Am I too fat to go swimming?

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  • capnrus789
    capnrus789 Posts: 2,736 Member
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    Fat floats, your chances of drowning are greatly reduced.

    All kidding aside, yes, go swimming. It's great cardio for someone looking to get the heart rate up, but also take it easy on the joints.
  • BrendaLee
    BrendaLee Posts: 4,463 Member
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    We fat people like to convince yourselves that we're not worthy to do most of the things "normal" people do. Dress in something you feel comfortable in (I wear a long tank over a one-piece...probably not the best option for you), and give it a try. Maybe you'll hate it. Maybe you'll love it. It probably won't kill you though, either way.
  • mag131
    mag131 Posts: 542 Member
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    Unless your weight makes it physically impossible to swim, then no, you're not too fat! You'd be that "fat guy" if you were sitting in McDonald's everyday letting your health waste away, but instead you're going to be that guy who is working on his fitness and bettering his life! Go for it, and if anyone mocks you just know that you're better than them already.
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
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    Unless you are displacing most of the water, no.
  • EmilyOfTheSun
    EmilyOfTheSun Posts: 1,548 Member
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    Do you know how to swim? Will you drown?
    If you answered yes then no......then get in the fu(kin pool and get moving.
  • luckyshilling
    luckyshilling Posts: 229
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    Omigosh swimming will be so good for you!!! especially if you are carrying a bit more weight - no pressure on your joints in the pool!!

    The other people at the pool will have their own issues they are dealing with so forget about them and do this FOR YOU!

    Swimming laps is a great all body work out.. even aqua jogging or aqua aerobics.. You can so do this!!!

    ^^this^^ I am dutch and have very blonde hair that turns very green in most pools, but I love to swim and I love the way my muscles feel afterward. So I wear a swim cap and look like a huge dork ( I have a rather pointy head). You know the only comments I have ever gotten are from other women asking me how much my cap was cuz their hair is turning green/ getting to dry and they want one too. :) People are never thinking what I think they are thinking.
  • Velum_cado
    Velum_cado Posts: 1,608 Member
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    Can you fit in the pool? Yes? Then you're not too fat. Well done for getting active! I hope you enjoy! :)
  • es513
    es513 Posts: 51 Member
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    Now I want to go swimming!.. but for exercise! I would have never thought about using that to take it easy on my joints until I lose more weight.

    Awesome.
  • maryann9wood
    maryann9wood Posts: 75 Member
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    Go to a water aerobics or water walking class. Lots of people wear shirts - to stay warm, to avoid the sun, to cover up. Be nice, say hello to people, and everyone will be nice to you. I go three times a week, and it's harder to do than it looks!
  • Melissa22G
    Melissa22G Posts: 847 Member
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    No one is too fat to go swimming.

    Swimming is a great activity for anyone of any size!
  • chancock6
    chancock6 Posts: 87
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    Swimming burns a lot of calories, and it's fun :) I say go for it. I've been doing it all summer!
  • JustAnotherGirlSuzanne
    JustAnotherGirlSuzanne Posts: 932 Member
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    Swimming is awesome! As long as you can keep your head up, no one is too fat to swim!

    If you feel uncomfortable with your appearance you could just wear a shirt too... but really I don't think you have to. Anyone who may be judging you is the one with the problem.
  • SteelersFan7
    SteelersFan7 Posts: 217 Member
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    Hi there. I'm a heavier girl and I swim every morning before work. I used to do a lot of cardio at the gym until I had to have an arthroscopic hip repair. Now, swimming is the best exercise for me. Once you're in the water you'll start to focus more on technique and breathing and you'll forget about others around you. I say get in there and have fun with it.
  • christarae1
    christarae1 Posts: 245 Member
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    I just started this week getting up at 5am and going swimming at our gym. That early in the morning my friend and I are about the only ones there. Every once in a while I will make a splash or laugh aloud to wake the high school lifeguard up. Its so relaxing and such a great workout. I wear a tankini top and shorts and I don't care what anyone thinks. I'm there to take care of myself and to one day be swimming in a bikini!!! Go for it!!
    By the way, scars are sexy!!! Show it off with confidence!!! ;)
  • jasoncbackus
    jasoncbackus Posts: 131 Member
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    No, swimming is awesome. If you're self conscious wear a t-shirt with your shorts.

    This is what I do.
  • TinaBaily
    TinaBaily Posts: 792 Member
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    OK, so something I've not done since I was like 13 or something, is swimming. I used to love swimming as a kid, but as the years went by, and the weight piled on, it's something I never ever dreamt of doing, until now.

    I signed up to a gym today, have the induction on Thursday evening, and the gym membership I paid for comes with unlimited access to the swimming baths, and it got me thinking - Am I too fat to go swimming?

    I know I shouldn't care what other people think, and yes, other people probably don't care about me being there, they're too busy doing their thing to concern themselves over the "fat guy" but I can't help feeling self conscious about it.

    Anybody else out there had/have the same problem? Anybody else face their fear of the going swimming?

    Are you too fat to go swimming? I would say only if you are so large that you literally cannot fit into the pool! Seriously, swimming is the BEST exercise you can do if you are overweight and your joints hurt, although you didn't say that about yourself. I'm just going on how I was at my heaviest. I had sore knees and feet. Anyway, I say to heck with those who would give you the stink eye or any other odd looks, and go for it! The only thing you have to lose is the excess weight. You have many, many things to gain!!
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
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    hell no you are not too fat to go swimming. may take a minute to get used to since you haven't swam in so long, but it's great exercise and really fun. like you said, people really won't even notice you they are all there for themselves, so go have yourself a great old water time!
  • annsanslim
    annsanslim Posts: 7
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    Your definitely not too fat!!!... no one is ...not ever ,, because you are doing something about the extra pounds...something positive. The swimming will help you burn calories..,, burn fat and so what if anyone should look...look at them straight back and think you may as well look now because someday soon the weight will have gone! Good Luck on your journey ....be positive :-)
  • withabandon
    withabandon Posts: 168 Member
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    I don't see how anyone could EVER think that a person could be "too fat to go swimming". I really don't think anyone would ever think that.

    I have been fat for possibly the past third of my life from just overweight to pretty obese (300 lbs, healthy weight around 150 lbs) and I remember only too well during the thin period of my life wishing fat people kept themselves covered up, acres of bulging semi naked flesh wobbling about was not, in my view at that time, the most pleasant thing in the world. This has coloured my view. And I think you would probably be surprised to find out how many people find obesity, and public displays of it, disgusting. Yes, it shouldn't make any difference, and perhaps I should think, to hell with those who don't approve, but for well over ten years I have felt self conscious about my weight and have even avoided being naked or semi naked in front of family and friends. Go figure, we all have our hang ups. The positive thing is the more weight I lose, the less I feel like this and I see the day approaching when I will emerge from my mental chrysalis into the light!

    Yeah, maybe if you had learned acceptance of others and compassion, you wouldn't be hating on yourself now.

    You can train yourself not to judge others based in appearance. But if you don't fix it, you'll just become a horrible person who is fit. Aka an *kitten*.

    I agree, but you're applying today's morality to yesterday. When I was young, before you were born, fat people were few and far between and looked at differently. The thing that worries me nowadays in these more enlightened times, is all the talk of an obesity epidemic, it is making obese people something to be despised again, people who have no self control, people who are so gross they can't stop eating garbage. (Fortunately not th people on MFP who are doing their best to do something about it). Rather as smoking has become reviled, so is obesity, to the extent where if you're thin and die of a heart attack, you've had a heart attack, if you're obese and have a heart attack, you've died of an 'obesity related disease'. There has even been talk of Doctors refusing to treat obese people until they lose weight, fortunately that hasn't happened yet. Tomorrow's morality may be very different to today's, there are no abolutes.

    Nonetheless, the main reason I don't swim yet is I'm self conscious about my body which I don't like and can't imagine others will like. Maybe it takes more courage than I have to say to hell with the nay sayers, but that's just the way I am.

    Every part of you - your personality, your body, your attitude, is just a step in your journey. I have lost and gained back, SEVERAL times, about 40lbs but it was not until I looked at 325lbs of myself in the mirror and said "you are as good and worthy as anyone else" that I actually lost 60+lbs and have maintained it for three years or more. I have had to work at being kinder about bodies - not just my own but others as well. They are JUST BODIES. They don't actually mean a single thing about the morals or values of the person wearing them, regardless of what others may think. It's okay if you think it is distasteful but that is ALL YOU and nothing to do with them, and absolutely none of your business to say out loud or propagate. That's a good place to start.

    I helped myself by remembering when I was internally thinking something unkind about my or another person's body - "would I be okay with someone else saying this about my body?" if the answer is no, I shut down the negative talk immediately.
  • withabandon
    withabandon Posts: 168 Member
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    This is really timely - I JUST went for my first lap swim yesterday - I weigh 260 atm. I was incredibly anxious about it, to the point where I had to go to the pool sans suit first to see what kind of people were swimming and talk to the desk clerk about how busy it would be. I hit the medium speed lane because the slow speed lane is mostly walkers - it was wide, probably five or six of us (big enough for three abreast) and there was a diagram showing the flow of movement. I didn't WANT to do it because I was self conscious but I did it and did 750M. I recommend arm stretches before you go in (I ALWAYS learn the stretching lesson the hard way!) and after. There were bodies of all shapes and sizes there, all speeds of swimmers. In fact, the BEST SWIMMER IN THE WHOLE PLACE was a girl much larger than me. She was a beautiful swimmer, hardly put up a splash, just put he head down and went to work, cut through the water like a hot knife in butter. I was really impressed and inspired and I definitely aspire to be a calm, quiet swimmer like she is (I haven't swam much in a while so I felt like my movements were pretty frantic).

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