This is such a complex question. The simple answer is no, but it’s a little bit more complicated than that. I like to think of Pilates as a gateway drug to an overall better way of life. It starts an interest in health and wellness that snowballs into making better decisions across the board. These include diet and other forms of exercise that in the end will lead to weight loss that people will track it back to Pilates because that’s where it all began
The best way to think about it is this, you start doing Pilates, and some aches and pains that you might have had in your body start to go away. Maybe you’re inclined to park a little bit further in the parking lot and walk a little bit more each day. That might then turn into adding a 15- or 20-minute walk to your day. That makes you feel so good that you decide instead of having the breadbasket at dinner you’re going to have a salad. All these small changes over time add up to weight loss that many of my clients’ attribute to Pilates. But Pilates is where it all began if that makes sense.
For some people this might happen quickly for others it may be a journey that takes a couple of years but it’s amazing to see it happen and it does happen with virtually everyone who begins and sticks with Pilates. I personally went from a non-exerciser, and junk food eater to someone who exercises almost daily and eats clean, whole mostly non-processed food. People think I live the healthiest of lifestyles, but it wasn’t always so. Pilates was my catalyst for change, and it happened over several years and continues to happen all the time.
It manifests for our clients with an interest in what their instructors are eating or drinking or asking a question after class about some better choices that could be made to help jumpstart a goal. Slowly but surely people start to evolve into a healthier lifestyle
Joe Pilates was a work hard-play hard kind of guy from what we have read. He liked his cigars; he liked his alcohol, but he also loved the outdoors and being physically fit. I think that this approach to health and wellness is a smart and balanced one because it is not depriving. When you try to take things to the extreme that results are not sustainable.
That said, I do think in our current climate there may be a bit of an over reliance on food or drink as a balm to numb our feelings to some of the chaos that we’ve had in the world around us. We would be better served by easing up on that and feeling the feelings. There are more appropriate outlets for the stress or anxiety that we might be feeling at any given point in time. It goes without saying that Pilates and all forms of exercise are one of the best outlets that you can find
Here are some of our go-to snacks in the studio to fuel us and keep us from starving during a shift:
