have you lost weight by swimming (interested on those who we

I'm not sure that MFPs calorie burns are accurate and I always adjust for my TDEE anyhow and would never eat-back more than 50-70% of my exercise calories to compensate for margins.

The MFP calorie burn on swimming is comparative to what I picked up from researching the internet. Again, like most exercises, the number changes depending on how much you weigh, but I decided, after the research, that the MFP one is close enough for rough calculations.

I do cheat myself out of calories though, I am lazy about putting my swimming in, different strokes burn a different amount of calories, and I mostly just put it in as "leisurely" instead of accounting for amount of effort and stroke.

It is just as important to warm up and cool down with swimming as with other workouts... I just do a couple of leisurely laps, slowly picking up pace, and I stretch in the water. I don't have any evidence to back this up, it's just a thing that seemed reasonable to me, but stretching in the water after an hour workout seemed better than being mostly non-weight bearing for an hour, then hopping out, becoming weigh bearing, and then stretching. That seemed like a recipe for disaster... so I stretch in the water LOL. NO EVIDENCE though, so no quoting that to others, it just made sense to me LOL.

And yes, you can TOTALLY loose weight from swimming. 20 pounds in my first two months in the pool, combined with healthier eating choices, keeping track of calories, and watching portion sizes.

very interesting post!

Love swimming Not the only thing I do though so cant speak of which part is thanks to that.

A friend of mine is only going swimming, goes a few times each week. I think he started with 10x50m, and has worked himself up to at 15x50m last time I spoke with him. He feels a huge difference in his endurance and his waist is noticably smaller. So definately a worthy workout.

I am a fish. You could never get me out of the water and still can't. In high school I was on the swim team and loved it. I can tell you that when you swim laps you can in fact work up a sweat and raise your core temp in the water. In HS we used to take cool showers to cool ourselves down afterwards and I eventually had to start that practice again in my adult life.

Indoor pools usually keep their pool water at room temp or slightly above. The water in the pool physically feels cool when you first get in because the pool house's ambient temperature is always high from humidity and heating of both the pool water and the ambient air. (Just think how cool the temperature is when you leave the pool house compared to the temperature in it.)

I lost 40 lbs within 3-4 months by swimming and eating a sensible diet. Being used to swimming 200 meters at a very face pace in HS, I was shocked at how slow I had to go to be able to maintain swimming laps at a constant speed when I started up again. (my heart was in constant protest) Swimming works EVERY muscle in your body, including your heart.

Usually the pool house has a clock on the wall for lap swimming. You can use this clock to measure your lap time, or the time it takes you to swim one length. In the beginning, just pay attention to keeping yourself moving in the pool for a certain amount of time that you choose, like an hour. It's also a good idea to keep track of your heart rate. When starting out I checked at the end of each length. As you progress you can play beat the clock or even add the number of laps to be completed within a certain time frame. And it doesn't have to be a specific stroke (back stroke, free style, butterfly, breast) I do what I feel like based on my body. If one arm hurts, I don't use it. I can be seen cork screwing through the water, mixing a large number of different swim strokes while making one lap, or even grabbing a kick board to use to work only the legs, or just one arm, etc.

The idea is to keep moving in the water. The water gives you resistance the whole time. Your body will let you know what a good pace is. If you get tired and need to take a break, try going to the deep end and treading water to rest while still getting some exercise benefit. Swimming will burn fat, tone your body, and slim you down. The only way to get a true calorie burn count is by having a water proof heart rate monitor on. You will also notice that based on your different movements your rate could spike (mine spikes when I do the back stroke, I just can't seem to slow down on that one)

I am sad because we only have one pool in the area (the Y) and their pool seems to always be super crowded or unavailable
I'm sure if I could swim again I would be in the pool almost every day, melting the pounds away! It had been so easy the last time.

I hope this doesn't come off mean, but have you ever seen a fat swimmer?

Swimming totally burns calories, it's how I stayed fit with two of my four kids during their pregnancies. And the last pregnancy? I wasn't able to do much because i was on semi bed rest and now, I'm trucking 45 extra pounds because of it

Swimming is totally a great way to keep fit. Anything that gets your heart rate up, and keeps it up, is going to burn cals. The problems with swimming is a) you don't feel it as much because you don't notice youre sweating, and b) a lot of people eat the cals back because when you leave a pool most are ravenous! I know I am.

Happy swimming!

thank you all again for all of your advice and continued comments! I've managed to swim twice last week and twice already this week with a third time planned for Friday. Today I actually went ahead and bought a card for the pool for my next twelve swims! I'm committed!

In the short few times I've gone I've managed to increase my laps from 600 meters to today swiming 800. My big goal is to just keep moving, regardless of the pace/stoke or how silly I look flapping about. I've already got the goggles and cap but I think I may get a snorkel because I'm having some neck pain from having to hold my head above water for so long (I'm not in good enough condition yet to swim with face in the water and coming up for breaths). Each time I've managed to move in the water for 35-45 minutes solid! And of course I'm combining it with logging food with MFP.

Thanks again!

This is wonderful to hear. I'm so glad you're sticking with it! Great work!

thanks again everybody! I"ve made an appointment to go on Wednesday morning!

The hardest bit is the first walk in......the rest will become easier.

Its wonderful to hear all these success stories..I love to swim. I unfortunately only do it regularly during the summer. I am in the water 5 days a week. I do water arobics then I swim for 20 min. If I dont do water arobics I swim for an hr...swimming around 1 mile. I do see wonderful results. I would like to post a question about watches for swimming. I got two different mio water proof watches that both didn't last more than 1 year! Anyone have a suggestion on a good watch for swimming laps?

My back doctor actually suggested I lose weight by walking laps in the water. It works great. I use water shoes because my toes would get raw otherwise. I started cupping my hands and swinging them while I walk so I get more water resistance. The first few times I could only do a few laps but now I'm better. I feel a nice burn and overall soreness so I'm definetly getting a work-out. I'm down almost 20 pounds now. I don't usually log my excercise since I'm not doing it to earn extra calories.

Good Luck!