Does anyone do yoga or pilates regularly? I'm wondering how good they are as strength exercises. If I'm only looking to lose weight, not bulk up, would they work in place of lifting weights?

I absolutely LOVE Pilaties! It's such a great exercise and it's very relaxing. You can usually start seeing a difference within' a week if you do pilaties for 15 minutes a day! I've lost 2 inches of my HUGE hips!

I also LOVE Pilates! It feels so good to streach your body!

Don't let fear of bulking prevent you from using weights -unless you're doing some steroid using... women can't bulk - we just don't have the chemical make-up to do that

It's not really the fear of bulking... I just don't like lifting. It's boring.

I have a pilates DVD with 5 10-minute exercises I've been doing. They each focus on different areas (like arms, buns/thighs, total body, etc). I can tell they work my muscles and I work up a sweat, but I'm not sore afterwards (except for the arms one since it involves small weights). I'm just wondering if doing these a few times a week is a decent replacement for plain old lifting since it is a lot more interesting to me.

Oh, and for those of you who do it, do you use videos or take classes? Any recommendations?

I use the videos.

The point of pilaties is low endurance work out. You're basically using breathing methods and mild exercise that is using your muscles to build more muscle and strengthen without bulk. It's quite trimming. Being as small as you are, you'll benefit huge. If they're too easy, step them up or do more reps and sets then the "easy" tape allows. It doesn't always have to hurt when you exercise. Just because you don't feel a burn doesn't meant it isn't working. That's the point of it, to relax and breathe : D

Thanks, your response helps a lot! I do feel like I am working the muscles during the exercises, I just don't feel sore afterwards, which seemed odd to me. I'll keep at it though and hopefully I'll start to notice a difference! It's only been 5 days since I started it.

I use yoga and pilates video's, too.
Ages ago, I used them and actually managed to loose quite a few inches. Stayed the same weight though, but it was nice! I started doing them again but only once a week because I lift and do cardio. I more often do the yoga because I dont feel I always stretch enough after my cardio (always do hamstring, quads, calf, and hip flexor stretches, but don't feel I gain any flexibility).
When I used to do the video's I was in a twice weekly kickboxing class with the bag. I had awesomely defined arms and my abs weren't too terrible (they've certainly never looked great). Maybe that would work for you? It's not nearly as boring as lifting and is a great cardio workout included with the strength benefits from banging on that bag over and over! And a great stress reliever!! Okay, I could go on and on... I really should find a kickboxing class again. I miss it.

Oh i love pilates.. i have winsor pilates.. (the orignal dvd tho) within the first week you can tell clothes fit you better.. but you should combine it with an aerobic workout

I already have cardio in my routine (DDR, exercise bike) and another general exercise (figure skating). I just needed some strength training to round it out.

I blend various workouts along with eating healthy. I live in a small town and cannot make it to the gym. I bought a few yoga and pilates workouts having absolutely no faith that they would work. I must say, I was completely wrong. I love how I have to try really hard to stabilize myself and after working out for a prolonged period of time, I feel that yoga and pilates, as well as other workouts (interval training, hi-low, chi ball) has greatly affected my ability to perform daily activities, such as work

I'm going to be doing pilates twice a week and I have my first class in about 6 hours. She has those big machines so I'm pretty excited. I'll let ya know in a couple weeks if I think it's doing anything, because I cannot seem to make myself lift weights. So I hope that it covers a least a portion of the strength training that I should be doing.

I've been taking a yoga class for about 8 weeks now, and I love it. I think it's great for flexibility, core body strength, and an overall sense of well-being. I don't know that it would replace working out with weights, but I think it's definitely worth it to give it a go and see how you feel. I definitely feel like I have more strength now.