does Pilates help with acheiving a smaller waist?

I have a Pilates video but before I start making it a habit, has anyone lost inches off their waist from practicing Pilates regularly? Or can genetics play a role of preventing the acheivment of a certain waist size? I jog or walk every day and have lost weight this past year. I'm classified as "underweight" on here so I don't want to lose any more weight, yet my waist is 27 inches :( . Also (this will sound dumb I know) I was watching a clip of something that said scientists did a study and found that a certain celebrity was sexy because of her walk, due to her 24 inch waist and 36 inch hips. I find this a little depressing because my hips are less than 36 (about 33 or 34) so if I loose more weight, i won't have a chance of having nice hips like that, and it seems I may never be able to get a 24 inch waist :'( :'( :( i don't know why this is so sad to me.

actually i just measured again and my waist is 26 but I still don't see how i can lose 2 inches from my waist without losing more weight?

maybe it's just me, but a 26" waist seems small to me. What are yout stats?

I found pilates very good for stretching and flexability. I don't know if my waist got smaller, but i felt like it did. pilates for me made me feel better about myself, it made me feel longer and leaner. but that was just me.

When I did Pilates, I did it on a pretty regular basis and I was also on Weight Watchers at the time. My waist did shrink from the combination. Personally, I feel like you need both Pilates and a diet in order to achieve a smaller waist. The only issue is, I did lose weight which is something I know you're trying to avoid because you're already under weight. Maybe your best bet is to lose a little bit of weight by doing the combination and then lift weights or something so you can gain weight by increasing your muscle mass.

Pilates is great at strengthening and toning your core muscles and abs, so it couldn't hurt.
I wouldn't worry about what people say makes celebrities sexy.  A 26" waist is small and so are 33 inch hips!  If you want a 24" waist, wear a corset!  ;)  I've ready wacky things about women who have had ribs removed because they couldn't make their waists any smaller.  When we stop comparing ourselves to the ridiculous (and mostly fake) standards set by the media, we'll have much happier women.
Good luck!  :)

Ecka, I have the same measurements as you do. My hips are 31-32 inches and my waist is 26 inch on a good day, 27 inches at certain times of the month or after a heavy bloaty meal. That waist measurement is taken at the belly button though - so it's not really the smallest part of my waist. The smallest part is freakishly high, just under my ribs, nowhere near where you'd wear your pants!! That part is about 25 inches.

There was a time in my past when I do recall having a 24 inch waist, but that was in high school and before I had babies! Even when I was strength training religiously, and had 13% body fat, my waist never got back down to that. I think my body completely changed -permanently- after having babies. I'm really short so the babies had to go somewhere.

I think I saw the same show you saw. It was a PBS special? If so, the researchers made a point about how you can fake the so-called "ideal" ratio for example with fashions such as belts to accentuate the waist or skirts with fullness to give the illusion of wider hips. That's what I do myself. A-line skirts are great for this.

Also on What Not to Wear I've heard the advice that it doesn't matter if the tiniest part of your waist isn't at the  waist line - you should still play up this part. So if you re-measure and discover like me your smallest part is higher - under the ribs - then look for body-skimming tops that accentuate this part.

It's mostly genetics, although you can sometimes work around it (but it's a lifelong battle to retain it).  Find out your body fat percentage (not the BMI on this site; the actual body fat amount you have - you can get someone at the gym or a doctor to do this).  Then you'll know whether you can lose some fat and gain some muscle to try to redefine your body shape.

However, I wouldn't focus so much on this.  I have a 24 inch waist - but I would KILL for 36 inch hips!  Not sure I can get down to that, with my genetic makeup - but if I did, my upper body would look like a skeleton!  So ... sometimes it's better to love what you have than to pine for what you don't.

Of course, you can tone up everywhere, and that will make you feel better about your whole body and you'll know you've done the best you can with what you were handed.  I run 4 times a week, which is getting my entire lower body in much better shape, although I think it's physically impossible for me to have 33 inch hips like yours, ever, even if I had 0% body fat!

geez what celebrity was that?? I wonder how tall/short she is to have that size waist/hip ratio.  I'd gladly trade you my hips... blech.  I'd love 33/34" hips...

Pilates will tone your waist for sure.  But you gotta do cardio as well.  And, eat the right carbs.

Hi Waist Watchers.. har har..

I don't think you have anything to worry about with Pilates.  Bodyweight exercise is all high-reps, low weight, which is fine for building compact, slow-twitch muscle for endurance.  Great for strengthening abs w/o gaining mass.   Even if you see a subtle gain in muscle mass around your waistline, your corresponding loss of bodyfat should more than compensate.   A lot IS up to genetics.

If you want to see genetics at work, have a peek at a female bodybuilding or fitness pro competition line-up.  All the women have less than 12% bodyfat (ew!  Facial striation!) -- they look like living anatomical reference charts!  .. anyway, so you see their true waistlines w/o any fat obscuring them, and wow, what variation!  Some can strip down to nothing and end up with a very tree-trunk kind of sillhouette, while others are quite curvacious! (of course, I'm not talking about surgically enhanced boobage here, just hips and waists).

Now this is hard for me to admit b/c I'm preaching the miracles of strength training like a broken record on this forum, but since I started hardcore weights, my waist has definitely got more mass on the sides -- transverse abdominis, if you will... and that makes my waist a little teensy bit wider... I've got broad shoulders and hips about 10 inches wider than my waist, so I still have curves, but you shoulda heard me complaining at first!!!!  GRR!! But since then I've lost lots of body fat, I'm actually working on a subtle little 4-pack, so I guess I should be happy.  Bear in mind I do very heavy, weighted, low-reps up to 6 days a week, which is a recipe for body building (don't ask.. I just love iron!).. if you do the high-reps/low weight stuff you won't build mass.

I have heard that fitness competitors (who obsess over these things) give lots of advice to maintain your waistline despite getting seriously strong, chiseled abs -- such as -- don't work the sides (transverse abdominis) too much, and don't do weighted ab work. 

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/absbig.jpg

Oh! and having larger shoulders/back, etc. creates the illusion of a smaller waist!

:oD

 Tar

Thanks for all the good infomration! The celeb they were talking about was Jessica Alba. I measured again and my waist is 33.5 or 34. I wonder if JEssica Alba does palates haha. Either way, it seems to be a great toning exercise and a good addition to cardio. :)

Hi again!  Ecka, you may never have a 24 inch waist, if you're already low BMI, but with proportions like 27 waist and 33 inch hips, sounds like you're a real lean, streamlined machine! 

If you work for good definition in your abs and build up a nice set of glutes, legs, and shoulders, you'll look curvier -- (I think I already said that somewhere..sorry if I'm repeating!) 

You may be very lean already, but it is possible to have a very low weight and still have a high body fat composition, some of which may be around areas like your waistline... Increasing your lean muscle mass  may give you results like a slimmer waist.

Pilates can help define your waistline by burning calories and strengthening your core, for sure.    But don't fall victim to the cruel myth of spot reducing . Creating a calorie deficit is the only thing that helps you lose weight from your whole body, but only our genetics determine the order in which our bodyparts slim down. 

Good luck!

:o)
Tara