Hi everyone...
Tonight is my very first masters swim practice and I'm really quite nervous.
While I've been a competitive swimmer since the age of 5, swam on a US team, competed in both long course and short course US Nationals, and then went and swam in college.....I'm a nervous wreck about tonight's practice. Although I have more than enough swimming experience, I'm terrified that I won't fit in with the master's team.
I've been "out of the water" for 6 years now and I'm very out of shape and I've gained a considerable amount of weight. I can't believe that I've allowed myself to get like this, but it obviously didn't happen over night. So I've been doing cardio and weights at the gym to get myself back in shape but it doesn't seem to be working very well. I realized how much I miss swimming and that I'd like to get back into the sport and thats how I got interested in masters swimming. I'm excited to swim for me...not for the coaches, not for my parents. I'm looking forward to ENJOYING swimming, rather than dreading practices and having kick boards thrown at me if I have to stop during a set. I'm excited to meet people and have fun.....but I'm still so nervous to step foot onto the pool deck.
I guess I'm mostly embarassed. I know its silly to be like this, but I'm afraid everyone will be in good shape and I'll get run over during the practices. I'm wondering if maybe I should put off swimming for a little while until I can lose some more weight.
Can anyone please shed some light on their first masters practice and what you might have been feeling?
I really appreciate any help or advice that you can give me. Thank you!
Parents
Former Member
You should take your measurements now, for sure. But recent randomized control trials on people who have successfully lost weight and KEPT it off has shown that the people who weighed themselves daily were more successful in the long run. I think the main thing is to not expect to see massive improvement right away, and not to lose heart and give up.
I haven't ever had to try to lose 50 pounds, so I really can't imagine how hard that must be, and how daunted you must feel.
ere are some weight loss suggestions from some diabetes researchers that I work with. I hope they help.
1. Do some (at least 30 min) of exercise every day, rather than only 4 days a week (ease into it, though).
2. Try serving yourself meals on the small plates rather than the big ones.
3. Don't eat out of the cooking pot.
4. Don't have seconds.
5. Don't eat in bed or in front of the TV or in the car.
6. Eat something for breakfast. Choose something healthy like oatmeal or eggs. Bagels can be up to 500 calories. Granola has a huge amount of calories too. So does juice -- it has a lot more than soda, but at least it actually has vitamins.
7. Measure your portion sizes (ideally, with an actual measuring cup or scale) and read labels carefully. This includes looking at serving sizes.
Also, I disagree with the not cutting back on calories now. Yes food is fuel, and you need it to survive, but you can make small cuts that will add up to 0.5 - 1.0 lbs per week without suffering too much. 1.0 lb per week is only 500 calories per day that you have to cut between diet and exercise (and you probably burned more than 500 with your 90 minute swim yesterday). 0.5 is only 250 calories a day. Plus, if you make small modifications to your lifestyle now, it will be easier to sustain once you've lost the 50 lbs.
Definitely keep us posted on how you're doing. Your first swim sounded like it went great, and it sounds like a fun groups to train with. And you're in the MIDDLE group already. I've busted my butt for months to get there. You are going to do great.
You should take your measurements now, for sure. But recent randomized control trials on people who have successfully lost weight and KEPT it off has shown that the people who weighed themselves daily were more successful in the long run. I think the main thing is to not expect to see massive improvement right away, and not to lose heart and give up.
I haven't ever had to try to lose 50 pounds, so I really can't imagine how hard that must be, and how daunted you must feel.
ere are some weight loss suggestions from some diabetes researchers that I work with. I hope they help.
1. Do some (at least 30 min) of exercise every day, rather than only 4 days a week (ease into it, though).
2. Try serving yourself meals on the small plates rather than the big ones.
3. Don't eat out of the cooking pot.
4. Don't have seconds.
5. Don't eat in bed or in front of the TV or in the car.
6. Eat something for breakfast. Choose something healthy like oatmeal or eggs. Bagels can be up to 500 calories. Granola has a huge amount of calories too. So does juice -- it has a lot more than soda, but at least it actually has vitamins.
7. Measure your portion sizes (ideally, with an actual measuring cup or scale) and read labels carefully. This includes looking at serving sizes.
Also, I disagree with the not cutting back on calories now. Yes food is fuel, and you need it to survive, but you can make small cuts that will add up to 0.5 - 1.0 lbs per week without suffering too much. 1.0 lb per week is only 500 calories per day that you have to cut between diet and exercise (and you probably burned more than 500 with your 90 minute swim yesterday). 0.5 is only 250 calories a day. Plus, if you make small modifications to your lifestyle now, it will be easier to sustain once you've lost the 50 lbs.
Definitely keep us posted on how you're doing. Your first swim sounded like it went great, and it sounds like a fun groups to train with. And you're in the MIDDLE group already. I've busted my butt for months to get there. You are going to do great.
