend consistently is the better choice. Our guide to reformer versus mat Pilates covers the practical differences.

What about weight changes around menopause?

Many women notice their body changing in midlife. A review of the research found that most weight gain in midlife tracks chronological aging rather than menopause itself, while shifts in body composition, including more fat stored in the abdomen, appear to be linked to the hormonal changes of the transition (Karvonen-Gutierrez and Kim, 2016). The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada reports that women gain an average of about 2 kg (4.5 pounds) during perimenopause, and says a healthy diet and regular exercise can help limit fat building up around the midsection (SOGC, Menopause and U).

That is a good reason to combine strength work, regular aerobic activity and sensible nutrition. For more on what Pilates can and cannot do at this stage, see our post on Pilates for perimenopause and menopause.

How to use Pilates in a weight-loss plan

If weight or body composition is a goal, these are realistic ways to include Pilates:

• Pair it with regular aerobic activity and a nutrition plan you can sustain.

• Choose a pace you can keep up for months, because the larger weight change in the trials came from longer programs.

• Add progressive strength work, either through springs and heavier loads in your sessions or separate resistance training.

• Track more than the scale: strength, energy, how clothes fit and how you feel.

• If you have a medical condition, take medication that affects weight, or find that food or exercise feels stressful, speak with your family doctor before setting a weight goal.

At Align & Flow, our focus is posture, core and moving well, and we would rather tell you plainly what Pilates can do than promise a number. We adapt exercises to you, and we work alongside your health care provider when you have health considerations.

Building a routine with us in Markham

If you want structure while you build a more active routine, our Small Group Pilates Class (reformer, maximum 3 people, 55 minutes, drop-ins welcome) is a good way to start practising regularly in our Markham studio. Book online to choose a class.

Frequently asked questions

Will Pilates tone my body without losing weight?

Pilates can improve strength, control and posture, and those changes can alter how your body looks and feels even if the scale does not move. In the research on adults with overweight or obesity, body fat percentage fell but lean mass did not clearly change (Wang et al., 2021), so expect gradual changes rather than dramatic ones.

Is Pilates enough on its own if I want to lose weight?

For most people, no. Exercise on its own tends to produce small weight changes, and in trials, adding exercise to a diet led to only about 1 kg more weight loss than the diet alone (Shaw et al., 2006). Pilates fits well alongside aerobic activity and strength work.

Does Pilates help with a "belly pooch"?

Not by itself. You cannot choose where fat comes off, but building trunk strength and improving posture can change how your midsection looks and feels. If you recently had a baby, our post on diastasis recti and Pilates covers abdominal separation specifically.

Sources

1. Wang Y, Chen Z, Wu Z, Ye X, Xu X (2021). Pilates for Overweight or Obesity: A Meta-Analysis. Frontiers in Physiology. 12:643455. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33776797/

2. Ramirez-Campillo R, Andrade DC, Clemente FM, Afonso J, Pérez-Castilla A, Gentil P (2022). A proposed model to test the hypothesis of exercise-induced localized fat reduction (spot reduction), including a systematic review with meta-analysis. Human Movement. 23(3):1-14. https://doi.org/10.5114/hm.2022.110373

3. Compendium of Physical Activities (2024). Conditioning exercise (entries 02103 and 02105). https://pacompendium.com/conditioning-exercise

4. Compendium of Physical Activities (2024). Definition of a MET. https://pacompendium.com/

5. Shaw KA, Gennat HC, O'Rourke P, Del Mar C (2006). Exercise for overweight or obesity. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Issue 4, CD003817. https://www.cochrane.org/evidence/CD003817_exercise-overweight-or-obesity

6. Obesity Canada (2020). Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guideline: Physical Activity in Obesity Management. https://obesitycanada.ca/guidelines/physicalactivity/

7. Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (2020). Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults 18-64 Years. https://csepguidelines.ca/adults-18-64/

8. Karvonen-Gutierrez C, Kim C (2016). Association of Mid-Life Changes in Body Size, Body Composition and Obesity Status with the Menopausal Transition. Healthcare (Basel). 4(3):42. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5041043/

9. Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (n.d.). Weight management. Menopause and U. https://menopauseandu.ca/am-i-in-menopause/lifestyle-changes/weight-management

10. Bastik C, Cicioglu HI (2020). Comparison of the effect of the mat and reformer pilates exercises on the waist-hips ratio and body compositions of the middle-aged sedentary women. Progress in Nutrition. 22(1-S):50-57. https://www.mattioli1885journals.com/index.php/progressinnutrition/article/view/9784

11. Vitor GBB, de Oliveira LC, Pessôa RAG, Aguiar AF, de Oliveira RG (2026). Metabolic intensity and energy cost of Pilates exercises: an exploratory systematic review and meta-analysis of limited and heterogeneous evidence. Systematic Reviews. 15(1):42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-025-03056-y