Exercise for Weight Loss Measuring How Many Calories Pilates Burns By Marguerite Ogle linkedin Marguerite Ogle is a freelance writer and experienced natural wellness and life coach, who has been teaching Pilates for more than 35 years. Learn about our editorial process Marguerite Ogle Fact checked by Fact checked by Andrea Rice on May 24, 2020 facebook twitter linkedin Andrea Rice is an award-winning journalist and a freelance writer, editor, and fact checker specializing in health and wellness. Learn about our editorial process Andrea Rice Updated on May 24, 2020 Print Kristian Sekulic / Vetta / Getty Images Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Calorie Basics Calculators Calories Burned Weight Loss Although calorie burning is not always the main reason people do Pilates, many of us, especially those interested in weight loss, would like to know exactly how many calories Pilates burns. Unfortunately, unless you workout in a lab, measuring the calories burned doing Pilates is a very imprecise science. In this article, we look at the factors that influence the measurement of calories burned in Pilates (and other activities) as well as some Pilates-specific variables. Calorie Basics A calorie is a unit of measure of energy or heat. When you eat food that contains a certain number of calories, it means that food has the potential to release many units of energy or heat when burned. Your body converts calories from food and stored nutrition, mainly fat, into energy by way of thermal metabolic processes that release heat, thus the term "burning calories." It takes a certain number of calories for your body to stay alive and function normally. That is your basal metabolic rate (BMR). The more you exert yourself in an activity, the more your metabolic rate increases and the more calories you burn. Your basal metabolic rate is unique. It is influenced by your age, sex, weight, and body composition (fat to muscle ratio, for example). The amount your metabolism will increase with exertion beyond your basal metabolic rate is also influenced by those factors as well as the intensity and duration of the workout. Pilates and Calorie Calculators You can see already that the number of variables involved in measuring the exact calories burned in a Pilates workout is considerable. When you add to that the wide differences in workout intensity available in Pilates, as well as the huge differences in intensity related to whether or not a workout includes Pilates equipment or not, and then which equipment and at what resistance level, it is clearly impossible to identify a specific number of calories burned that would be applicable to everyone. However, you can estimate your calories burned using our calculator. The following are average measures of doing mat Pilates for one hour at a beginner level by weight: 171 calories per hour for a 120-pound person 186 calories per hour for a 130-pound person 200 calories per hour for a 150-pound person 257 calories per hour for a 180-pound person Calorie burn numbers will be higher than those cited for a person doing an intermediate or advanced Pilates workout. Keep in mind that most online calorie calculators only ask for your weight and duration of exercise. They do not tell you what population their baseline is taken from (such as sex, weight, level of fitness, etc.), nor do they specify what level and kind of Pilates is being performed such mat exercises versus equipment exercises or beginner versus advanced. So, these numbers must be regarded as extremely general. Also, if you are "guesstimating," keep in mind that men typically burn more calories than women doing the same activity. Additionally, people in better shape tend to have a higher BMR but burn fewer calories a lower percentage of additional calories under exertion. Calories Burned and Your Body To get a somewhat more accurate Pilates calorie burn number, you would need to turn to measures based on your own body. The primary way to do this is to use a heart rate monitor. Because the body requires oxygen to burn calories and the heart pumps oxygen through the body, there is a relationship between how hard the heart is working and your body's demand for oxygen to burn calories with. Some heart rate monitors come with projections of calories burned based on your BMR and an average of the heart rate you have during your exertion period. Very good ones will have inputs for other personal data such as weight and sex as well. You can also find heart rate-based calorie burn calculators online. As technology improves, activity monitors will be able to more accurately predict calorie burn during Pilates exercises—but they are not yet developed to monitor activity in multiple planes of movement. Given the array of variables involved in trying to pinpoint calories burned in Pilates, a more practical solution is to pay attention to your own exertion level. Greater exertion means burning more calories, and it is the variable you have the most control over. You can track your exertion level with a heart rate monitor. Or, you can simply use the perceived rate of exertion scale. The scale uses a subjective experience of breathing rate, fatigue, and sweat measured on a scale from 6 (no exertion) to 20 (the most exertion possible) to help you gauge your exertion rate. Burning Calories for Weight Loss If your interest in the calories burned in Pilates is because you want to lose weight, keep in mind that you have to burn 3500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. Most people achieve that over time by reducing the number of calories they take in and increasing the number of calories they burn with exercise. As for Pilates and calorie burning, as a form of moderate strength training, Pilates definitely has an important role in a weight loss program and it will help you burn calories. In fact, resistance exercise like Pilates equipment exercise has been shown to keep the metabolic rate elevated longer after a workout than aerobic exercise. However, the benefits of Pilates far exceed calorie burning. Pilates is not a cardio activity—such as jogging or elliptical training—that is primarily done for aerobic and calorie-burning effect, but rather, Pilates is ideal for lengthening and strengthening the muscles as well as aligning the spine to improve posture. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Looking to lose weight? Our nutrition guide can help you get on the right track. Sign up for our newsletter and get it free! Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Cleveland Clinic. Fat and Calories. Updated April 25, 2019. Sabounchi NS, Rahmandad H, Ammerman A. Best-fitting prediction equations for basal metabolic rate: Informing obesity interventions in diverse populations. Int J Obes (Lond). 2013;37(10):1364-1370. doi:10.1038/ijo.2012.218 Li SSW, Chan OHT, Ng TY, et al. Gender differences in energy expenditure during walking with backpack and double-pack loads. Hum Factors. 2018;18720818799190. doi:10.1177/0018720818799190 Shook RP, Hand GA, Paluch AE, et al. Moderate cardiorespiratory fitness is positively associated with resting metabolic rate in young adults. Mayo Clin Proc. 2014;89(6):763-71. doi:10.1016/j.mayocp.2013.12.017 Williams N. The Borg Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. Occup Med. 2017;67(5):404-405. doi:10.1093/occmed/kqx063 Aristizabal J, Freidenreich D, Volk B, et al. Effect of resistance training on resting metabolic rate and its estimation by a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry metabolic map. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2015;69:831–836. doi:10.1038/ejcn.2014.216 Additional Reading Harvard Health Publishing. Does Metabolism Matter in Weight Loss?. July 2015.