Swimming tips for weight loss

deannalfisher

YosemiteSlamAK wrote: »

@mimc66
I am a Masters coach & a swim instructor. I would recommend having someone look at your stroke sooner rather than later. A trained eye will be able to give you tips and tricks to improve your stroke, body position, timing, breathing, endurance, etc. Which should make your time swimming more productive or at least less tiring.

deannalfisher wrote: »

i'll throw this out there - swimming doesn't burn nearly as many calories as people think it does/how hungry you feel after a workout (for reference, i'm 5'3", 150lbs and a 3000yd workout will burn about 280cal)

I am interested to find out how you arrive at 280kcal/3000yds? If you walked 3000yds outside you would burn about the same amount of calories you just listed. The added resistance of water along with the additional time it takes to swim or water walk that distance would increase your caloric burn unless you never increase your heart rate out of the rest zone which let's assume is about 100bpm.

@josephsoto200
We would love to help you. Maybe give us some more background on what you are looking for in terms of guidance. What are you hoping to achieve in the pool? How long do you swim for? What are you currently eating pre-swim? Feel free to message me as well.

That is what my garmin, calibrated for age/height/weight gives me - with well beyond rest periods - depending on the workout - 10-20x50/100yds (1:50/100 avg swim) - depending on the workout with warmup/cool down

deannalfisher

Last half ironman swim (just shy of 2000m) - 42min - 280cal

Noreen2014

I can only walk laps for 30 minutes due to a torn Achilles’ tendon do you think that counts as swimming or walking. I’m unable to walk on a treadmill at this time

fishgutzy

I'm probably an outlier here.
I swim at least 4 miles a day, 5 to 6 days a week.
I have arthritis in my feet do any impact aerobic would is a no go for me.
Sometimes on a Saturday morning ill swim 4 miles them go into a spin class.
We all find our own rhythm and what works for us.
With swimming, just think of doing one more lap. As in one more lap than you could do the previous week. Anybody can do just one more lap.
I'm not a life long athlete. Nor was i ever a competitive swimmer. I just found that i like the therapeutic effect of swimming. Very meditative.

enyagoboom

Noreen2014 wrote: »

I can only walk laps for 30 minutes due to a torn Achilles’ tendon do you think that counts as swimming or walking. I’m unable to walk on a treadmill at this time

i'd probably count that as walking. swimming uses breathing, arms, core in a different way than walking laps. still though, you're moving and walking in water has resistance so it's very good!

Lean59man

Calories burned by swimming are on this list.

nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm

deannalfisher

Lean59man wrote: »

Calories burned by swimming are on this list.

nutristrategy.com/caloriesburned.htm

even if i split the difference between fast and slow (because they haven't quantified what those speeds mean - are we talking 1:30/100m, 2:00/100m or what)...that still gives me nearly an additional 100cal over my tracked/logged swim of 40min (2/3 of the difference between 493 and 704 - as i'm 150lbs) - when I get 290...

beerfoamy

http://www.swimmingcalculator.com/swim_calories_calculator.php

^I have used this for the last year - doesn't seem too far off as you can calculate by multiple areas. Speed, distance, time etc

enyagoboom

deannalfisher wrote: »

even if i split the difference between fast and slow (because they haven't quantified what those speeds mean - are we talking 1:30/100m, 2:00/100m or what)...that still gives me nearly an additional 100cal over my tracked/logged swim of 40min (2/3 of the difference between 493 and 704 - as i'm 150lbs) - when I get 290...

It sounds like you have figured out what works for you and that is awesome! for me, taking what MFP gives me and halving it is working. If I went out and ate 500 extra calories after swimming, I'd get nowhere

deannalfisher

enyagoboom wrote: »

deannalfisher wrote: »

even if i split the difference between fast and slow (because they haven't quantified what those speeds mean - are we talking 1:30/100m, 2:00/100m or what)...that still gives me nearly an additional 100cal over my tracked/logged swim of 40min (2/3 of the difference between 493 and 704 - as i'm 150lbs) - when I get 290...

It sounds like you have figured out what works for you and that is awesome! for me, taking what MFP gives me and halving it is working. If I went out and ate 500 extra calories after swimming, I'd get nowhere

That's my point - I'm finding MFP and these calories are highly overestimating calories burnt (at least for me) - so if I were to eat them back I may not have been as successful as I have been

enyagoboom

deannalfisher wrote: »

That's my point - I'm finding MFP and these calories are highly overestimating calories burnt (at least for me) - so if I were to eat them back I may not have been as successful as I have been

Yes, that is definitely a common theme and one of the best initial pieces of advice that I got from MFP users when i started - never eat back all your calories because the count is skewed, be it swimming, running, pilates, etc.

mimc66

YosemiteSlamAK wrote: »

@mimc66
I am a Masters coach & a swim instructor. I would recommend having someone look at your stroke sooner rather than later. A trained eye will be able to give you tips and tricks to improve your stroke, body position, timing, breathing, endurance, etc. Which should make your time swimming more productive or at least less tiring.


Thanks for the recommendation. My wife watched me this weekend and my head is definitely coming out of the water and my hips are dropping. I'm going to "flounder" around for another week or so and then start some one-on-one lessons. Really like swimming more than I thought I would..

lucerorojo

I swim 1-2x a week. I always eat back my calories--losing hasn't been a problem for me. I put in as "lightly active" and I'm wondering if perhaps I'm more active than that since eating back the calories hasn't stalled my weightloss. (I also walk 80 minutes 4x a week and do 1-2 zumba classes per week).

Thanks for all the tips about swimming. I am not a strong swimmer and have these same breathing problems. I just cannot get coordinated in the crawl stroke. I usually backstroke for my workout. I had some lessons about 7 or 8 years ago but I didn't keep up with it. It did improve my breathing/stroke temporarily BUT since I didn't continue I've just gone back to my old way. It really was a very different way of moving in the water, what he was teaching me--it felt almost effortless as opposed to the struggle that is my crawl/freestyle usually.

BradyPug

@mimc66 sounds familiar with the “floundering” stroke. I took a group lesson last winter/spring and now I think I just need to swim more. Like you have found I actually like it as a way to keep active. I will keep at it and not worry about the perfect stroke, just enjoy and have fun and keep active. Add me as friend if want to message/compare notes anytime

lorrpb

lucerorojo wrote: »

I swim 1-2x a week. I always eat back my calories--losing hasn't been a problem for me. I put in as "lightly active" and I'm wondering if perhaps I'm more active than that since eating back the calories hasn't stalled my weightloss. (I also walk 80 minutes 4x a week and do 1-2 zumba classes per week).

Thanks for all the tips about swimming. I am not a strong swimmer and have these same breathing problems. I just cannot get coordinated in the crawl stroke. I usually backstroke for my workout. I had some lessons about 7 or 8 years ago but I didn't keep up with it. It did improve my breathing/stroke temporarily BUT since I didn't continue I've just gone back to my old way. It really was a very different way of moving in the water, what he was teaching me--it felt almost effortless as opposed to the struggle that is my crawl/freestyle usually.

I would encourage you to take some classes or lessons again. You will be able to fine tune the areas you're struggling with. I've taken classes a few times over the years. Also you could search You Tube for some breathing drills that could help. Like anything else, it takes lots of practice and time.

Skipjack66

Swimming is an awesome form of exercise and is my favourite for many reasons! I think everyone should learn to swim!

As for swim calorie burns on MFP : When I was eating half of my calories back I was still losing quite rapidly despite setting for a .5 pound loss per week. I did some research on different swim calculators (weight/distance/speed) and did some pace testing on myself to cross reference. I then compared it to the numbers mfp was giving.

For a 145 lb person, MFP’s calorie burn for freestyle under “fast vigorous effort” is an burn estimate for swimming over 3.5 km an hour. There is also a “slow, moderate pace” for freestyle which correlated to to pretty much swimming under 3km an hour. I think for an intermediate swimmer these numbers are probably fairly close to accurate. Beginner swimmer numbers I think would be very off.

The “breast stroke” entry is swimming at a pace approximately 8 minutes per 400m which is fairly quick, yet there is no slow/medium fast category. If someone is swimming a moderate to slow pace of breast stroke this would be way off the mark, and it’s probably better to classify as “slow to moderate freestyle” and only eat half back.

I didn’t test back stroke or fly. Looking at the numbers I assume they are about the same as breast stroke - based on the burn of a more advanced level of swimmer.

Hope this helps a little.