The hours you must dance to lose weight varies from person to person. This number is at least partly based on the physical intensity of the dance. Leisurely dances won't burn as many calories as those more strenuous or vigorous in nature. But the length of time is also influenced by your body composition, since it often takes more energy to move around the dance floor at a heavier weight than when you're fairly slim.
Caloric Deficit
Before estimating how many hours you need to dance to promote weight loss, it's important to understand what it takes to lose weight. No matter your size, age or gender, you need to reach a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose 1 lb. of weight. A daily deficit of 400 calories, for example, provides a weight loss of just over 1 lb. every nine days, whereas a deficit of 600 calories increases weight loss to 1 lb. every six days.
Body Weight
From there, you can use your body weight to estimate how many hours it might take to lose weight. According to the Harvard Medical School, you burn roughly 3 calories per minute at a weight of 125 lb. when dancing slower steps, such as the foxtrot or waltz. At this weight, you'd need to dance about 19 ½ hours to lose 1 lb. However, if you weigh 155 lb., you burn almost 4 calories per minute. To lose 1 lb. at this heavier weight, you're looking at right around 14 ½ hours.
Intensity
Similar to body composition, increasing the physical intensity of the dance causes you to expend more energy, and thereby burn more calories in a shorter amount of time. Instead of the foxtrot or waltz, let's say you dance more moderate steps, like ballroom or square dance. At 125 lb., you're now burning 5-½ calories per minute, or 330 calories every hour. In this situation, you'd need to dance for more than 10-½ hours to promote a weight loss of 1 lb. Increasing the intensity even further --- as is seen in ballet --- you burn 6 calories per minute at 125 lb. Now, you need to only dance for just less than 10 hours to lose 1 lb. of weight.
Diet
If your ultimate goal for dancing is weight loss, combine this increase in physical activity with dietary changes to provide better results. Based on the estimates, most people need to dance quite a few hours to reach the deficit necessary to lose a pound of fat. If you were to reduce your caloric intake enough to reach a deficit of 200 calories a day, you'd only need to ballroom or square dance for 7-½ to lose 1 lb. a week at a weight of 125 lb.
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