Im starting a swimming exercise, need advices

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RamesSekai
RamesSekai Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
There is a small canal-like sea near my house.
Anyway it is a 200 wide sea water that i started swimming everyday. So its a 200 meter going and 200 meter going back so thats almost 400 meters total of swimming in sea water. My question is: is this a good exercise to loose weight?
I enjoy swimming so i do this instead of walking or jogging.
Typically i finish it in 2-3 laps in under 20 minutes.
Please inform me if i need to change the workout or should i increase it.

The thing is i dont feel that much exhausted. . But i do feel tired, and im afraid that if i increase the intensity of it i would then hate it and simply stop doing it. So please if you have any advice you can give me. Please do.
Sorry for the bad English

Replies

  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    That's a great start! I like to swim three times a week, and usually spend 45-60 minutes doing laps. You may find that with time and experience you want to increase the distance, but that is up to you. You definitely don't want to get to the point of hating it.

    For losing weight, it is more about your food intake. Swimming, any exercise really, is for fitness (helps you look better without your clothes on). Others have explained this much better than I can, so I will add a link for you to do some additional reading. I haven't read all of these, but there is some really good information about counting (and logging) calories accurately:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260517/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest
  • RamesSekai
    RamesSekai Posts: 3 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    That's a great start! I like to swim three times a week, and usually spend 45-60 minutes doing laps. You may find that with time and experience you want to increase the distance, but that is up to you. You definitely don't want to get to the point of hating it.

    For losing weight, it is more about your food intake. Swimming, any exercise really, is for fitness (helps you look better without your clothes on). Others have explained this much better than I can, so I will add a link for you to do some additional reading. I haven't read all of these, but there is some really good information about counting (and logging) calories accurately:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260517/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

    Thanks for replying so fast, im starting to love this app.
    Anyway, i understand that weight loss is about food intake and calories deficit. But my queston is roughly how much calories did i burn, or how does it compare to a 4km jog ?
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    RamesSekai wrote: »
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    That's a great start! I like to swim three times a week, and usually spend 45-60 minutes doing laps. You may find that with time and experience you want to increase the distance, but that is up to you. You definitely don't want to get to the point of hating it.

    For losing weight, it is more about your food intake. Swimming, any exercise really, is for fitness (helps you look better without your clothes on). Others have explained this much better than I can, so I will add a link for you to do some additional reading. I haven't read all of these, but there is some really good information about counting (and logging) calories accurately:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10260517/most-helpful-posts-getting-started-must-reads#latest

    Thanks for replying so fast, im starting to love this app.
    Anyway, i understand that weight loss is about food intake and calories deficit. But my queston is roughly how much calories did i burn, or how does it compare to a 4km jog ?

    The calorie burn will depend on your height, weight, effort, etc. There are many factors. I can tell you that I burn just over 300 calories in an hour, but that is using the FitBit database, rather than the MFP database. You can enter it into the app here (there is also a website version, I find more user friendly). However, the database here seems to overestimate calorie burns for many people, so if you are eating back exercise calories, it a good idea to only eat back 50-75% of these.
  • azulvioleta6
    azulvioleta6 Posts: 4,195 Member
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    Calorie estimates for swimming tend to be very inaccurate. They are based on minutes only, rather than minutes plus speed. You can find swimming in the exercise tracker. I assume that the calorie estimates are only close to being correct if you are swimming VERY hard.

    It sounds like you have a good start. I generally swim 1-2 miles at a time, 30 minutes/mile...but it took a while to work up to that speed!
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    azulvioleta6 wrote: »
    Calorie estimates for swimming tend to be very inaccurate. They are based on minutes only, rather than minutes plus speed. You can find swimming in the exercise tracker. I assume that the calorie estimates are only close to being correct if you are swimming VERY hard.

    It sounds like you have a good start. I generally swim 1-2 miles at a time, 30 minutes/mile...but it took a while to work up to that speed!

    Wow! It takes me an hour to get to .6 of a mile. But I suck at swimming, I just enjoy it.
  • jurple132
    jurple132 Posts: 19 Member
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    There are lots of things to consider in how much weight this will help you lose.

    First, what stroke are you doing? Butterfly is going to help you burn more calories but i'm guessing you are doing freestyle which is less demanding. It's a good idea to mix up your swimming a bit - maybe swim breast-stroke there and freestyle back so then you are working different muscle groups. After each lap you could throw in some out of water exercises (like pushups, tricep dips or crunches) to increase calorie burn

    The weather will also affect your calorie burn. Swimming in rougher water is going to provide more resistance so is going to increase calorie burn (compared with say, swimming in a heated pool). To increase this even more and ramp up the calorie burn you could do a lap with a t-shirt on; this works on the same resistance principle.

    Again, another thing to consider is speed. Faster speed is going to change your calorie output. Something that might help you enjoy your swims more is doing some faster swimming in between periods of 'active rest' or medium speed lengths - like H.I.I.T. This way it remains enjoyable but increases the amount of calories burned and helps increase your fitness too.

    As swimming is weightless you are not going to achieve the same calorie burn as, say, a run; unless you are going pretty fast or in conditions stated above. This type of exercise is helpful in recruiting more muscle groups than running however and thus will help tone your whole body better and because it is weightless, swimming is particularly useful for those with knee injuries etc.

    Sorry... you probably didn't want an essay as an answer but i'm a swim teacher so couldn't help myself.

  • jurple132
    jurple132 Posts: 19 Member
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    Also.. calorie input vs output. If you are eating more calories than you burn then you won't notice any change in your physique.
  • lindayloo43
    lindayloo43 Posts: 2 Member
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    Hi,
    I have recently started swimming again. For the past 3 weeks I have swam 4 X week 1. 3 times week 2 and 1 time week 3. Each swim lasts 60 minutes and 60 lengths of a 35 metre pool @ breast stroke. I am also within calorie maximum each day. Why am I not losing weight?
  • lindayloo43
    lindayloo43 Posts: 2 Member
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    Sorry 25 m pool
  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
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    lindayloo43 wrote: »
    Hi,
    I have recently started swimming again. For the past 3 weeks I have swam 4 X week 1. 3 times week 2 and 1 time week 3. Each swim lasts 60 minutes and 60 lengths of a 35 metre pool @ breast stroke. I am also within calorie maximum each day. Why am I not losing weight?

    You should probably post your own thread so people can help you. Include your stats, height, start weight, activity level in general, calorie intake. Opening your diary would help too. And how do you measure your food? Do you use cups, scale, eyeball?
  • jurple132
    jurple132 Posts: 19 Member
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    lindayloo43 wrote: »
    Hi,
    I have recently started swimming again. For the past 3 weeks I have swam 4 X week 1. 3 times week 2 and 1 time week 3. Each swim lasts 60 minutes and 60 lengths of a 35 metre pool @ breast stroke. I am also within calorie maximum each day. Why am I not losing weight?

    First up make sure you are measuring your calories accurately and that your maximum is right for your height/weight/activity level. You could try mixing the exercise up a bit. Faster lengths among slower lengths, add in some other strokes or drills (e.g. lengths of freestyle, arms only swimming/legs only etc). If you do the same thing every swim your body will get used to it and you won't burn as many calories as when you first did it. Doing some weight bearing exercise or strength training is bound to be beneficial too.
  • RamesSekai
    RamesSekai Posts: 3 Member
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    Today is my 7th day, and i noticed that I actually dont get as tired as before. Never thought i will improve this fast =D
    So I doubled the length and tried to reduce the rest time. Is that good? Or should i just increase the speed. Or maybe don't reduce the rest time.
  • SwimmyD
    SwimmyD Posts: 96 Member
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    I've just started back in the pool too- only three weeks ago. It feels good to be back in the water. Crappy shoulder and neck limits my speed now, but I'm just working on getting my endurance and distance up to something where I can start to do sets and drills again. Happy swimming everyone!
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    Hi,
    I find swimming to be great for my overall endurance and fitness. However, it also makes me hungrier than any other sport I do. Theres a good bit of research into why this is and its likely mostly caused by lowering body temperature. That being said, plan your swims and food. It's great for you but I find makes it easy to overeat as well. Just a thought not at all a discouragement from doing this great exercise!
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    Here are some workout ideas
    http://100swimmingworkouts.com
  • jurple132
    jurple132 Posts: 19 Member
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    RamesSekai wrote: »
    Today is my 7th day, and i noticed that I actually dont get as tired as before. Never thought i will improve this fast =D
    So I doubled the length and tried to reduce the rest time. Is that good? Or should i just increase the speed. Or maybe don't reduce the rest time.

    Awesome, congrats! Increasing length is great, if it were me I would try doing some periods of faster swimming within the workout; but it's up to you. I'd recommend a rest time of less than a minute per 400m (but again it is up to you; you could just slow down instead or try a different stroke rather than stop completely, or you could take a short break)

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