Swimming?

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niksternoo
niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all, I'm desperate to lose 1.5 stone in eight weeks (for very valid reasons not just to lose weight). Ive started a 1500 cal a day diet and am swimming and Aquafit 7 days a week in an effort to shift it. But I've been told I won't lose weight that way and will just build muscle? I have plantar faciitis so can't walk and thus is the only exercise I can do. I've 4.5 stone to lose in total but HAVE to get 1.5 off by 1st Aug and work on rest over the next day year. Any advice please

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  • suruda
    suruda Posts: 1,233 Member
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    swimming is a great calorie burn and easy on your joints. I would think eating at a deficit and swimming to burn more calories would be a great combination for weight loss.
  • niksternoo
    niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
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    I'm swimming an hour a day and the app says I burn 1200 Cals each day doing that, do you think 1500 Cals is enough to eat? I do feel more toned and only been doing it three weeks, but being on a deadline I've got to really do this right
  • RollTideTri
    RollTideTri Posts: 116 Member
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    Swimming will burn calories like any other cardio exercise will, which can help you eat at a deficit, which will make you lose weight. You're not going to build a alot of muscle doing it, I wouldn't worry about that.

    1.5 stone in 8 weeks is a pretty fast weight loss, faster than recommended unless you're very obese. Can I ask why you need to lose that specific amount so quickly?
  • suruda
    suruda Posts: 1,233 Member
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    I'm sure the app is overestimating how many calories you burn, it seems to do that with most excercises. I think if you feel hungry still after eating 1500 calories at the end of the day, eat something healthy like an apple...you would definitely be able to afford a few extra calories for something like that. If an apple or a healthy snack doesn't appeal then it probably is more of a craving than actual hunger. Nice work!
  • niksternoo
    niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
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    Brilliant thanks guys. I am obese hence needing to lose a little over 4.5 stone. Logic tells me you are both correct, I shouldn't listen to others who think they know it all lol. Will carry on as I'm doing and hope to see changes soon
  • michelleepotter
    michelleepotter Posts: 800 Member
    edited June 2016
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    nikitynoobiloo wrote: »
    I'm swimming an hour a day and the app says I burn 1200 Cals each day doing that, do you think 1500 Cals is enough to eat? I do feel more toned and only been doing it three weeks, but being on a deadline I've got to really do this right

    What exactly do you mean? Are you saying that one hour of swimming is 1200 extra calories on top of your normal calorie burn for the day? In which case, no, that's probably way overestimated unless you're working very hard during that hour. And if you are burning 1200 extra calories per day, you probably want to eat back some of that. That's a huge deficit per day.

    Or are you saying that, including swimming, you burn a total of 1200 calories per day? In which case, no, you probably burn more than that unless you are very small. And also, if you are burning 1200 calories per day and eating 1500, you will gain weight, not lose. So I'm very confused about what you are saying / doing exactly.
  • niksternoo
    niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
    edited June 2016
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    I'm swimming an hour a day which mfp tells me is burning 1200 cals. I eat 1500 Cals a day. Sorry I wasn't very clear.
  • besaro
    besaro Posts: 1,858 Member
    edited June 2016
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    if the calculations are correct that means you're netting 300 calorie, so no you're not eating enough. Thats a big If as to the accuracy of the burn. For MFP its 1500 + calories burned. You CAN eat more and still lose, trust ALL the stories on MFP.

    i lost 100 pounds on a baseline of 1500 and eating back every single one i earned walking, running, dancing, biking, hiking, whatever.
  • niksternoo
    niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
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    dhmckl7p98z5.png
    This is what it said when I entered it. So obviously very wrong then.
  • michelleepotter
    michelleepotter Posts: 800 Member
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    So 1200 calories extra for the exercise. That's probably an overestimate. Are you eating 1500 calories total, or net? Also, what does MFP say your daily goal should be? If you're eating back all of those 1200 calories, you're probably eating too much. But you should eat back some of them at least.
  • astridfeline
    astridfeline Posts: 1,200 Member
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    nikitynoobiloo wrote: »
    I'm swimming an hour a day which mfp tells me is burning 1200 cals. I eat 1500 Cals a day. Sorry I wasn't very clear.
    When I log 45 minutes of fast/vigorous freestyle swimming, MFP tells me I burn 667 calories, which I always felt was an overestimate...I swim 1 mile in 45 minutes, that is a real fast recreational swim time, or a real slow competition time. what kind of swimming are you doing besides Aquafit? You are probably overestimating your calorie burn.

  • JB_DBS
    JB_DBS Posts: 8 Member
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    For reference, I use a HRM while I swim. If I swim 1,200 yards in about 20 minutes (an easy-to-moderate pace for me), The HRM calculates that I've burned 240 calories. I'm 213 lbs at 5'11". That would be 720 calories per hour. To burn 1200 calories you'd need to be quite a bit bigger than me and maintaining an effort level that would be challenging to maintain for an hour IMO. I think you are safer to assume an hour of swimming at 600-700 calories.
  • snowflake954
    snowflake954 Posts: 8,399 Member
    edited June 2016
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    The database gives me 771 cal for 60 min of breaststroke--general. If you are obese perhaps that is why it's giving you so many calories. I, personally, would only count half--600 cal at the most.

    Note: I'm 61, 5'11'' and 76 kilos
  • alyssagb1
    alyssagb1 Posts: 353 Member
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    nikitynoobiloo wrote: »
    dhmckl7p98z5.png
    This is what it said when I entered it. So obviously very wrong then.

    I've found the estimates to be close to other "calculators" and so on. They're supposed to use MET tables to calculate the burn based on your height/weight/sex etc. HOWEVER - The estimates (In my opinion) are usually off because most of the time you don't take the fact that when you say "60" minutes or whatever time, you're telling the calculator that you did (insert activity) NON stop, at which ever paced selected constantly. It's important to choose the exercise very carefully, note any breaks taken and any change in speed or intensity. Any deviations on those will throw off any calculator.

    OR I could be totally wrong rofl. That's just my take.

    Good Luck! :)
  • niksternoo
    niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
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    Sorry guys I'm only going by what I put in. I put 60 mins of continual breast stroke and it gave me that. I don't understand what you mean by 'eat back' I'm now getting confused.... I don't swim that fast although when I swim my heart rate is raised, I'm out of breath, and face feels very hot and red. I am more than you weigh John. Sorry if I've confused you all, I've now confused myself! Haha
  • niksternoo
    niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
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    Maybe the Cals burnt that mfp calculates differ by an individual's weight and build? I'm very overweight (not for much longer hopefully!) so maybe it shows me burning more as I have lots to lose?
  • JB_DBS
    JB_DBS Posts: 8 Member
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    No worries. I just got into a rut for a while where I was overeating because I thought I was burning more than I was and couldn't figure out why I wasn't losing weight.

    The "eat back" context goes like this: My goal calories are 1850 per day. This gives me the deficit to lose weight at my target pace of 2-3 lbs per week. If I exercise and burn 500 calories, my deficit is now the deficit to lose weight + 500. I can "eat back" the 500 calories that day (eating 2,350 instead of the goal 1850) and maintain my weight loss plan. This is great if I ACTUALLY exercise the 500 calories. I find that even my HRM overestimates caloric burn during activities, so I try to stick to my target plus only about 250-300 extra calories per hour of hard exercise. This seems to be keeping me on track with 2-3 lbs per week of loss. When I was eating back the level of caloric burn indicated, I lost no weight and was even slowly gaining weight in some weeks. I then started backing off the "eat back" calories until it stabilized and then got me back to my plan, which is where my 250-300 target vs. what the watch says.

    Best of luck!
  • niksternoo
    niksternoo Posts: 21 Member
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    Ahhh I see, that makes total sense now, thank you
  • kendahlj
    kendahlj Posts: 243 Member
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    My sister told me that if all you did was swim, your body would adjust for buoyancy and you wouldn't lose weight. I said bullcrap. Anyone ever hear this? I'm not sure where she heard it...
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
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    Sorry @kendahlj that is indeed BS. Of course you burn calories swimming as you're carrying out work by moving mass over a distance. Basic physics.

    Just to hop on this topic... I swim hard coached triathlon pool sessions, each one is 1hr long and we do total around 2.1km (86lengths) made up of warm up, main set, drills and cool down. It's tough, I'm frequently hanging over the edge of the pool well and truly outside my comfort zone. BUT of course there are times in that hour that we're taking instruction or 10s rests so it's not a full 1hr of constant swimming. When I enter into MapMyFitness 1hr lap swimming it gives me a measly 425 calories. I'm
    5ft5, 121lb and in maintenance and pretty fit cardio wise. My HRM generally concurs with this burn number. So I just wanted to say be careful, you could be burning way less than you would think. Swimming makes us breathless which it's easy to mistake for a high HR but it's often not actually the case and thus the burn is lower. Just some thoughts...

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