Does anyone swim to lose weight?

doulanik

I joined the 100 Mile Club at my gym yesterday and it starts on July 1st. The idea is to swim at least 2 miles a week (66 lengths, or 33 laps= 1 mile) to swim 100 miles in a year. I plan to swim at least 1 mile every day I have off work (which is about 3 miles per week).

I swam a mile yesterday just to see if I could do it before I actually signed up, and I surprised myself by doing a whole mile in only 57 minutes, including rest and water breaks.

Does anyone else swim for weight loss? Add me! I'd love some mutual encouragement to get to that 100 miles.

vanillaeclare

I started swimming this week because my knees are killing me from running. They simply won't heal, even though it's been over a week since I've run. I'm guessing swimming is going to become a thing for me so I can get my cardio in and let my knees heal. I'd be happy to be your swimming buddy!

amazondakini

What a great idea, 2 miles a week, I swim about 1/2 mile when I go swim, and I could go 4 times a week. Neat! I love how swimming makes my whole body feel tired - and my kids are independent swimmers, so I can just do laps at the neighborhood pool (25 meter) while they play. so 16 laps is a half mile right? 32 lengths? I like this goal! Thanks

tmauck4472

Hard for me to swim.....I have my personal floatation devices that go with me wherever I go and they tend to make it hard to swim. Trust me I've tried, but I do float around and keep my arms and legs moving the whole time, I'm sure that burns something

Tropical_Turtle

I am just started going to the gym in the morning to get my swimming in. And in the afternoon, get my weights in.

jcstanton

I would love to be able to swim for exercise, but I've never been a very strong swimmer, so I usually only do it for recreation.

ipsamet

I do! I really started swimming in training for the triathlon I'm doing, by I'm finding it's such a great workout I want to keep it up at least once a week when it's over (and in preparation for the next one!).

There ya go, my picture is even of me in my bathing suit

NoAdditives

You should make sure the pool is heated. Long periods of time spent in a colder pool can result in a thicker layer of dermal fat.

WaterBunnie

I swim 4-5 times a week but consider I'm counting enough already at the moment with counting calories without having to count lengths too! I prefer just to enjoy myself and log the amount of time spent swimming rather than turning it into sport.

SInder2

HI, I just joined a Triathalon club a few weeks ago and we do swim workouts a couple of times a week. I'm finding that when I swim on my own I just do nice steady laps- when I train with the coach he mixes it up, sprints, varies the striokes we do as well as doing shorter distances multiple times at a faster pace. This really seems to be making me stronger and I've seen a 1/2 drop in my waist size!

RedSkinFox

i usually take the 60 minute water aerobics class followed by about 15-30 minutes of breast stroke and the carlories i burn always surpass my goal! Great way to keep ALL the muscles working and burn calories.

WaterBunnie

I would love to be able to swim for exercise, but I've never been a very strong swimmer, so I usually only do it for recreation.

I'm not the best swimmer in the pool either but if you enjoy it you should go because even on a recreational level it's still a really good all-round workout with no impact on your joints.

doulanik

Wow! Glad to see some swimmers in here! The 100 Mile Club challenge starts on July 1st. Can't wait to see how everyone does!

tammyclair

i love to swim. I swim 5 days a week for an hour. I do 70 lengths in an hour. so I could get to the goal of 100 miles. count me in for this. I am going to start tracking too. I wear my HRM and for an hour I can burn more than 400 calories. way more than a walk for me. and my knees are not great so the swimming is better for me. i feel glorious after my swim. and all day it makes me feel good to think about it. thank you for posting. i agree it is great to see so many swimmers.

dobyblue

I've been swimming to keep in shape for quite some time now although sporadically. I swim in a 25m pool, so one mile = 64 lengths (1600 meters). It's techically 1609 metres but that's less than 64 1/2 lengths.

I've been swimming mostly 1k (40 laps) at lunch or 1 mile (64 laps) in the mornings, but recently I've been seeing what other distances I can do. I've got my 1k down to under 17 minutes and my mile just under 28 minutes. My speed has really improved since I stopped having regular breakfasts and started doing just raw, organic veggies in the Vitamix for breakfast. I already avoid just about all foods that could contain genetically engineered ingredients and rarely eat packaged, processed foods but the juicing (on the week-ends, Omega J8004) and the blenderizing (breakfasts MON~FRI, VitaMix) have really given me more speed and stamina.

Last Sunday I did a 5K swim in 91 minutes and 30 seconds, that's 200 laps of a 25m pool. This morning I did a two mile swim (128 laps) in 56 minutes and 30 seconds. It feels AWESOME to start the day like this, although I usually do a shorter 1k lunch swim still TUE~THU when the morning swim is only 2 lanes for laps. MON and FRI it's 4 lanes open so much easier. During Summer when school's closed I'll be going all mornings and hopefully doing 2 miles every morning for a total of perhaps 12 miles/week. I may still reserve Tuesday for a lunch swim and do sprints, I think once a week it's good to do short bursts with equal rest to activate those high muscle fibers, get good growth hormone response.

I was almost 250 lbs in Summer 2011. I was out of the pool last year for six months with a shoulder strain from doing too much sprints, I was doing high intensity every day. Not good. Been back in since July last year and currently down to 220 lbs. My goal is 190. I haven't been that weight since probably 1995! I'm 40 this year. My goal was to not be overweight in my 40's like I have been throughout my 30's. I've been losing around 1.5~2lbs/month, slowly and surely keeping it off.

Swimming is an amazing exercise. The more I swim the less I use an inhaler for asthma. Haven't used one since July last year! Keep up the swimming!

Also even if the pool is cold, you won't insulate yourself when you're working out. If you're just bobbing up and down in the water you'll put on fat, but if your heart rate is going then you're losing fat.

mbolsen935

I swim at least 100 laps 3x a week in under 55 minutes.......haven't lost a pound!!!!! I am toning but scale has actually gone up:(

LiftHeavyWeights

There is a swimming group here on MFP if anyone if interested. They have been very helpful to me.

bettyjoburdett

Hello,

Its nice to see someone post who also is using swimming for exercise. I run around the pool for 30 minutes using the water as resistance, and then do some core exercises using noodles or floats for extra resistance. After I finish these 2, I do lots of stretching and just enjoy paddeling around the pool. I enjoy being in water, it keeps me cool, is easy on my joints, and burns about
250-350 calories according to WebMD.com.

I wish you the best of luck in reaching your goal of 100 miles:flowerforyou:

TLContheGulfCoast

thanks for info, how do I find them? loing fwd to starting when I get home.

bettyjoburdett

There is a swimming group here on MFP if anyone if interested. They have been very helpful to me.

What is the group called? I would like to join it.

cjaneplay79

You should make sure the pool is heated. Long periods of time spent in a colder pool can result in a thicker layer of dermal fat.

Good Info....never knew this.....

LiftHeavyWeights

The group is called Swimmers!

Click your username at the top of the page, then 2nd from the left on the dark blue band click Groups. In the group search type in Swimmers. From there click join. The group will then be listed on your message boards list in the group section at the bottom.