Leisurely swimming question

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casey12105
casey12105 Posts: 293
in Fitness and Exercise
So the pool is about to open up this weekend, and during the summer I literally spend at least 2 hours a day at the pool with my son. Sometimes we'll spend literally all day there since the pool is right across the street, we'll go in the morning when it opens, come home for lunch, then go back till about 5 or 6. Obviously we aren't swimming laps, sometimes I'm in the shallow end playing with him, sometimes swimming around in the deep end, etc. My question is, do I log this? Or should I change from sedentary to lightly active? I got curious and put in 120 minutes of "leisurely swimming" and that count was way too high, like over 1000 cals burned and that just seems ridiculously high to me. Thoughts?

Replies

  • fab125
    fab125 Posts: 10 Member
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    I would definitely not log the leisurely swimming. MFP will over calculate leading you to believe you can eat an extra 1,000 cals. Instead, I would change to "lightly active"
  • Charli666
    Charli666 Posts: 407
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    wear a HRM and log it minus your BMR calories
  • littttlelaurra
    littttlelaurra Posts: 229 Member
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    will watch your post because I was wondering this as well, its one thing if you yourself are doing some laps or treading water continuously for a certain amount of time but I know I just chill out in my pool in the summer, and lightly swim about its by no means doing much loll, its just cool, relaxing and enjoyable but I am not working out even if it feels good and is doing something active. Good Question!!!
  • hockeyman28
    hockeyman28 Posts: 136
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    I like the lightly active option. When I am not at work (days off) and home with my boy, I consider myself lightly active, though I dont change, I just feel less bad about going over a little
  • fab125
    fab125 Posts: 10 Member
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    I think leisurely swimming means swimming very slow laps- thats how i would take it.
  • HJSilva
    HJSilva Posts: 29
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    Sounds like you and your son have alot of fun at the pool! I would change to lightly active.
  • taliyai
    taliyai Posts: 38
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    I would go with lightly active! Since this will be a daily type of activity for you for the rest of the summer, you should see this as your base activity level. Anything other than doing this leisurely swimming should be exercise. But while you're at the pool it's just your daily activity :) Seems to make more sense and it's better safe than sorry :P
  • sarahbear1981
    sarahbear1981 Posts: 610 Member
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    The calorie burns on here for swimming are ridiculous. I spend an hour in the pool and swim non-stop and the most I am comfortable logging is 728 calories burned. You do burn more calories swimming than you would think because your body is using energy to keep itself warm in the cold water. However, for just playing around in the water I would log like 500-600 just to be safe and consider the rest to be bonus!
  • sarahbear1981
    sarahbear1981 Posts: 610 Member
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    sorry double post
  • beckusjane
    beckusjane Posts: 112
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    I do believe that swimming burns more calories than you think. Especially if you are in water up to your knees or higher because you are pushing against the water. 1000 calories definitely seems to be a bit much. I dont think I would necessarily count it on my exercise diary. Just consider it a bonus in your weightloss journey!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I would definitely not log the leisurely swimming. MFP will over calculate leading you to believe you can eat an extra 1,000 cals. Instead, I would change to "lightly active"

    Agree with this.
  • healthyjen342
    healthyjen342 Posts: 1,435 Member
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    Maybe you could log it, but NOT eat ALL the calories back? That way you dont sabotage yourself, but you have it in your diary for reference...

    Another option is what taliyai said...change your activity level...since you do it every day..

    Good Luck! and please, let me know what you decide...we go to the pool a lot too.
  • casey12105
    casey12105 Posts: 293
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    Thanks for your input everyone! I think I'm just going to change my activity level since like ya'll said it's going to be an every day thing.

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