Can I lose weight with ballet?
**Updated 6/20/14**
I received a comment on my original Losing Weight With Ballet post asking to go into more detail on the idea that ballet can equal weight loss, and I'm happy to oblige!
There are posts all over the internet saying that it's not possible to lose weight with ballet. That it isn't a strenuous workout that will actually provoke fat loss. Professional ballerinas even, touting that the new ballet barre workout craze is all a sham.
To those who are saying this, I'd like to respectfully call shenanigans.
Every person is different, and I do agree that what works for one person won't always work for the next. I can personally attest that over the course of 10 months, dancing ballet and lyrical 3 hours a week completely transformed my body. I lost 30 lbs, and my shape completely changed. I gained strength, my posture improved, my energy levels increased, and my back pain decreased (aside from when I had that bulging disc 2 weeks before the recital....) dramatically.
Do I still have fat? Yes. I was 50-60lbs overweight (maybe more?) when I started, and I have a ways to go before I hit my ideal weight. I'm not a stick figure despite strong stick figure genetics, and I don't know that I will be anytime soon. I lost 20 lbs with ballet without changing my eating habits (read: I ate a lot of fast food. Bad.) at all in about 7 months. I dropped another 10 easily when I slightly modified my eating habits to cut out most of the fast food.
Let's do a visual to show you what I really looked like when I started. To me, I look gross. I was ashamed of myself but stuck in a cycle of self loathing. As I broke into my 20's I was going through a weird time in my life with a tremendous amount of tragedy to bear on my shoulders. I ate my way through my sadness, and this was the result:
When these photos were taken, I was the heaviest I'd ever been. I was heavier here than I was when I was 9 months pregnant!!!
This is after 7 months of weekly ballet classes. For the first 4 months of that time I was taking 2.5 hours of classes a week. When the second semester began, I added lyrical, which was another hour of class. I'm not yet anywhere near where I'd like to be, tights and leotards are pretty smoothing, but I'm well on my way to being in the best shape of my life. When I say that I don't mean thin primarily, but fit. I haven't been this fit since high school-- my muscles are much stronger, I just need to continue working to eliminate the remaining layer of chub.
Here is a side by side comparison. Unfortunately the angles in the pics are different, but you get the idea. These pictures are 7 months and 1 day apart!
Updated 3/3/14 with additional photo from December 2013. Apparently I have a penchant for cutting off the top of my head in pics.
So let's go over the question again. Can you lose weight with ballet? YES!
Here is what self.com says for a 150lb dancer doing a 90 minute ballet class:
There are some things to take into consideration that I'd like to explain for a moment. When I take class, I do everything in my power to perfectly execute the movements I'm assigned. Perfect isn't a term I'd use to describe how I dance, but that's what I aim for. If I'm asked to take a step, the movement starts at my core and travels along my whole leg and through my toe in one fluid movement. Or so I hope. You have to ooze from every muscle and push harder than you think you can go.
In ballet you are asked to stretch, lengthen, balance, extend and lift. You use your body as it's own set of weights. You are asked to do highly unnatural movements while also mastering precision, balance, control, and strength. Sometimes you practice slow controlled movements, and other times you are quickly moving about the stage in an upbeat but also controlled manner. It's hard, but there are ways you can progress quickly if you learn how to control each limb independently. That's one of the hardest things for someone to pick up if they've never had to do it before.
Usually by the time we are 10 minutes into the barre warmup, I'm sweating bullets-- Yes, even today! Ballet truly is what I'd consider the ultimate mixture of cardio as well as strength. Ballet forces you to push yourself past limits you didn't think were possible! I had no idea I'd have my 90* arabesque within the first year back, or a surprisingly decent attitude turn. I progressed quickly on flat, and once I had decent shoes, very quickly en pointe.
Here's where I think newbies get discouraged with ballet and barre classes. For the first few months of class, I didn't actually lose many lbs and that frustrated me. I was always very sore and got really sweaty, but the scale hovered within the same 5lb range. The reason was because I was building muscle rapidly, so all of the fat loss that I thought was happening was counteracted by the muscle gain. 5lbs of muscle and 5lbs of fat look vastly different. Check this out:
Ballet for me is so much more than a weight loss regimen, so I tossed the scale in the back of the closet and stopped worrying about it.
It was a few weeks later that I noticed my pants were really baggy. I had to tighten my belt to the smallest notch. People started asking if I was shrinking and telling me that my face had really thinned out. I had to buy new pants because mine were huge. Ballet builds long, and tough lean muscle. My calves and arms have much more definition. My chest and neck are thinner and more toned. All of those plies are great for the rear end, let me tell you! I have less cellulite because my glutes are toned and lifted. Haha.
I believe in the end, if you want to lose weight you need to find the thing that keeps you off of the couch. I've said it before, and it still rings true to me. Ballet is something highly emotionally and physically satisfying. It is cardio and strength and an outlet for creativity and emotion. Ballet is the thing that keeps me off of the couch, while also conveniently has made me lose a lot of weight and significantly tone up. The key is throwing your all into whatever it is you are trying. When I stopped stressing over the scale and started focusing on how much I enjoyed dance, the pounds melted off.
So, what keeps you off of the couch?
Happy Dancing
I received a comment on my original Losing Weight With Ballet post asking to go into more detail on the idea that ballet can equal weight loss, and I'm happy to oblige!
There are posts all over the internet saying that it's not possible to lose weight with ballet. That it isn't a strenuous workout that will actually provoke fat loss. Professional ballerinas even, touting that the new ballet barre workout craze is all a sham.
To those who are saying this, I'd like to respectfully call shenanigans.
My Experiences
Every person is different, and I do agree that what works for one person won't always work for the next. I can personally attest that over the course of 10 months, dancing ballet and lyrical 3 hours a week completely transformed my body. I lost 30 lbs, and my shape completely changed. I gained strength, my posture improved, my energy levels increased, and my back pain decreased (aside from when I had that bulging disc 2 weeks before the recital....) dramatically.
Do I still have fat? Yes. I was 50-60lbs overweight (maybe more?) when I started, and I have a ways to go before I hit my ideal weight. I'm not a stick figure despite strong stick figure genetics, and I don't know that I will be anytime soon. I lost 20 lbs with ballet without changing my eating habits (read: I ate a lot of fast food. Bad.) at all in about 7 months. I dropped another 10 easily when I slightly modified my eating habits to cut out most of the fast food.
Let's do a visual to show you what I really looked like when I started. To me, I look gross. I was ashamed of myself but stuck in a cycle of self loathing. As I broke into my 20's I was going through a weird time in my life with a tremendous amount of tragedy to bear on my shoulders. I ate my way through my sadness, and this was the result:
This is after 7 months of weekly ballet classes. For the first 4 months of that time I was taking 2.5 hours of classes a week. When the second semester began, I added lyrical, which was another hour of class. I'm not yet anywhere near where I'd like to be, tights and leotards are pretty smoothing, but I'm well on my way to being in the best shape of my life. When I say that I don't mean thin primarily, but fit. I haven't been this fit since high school-- my muscles are much stronger, I just need to continue working to eliminate the remaining layer of chub.
Here is a side by side comparison. Unfortunately the angles in the pics are different, but you get the idea. These pictures are 7 months and 1 day apart!
Updated 3/3/14 with additional photo from December 2013. Apparently I have a penchant for cutting off the top of my head in pics.
So let's go over the question again. Can you lose weight with ballet? YES!
So why are so many people saying attempting to lose weight with ballet is futile?
I don't have a rational answer to that question. Weight loss isn't rocket science. It truly doesn't require specific miracle weight loss food/pills/drops/shakes/smoothies/tea/detoxifiers or one certain type of exercise. The only weight loss rule is:Calories In < Calories Burned
It's that simple! Really! And ballet burns a lot of calories. Here's what healthstatus.com's online calculator says about a 90 minute ballet class for my weight (that I can't possibly disclose):
Here is what self.com says for a 150lb dancer doing a 90 minute ballet class:
- Dancing
- How many calories did you burn?
- You burn 514.37 calories during 90 minutes of Dancing!
There are some things to take into consideration that I'd like to explain for a moment. When I take class, I do everything in my power to perfectly execute the movements I'm assigned. Perfect isn't a term I'd use to describe how I dance, but that's what I aim for. If I'm asked to take a step, the movement starts at my core and travels along my whole leg and through my toe in one fluid movement. Or so I hope. You have to ooze from every muscle and push harder than you think you can go.
In ballet you are asked to stretch, lengthen, balance, extend and lift. You use your body as it's own set of weights. You are asked to do highly unnatural movements while also mastering precision, balance, control, and strength. Sometimes you practice slow controlled movements, and other times you are quickly moving about the stage in an upbeat but also controlled manner. It's hard, but there are ways you can progress quickly if you learn how to control each limb independently. That's one of the hardest things for someone to pick up if they've never had to do it before.
Usually by the time we are 10 minutes into the barre warmup, I'm sweating bullets-- Yes, even today! Ballet truly is what I'd consider the ultimate mixture of cardio as well as strength. Ballet forces you to push yourself past limits you didn't think were possible! I had no idea I'd have my 90* arabesque within the first year back, or a surprisingly decent attitude turn. I progressed quickly on flat, and once I had decent shoes, very quickly en pointe.
Here's where I think newbies get discouraged with ballet and barre classes. For the first few months of class, I didn't actually lose many lbs and that frustrated me. I was always very sore and got really sweaty, but the scale hovered within the same 5lb range. The reason was because I was building muscle rapidly, so all of the fat loss that I thought was happening was counteracted by the muscle gain. 5lbs of muscle and 5lbs of fat look vastly different. Check this out:
Ballet for me is so much more than a weight loss regimen, so I tossed the scale in the back of the closet and stopped worrying about it.
It was a few weeks later that I noticed my pants were really baggy. I had to tighten my belt to the smallest notch. People started asking if I was shrinking and telling me that my face had really thinned out. I had to buy new pants because mine were huge. Ballet builds long, and tough lean muscle. My calves and arms have much more definition. My chest and neck are thinner and more toned. All of those plies are great for the rear end, let me tell you! I have less cellulite because my glutes are toned and lifted. Haha.
I believe in the end, if you want to lose weight you need to find the thing that keeps you off of the couch. I've said it before, and it still rings true to me. Ballet is something highly emotionally and physically satisfying. It is cardio and strength and an outlet for creativity and emotion. Ballet is the thing that keeps me off of the couch, while also conveniently has made me lose a lot of weight and significantly tone up. The key is throwing your all into whatever it is you are trying. When I stopped stressing over the scale and started focusing on how much I enjoyed dance, the pounds melted off.
So, what keeps you off of the couch?
**Update 6/20/14**
As of June 20th, I've lost 47lbs with dance and minor changes to my eating habits. My shape has changed drastically.Happy Dancing
Wow - this is encouraging and amazing! Thank you for writing the follow up.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThanks a bunch for sharing this with all people you actually recognize what you are talking about Lose weight
Thank you very much for your candid write up. I was debating about ballet and this really helped me decide. I especially like the part where you said to wait past the first few months of not seeing the scale move. PS You would probably enjoy regular and static trapeze classes. :)
ReplyDeletewow significant changes in the body. thank information how many calories do i need to lose weight
ReplyDelete