Question about swimming

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  • messyhare
    messyhare Posts: 366 Member
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    Sounds like the pool will be a good thing all the way around - happy kids, happy parents and weight loss to boot!
    All I can tell you is that I have been swimming as my primary exercise and logging it in MFP. When I used the MFP calculations for calories burned and followed the numbers as presented here for logging and eating back my calories, I lost exactly as predicted on the site.

    I'm not saying that everyone is going to have the same result, but I would say that you can trust the calories used in their calculator. Swimming or any movement through the water which creates resistance takes more energy than you realize. Using the HRM isn't even going to reflect that benefit because due to the water pressure on your body your heart rate does not elevate in the same way for water exercise.

    I do not use my hrm for my water aerobics because it isn't water proof. When I put in 3 hours of swimming leisurely into the database it says I would have burned 2000 calories. There is NO WAY I would ever trust that amount of calorie burn if I was planning on eating my calories back!! I can't even imagine getting that many more calories in without eating a bunch of junk!

    I think it is pretty common knowledge on mfp that the database does overcompensate with the calorie burn. I would hate for someone to workout, eat right, eat back what mfp says has been burned and yet stall or gain or not lose weight.

    Just be careful and figure out what works for you :flowerforyou:
  • leigaia
    leigaia Posts: 9 Member
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    Does anyone have any ideas about some exercises to do in the pool? I have an above ground pool and really excited to use it this year for exercise.
  • SirBen81
    SirBen81 Posts: 396 Member
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    Hey I have a ?? about swimming? We got a pool last weekend, it's a big above-ground pool. It was a reward to our kids for getting good grades all year in school.. but I have been spending a lot of time in it with them swimming and playing and whatnot ... well I figured I would log it as an activity because it is definitely outside of my normal activity day-to-day... well the "swimming leisurely general" category... what does that MEAN? I mean, I'm not swimming laps by any means, but I'm swimming and playing with the kids in the water back and forth etc. so I'm wondering what is the appropriate way to log this? If I swim for 3 hours, that's a burn of 2 thousand calories for me? (before I get attacked... I burn MORE calories doing things b/c my weight is HIGHER) BUT this still seems like a lot. Or is it? I know that swimming burns a lot of calories. I just wonder what constitutes "Swimming, Leisurely, General" Does that make sense?? HELP! TIA!

    Yes. It is very possible to burn that much even if you're not treading or swimming, just splashing around will do it. Swimming drains you, and I was told never to go swimming the day before a soccer game for this reason.
  • SirBen81
    SirBen81 Posts: 396 Member
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    Does anyone have any ideas about some exercises to do in the pool? I have an above ground pool and really excited to use it this year for exercise.

    You don't have to do anything fancy. Just tread water for as long as you can. Take a rest, then repeat. Need a deep pool though. And don't drown.

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