How Pilates Can Help Your Weight Loss

Ah, weight loss. How many of us struggle with this seemingly simple thing! For those who struggle, it's not simple at all. If you're going to undertake a new exercise, it's natural to want to know whether or not that exercise will help you lose weight. Pilates can help with weight loss, especially if it customized to your weight-loss needs. Here are some ways how.

Cross Train

Experts recommend doing Pilates along with another kind of exercise, such as running, brisk walking, swimming, bicycling, and so forth. You don't do them at the same time, but it's a good idea to do a more cardio-intensive exercise in addition to Pilates. The Pilates can help tone the muscles as you lose fat, and it can also boost your metabolism. So the two types of exercises may work together to help you lose weight.

Use Weights

Adding weights to your Pilates workout can help boost the number of calories you burn. The sort of weights that you can strap on to your hands or ankles work best, according to practitioners.

Speed It Up

Pilates tends to be very slow and deliberate. This is intentional, of course; but for weight loss, you might want to speed things up a bit. Try a Pilates workout that you are familiar with, and do it both quickly and slowly so that you get all the benefits.

Body Alignment

It could be argued that an aligned body is a more efficient body. When your core muscles are engaged throughout the day, and you are careful to balance and maintain posture at all times, it may burn more calories than if you were sitting slumped all the time. Some natural health practitioners contend that the body just burns calories more efficiently when its skeletal and muscle systems are in line.

Frequency

As simple as it sounds, it may not have occurred to you that you can simply to do Pilates more often! Instead of a few times a week, try to work it in daily. If you already do Pilates daily, add in another exercise as suggested above. And finally, you can also do Pilates more than once a day. In fact, some health experts think that short, frequent exercise throughout the day can boost metabolism and enhance weight loss.

The same principle applies to length of workouts. In other words, you can also do our Pilates workouts for longer.

Strong Muscles, Less Fat

Pilates is supposed to strengthen core muscles, and health experts agree that the more muscle you have, the more fat you'll burn. Toning and stretching muscles may help burn fat during and between workouts. After all, as Pilates teaches you to become more aware of your body, you may find yourself using those key muscles often throughout the day. This should boost fat burning.

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