Mixed advice on swimming- can anyone help?

nel806
nel806 Posts: 7
edited November 14 in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone,

I've been reading some very mixed reviews on swimming for weight loss. I love to swim and would happily swim every day, but this morning I read a few articles about it being good for toning, flexibility, etc, but not the best for weight loss, and less effective if you are heavier. Weight loss is my primary goal, but stress release and general well being are important factors too.

Obviously swimming is better than no exercise, but not sure whether it's worth pushing myself to do other things to really optimise weight loss, or if I just keeping swimming that will be enough.

I also love dance workouts and yoga, but wondering what you guys would recommend as the best exercise to try.

Thanks!

Replies

  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
    Swimming is fantastic exercise no matter what. You can really choose how hard to make it and it's easy to change up workouts. Who says it's not good for weight loss?
  • tibby531
    tibby531 Posts: 717 Member
    edited March 2015
    why not do a day of swimming, a day of dance, a day of yoga, repeat, rest day? you want a routine that you will enjoy. you can always change it later if you want to try something else. :)
  • nikelle5036
    nikelle5036 Posts: 7
    Swimming is soooo dang good for you! If you love the water, try a water aerobics class. It's seriously so fun!! I just started a couple months ago and am in love. I've also heard of water zumba which would combine your love for dance and water! Unfortunately our gym doesn't offer it, but if they did I would totally be in for that.
  • AllanMisner
    AllanMisner Posts: 4,140 Member
    I assume by weight loss you mean fat loss. Fat loss is determined by what and how much you eat.

    Exercise should be for basic fitness, and yes, some exercise, such as swimming, burns additional calories which can help (high intensity cardio actually hampers my weight loss as my appetite soars, so I stick to low intensity cardio, and swimming might qualify for that).

    Beyond fat loss, what are your fitness goals? That should drive your choices of exercise programming.
  • Josalinn
    Josalinn Posts: 1,066 Member
    How is it not good for weight loss? You are getting your heart rate up, and you are hauling your body weight through a bunch of water resistance! It's easy on your joints and if it makes you feel good do it! How is swimming as exercise any different from running or cycling or dancing?

    You might want to throw in some heavy lifting. Lifting is good for your bones as well as your muscles. And really weight loss comes from eating less.

    I tried swimming, but I suck at it, and when I go the lanes are full and I hate washing my hair at the gym (It's very long!).
  • MyM0wM0w
    MyM0wM0w Posts: 2,008 Member
    ^ what sofaking6 said.

    Swim and dance and do yoga :smiley: No reason to limit to one exercise.

    Also, swimming is GREAT if you're heavier. It's really low impact and burns decent calories. It helped me a LOT when I first started at 300+lbs.
  • Sweets1954
    Sweets1954 Posts: 507 Member
    I can't figure out why anyone would say that swimming isn't good for weight loss. You are burning calories when you swim and toning muscles is a good thing. If you enjoy it I would continue, especially if you find it relieves stress. Since you are doing other types of exercise as well you should be getting a good balance. I have to agree with the water aerobics classes. I haven't found one that fits my schedule but I use to go quite regularly and really enjoyed them.
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
    Weight loss comes from a deficit.

    Exercising just aids that.

    Swimming is one of the best forms of exercise. It can be a full body workout and you add the amount of intensity.

    Low impact, helps with flexibility, burns calories.....seems like a win to me.
    But so is any form of extra moving.
  • faramelee
    faramelee Posts: 163 Member
    Hi!
    I am no expert but here are my thoughts....
    The basic calories in calories out principle applies all of the time and, whilst swimming, you are obviously burning calories so providing you are burning more than consuming (and presuming you have no health issues, underlying or otherwise), you will lose weight.
    Secondly, if it is something you really enjoy doing you are more likely to stick to it so enjoy it, although I would suggest mixing it up with yoga and dance workouts, which you stated you also enjoy, and any other active past-time that may take your fancy, this will help minimise the risk of boredom and keep your body guessing so to speak!
    Thirdly, anything that helps to minimise stress will ultimately assist in weight loss as when the body and mind are stressed you are more likely to retain weight, this sucks I know. Also stress MAY mean making more unhealthy food choices. Also, don't underestimate the power of general wellbeing!
    So, to sum up and answer your ultimate question - try various exercises, find what you enjoy and what works for you and makes you feel good and positive!
    I hope that this helps and I wish you the best of luck for the future!
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    weight loss comes from eating less, not from any one exercise.
  • PixieGoddess
    PixieGoddess Posts: 1,833 Member
    Bottom line: do any exercise that you enjoy enough to keep doing.
  • kwinocur
    kwinocur Posts: 2 Member
    I always find that swimming burns fewer calories than I think it should, putting me at risk for eating back more than I burned. Any body fat will make you more buoyant, so that combined with an efficient stroke makes it easy to move quickly in the water without actually using a lot of energy. It can still be a great exercise as part of a fitness plan, but weight loss is going to come from calories and swimming can be deceptive in that sense.
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    My daughter is a competitive swimmer and swim coach...none of them are heavy in fact they all end up quite fit and looking great!
  • carolynmo1969
    carolynmo1969 Posts: 120 Member
    I am happiest when I am in water. The only downside I can see to swimming & weight loss is that I am often STARVING when I get out of the water! I swim, I tread water, I take classes, I even purchased foam barbells for toning excercises and a foam belt for water running.
  • adwilliams03
    adwilliams03 Posts: 147 Member
    nikelle5036 wrote: »
    Swimming is soooo dang good for you! If you love the water, try a water aerobics class. It's seriously so fun!! I just started a couple months ago and am in love. I've also heard of water zumba which would combine your love for dance and water! Unfortunately our gym doesn't offer it, but if they did I would totally be in for that.

    Aqua zumba is awesome. SO much fun. It's probably my favorite exercise!
  • jhall260
    jhall260 Posts: 111 Member
    Swimming is great, if you like it. I enjoy swimming (especially open water!) very much. While the calorie burn is less then say running or cycling that doesn't mean it's not a great way to burn some calories. It is also very low impact, which is great!

    I am a triathlete so it helps use muscles in the upper body that I normally wouldn't use in cycling or running (well at least a lot, I notice swimming helps these two sports as well).

    The only problem for me is I get super hungry after swimming. Something to do with the cold water? I don't know. I am much hungrier after a 30 min swim then a 90 minute run. Often times any additional calorie burn is offset by me having a snack after! But that's my fault.

    When it comes down to it it really is CICO.
    Enjoy your swim!

  • TriShamelessly
    TriShamelessly Posts: 905 Member
    While swimming does not burn quite as much as running (the king for calorie torching), high intensity swimming still burns a ton of calories and is great for weight loss. As a triathlete, I regularly swim, bike and run for aerobic activity. Depending on my intensity level, the calorie burns will vary considerably. So a high intensity swim session might burn more than a low intensity workout of either of the other two. At the same intensity level, the calories burns from high to low (as measured by a heart rate monitor) are 1 - running, 2- biking and 3 - swimming (by a small margin vs. biking). Most importantly, do what you enjoy and can stick to longer term. I also note that there are plenty of "training" books out there that will give you different routines to do in the pool to keep it fresh. Have fun and best wishes!
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    edited March 2015
    sofaking6 wrote: »
    Swimming is fantastic exercise no matter what. You can really choose how hard to make it and it's easy to change up workouts. Who says it's not good for weight loss?
    Agreed.


    Capt_Apollo wrote: »
    weight loss comes from eating less, not from any one exercise.
    Also agreed.


    Diet for weight loss. Exercise, swimming included, for a number of other benefits.
  • urloved33
    urloved33 Posts: 3,323 Member
    To be honest....swimming does not make you tight like weight lifting. It makes you fit. When the swimmers would come to my house before a meet they would eat and eat and eat. then swim then be starving so they must have burned some serious calories
  • Katleskin
    Katleskin Posts: 111 Member
    If you enjoy swimming get in that pool! Most of the weight I've lost came off while I was doing only swimming and walking (I started out at 211lbs) - obviously I was logging the calories at the same time but it's an exercise I enjoy so I don't much care if there are 'better' ways. I find it relaxing and fun and all that good stuff. My HRM says I burned 370 calories in 36 minutes today, it has definitely helped shrink/tone my 'bingo wings' and the more I swim the faster I get - that'll do for me.
  • nel806
    nel806 Posts: 7
    Wow! So many responses guys, thanks so much.

    You've all kind of confirmed what I was thinking/hoping. I guess I was confused because I was reading that swimming and cycling are way better burners, but when I enter 60minutes of swimming on here, the calorie burn is higher than running or swimming. For me at my weight, today it said I burnt 800 calories for 70 minutes, which seemed a lot. Hence the confusion.

    And to those saying I should diet for weight loss, I'm also doing that too. I assumed that was a given.

    Many thanks everyone!
  • davidcliff
    davidcliff Posts: 144 Member
    You will burn more calories swimming 1 mile than you will running 1 mile, period.
    Former D1 College Swimmer(events 200 Fly & 1650) Active Swim Coach.
  • kamakazeekim
    kamakazeekim Posts: 1,183 Member
    To lose weight you need to restrict your calories. Swimming is an excellent exercise though to improve fitness and cardiovascular health! You can make swimming as easy or difficult as you like. The breast stroke and side stroke are pretty easy strokes that are great for beginners. The front crawl is more taxing...especially when going for a long time. The butterfly even more so! Try to use a kick board to target specific muscle groups and add variety. I love swimming! I wish I lived near a facility with a pool but the closes place is over an hour away :(
  • glevinso
    glevinso Posts: 1,895 Member
    davidcliff wrote: »
    You will burn more calories swimming 1 mile than you will running 1 mile, period.
    Former D1 College Swimmer(events 200 Fly & 1650) Active Swim Coach.

    That isn't quite a fair comparison, since these things take vastly different amounts of time. All-out, I can swim a "mile" in about 25 minutes (a shade under 1:30/100yd) but I can run a single mile all out in 5:35. What is the point of the "mile" then?

    Either way, you burn about the same amount of calories for time spent doing something of effort. Which works out to about 100 calories is about a mile worth of running, about 3 miles worth of biking, and about 500-700 yards (about 1/3rd of a mile) in the pool.
  • davidcliff
    davidcliff Posts: 144 Member
    edited March 2015
    glevinso wrote: »
    davidcliff wrote: »
    You will burn more calories swimming 1 mile than you will running 1 mile, period.
    Former D1 College Swimmer(events 200 Fly & 1650) Active Swim Coach.

    That isn't quite a fair comparison, since these things take vastly different amounts of time. All-out, I can swim a "mile" in about 25 minutes (a shade under 1:30/100yd) but I can run a single mile all out in 5:35. What is the point of the "mile" then?

    Either way, you burn about the same amount of calories for time spent doing something of effort. Which works out to about 100 calories is about a mile worth of running, about 3 miles worth of biking, and about 500-700 yards (about 1/3rd of a mile) in the pool.

    A couple of people posted above stating you don't burn as many cals swimming as you do running, or cycling.

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