Can't lose weight by swimming?

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Phill2488
Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I hear alot of people say this but i don't understand how an exercise that can burn 400-600 calories in an hour and is known for working every muscle in the body be ineffective for losing weight.
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  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,015 Member
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    That's silly. Don't listen to those people.
  • noelkm67
    noelkm67 Posts: 118
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    Swimming is my main form of exercise and I'm losing! Don't listen to them.
  • ishtar13
    ishtar13 Posts: 528 Member
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    Many years ago when swimming was my only exercise, I lost over 20 lbs in 3-4 months.
  • Phill2488
    Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
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    I also heard that swimming makes you bulky but i'm on a deficit so i won't get bulky if i mix that with swimming right?
  • jcmartin0313
    jcmartin0313 Posts: 574 Member
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    Have you ever seen a fat competitive swimmer??
  • Phill2488
    Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
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    Also does swimming cause temporary weight gain when you first start doing it?
  • MissesJai
    MissesJai Posts: 48
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    Have you ever seen a fat competitive swimmer??
    BAM. Swimming is highly effective...
  • EvanKeel
    EvanKeel Posts: 1,904 Member
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    It's possible people's definition of swimming may vary. If you like to do a lap or two, chat with a friend for a few minutes, and then call it a day after 20 minutes of that, I can see why someone might have trouble losing weight.

    Alternatively, swimming *can* make me very hungry by comparison to say, jogging. it's important that I really pay attention to calorie counting on those days when I do happen to swim. So perhaps they're eating more because of the workout?
  • iWaffle
    iWaffle Posts: 2,208 Member
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    I hear alot of people say this but i don't understand how an exercise that can burn 400-600 calories in an hour and is known for working every muscle in the body be ineffective for losing weight.

    Do a Google image search for Michael Phelps. Case closed.
  • Phill2488
    Phill2488 Posts: 97 Member
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    I usually go swimming for about 45-60 minutes a day and i go by myself so nobody is around to distract me and i'm very carefull about the amount of food i eat after i swim, and if i feel hungry i just drink a glass of water and that always helped me. I'm also on a deficit if that helps
  • sapalee
    sapalee Posts: 409 Member
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    I've never heard such nonsense. And as a previous competitive swimmer I have never known a "bulky" swimmer. I do second the opinion that swimming makes me HONGRY and what some people call swimming for exercise is a joke. All about the effort and intensity.

    Keep it up :)
  • slim104
    slim104 Posts: 160
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    I swim 4 0r 5 times a week and i have lost almost 30lbs in just over 6 weeks.
  • kgprice11
    kgprice11 Posts: 750 Member
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    Yes swimming makes you lose weight however overtime you hit a plateau where you just start building muscle after losing all of the fat off your body therefore your muscle mass is greater than your fat mass :) Swimming is very good for you
  • Roadie2000
    Roadie2000 Posts: 1,801 Member
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    I hear alot of people say this but i don't understand how an exercise that can burn 400-600 calories in an hour and is known for working every muscle in the body be ineffective for losing weight.
    Dumbest thing I've ever heard, you can lose weight watching TV if you are in a calorie deficit.
    Also does swimming cause temporary weight gain when you first start doing it?
    Probably.

    There are also some theories that you will burn a ton of calories just being in the water for an extended period of time. Something about heat loss in water being way more than it is in air, and that's why Michael Phelps has to eat so many calories when he trains.
  • lizziebeth1028
    lizziebeth1028 Posts: 3,602 Member
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    Losing weight is all about staying within a calorie deficit. Anyway physical way you achieve that deficit whether it's, walking, running, swimming, dancing, jumping on a trampoline, biking, hiking, climbing, gardening, moving furniture ect ect ect...you get my drift is awesome. Moving and staying active is so beneficial!! But it is also possible to lose weight without any exercise at all by just restricting your calorie intake to stay in deficit. Long story short...who ever told you you can't lose weight by swimming is a nincompoop!!!
  • RuthieCass
    RuthieCass Posts: 247 Member
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    I hear alot of people say this but i don't understand how an exercise that can burn 400-600 calories in an hour and is known for working every muscle in the body be ineffective for losing weight.

    Do a Google image search for Michael Phelps. Case closed.

    OP, of course swimming can help you lose weight. But many people think that exercise is not the best tool for weight loss since most people are limited in the number of calories they can burn daily by time constraints, fitness level, and just not being able to eat enough to fuel such workouts. But I think that an estimate of 400-600 calories per hour is an overestimate for most people. And most people will not be able to swim a full hour nonstop at a pace to sustain a high burn. Are you swimming laps nonstop with no resting, at a relatively fast pace? If so then you might be burning that much. I know when I used to swim occasionally, I had to rest frequently because it was tiring (and I was fairly fit at that time) so there was no way I was burning that much. And I'm not knocking swimming.

    Anyhow, I'm not really on board with the Phelps example. He trains 5 hours a day, 7 days a week. (I'm not a stalker, he just went to my school.) It's kind of useless to compare yourself to elite athletes when it comes to ideas to lose weight. Unless you are an elite athlete, you can't really expect to depend on exercise to make you thin. Because most people simply don't have the time, food fuel, and energy to exercise like Michael Phelps. And this goes for any exercise, not just swimming.
  • roypetitfils
    roypetitfils Posts: 1
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    I've lost over 300 pounds in the last 20 years without surgery. I've done it by focusing on three things, in this order of priority:
    1. Motivation (Why?) Victor Frankyl, the Austrian Psychiatrist who survived the concentration camp, Auschwitz, said, "One can deal with any "how" as long as s/he possesses a strong enough "why". If you "why for losing weight is strong enough, your "how" will take care of itself. For ten years I wrote my "why" down every day.
    2. Exercise: I usually had/have best results in 45-60 min of exercise 5-7 days a week. These days I'm swimming mostly. I've run, lifted weights, done spinning and other classes. At 40 my joints are shot and need low impact. I found that when I exercise, its easier to monitor my food intake.
    3. Diet: The reality is, in the beginning, you don't need to do ALOT to lose weight and get results. Doing a few things consistently will work. When I first started losing weight all I did was stop eating fried food, cut out sugar sodas and walked around the block. The body adjusts, grows, shrinks, etc in response to the stress and then you have to change it up again. I've followed up by monitoring carbs, calories, eating times, etc.

    Swimming: I've read research saying that swimming is effective, but... you must be watchful of how much you eat after swimming. In reality I've found that I'm hungrier after an hour of swimming than after an hour and a half of running. I burned far more calories running but was "hungrier" after swimming. The research I read suggests that unless you're swimming in really warm water, the water in most lap pools literally SUCKS the heat from your body's core. The hunger after swimming is often related to the body's need to warm itself, and food is one way to do that. Without a doubt, swimming is the best exercise (for my mind and body) I've ever done. It is gentle on my joints and engages a huge large cross section of muscle mass in my body. I've lost 60 pounds in the last year from swimming (as my only exercise). I read TOTAL IMMERSION and have practiced daily and LOVE IT!
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
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    On the days when I swim in open water - lakes, rivers or the sea - I definitely feel the need to eat more protein and carbs and don't put any extra weight on so I guess the cold water demands more energy to keep the body going. I make sure on the days I do pool swims I don't eat quite so much - warmer water in comparison.

    I am expecting some muscle growth as I am a relative newbie in the water but expect to see more definition as the fat is burned off rather than because my muscles have grown significantly, but that is what I want for myself so that's cool.

    Swimming - yeah, go for it!
  • Beautifulbridgittlee7
    Beautifulbridgittlee7 Posts: 352 Member
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    Swimming can burn more than 600 calories an hour, depends on your weight and intensity, and how long you do it for.
  • tracydr
    tracydr Posts: 528 Member
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    I've noticed women swimmers have quite muscular bodies. Maybe people misunderstand and think, because they aren't twigs like runners that it doesn't help weight loss?
    I can lose weight with swimming, when I do laps for 30-45 minutes almost non-stop. In fact, I need to get my butt back to the pool!
    When we go on scuba trips I always lose weight, despite eating and drinking anything I want. Of course, scuba does involve some heavy lifting, especially when doing it from shore like we normally do. I'm also diving 3-5 hours per day on those trips.
    The only thing that I've found that was better is when I foxhunt. If I go on a trip where we hunt everyday for 3-5 days, I can eat literally, like a horse! Quite a change from the 1200 calories that I can barely see a change on my scale normally.
    I wasn't able to dive or ride this past year due to illness and I packed on the weight.

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