Swimming question & general advice :)

vanilakitten

Hi all,
I'm looking to lose about 12-13 pounds in about 6 months. The thing is that I don't enjoy gyms at all and I'm trying to watch what I eat as well. I just got membership to a pool next door, and want to start swimming regularly.
Is Swimming a good exercise? How much should I do daily or a few times a week?

I was planning to alternate this with the 30 day shred or other workouts on alternate days.

Would love any advice or suggestions around this.

Thanks so much!!

xxyohohoxx

Swimming isn't the quickest calorie burn, but it is one of the safest exercises to do. If you have the time to swim, do it! And as with any exercise, the benefits increase with intensity. So 30 minutes of vigorous freestyle lap swimming will give you greater returns than 30 minutes of just swimming at a moderate pace. I swim with music (waterproof set) and my music is set up to provide a fast pace. I try to swim 3x a week. I usually swim between 45-60 minutes, but i go by distance. I try to get in a mile (1800 yds) and keep track by using 36 floral stones (like flattened marbles) dining then it on the ledge and after each lap, putting one back in the container. Depending on your ability, find a plan, such as timing yourself on 25 or 50 yards and rest 10 second and repeat trying to better your time. Google "swim training" for some great plans. But always remember: you can't out exercise a bad diet. Your diet is the key. Hydrate the inside, too!
Good luck and enjoy the swim!!

LKArgh

Swimming, like every other type of exercise, is for fitness and health. You lose weight by eating less calories. It is very to erase any deficit you create by exercise if you do not change how you eat.

nicholajaneryan

I taught myself to swim recently, have been going twice per week since November. It's definetely helped in terms of endurance, lung capacity etc.
Just be warned that MFP seems to vastly overestimate calorie burns. I enter 50 mins or so of "general swimming, breaststroke" and it estimates a burn of over 500 calories. Bear in mind that I am 143lbs, 5ft3, and 30 years old.
I wear a waterproof HRM which has never shown a burn of over 200 calories, even with very vigorous effort.

So swim away, but don't overeat after, it's all too easy to stuff your face after, because you've used all of your muscles and it is tiring!

sparklemanatee

I swim for exercise and love it. I did lap swim in high school and it felt great to be back in the water. Like others said, be weary of "calories burned" and don't over eat. Also look into water aerobic exercises! They've added a fun new component to my workout!

kshama2001

I lose weight fastest during swimming season. (I hate chlorine so am limited to the pond late June - Early September.) I can take 100% of the calories from "Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate effort."

I have Sony Walkman NWZW273S 4 GB Waterproof Sports MP3 Player (Black) with Swimming Earbuds and they are by far the best of the three waterproof MP3 players I have tried. Don't expect ipod functionality though - create a playlist just for swimming and load it.

hollen_carol

I also swim and I also take 100% of the calories from "Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate" even though I swim straight through for an hour and it seems a little more then moderate to me. I have to really want to do it though and have the time because it takes an hour to swim and then 1/2 hour to shower and wash hair and then the time to restyle my hair (which is a total pain to do a whole lot). I also use the earphones posted directly above and I don't think I could get through without it. Before I bought those I used to make up rhymes to match which number lap I was on......it was awful!!! I am not sure how much swimming training is in your past but it does take alot to do an hour worth of freestyle straight through. If I am going out to dinner on a Saturday evening and I don't even want to think about being too restriced on my food/drink this is my preferred method of exercise. In that case, I would swim, eat a healthy breakfast, skip lunch and totally enjoy my dinner. Alternatively, I seem to burn the same amount of calories if I walk on a treadmill at 3.8 MPH building to an incline of 15 and doing most of the walk there until the end and dropping back down to 3 incline slowly. This has now become my "go to" exercise where swimming used to be, but I'm in maintenance now. Best of luck to you in your journey

vanilakitten

Thanks so much! I think I"ll swim a few times a week, and mix it with a few online workouts. Hope this helps! And ofcourse - track my calories!