bunches - welcome!!

I agree with Wuggums that MFP overestimates, but since my HRM won't work in the pool I can't say how much over it goes. Since you've been a competitive swimmer before, you are likely more efficient in the water than most people, so the calorie burn may be even more off. To play it safe, I would use the light/mod effort option you've been using and then calculate it with 75% of the the burn MFP says...that way, if you eat your exercise calories back, you aren't eating too much.

For me - if I put in an hour of swimming, MFP gives me 900 calories burned. I know that from other exercises I can burn up to 700 calories with my HRM (doing zumba where my HR gets up to 190 sometimes) - however, I'm more efficient in the water than on land, so I'm able to push harder and keep my HR higher for longer. So, I would estimate 750 calories burned per hour of swimming for me (I weigh 201 pounds).

How many calories burned does MFP give you for the hour at light/mod effort?

Hello!

I also 'knock back' the calories burned - but also bear in mind you have probably been building up your muscles (heavier than fat) so you might want to think about taking measurements rather than weight goals ... My weight has been fairly static over a period in which Iost 7cm on my waist for example.

I wish my pool had training sessions - that would give me a goal to aim to get good enough for!

Measuring and taking progress photos at the beginning of every month kept me from going insane when the scale didn't move for 5 months - my body continued to change and I lost inches, so I wasn't as concerned about the scale

I think 450 for your entire workout doesn't seem like too much (since you are actually swimming for over an hour) - you can manually check your heart rate to see how high it gets and where it stays, mostly. But as far as eating exercise calories, I would say you're fine to be eating that much or maybe 400 if you're more comfortable with that.

Just like you can create your own individual foods, you can also create entries for your own work-out routine in MFP. Then you can use again and again, and not use its generic calorie burn count.

An HRM may be waterproof as a watch, but as an HRM it's pretty useless as radio waves don't travel well through water, so with the wearlink transmitter underwater and your watch either underwater or above water depending on your stroke it's just not a great combination for accurate measurement.

I use MFP's values, but take them with a pinch of salt. It makes me look good, but that's why I never eat back all the calories MFP claims I've burnt. I've lost 20kg since I started swimming, although I'm currently maintaining before phase II, so I reckon I'm doing something right!

I started back swimming after some 20 years of being on the bench. I was one of those swim kids that swam year round from 5 - 18. I still maintain a pretty good stroke and turn technique. When I started back I was huffing doing 50 yards free. I have 30 mins 6 days a week before work and other things to get my workout in.

I've worked up to the following set with 10 sec rest between parts:

200 Free
100 Breast
5 x 100 IM (Fly, Back, Breast, Free)
100 Breast
200 Free
100 Free kick w/fins
100 Fly kick w/fins
100 Free kick w/fins
100 IM(Fly, Back, Breast, Free)
100 Free
100 Breast
100 Free

I use the "Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate effort" 30 mins 360 calories for my current 227 lbs.

The following sites tend to agree on the calorie burned so the equation must be common:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/Calories-Burned-Swimming.htm
http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/caloriesBurnedInfo.php?id=534
http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburnedswimming.htm

While a competitive site, LiveStrong has some good articles on swimming:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/455419-swimming-laps-and-calories/
http://www.livestrong.com/article/18842-many-calories-burned-swimming/

Personally I take the 360 and eat them back. I'm on a 1500 calorie a day goal to lose 2lbs a week. Some weeks I lose 1lb, other weeks I'll lose 3. I tend to be good all week, but take one day off to eat Mexican with my daughters on Friday. I tend to leave 40 - 100 calories on the table per day.

Yards. Short course 25 yard pool. Total 1800 yards, 72 single laps.

It's something I've worked up to. I only have a fixed period of time to swim because I have to get the kids to school, workout, and get to work. So, I started low and have steadily increased the yardage as my stamina has gotten better and I've lost weight. I have a long way to go and it can be inspiring to see the high school age kids on the local year round team practice some. I see that and think, I used to be that good.... some 20 years ago. I can do better... push push push.

You can also add your own exercises to the MFP database so, if you find a calorie tracker that shows what you feel is a more accurate burn, then just add it to your database and use it instead of what MFP has; that way, you can have an accurate exercise count integrated with your food logging.

Hello swimmers! I just joined the group. i have a question about how you track your calories burned....so i used to swim in high school (7 years since i graduated) and i just recently got back into swimming. i've been swimming on a rec team for about 2 months now, usually 2-3x's per week. our practice are about 1-1.5 hr. i've been using "Swimming laps, freestyle, light/moderate effort" to track my exercise and usually say for 60 min. i figure i probably rest at the all about 15 min a practice. does this sound about right to anyone? thanks for your advice!!

Hi there
I bought myself a calorie counting water proof watch, its great for working out your calories burnt and workout time done in the pool.
It only cost around £8 on Ebay x

I just use 'Swimming - Leisurely/General for everything'

I usually do an hour of swimming lengths repeating 2 x Freestyle and 1 x Breaststroke so I figure this represents a slight under-estimate rather than the usual MFP over-estimate