Hey, I'm starting a calorie restricted diet (I really have to lose some weight); what is the general calorie range for swimmers? I realise that this depends a lot on how much one swims (I only do like 1500-2800 yds, four-five x/wk).
Any suggestions?
Former Member
Most info on calories burned from swimming reflects recreational swimming. Two sites you can visit for calories burned at workout level are www.Nutristrategy.com and home.judson.edu/.../fitness7.html
If your swim time 100s are in the 1:30 to 1:45 range you can figure 20 cals/min. So a 2800 yd workout, done in 50 mins will burn about 1000 calories.
From a diet perspective, my belief and experience is the only thing that really works is lifestyle change in diet. By this I mean you should set a long-term goal--6 months or a year and reasonable expectations like 1 lb/wk to lose (keeping a 2000 cal/day diet you can lose this by swimming 10,000 yds in a week). In your diet, don't deprive yourself, just cut out bad items (fried food, nutrition-free stuff like candy and chips, high-fat meats like sausage, etc). Substitute ground turkey for ground beef, baked chicken and fish for fried, minimize use of oils and butter. Instead of chips, make a quesadilla with salsa and a little cheese. Snack on fruit or energy bars instead of highly-processed packaged food. Have cottage cheese and fruit for lunch a couple times a week. It's o.k. to have pizza on Friday night, but get pepper and onion instead of pepperoni--have 1 slice less than usual. Add salads to lots of meals. When you're full, stop eating.
This is what has worked for me losing about 25 lbs.
Last night I met with an old friend who is a registered dietian. She said something that I thought was extremely intersting nad I thought many would find it also interesting. she said tht many people who are athletic or active & try to lose weight get extremely frustrated becasue they tend to place higher goals upon themselves. She said this is particularly true for peole who are competitive!!
I told her how frequently diet & losing weight comes up on this forum. She said that many of the swimmers she works with are exceptionally hard on themselves because they tend to be so accuostumed to performing up to goals set by other people (coaches, team mates, etc.). She also poointed out that swimmign is not necessarily as good as running with burning fat & to go very slowly. She wished you good luck. She also recommended that you contact a dietian to get advice. Many hospitals, she said, have outreach programs and many dietians woudl talk & help you because they are so excited about the subject.
