Swimming for weight loss?

Options
julesbollenbach
julesbollenbach Posts: 13 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Can you swim for weight loss? I have been swimming 3-6 times a week for 2 months and I haven't lost anything. I'm swimming fly, back, breast and free and definitely feeling it. It's the only thing I like to do. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • 3dogsrunning
    3dogsrunning Posts: 27,167 Member
    Options
    Yes, you can lose weight while swimming but weight loss comes down strictly to calorie intake. You can swim/bike/run/lift as much as you want but if you eat too many calories, you won't lose.
  • thereshegoesagain
    thereshegoesagain Posts: 1,056 Member
    Options
    Yes, I'm down 87 pounds due to walking, swimming and counting calories. I under estimate my exercise calories and over estimate my calories consumed to ensure Im not eating more than I should to reach my goals.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Options
    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10012907/logging-accuracy-consistency-and-youre-probably-eating-more-than-you-think/p1
  • sympha01
    sympha01 Posts: 942 Member
    Options
    I'm curious why you thought it was important to tell us the frequency of your swims and what stroke you're using, but no details about your calorie deficit. If it's because you're not tracking your food, um, you have to limit your food intake to lose weight: that means having at least some sense of how much you were eating before, and how much you are eating now.

    Track your food. Eat a sensible number of calories but below your maintenance level with exercise. If you don't exercise, you have to eat even less, if you do exercise, yay you get a few hundred extra calories a week -- which is great for morale and helps fit treats in, but doesn't amount to enough of a difference that someone who wants to lose weight can afford to not limit total food intake overall.
  • shor0814
    shor0814 Posts: 559 Member
    Options
    You can use swimming to increase your calorie deficit but be careful about relating after. I am always extra hungry after a swim and have to be careful how much I eat otherwise I go over allocated calories. The hunger usually goes away quickly, just resist the temptation.
  • THenry8
    THenry8 Posts: 62 Member
    Options
    I love swimming and it does help me to lose weight! Pretty much, it all comes down to eating right, eating less calories, and making right choices! More importantly, exercise! Strength Training/Resistance, Cardio. All of it helps!
  • BJPCraig
    BJPCraig Posts: 417 Member
    Options
    What they said about tracking. As to the swimming, one suggestion I would make (and this is JUST my gut instinct) is that you might want to try some interval training, which seems to work well for walking/running, biking, etc. Basically, cruise with your swimming for a while, then go like a torpedo for a short period, then drop to cruise mode to rest a bit, then kick it into high gear again, etc. Good luck!
  • julesbollenbach
    julesbollenbach Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    Thanks!
  • SwimmyD
    SwimmyD Posts: 96 Member
    Options
    I've lost 18 pounds from four months of swimming, while on a calorie deficit. I'm very pleased with my progress, and I'm getting my old swimming body back. I swim hard, usually from 3.5 to 4 km per workout (90 min - 3 days a week) but I never log it as "fast vigorous effort" because that is a race pace.

    The calorie burns at "slow or moderate pace" are approx 500 cal per hour on MFP. I believe that calorie expenditure for the average person is incorrect because there are too many variables such as how efficient of a swimmer you are (ie how many muscle groups do you actually engage - do you kick consistently and forcefully? Do you use your core and roll? Do you just kinda float along, or do you power ahead and have a long stroke with a complete pull-through?). Also the size of your pool - is it 25yds/m or is it a 50? These are stops- even if you flip and push off. All of this affects the overall calorie burn, not to mention if you separate your strokes into various kicking and pulling drills.

    I think calorie expenditure amounts for walking and running are probably more accurate for the average person because it's pretty much the same muscles that everyone is using to get through a gait cycle (unless you have a disability) whereas if you swim a lot you will see that there are a million ways to get across a pool.

    Anyways, if you are measuring your calories very carefully and you aren't losing weight, then are you eating back hundreds and hundreds of swimming calories? I personally don't - because I know those numbers aren't correct. If I do eat back, I'll go over by about 200 or 250 for my swim - about the same for a brisk 30 min walk. It's working for me. Good luck!
  • julesbollenbach
    julesbollenbach Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    Thanks for the advice. I think I will re-modify the exercise amount which should shift my calorie intake.
  • ElizabethOakes2
    ElizabethOakes2 Posts: 1,038 Member
    Options
    Before my back surgery, swimming was the only exercise I could do. I lost 20 pounds in the months leading up to my surgery, AND I was comfort eating like crazy during that time because I was in critical, chronic pain.

    One thing about swimming- A study in Britain showed that swimming was ineffective for weight loss, but then follow up studies discovered that the Brit study was done on cold-water/outdoor swimmers. When putting half the subjects in a heated pool and half in an unheated outdoor pool, the half that was in the warm water ate less and reported being less hungry after their swims. Another follow up study in Michigan gave outdoor distance swimmers hot showers after swimming, and they, too, ate less than their fellow swimmers who didn't warm up afterwards.

    Even if you're swimming in an indoor pool, you might want to make sure to take a 'warm up' shower when you get out, and maybe have a hot tea to warm your body.

    Also, SwimmyD may be right about the calorie input/output that you're getting from swimming. You might try wearing a heart monitor (Garmin makes an awesome swim meter) for a few swims for a more accurate count.
  • julesbollenbach
    julesbollenbach Posts: 13 Member
    Options
    Great, thanks for that! I swim indoors and shower after. I don't feel hungry after swimming cause I still get swimmers bloat right after. Plus after working out the last thing I want to do is mess up all my work! Interesting about the Garmin, I will def check it out.
  • meritage4
    meritage4 Posts: 1,441 Member
    Options
    Glad Elizaberh O brought up the cold water stuff. 30 years ago when I was in university one question was why swimming was not equalling the expected weight loss and the theory was the cold water was causing the body to hold onto the fat.

    Made sense to me-I was a swimmer and instructor and lifeguard at the time.
    Then I was pool supervisor at a camp for kids with disabilities. We kept that pool warm. One chubby staff toned up very well by swimming lengths.

    So my advice would be try hot tub after your swim to negate colder water. If there is a choice between 2 pools to swim in choose the warmer one. (one fitness facilty had a baby pool, 25 metre pool of medium temp and a 50 metre pool of competition temperature (cold). )
  • Michaelg235
    Michaelg235 Posts: 1,093 Member
    Options
    Actually swimming is the best exercise it burns a lot of calories depends how fast your going though but it is legit because I do it for my workouts also
  • Working2BLean
    Working2BLean Posts: 386 Member
    Options
    You sure can!

    It isn't my best calorie burning or most intense exercise but it is an awesome change up from cycling and running. There is something awesome about swimming for core and general athletic strength.

    For overall balanced physique swimming bring something good to the table. I swim 1750 yards 3xWeekly. It isn't a huge volume but enough to do some calorie burn and body shaping.

    And yeah... That hot tub soak afterwards when I have time is awesome!
  • SwimmyD
    SwimmyD Posts: 96 Member
    Options
    I did a quick Google search and the results are all over the map for weight loss vs temperature, both in water and out of water (cold weather vs warm weather, outside or even in a room). So, science has not definitively stated that colder water swimming will cause you to retain fat, because I've read the opposite. In fact this could cause some people to second guess whether swimming is a good cardio exercise to burn calories, when really it's all about CICO.

    It's true that people who swim the English Channel have a higher body fat percentage, but they do that purposely, because the water is beyond cold, and they are swimming for days. Usually 25m community pools are kept between 84-85 degrees, and the "warm water" therapy pools are around 89ish. The competition pools are closer to 80-82 because you CAN'T push yourself to swim really hard in a warm therapy pool. You will overheat, so a long hard workout with high intensity intervals is not sustainable. It's why serious swimmers stay away from "warm" pools.

    As for the studies, controlling factors such as diet and efficiency and speed of the swimmers is difficult to do, and from what I gathered - the sample sizes in the studies are small and the variables are not all controlled. You would need to compare like with like, and "recreational" swimmers can't be compared with each other very well since they are all at different levels of ability and speed. You'd need a huge sample population. Competitive speed swimmers would be the best population to compare with diet and calorie expenditure because they swim the same way - but you'd never get any to agree to swim in warm water.

    My best advice to OP is to get that swimmers bloat under control - try to find out what is causing it (food or gulping air) because it must be interfering with your swim. No one likes to swim while feeling a bit sick in the stomach, and you can't swim as hard or as long if you're not feeling okay. My second piece of advice is to log it like a brisk walk, so that the calories aren't too inflated. Have a nice shower at the end, but don't worry too much about how hot it is. Just get the chlorine off. In fact, if you've had a really hard workout and you're red faced and your hair is "hot" under the cap, the last thing you'll want to do is step into a hot tub.

    Good luck OP. Swimming is awesome!

Categories