Swimming to lose weight?

Originally posted by thisgirl13 A big thing with swimmers and the weight loss thing, is that it's mostly elite swimmers who don't lose weight. Any form of exercise promotes weight loss; however, elite swimmers aren't really looking for weight loss. Think of your body's stored fat/muscle as the base line. Now, anything you eat is "extra". For simplicity, let's say that foods sort themselves into three groups: carbohydrates, fat, and protein (I know there's a lot of other stuff, but bear with me, this is the simple version). Now, when you swim, your body prefers to use up the extra carbohydrates first. When it's used all those carbs up, it will start using the "extra" protein and fat next (still working on the food you ate recently). Now, only when it works off whatever's above the base line will your body start considering alternate sources of fuel: your muscle protein. What flummuxes most people is this: high-end training/swimming doesn't chew up the fat you already have. That's why swimmers also lift weights/have dryland, etc. Because muscle burns up stored fat. So, swimmers have to eat a lot, or their body starts burning into the muscle reserves they've built up. Did I say that right? Did y'all get it? I'm not saying you guys don't lose weight, nor am I saying that's exactly how it works. This was just the kindergarten version of medical school (covers the essentials without using big words), to help explain why elite swimmers don't lose weight. Your argument has one small flaw. Most "non-elite" swimmers do not burn enough caleries of easily accessible carbohydrates in their bodies to get into the stored fat. that's why many men who swim every day still have belly fat, and women who swim every day still have fat ontheir hips. Also, about Whitey's, I didn't think that it was made from creme anglais. I thought that it was custard because of the mix that they now use. I might be wrong but I remember a story, I think on chanel 8 about how whitey's was moving into mass market production and now has a factory.

Originally posted by aquageek Other than the heavyweight division, most wrestlers are ideal or even underweight for their height. Wrestlers seem to be chronically trying to lose weight to maintain their class. And, yes, powerlifters are FAT, FAT, FAT. I don't think that comes as any shock to them. After their careers competing are over most either get gigantic or go on a program to lose down to an appropriate weight. Yeah, I would not aspire to look like a powerlifter....

BMI says I am overweight, and it is hard to tell without seeing, so let's see if this picture attaches.

Originally posted by centaur532 What about yourself? 56 is unusually low for a heart rate of anyone. Horses have an average heart rate of 40. I take vitals a lot and I've never seen a HR that low. My resting heart rate is typically in the mid to upper 40s. This is when I first wake up in the morning. During the day if I happen to be sitting around, (which isn't often since I'm a middle school teacher) it will be around 55-60. My specialty is distance swimming, and I don't consider my heart rate to be unusual. It was certainly not different than my team mates in college who also specialized in distance.

You certainly look fantastic but it doesn't have a bit to do with self perception. Obviously, the BMI thing isn't applicable to every single person but it is applicable to the vast majority of people and suggests a healthy weight range. Just because you don't feel or look fat doesn't mean you aren't carrying too much weight and have the potential for all the health concerns it may bring.

Agreed, but I actually have the reverse problem. I still see myslf as size 14, and terribly overweight. Pictures are a must(even thought I tend to shun the camera), because in my eye I don't see a smaller person. My main reason for losing weight was for the health benefits. Heart disease runs in my family, better to do something now in my 40's than wait for the heart attack later. I read something the other day, and I wish I could remember where(who knows, maybe this thread), that men tend to think they look better than they do, women tend to think they look worse. Anyway, I have to keep plugging away or it will come back on. I know swimming helps, because when I have a span of time where my swim time is cut, it is much harder to control the weight.

Originally posted by centaur532 my current boyfriend works out 3-4 times a week and has a resting heart rate of 56. How many people here can say that? I would think many!

Devil's advocate here - if everyone thinks they are a better judge of height and weight based on dress size, bone size, exercise time, etc, why would we have the BMI in the first place? Maybe instead of everyone going out of their way to explain excessive weight, maybe folks should lose the weight. Also, you state "as long as you eat right, exercise regularly and keep in good health, you can very easily carry what you consider to be "unhealthy" body mass." How is this necessarily the case? If you are fat/obese or whatever we call it now, you are placing yourself at a health risk, regardless of all those other things you mention. If you eat right and exercise, wouldn't you by default probably be more prone to being in the healthy weight range? I've not known anyone (my experience only) to be a good athlete and be overweight, lose down to ideal weight and lose stamina or performance. Plus, many have found other issues seem to disappear (asthma, grd, etc). I'm not denying you can be quite active and even excel while too heavy but you'd probably do much better at a more reasonable weight.

Yes, everyone has a different body structures and there's no single catch-all target weight that is good for everyone, but I think more often than not overweight people have a tendency to make up excuses (I'm just "big boned," etc) when the bottom line is they are simply overweight and have increased health risks because of this. Has anyone else noticed when you look at old photos, TV shows, etc.--and I'm talking about from the 70s and 80s--not really that long ago, how thin most people look? We're getting so acclimated to looking at obese people that our entire perception is changing. And as aquageek already mentioned, just because our perception has changed it doesn't mean the health risks have also shifted.

Originally posted by centaur532 What about yourself? 56 is unusually low for a heart rate of anyone. Horses have an average heart rate of 40. I take vitals a lot and I've never seen a HR that low. Mine is typically from 48-56. I'm not in that tremendous condition. I swim four days a week, probably 15,000 yards at the most.