burn from mixed activity swimming

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CarvedTones
CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I go to the pool and I do laps for a while in sort of a hybrid breast stroke dog paddle. I have been swimming that way forever and have done mile swims and I am actually a pretty strong swimmer for someone with such poor technique. But after a few minutes I switch to walking fast as I can in water and using my arms to continue doing a breast stroke action. Every few minutes I do something that is more intense. I keep either my hands or feet out of the water using the other (hands or feet) to keep me high enough in the water to do this.

When I do this for a while, I feel it in my muscles. It is not a leisurely swim.

I am 5'8", 59 yo and weigh 158. BF% ~18. If I do this for 2 hours, how much should I estimate as the burn? I lost my fitbit clone playing water polo on my SUP a couple of weeks ago, so no HR monitor right now unless I take a break and do fingers to the neck.

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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,959 Member
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    I say use whatever numbers you've been using. Enter an "exercise" into your personal exercise database and just use it. You've been doing it "forever" and you've lost all your weight!

    Trust your instincts. No one can answer the question better than you can with all your backup data.:)
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    I have been messing around with exercise calories and calorie goal kind of herding my weight around and this worked fine while losing, but in maintenance I would really like it more realistic on both (sedentary burn and exercise burn). My job is sedentary and my activity is wide ranging - 0 some days, 1-2 hours of moderate some days (walking at ~4 mph), 3 hours of substantial exertion (paddling SUP hard with few stops) on others. I have been in maintenance 4 months. You would think I would figure it out by now. You would be wrong...
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,959 Member
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    I didn't settle in right away either.

    Just don't over-think it too much. Step on the scale, do what you've been doing.

    What I'm saying is that this is a process, it's never just "dialed in."

    Are you bouncing around by more than 5 pounds still?

    Pick a number and use it consistently for three months (exercise number) like I do. Like 400 calories per hour of moderate exercise would seem to be reasonable for you. No one has exact numbers. No one.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    No, I bounce by way less than 5 pounds most of the time. I have recently had a 4 pound swing but I know exactly why - big overage day bounce and then drop back.
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,593 Member
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    I use "swimming, leisurely, general" and input only a percentage of the actual time based on how much active swim time I spent. I often swim a few laps at a leisurely pace then I'll tread water for a while, then I'll jog/walk in the water, then I'll play with the kids for a bit. I generally enter 50% of the overall time in an effort to not overestimate the calorie burn.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
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    I used "swimming, leisurely, general" and noticed it is pretty much right on what @cmriverside suggested. There was a party at the pool and I ended up swimming 80 minutes instead of 120. It's a good thing I was tracking time and not laps; I was zig zagging back and froth, often going ahead and turning back before I got to an end if it was too jammed and did a lot of really short laps and dog paddling in the deep end at the rope.
    It's also a good thing I quit drinking. They had $5 all you can drink beer and margaritas, so the adults were staggering in front of me worse than the kids swimming without looking. But I got some good exercise.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,959 Member
    edited July 2018
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    Congrats on quitting drinking. By far one of the best things I've ever done for my health, fitness, weight loss and anxiety/mental health. :smile:

    "All you can drink?" That sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen.


    Just use those numbers - based on time like you said. If you feel like you worked extra hard, add a hundred. If you feel like it was a slacker workout, deduct a hundred. It's close enough.

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