Swimming is not for weight loss

Former Member
Former Member
I saw this article online and it really dampen my spirit since swimming is my favorite sport and I am trying to loose weight at the same time. Any comment?? SWIMMING IS NOT GOOD FOR WEIGHT LOSS If you want to lose weight, lower cholesterol, or help to control diabetes, swimming is better than nothing, but not that much better (1). A recent report from the University of Colorado shows that obese people who start a supervised swimming program do not lower their fasting blood sugar, insulin, total cholesterol, good HDL cholesterol and bad LDL cholesterol levels. They also did not lose weight or redistribute their body fat (2). These results are different from people who start land-based sports such as running, aerobic dancing, racquetball and cycling. When you exercise on land, your body is surrounded by air which insulates you, causing your body to retain heat and your body temperature to rise for up to 18 hours after you finish exercising. Increased body temperature speeds up your metabolism and helps you to lose weight and lower cholesterol. On the other hand, when you swim, your body is surrounded by water which is an excellent conductor of heat away from your body, preventing your body temperature from rising. If you want to lose weight by swimming, the best way is to do it is by using a swimming machine on dry land. I'm Dr. Gabe Mirkin on Fitness. 1) H Tanaka, DR Bassett, ET Howley. Effects of swim training on body weight, carbohydrate
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    soooooooo.............that doesn't really mean much to me. i'd swim anyways, no matter what! you can lose weight swimming. were the people in the study swimming 2x day, 4,000 in the morning and 6-7000 at night? i kept my weight constant swimming that much and eating about 3000 cal/day. i believe you can lose weight if you decrease your calorie intake and increase your yardage and effort a bit (i don't know how much you are swimming). doing some dryland 3x wk wouldn't hurt either. i had a friend lose a ton of weight over the summer, about 30 pounds by eating sensibley and swimming about 3000yds 5x wk. also how many people were in the study? how much did they eat? what was there weight/bmi/muscle mass before they started the swimming program? how long did they participate in the program for? how much swimming did they do? what did they get their heart rate up to? if it's one thing i've learned from school and being a nursing student-- never take a research article at face value. if this article was worth anything, it would have answered all of those questions above.
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  • Former Member
    Former Member
    soooooooo.............that doesn't really mean much to me. i'd swim anyways, no matter what! you can lose weight swimming. were the people in the study swimming 2x day, 4,000 in the morning and 6-7000 at night? i kept my weight constant swimming that much and eating about 3000 cal/day. i believe you can lose weight if you decrease your calorie intake and increase your yardage and effort a bit (i don't know how much you are swimming). doing some dryland 3x wk wouldn't hurt either. i had a friend lose a ton of weight over the summer, about 30 pounds by eating sensibley and swimming about 3000yds 5x wk. also how many people were in the study? how much did they eat? what was there weight/bmi/muscle mass before they started the swimming program? how long did they participate in the program for? how much swimming did they do? what did they get their heart rate up to? if it's one thing i've learned from school and being a nursing student-- never take a research article at face value. if this article was worth anything, it would have answered all of those questions above.
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