Where does the calories burn in Exercise come from?

BDani
BDani Posts: 17 Member
edited January 11 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm taking the kids to the public swim today (1 hour) and I'll be joining them in the pool. The closest match I can find on MFP is "swimming, leisurely, general". When I inputted 60 minutes, it says calories burned 666 and giving them back as extra calories to eat today.

How accurate is the information in the Exercise section? Will a general swim of 1 hour really burn that much calories?

Dani

Replies

  • kgrebla
    kgrebla Posts: 1 Member
    Hi Dani! This is only a guess, but I would think that if you did 60 minutes of continuous swimming it would be reasonable to think you burned that many calories... swimming is an excellent work out! However, if you are any thing like me, 60 minutes in the pool doesn't necessarily mean 60 minutes of swimming, so I would try to estimate how much time was spent really swimming and moving! Agian that's just my guess, but I hope it helps! Good luck and enjoy :)
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    I swim for 30 minutes with a heart rate monitor and it reads about 320 calories, so I think your reading is acurate - I am not a strong swimmer.
  • Hirgy03
    Hirgy03 Posts: 332 Member
    I would guess that is fairly accurate. I look at calorie burning in this way: Your body is like a car's engine, even just sitting there and idling, it is burning fuel. Any type of pull on that engine, and more fuel is burned (i.e., the faster you drive it, whether its going up a hill or on even ground, do you have the four-wheel drive on for tougher going, etc.). When you are swimming, you are constantly being surrounded with the water's resistance (each gallon of water weighs around 7 lbs., so constantly, through every single movement you are making, your body is fighting against that weight and pressure. Because it is seemingly such a little amount of resistance, we don't think about it much, but as long as you are moving at all.....every second in the water has your body fighting some type of resistance.

    Because of this constant resistance, your body isn't getting much of a break at all, hence the high calorie burn.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    If you were swimming laps for 60 minutes, it would probably be fairly accurate. Going to the pool with the kids? I log it as slow walking (2.5 mph usually) because I'm rarely actually swimming.
  • BDani
    BDani Posts: 17 Member
    Hmm... that's where it's confusing. There are swimming categories specifically for laps, breastroke, backstroke, butterfly, treading water, sidestroke, synchrized, etc. The one I choose is "swimming, leisurely, general".

    I figured it's kind of a mix of everything. Which is what I do when I'm in the pool with the kids. I'll tread water in the deep end while throwing weights for my kids to dive & pick up; swim back & forth in the deep end for a bit; general horsing around in the shallow end with the kids & a ball; walking back & forth in the swallow end.
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