Just started swimming

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tyediri
tyediri Posts: 183 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hello all!

I have just started to include swimming in my workout plan as I now have 2 swim buddies. :)

I normally do the breast stroke for about 30 minutes and in that time I do about 25-30 laps (it is more of a leisure pace, although by the end of the 30 laps I do feel quite warm). MFP says this will burn over 300kcals???? (I log my 55 minute zumba class at just over 400kcals and that is a proper work out.
I am 5'4 and weigh just under 138lbs.

I can't wear my HRM underwater, so is there anyone else who does wear their heart rate monitor and what is your height, weight, swim duration and calorie burn like?

In the mean time, I have logged my swimming as 20 minutes, just in case. :) This gives me about 200-250kcals burn.

Thank you! :)

Replies

  • cavewoman15
    cavewoman15 Posts: 278 Member
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    congrats on getting into swimming! i love it. i think that MFP overestimates calories burned in general, and i really think this is true for swimming. that seems really high. it's also weird, but MFP counts breast stroke as a lot higher calorie burn than freestyle, which doesn't really make much sense to me because i think breast stroke is generally considered a recovery stroke (not to say some people don't do it for a workout, but i think most people do it when they are tired from freestyle).

    my solution is to log my swims as 'light/moderate' when i'm really often doing 'moderate/heavy'. your strategy seems like a good one too. if you are really concerned about calories in/calories out, i would be hesitant to log the actual amount.
  • katykat79
    katykat79 Posts: 24 Member
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    Swimming is great cross training! I think you are right on with about 225 for that swimming. I have worn a heart rate monitor while swimming a few times and I swam for 45 minutes, freestyle and I got a calorie burn of about 375-400, depending on intensity. Also, as the PP stated, MFP gets closer when you pick the "light" intensity. I am 5'8", 150, female.

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