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
Originally posted by laineybug
You have to choose: swimming, slow or swimming, fast; then enter the length of time of the swim. Well, now, 1) would you consider a typical workout posted on this site slow or fast, and 2) should you subtract the brief rest intervals in the workouts from the total swim time?
Lainey
I think that what is important is not whether you swim slow or fast, but rather how much effort you put into it. Swimming 200 free in 3:30 might be no big deal for some people, but for me it would be pretty much maximum effort. Also, it depends on what stroke (or strokes) you are swimming. A workout that has a lot of fly, *** (competition style), and IMs in it will probably be done somewhat more slowly than an all freestyle workout but will require a lot more effort. Somebody who just floats up and down the pool might not be putting any effort into it whatsoever - if you spend 20 minutes "swimming" 200 yards, you are probably not going to take off any weight.
I don't think I would worry about the short rest times - it is the effort as well as the time that counts imho.
It might help cutting down on the snacking,Phi. 200 meter fly is a lot of conditoning. I read in Swim Magazine that William Specht that did that 200 meter time in 2:10, workouts between 25,000 to 30,000 yards or meters a week which is alot for our age group.
Swimming will help I converted some of that fatty tissue to my childhood lean muscle. I once weight 216 about 4 years ago. And I now around 188. A new development has help me. My teeth have a lot of problems so now I cutting down on diet pop and sweets because the cardonioned water and sugar has really put a strain on my teeth. I recently lost a tooth. So swimming and diet will help. And Phil, hats off to you swimming a 2:30 200 meter butterfly, even if you are snacking.
Just went to the Weight Watchers sight to see how many points they give for swimming.
You have to choose: swimming, slow or swimming, fast; then enter the length of time of the swim. Well, now, 1) would you consider a typical workout posted on this site slow or fast, and 2) should you subtract the brief rest intervals in the workouts from the total swim time?
for 90 minutes of swimming, slow a person gets 13 points
for 90 minutes of swimming, fast a person gets 15 points
Considering that a person who weights between 150 and 174 lbs gets 22 points, swimming must be very good for weight loss because you get almost a full days worth of points for an hour and a half!
Lainey
Probably what would help my time the most would be to practice the 25,000 - 30,000 yards/meters /wk instead of the 12,000 - 15,000 I swim now. That and adding 40 lbs of muscle, like Billy (that's what the guys who swam with him in NJ call him.) Snacks have relatively little to do with it . . . except,
I feel it in my 'gut' that if I doubled my swim distance I would need at least two more snacks to maintain weight (these would occur at 10:00 am and 5:30 pm.) That is, I think, about 600 calories, and consistent with the discussions in this thread. Thus, if I added only *one* snack, I could be a successful dieter.
See people, losing weight is easy and can be fun!
;)
