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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Originally posted by Fritz
I'm in the former swimmer that gained weight category. When I got back in the water 5 years ago, I weighed just over 200 pounds. I pretty quickly got down to around 165 and I've managed to keep in the 165-175 pound range.
I'm almost like you, though I started out around 215 or so. Now three years later I dropped down to 176 as of yesterday. Actually I've been loosing too much weight I think as I keep getting smaller. About the only real diet change I made was to stop drinkng beer, and now to cut back on the sweets. I don't eat many fruits/veggies even though I should and eat a ton of carbs.
There is no way that swimming will not help you lose weight, unless you are just floating around in the pool. They really should come study the people who really do swim to find out how many calories we use in a normal workout.
Originally posted by Fritz
I'm in the former swimmer that gained weight category. When I got back in the water 5 years ago, I weighed just over 200 pounds. I pretty quickly got down to around 165 and I've managed to keep in the 165-175 pound range.
I'm almost like you, though I started out around 215 or so. Now three years later I dropped down to 176 as of yesterday. Actually I've been loosing too much weight I think as I keep getting smaller. About the only real diet change I made was to stop drinkng beer, and now to cut back on the sweets. I don't eat many fruits/veggies even though I should and eat a ton of carbs.
There is no way that swimming will not help you lose weight, unless you are just floating around in the pool. They really should come study the people who really do swim to find out how many calories we use in a normal workout.
