How much actual muscle gain is possible to get from pilates/yoga?
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Pilates was actually developed to keep dancers small and lean from my understanding. You won't gain much but you will increase strength and flexibility, of course. If it meets with your goals and you are able to do it as a lifestyle for the long term then that's probably the best thing you can do and then you'll just have to realize that you aren't going to gain much muscle from it.2
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MarianMarMoi wrote: »ForecasterJason wrote: »
I'm wondering why she would need more than 0.8 grams per lb of LBM? Given that she's not eating in a deficit or planning on doing intense strength training, I don't see why she would need more. At her size, that would equate to around 75 grams assuming she has around 90 lbs of LBM.MarianMarMoi wrote: »MarianMarMoi wrote: »You will get stronger - My question is - Why don't you want to lift weights? - Eastcoast Jim
The main reason as to why I don't want to lift weights is that it's not something I want to do for the rest of my life. I'm incorporating things into my lifestyle as a part of a permanent change, and lifting weights is just not something I enjoy.MarianMarMoi wrote: »Hello! I am not very knowledgeable about these sort of things, so I thought i could ask here
I am a quite weak person, slightly underweight (168 cm/5'6" and 51 kg/112.4 lbs) and up until quite recently I didn't eat that well. I've gotten a hang of eating better now and I feel comfortable moving on to the next step which is yoga and pilates. They are both something I've wanted to do for years (yes, I am a slowpoke with starting things) and I'm now intending to do at least 30 min every day of one or the other.
Can I expect any muscle gain from those two alone? I know that most people would start lifting weights when they want muscle gain, but for someone like me, would it make a difference do only do yoga and pilates? I'm not talking immediate changes, but after a year of doing them, would there be a gain?
I'm not expecting any fast changes, but it would be nice to gain a few kg. Also, would 50-60g of protein per day be enough for me when I only do things like pilates/yoga?
I think my end goal would be to weight at least 4 kg more than now, Is that too much to hope for?
Yoga and pilates will be good for flexibility but not for muscle gains. And 50 to 60g is about half of what you actually want. You will want around 100 to 120g if you are working to build muscle and more specifically a lifting program based on progressive overload.
Then I guess I will end up very flexible instead! Jokes aside, I do hope I get a bit stronger from it in the way justlog described above. I know their focus isn't on muscle gain, but looking at myself now I feel that any type of activity would do something. I will not get muscle definition from it, that's not my goal either, but I really do hope they give something.
You will gain a bit more endurance, but if you are going to gain some weight, it's going to be almost all fat.
The bigger thing is, it doesn't have to be one exercise or another. YOu can incorporate pilates/yoga, cardio and strength training if you have the time. Only limiting your workouts to one type is one going to give you limited results.
So i guess the bigger question is, what are you really looking for, and then you can design a plan to help you achieve that.
My goals... I guess I want to be stronger and feel less frail. I want my posture to be better and it would be fun if I could touch the floor with my hands without bending my knees.
The biggest reason why I want to start with yoga and pilates is the mental aspect. They've always seemed like my kind of thing, a way to relax and feel good in my body and mind, silly as it might sound.
I don't want to do things I don't enjoy. I feel no need to be very strong and have muscles showing, I will not start lifting weights and I will not double my protein, so if that is what I would have to do to experience some muscle gain, I guess I will have to live with what I got.
So protein is very important even to help with strength, recovery and metabolism. Even if you don't double, you should probably get closer to 100g to benefit you improvements that you want from yoga/pilates. This doesn't mean you have to eat a ton of meat, but you should focus a bit more on protein based foods, including plant based sources.
If one wants to gain muscle 1.8 -2.8g/kg is recommended. That is around 90g+ of protein.
Being active and lean drives up protein requirements.
OP, being vegan doesnt change protein requirements. In fact, you can eat high protein as a vegan. Id look at increasing consumption of tofu and seitin or even replace some of you current sources. These sources have much higher levels of leucine with drive muscle protein synthesis.
If you dont want to increase protein or explore various other exercise routines, than you can only expect certain results. If you are fine with that, its ok.
And there are more ways to gain muscle than just plain lifting. Lifting is the most effective way but there is a variety of resistance based training protocols that allow for progressive overload.
I did not mean that being vegan means I can eat less protein. For sedentary individuals the recommended amount of protein is 0.8g/kg, which I guess is the lowest anyone should eat, for more active people it's 1.2g/kg and up, and at 60g I am close to 1.2g/kg, so I'm not seeing why my intake would be so bad. Eating more than I already do I feel would be hard to sustain.
Tofu is quite expensive around here, so when I buy it I typically use quite a small amount for one portion. It's less expensive to buy protein powder and take it once or twice a day tbh, but that would only get me up to ~70-80g per day, which still would be low according to your numbers.
There is substantial evidence to suggest higher levels of protein is beneficial... Not only during a deficit but also when you are active and/or trying to build muscle. Hitting the bare minimum to not have a deficiency shouldn't be your goal.
And while you wont lose strength, it may lead to recovery issues, depending on the intesity of your workouts. It will certain impede muscle gains and it wont maximize your ability to see strength gains.0 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »Tofu is quite expensive around here, so when I buy it I typically use quite a small amount for one portion. It's less expensive to buy protein powder and take it once or twice a day tbh, but that would only get me up to ~70-80g per day, which still would be low according to your numbers.
Maybe it's vegan heresy, but for protein, I generally find tofu to be pretty mediocre. If I need extra, I almost always opt for seitan -- just keep in mind that it has no tryptophan (the tryptophan in wheat is contained in the non-gluten parts).2 -
The OP is a little contradictory without realizing it, she wants to build muscles through yoga and with little protein. To build muscles, you need to hit heavy and continually add weight for progress and to give your muscles a reason to grow. With it, it needs to be combined with a high protein diet (the recommend minimum is 0.8 g of protein per pound of body weight). Now if you're vegan diet has that amount of protein and yoga gives you something heavy to lift (which I doubt), your wish will come true. Yoga does have benefits, but building strength and muscles overall is not something I've heard of and can be achieved unless yoga these days makes you lift heavy stuff. I would listen to psulemon if I were you, if not good luck with what you will be doing.
I sense you won't change anything that you are doing, if that is true, unfortunately the muscle gains you are looking for will be very limited, maybe even not noticable to the naked eye.4 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »Hello! I am not very knowledgeable about these sort of things, so I thought i could ask here
I am a quite weak person, slightly underweight (168 cm/5'6" and 51 kg/112.4 lbs) and up until quite recently I didn't eat that well. I've gotten a hang of eating better now and I feel comfortable moving on to the next step which is yoga and pilates. They are both something I've wanted to do for years (yes, I am a slowpoke with starting things) and I'm now intending to do at least 30 min every day of one or the other.
Can I expect any muscle gain from those two alone? I know that most people would start lifting weights when they want muscle gain, but for someone like me, would it make a difference do only do yoga and pilates? I'm not talking immediate changes, but after a year of doing them, would there be a gain?
I'm not expecting any fast changes, but it would be nice to gain a few kg. Also, would 50-60g of protein per day be enough for me when I only do things like pilates/yoga?
I think my end goal would be to weight at least 4 kg more than now, Is that too much to hope for?
I really should consider doing yoga and pilates too, my flexibility especially in my hips is awful and those would help with core stability too which would help with free weight compound lifts. Consider using this to help you get into lifting weights you might enjoy doing both!0 -
I feel like such a pig eating 200-250g of protein a day. I am not even bulking. That’s just my maintenance protein.1
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I’m 245lbs and have a combined powerlifting total if 1145. I lift for strength and lift in the 90+% range on a regular basis to create the stress I need to push my lifts. The downside is recovery. I have tried different macros and found that a 30c/30f/40p works best for me. I tried the .8g thing and my lifts went down and DOMS went up. I’ve maintained at 245 for 3 months now and put about 50lbs in my total so it works for me.1 -
I’m 245lbs and have a combined powerlifting total if 1145. I lift for strength and lift in the 90+% range on a regular basis to create the stress I need to push my lifts. The downside is recovery. I have tried different macros and found that a 30c/30f/40p works best for me. I tried the .8g thing and my lifts went down and DOMS went up. I’ve maintained at 245 for 3 months now and put about 50lbs in my total so it works for me.
Oh ok gotya! Just curious. Makes sense for your weight too especially.1 -
I’m 245lbs and have a combined powerlifting total if 1145. I lift for strength and lift in the 90+% range on a regular basis to create the stress I need to push my lifts. The downside is recovery. I have tried different macros and found that a 30c/30f/40p works best for me. I tried the .8g thing and my lifts went down and DOMS went up. I’ve maintained at 245 for 3 months now and put about 50lbs in my total so it works for me.
I understand the psychological aspects, but if we took a look at your blood work you would be oxidizing a ton of leucine meaning you are overnutrienated for protein at that level. You will converting a lot to carbs so it's an expensive way to get carbs. There would be no actual difference in your lifts since you aren't synthesizing any more protein than you would at even lower than .8g/lb (that's for people that workout for hours everyday). But this is just an academic note, if you feel it works and it's not harming you then enjoy your diet and lifting and best of luck as your progress.
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MarianMarMoi wrote: »Hello! I am not very knowledgeable about these sort of things, so I thought i could ask here
I am a quite weak person, slightly underweight (168 cm/5'6" and 51 kg/112.4 lbs) and up until quite recently I didn't eat that well. I've gotten a hang of eating better now and I feel comfortable moving on to the next step which is yoga and pilates. They are both something I've wanted to do for years (yes, I am a slowpoke with starting things) and I'm now intending to do at least 30 min every day of one or the other.
Can I expect any muscle gain from those two alone? I know that most people would start lifting weights when they want muscle gain, but for someone like me, would it make a difference do only do yoga and pilates? I'm not talking immediate changes, but after a year of doing them, would there be a gain?
I'm not expecting any fast changes, but it would be nice to gain a few kg. Also, would 50-60g of protein per day be enough for me when I only do things like pilates/yoga?
I think my end goal would be to weight at least 4 kg more than now, Is that too much to hope for?
Finally haha finally i found someone like me. You can be my real motivator. all i see over here is people who are losing weight. Im a hard gainer and im bulking up. But what im practicing i cant recommend you that as im not certified but its helping me out, im consuming 3560 calorie p.d and its helping me in gaining 300 grams every week im 196cm /6'4ft and im 20. -Would love to know more abt you and great to see you again.0 -
Oh, I woke up to a bit more than I thought x) instead of quoting all of you I will try to make one answer here, sorry if I forget something.
First of all, starting with yoga and pilates is not something I do with a goal to gain muscles, I've wanted to start with those for years for many different reasons, I was just curious if they would affect that aspect at all.
I will see if I can find any cheap classes, it would be nice to go to one or two before I am on my own.
About lifting weights... if I gain muscles that way, what would happen if I stopped? I mean, lifting weights is not something I want to keep doing, wouldn't those muscles just go back since I'm not actively "keeping them there"?
I can't say much about what i will be doing in 5-10 years, but for now it's not something I would do.
Secondly, about the protein. Maybe I will find it easier to up it in the future (most likely I will). I'm quite new to eating well and still have to experiment a bit with what I cook, but with what I am eating now, 90-110g or protein would be hard to get without making all the other macros go over. Maybe hemp protein powder would be an option, but poor as I currently am, I wouldn't want to take more than one portion per day due to the price, which would mean (looking at a specific brand) an extra 10g of protein per day. I've looked at different high protein lunch box ideas and they seem to add things that I just deem too expensive for now. I probably could eat like that when my wallet allows it, but as it is now (and until summer) I rely on dried legumes, though maybe I could try bean pasta out, if a portion is 35g dry (15-16g of protein) then one package with 200g is a little less than 6 portions, and with one package being 40 kronor/$5 ... yeah, it would be doable to me.
Seitan is a bit too expensive for me.
I have a slight feeling of that I will be very, very happy once I have more money, haha.
I will try to push myself and keep aiming for 68g per day without any protein powder, I think I should be able to reach that even though I'm ~8-15 below currently, it will take some experimenting with the food I have. Maybe adding one portion of lentils somewhere is the answer x) If I eat bean pasta once per day, I could probably get to 70g or maybe even a bit more every day, I should look for that in the store on monday.
Thank you all for taking your time. Maybe I am very irritating to observe when I say I can't easily eat 100g of protein per day, I'm sorry! I do appreciate the replies 2 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »Hello! I am not very knowledgeable about these sort of things, so I thought i could ask here
I am a quite weak person, slightly underweight (168 cm/5'6" and 51 kg/112.4 lbs) and up until quite recently I didn't eat that well. I've gotten a hang of eating better now and I feel comfortable moving on to the next step which is yoga and pilates. They are both something I've wanted to do for years (yes, I am a slowpoke with starting things) and I'm now intending to do at least 30 min every day of one or the other.
Can I expect any muscle gain from those two alone? I know that most people would start lifting weights when they want muscle gain, but for someone like me, would it make a difference do only do yoga and pilates? I'm not talking immediate changes, but after a year of doing them, would there be a gain?
I'm not expecting any fast changes, but it would be nice to gain a few kg. Also, would 50-60g of protein per day be enough for me when I only do things like pilates/yoga?
I think my end goal would be to weight at least 4 kg more than now, Is that too much to hope for?
Finally haha finally i found someone like me. You can be my real motivator. all i see over here is people who are losing weight. Im a hard gainer and im bulking up. But what im practicing i cant recommend you that as im not certified but its helping me out, im consuming 3560 calorie p.d and its helping me in gaining 300 grams every week im 196cm /6'4ft and im 20. -Would love to know more abt you and great to see you again.
Nice to see someone "like me"! You don't seem to have any issues with eating enough, that was what I struggled with for the longest time, and I'm happy that I'm around my 1800 goal every day now x) I guess I might have to adjust it a bit now when I start 30 min of yoga/pilates every day, but I don't think it will be by much. I know I still have my fitness thing set on maintaining, which might not be what I want.
Btw, (this question is not specifically for you, Zee_0100), myfitnesspal seem to calculate all types of exercise that's for 30 min as burning 126.7 calories, would that be true even for pilates and yoga? I guess it doesn't matter if I end up eating back too much calories since I should gain some weight, but I'm still curious.0 -
No it doesn't.
If you are seeing different workouts end up at the same 126.7 - something is being done wrong.
Considering that rate of burn is probably over what you'd get for weight lifting - it's not true for yoga or pilates - it's inflated.
What kind of weight do you need to gain?
Do you need more fat?1 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »...Thank you all for taking your time. Maybe I am very irritating to observe when I say I can't easily eat 100g of protein per day, I'm sorry! I do appreciate the replies
I don't know that "irritating" is the proper word. But for your own sanity, I'd recommend that you reconcile your expectations with your efforts. A sub-optimal training routine and sub-optimal nutrition are going to yield sub-optimal results. As long as you're okay with that going in, I don't think it's anybody else's place to tell you you're wrong.
If you're starting from zero, yoga/pilates will make you stronger, to a point. Your body will adapt to meet the demands you place upon it, so it will become strong enough to handle whatever demands yoga and pilates (or other activities of similar strength/exertion demands) places upon it. Much of that strength gain will be neuromuscular adaptation, as your central nervous system becomes more efficient at utilizing your muscles to meet those demands via fiber recruitment and rate coding. Neither yoga nor pilates are optimal (or even anywhere close) for stimulating hypertrophy (muscle growth), so the actual muscle gains, if any, will be minimal, and further minimized by inadequate protein intake, since protein is the "building blocks" of muscle cells. So there will be some results/improvements - whether they're enough results/improvements is up to you.
Your goals need to be aligned with your training, nutrition and willingness to do what it takes to achieve them. If I wanted to be a marathon runner, it wouldn't do me any good to say I hate running and don't have the time to do it so I'm going to bicycle 5 miles three times a week. Yes, I'd become fit enough to bicycle 5 miles, but when it came time to run that marathon I'd fall flat on my face within the first two miles. So if I adjusted my expectations based upon my efforts and went forward with a realistic goal of cycling 5 miles, I'd consider it a success - but if I kept that goal of running a marathon in spite of the fact that I wasn't training properly for that goal, I'd consider it a failure.4 -
No it doesn't.
If you are seeing different workouts end up at the same 126.7 - something is being done wrong.
Considering that rate of burn is probably over what you'd get for weight lifting - it's not true for yoga or pilates - it's inflated.
What kind of weight do you need to gain?
Do you need more fat?
Alright, I thought it sounded a bit odd! I just entered that I'm planning on doing 30 min 6 days a week (I am tbh planning on every day, but maybe I will be too lazy once every week) in the settings for diet and fitness and it tells me I would burn 760 calories per week with that exercise... Maybe I shouldn't put anything in that spot and just add it manually every day (?), how would I know how much calories they actually burn? I'm not very knowledgable of this part of mfp, I've never used it before.
To not be underweight anymore I would have to gain maybe 1.5 kg, but in my head 54-55 sounds like a better minimum weight. I have no idea what fat % I have, but I guess it wouldn't be bad to gain some more of that.0 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »...Thank you all for taking your time. Maybe I am very irritating to observe when I say I can't easily eat 100g of protein per day, I'm sorry! I do appreciate the replies
I don't know that "irritating" is the proper word. But for your own sanity, I'd recommend that you reconcile your expectations with your efforts. A sub-optimal training routine and sub-optimal nutrition are going to yield sub-optimal results. As long as you're okay with that going in, I don't think it's anybody else's place to tell you you're wrong.
If you're starting from zero, yoga/pilates will make you stronger, to a point. Your body will adapt to meet the demands you place upon it, so it will become strong enough to handle whatever demands yoga and pilates (or other activities of similar strength/exertion demands) places upon it. Much of that strength gain will be neuromuscular adaptation, as your central nervous system becomes more efficient at utilizing your muscles to meet those demands via fiber recruitment and rate coding. Neither yoga nor pilates are optimal (or even anywhere close) for stimulating hypertrophy (muscle growth), so the actual muscle gains, if any, will be minimal, and further minimized by inadequate protein intake, since protein is the "building blocks" of muscle cells. So there will be some results/improvements - whether they're enough results/improvements is up to you.
Your goals need to be aligned with your training, nutrition and willingness to do what it takes to achieve them. If I wanted to be a marathon runner, it wouldn't do me any good to say I hate running and don't have the time to do it so I'm going to bicycle 5 miles three times a week. Yes, I'd become fit enough to bicycle 5 miles, but when it came time to run that marathon I'd fall flat on my face within the first two miles. So if I adjusted my expectations based upon my efforts and went forward with a realistic goal of cycling 5 miles, I'd consider it a success - but if I kept that goal of running a marathon in spite of the fact that I wasn't training properly for that goal, I'd consider it a failure.
The expectations I have is mostly just "feeling good", getting a little more flexible and after a while: better posture, I just asked if I could expect anything muscle growth-related in the OP because I had not really considered it before. The answers have varied, but I do understand after all the replies that I won't gain much if anything, but it will make me 'stronger'. Sure it would be fun to gain some kg of muscles, but it's not something that I see as a major goal. Gaining weight would be beneficial for me since I am underweight, it would be fun if I could get that from muscles, but if that won't happen I don't mind it being from fat.1 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »MarianMarMoi wrote: »...Thank you all for taking your time. Maybe I am very irritating to observe when I say I can't easily eat 100g of protein per day, I'm sorry! I do appreciate the replies
I don't know that "irritating" is the proper word. But for your own sanity, I'd recommend that you reconcile your expectations with your efforts. A sub-optimal training routine and sub-optimal nutrition are going to yield sub-optimal results. As long as you're okay with that going in, I don't think it's anybody else's place to tell you you're wrong.
If you're starting from zero, yoga/pilates will make you stronger, to a point. Your body will adapt to meet the demands you place upon it, so it will become strong enough to handle whatever demands yoga and pilates (or other activities of similar strength/exertion demands) places upon it. Much of that strength gain will be neuromuscular adaptation, as your central nervous system becomes more efficient at utilizing your muscles to meet those demands via fiber recruitment and rate coding. Neither yoga nor pilates are optimal (or even anywhere close) for stimulating hypertrophy (muscle growth), so the actual muscle gains, if any, will be minimal, and further minimized by inadequate protein intake, since protein is the "building blocks" of muscle cells. So there will be some results/improvements - whether they're enough results/improvements is up to you.
Your goals need to be aligned with your training, nutrition and willingness to do what it takes to achieve them. If I wanted to be a marathon runner, it wouldn't do me any good to say I hate running and don't have the time to do it so I'm going to bicycle 5 miles three times a week. Yes, I'd become fit enough to bicycle 5 miles, but when it came time to run that marathon I'd fall flat on my face within the first two miles. So if I adjusted my expectations based upon my efforts and went forward with a realistic goal of cycling 5 miles, I'd consider it a success - but if I kept that goal of running a marathon in spite of the fact that I wasn't training properly for that goal, I'd consider it a failure.
The expectations I have is mostly just "feeling good", getting a little more flexible and after a while: better posture, I just asked if I could expect anything muscle growth-related in the OP because I had not really considered it before. The answers have varied, but I do understand after all the replies that I won't gain much if anything, but it will make me 'stronger'. Sure it would be fun to gain some kg of muscles, but it's not something that I see as a major goal. Gaining weight would be beneficial for me since I am underweight, it would be fun if I could get that from muscles, but if that won't happen I don't mind it being from fat.
Based upon those parameters, it seems your expectations/goals are realistic. You probably already know this, but keep in mind that your calorie intake will be the primary driver of your weight gain. I do agree with others that your protein intake could stand to be a bit higher, but obviously that's your decision.2 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »MarianMarMoi wrote: »...Thank you all for taking your time. Maybe I am very irritating to observe when I say I can't easily eat 100g of protein per day, I'm sorry! I do appreciate the replies
I don't know that "irritating" is the proper word. But for your own sanity, I'd recommend that you reconcile your expectations with your efforts. A sub-optimal training routine and sub-optimal nutrition are going to yield sub-optimal results. As long as you're okay with that going in, I don't think it's anybody else's place to tell you you're wrong.
If you're starting from zero, yoga/pilates will make you stronger, to a point. Your body will adapt to meet the demands you place upon it, so it will become strong enough to handle whatever demands yoga and pilates (or other activities of similar strength/exertion demands) places upon it. Much of that strength gain will be neuromuscular adaptation, as your central nervous system becomes more efficient at utilizing your muscles to meet those demands via fiber recruitment and rate coding. Neither yoga nor pilates are optimal (or even anywhere close) for stimulating hypertrophy (muscle growth), so the actual muscle gains, if any, will be minimal, and further minimized by inadequate protein intake, since protein is the "building blocks" of muscle cells. So there will be some results/improvements - whether they're enough results/improvements is up to you.
Your goals need to be aligned with your training, nutrition and willingness to do what it takes to achieve them. If I wanted to be a marathon runner, it wouldn't do me any good to say I hate running and don't have the time to do it so I'm going to bicycle 5 miles three times a week. Yes, I'd become fit enough to bicycle 5 miles, but when it came time to run that marathon I'd fall flat on my face within the first two miles. So if I adjusted my expectations based upon my efforts and went forward with a realistic goal of cycling 5 miles, I'd consider it a success - but if I kept that goal of running a marathon in spite of the fact that I wasn't training properly for that goal, I'd consider it a failure.
The expectations I have is mostly just "feeling good", getting a little more flexible and after a while: better posture, I just asked if I could expect anything muscle growth-related in the OP because I had not really considered it before. The answers have varied, but I do understand after all the replies that I won't gain much if anything, but it will make me 'stronger'. Sure it would be fun to gain some kg of muscles, but it's not something that I see as a major goal. Gaining weight would be beneficial for me since I am underweight, it would be fun if I could get that from muscles, but if that won't happen I don't mind it being from fat.
Based upon those parameters, it seems your expectations/goals are realistic. You probably already know this, but keep in mind that your calorie intake will be the primary driver of your weight gain. I do agree with others that your protein intake could stand to be a bit higher, but obviously that's your decision.
I know I should probably eat a bit more than 1800 since I want to gain some weight, maybe I should change it to 'gain 0.25 kg per week' to get something to aim for and then change back to maintaining when I'm at a higher weight.
I will try to get closer to 70g/day since that seems doable for me in my current position, I might go higher when I'm more experienced with cooking and got more money to spend on food, but for now I hope it will be enough 0 -
MarianMarMoi wrote: »MarianMarMoi wrote: »...Thank you all for taking your time. Maybe I am very irritating to observe when I say I can't easily eat 100g of protein per day, I'm sorry! I do appreciate the replies
I don't know that "irritating" is the proper word. But for your own sanity, I'd recommend that you reconcile your expectations with your efforts. A sub-optimal training routine and sub-optimal nutrition are going to yield sub-optimal results. As long as you're okay with that going in, I don't think it's anybody else's place to tell you you're wrong.
If you're starting from zero, yoga/pilates will make you stronger, to a point. Your body will adapt to meet the demands you place upon it, so it will become strong enough to handle whatever demands yoga and pilates (or other activities of similar strength/exertion demands) places upon it. Much of that strength gain will be neuromuscular adaptation, as your central nervous system becomes more efficient at utilizing your muscles to meet those demands via fiber recruitment and rate coding. Neither yoga nor pilates are optimal (or even anywhere close) for stimulating hypertrophy (muscle growth), so the actual muscle gains, if any, will be minimal, and further minimized by inadequate protein intake, since protein is the "building blocks" of muscle cells. So there will be some results/improvements - whether they're enough results/improvements is up to you.
Your goals need to be aligned with your training, nutrition and willingness to do what it takes to achieve them. If I wanted to be a marathon runner, it wouldn't do me any good to say I hate running and don't have the time to do it so I'm going to bicycle 5 miles three times a week. Yes, I'd become fit enough to bicycle 5 miles, but when it came time to run that marathon I'd fall flat on my face within the first two miles. So if I adjusted my expectations based upon my efforts and went forward with a realistic goal of cycling 5 miles, I'd consider it a success - but if I kept that goal of running a marathon in spite of the fact that I wasn't training properly for that goal, I'd consider it a failure.
The expectations I have is mostly just "feeling good", getting a little more flexible and after a while: better posture, I just asked if I could expect anything muscle growth-related in the OP because I had not really considered it before. The answers have varied, but I do understand after all the replies that I won't gain much if anything, but it will make me 'stronger'. Sure it would be fun to gain some kg of muscles, but it's not something that I see as a major goal. Gaining weight would be beneficial for me since I am underweight, it would be fun if I could get that from muscles, but if that won't happen I don't mind it being from fat.
Good luck to you moving forward, you might find that you change your mid as you go along and that's ok. A lot of us started out wanting one thing and ended up perusing other options when we found them more to our liking.0
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