good day to all need help on logging swimming

jakspak

i take my daughter to a swim playgroup on a tuesday and its pretty full on palying with her etc just woundering what i would put it under as we are their two hours but would say i would have burned as much as Swimming, leisurely, general which says in that time i would have burned up 1244 calories which sounds wrong. and then we also walked up steps came down the water slide so i guess i can do steps just not sure how long to put we did it 5 times or does that not realy count not long enough etc

jakspak

i take my daughter to a swim playgroup on a tuesday and its pretty full on palying with her etc just woundering what i would put it under as we are their two hours but would say i would have burned as much as Swimming, leisurely, general which says in that time i would have burned up 1244 calories which sounds wrong. and then we also walked up steps came down the water slide so i guess i can do steps just not sure how long to put we did it 5 times or does that not realy count not long enough etc

lscotch

I just wanted to let you know, that I also take my daughter to the pool regularly for hours on end, and I really dont count that time as any extra calories burned. If I did- I wouldn't do any more then 20 minutes of leisure swimming. The reason I am saying that, and I am not sure if you are a swimmer but it is HARD. I am just starting out doing laps at the pool, and I am not a swimmer, but it s the hardest activity i am training for, in my attempt to check a triathalon off my list. 40 minutes of swimming physically feels like 2 hours or running or biking. I think you are overestimating the number of calories burned by atleast 1000....

Sorry

banks1850

Since swimming is a full body activity, if you aren't actually swimming (I.E. if your feet are touching the bottom), then don't count it as swimming, even light swimming. True swimming tenses all your muscle groups, eliciting extra calorie burn, and if you are resting on your feet, you don't get that tension, even if you are moving through the water when standing. the calorie burn goes way down if you are touching bottom.

Chickiebabe151

I don't count anything that isn't a "Workout". Meaning, I don't count things that I know will burn calories but isn't done for that purpose such as cleaning, walking to the store, taking the stairs at work, washing the car, golfing, etc. Those are extra calories burned for me. Your body doesn't start getting into a fat burning zone until you have reached a certain heart rate and kept that rate consistant for a certain amount of time (20-40min). So, although you are burning calories while you are doing those activities, you are not kick starting your matabolism, which is really the ultimate goal of excersise. The calories burned while doing arobic activity are negate to what the over-all benifit is--increasing your metobolic rate for the next couple of days. Additionally, there is no real way to calculate the calories burned. So, if you come up with a estimate, and eat accordingly, then you could be over-estimating or under-estimating by a lot. Either way it can be detrimental to your progress. It's just my opinion that is it safer to not count those activities. I mean really, our goal is to all get thinner as quickly as possible while staying healthy. So, in the end, you might see a faster improvement rate but at least you wont see the opposite and feel that all of your sacrifces and hard work went for nothing.

jakspak

thanks guys i was wondering weather to even count it at all so think i wont and just count when i do lengths although thats becoming hard as the time i can go they are quite booked up with water polo and canoing now if i could get in at 6pm i could do water aerobics but hubby only finnishes on time for that one week a fortnight. there is another place i can go but cost more but i would be garanteed lane usuage will have to put thinking cap on lol. with our life style my options are the gym and swimming at a certain time of night oh well ill get there what im doing with the gym 3 nights is good enough just would love to add the swimming for something different and i love doing it. which is the main thing you have to love doing it and walking not so much my friend lol

banks1850

on that note, if you can swim, do! It's probably the BEST total body workout around, and bonus, no impact to make your joints and bones ache. Plus you aren't all sweaty when you get out of a pool.

MFS27

This is an interesting question because I am a swimmer (most of my time is either in or near water, lol). I swim 4 days a week - logging between 2,500-4,000 yards a day (one length of the pool is 25 yards), and would say I burn 500 calories per hour, and I weigh 140 lbs at 5'4".

I don't log the time I "play" in the water, however I have noticed if I (for example) sit in the hot tub and read (vs. sit on the couch and read), I tend to weigh less the next day. Again, I don't log this time, so it is just an extra perk. Plus Banks is right, swimming is a fabulous all-around exercise. So moral of the story? Get in the water if you can!

jakspak

i went did lengths last night although where i have to go is like $3 more than where i want to go but they have polo and canoe booked at the times i can go so have to talk with hubby about that one will mean $14 a week mmmm i guess would only be a short while till i get to my happy time then would only be occasionally

thanks everyone.