I'm new, just curious...

56 years old. 220 lbs 6 feet. (male) Swimming at least 2,000 meters 3Xweekly. I try and swim extra on other days. Been swimming for three years. My muscles are trimmer and harder, but my weight is constant. I will have to run or do weights next year, plus diet to get down to my 185-195 of ten years ago. It seems that unless you are grossly overweight, or do tons of yardage, swimming per se on the short range will not cut back weight. Every case is a different case, as you see from previous posters on this thread. I just want to get back to wearing 34 Levis...I am now wearing 36...billy fanstone

Oh what I would give to be 30 lbs lighter!! Let's keep our fingers crossed!! i think the big thing for me was that i didn't go from doing nothing to swimming a lot, i just switched from land to water, so i never expected a huge or even significant drop in weight, but a little something would have been nice recently i decided to go all out and see how much my body can handle and joining a lap club to keep track of days and yards has helped motivate me,but i'm sure i will have to work at this pace for a while to see some results worth mentioning

47 years old male 155 5'7" Swim 3-4 times per week. 2000-3000 yds Lift 2 times a week. Weight creeps up if I do not bike in the summer. Running drops the pounds but I hurt all the time. Like where I am at. Spudfin

Excellent! Since you're 21, your competition now is going to be hard--but not nearly as hard in the age groups above you (then it levels off a tiny bit when you reach dotage like me.) Check out http://www.usms.org/comp/tt/ for what the very best masters swimmers are doing in your events. A little less depressing is the ongoing Top Times for the year, which tend to include meets that aren't as competitive as nationals: http://www.usms.org/comp/tt/ For the 100 yard free, for example, so far this year the top 20 swims reported to Top Times are: Rank ---------Name-------- Age --TIME-- P/F TEAM----MEET---- ---DATE--- 1 JASMER, KIM 20 53.26Y F UW[] 070909CVWS 2007-09-09 2 SHARP, LINDSAY 20 54.14Y F UW[] 070909CVWS 2007-09-09 3 JENNINGS, EMILEE 18 54.45Y F UW[] 070909CVWS 2007-09-09 4 CAMPBELL, ERIN 19 55.80Y F UW[] 070909CVWS 2007-09-09 5 CORCORAN, KELLY 21 55.89Y F UW[] 070909CVWS 2007-09-09 6 SEELEY, RACHEL 21 56.54Y F UW[] 070909CVWS 2007-09-09 7 LONSDORF, JENNY 22 58.29Y F UNAT[] 071014BROY 2007-10-14 8 BONNEY, ERIN 24 58.82Y F NCMS 070916BARY 2007-09-15 9 BROWN, RACHEL 24 59.11Y F FXCM 071028PATY 2007-10-28 10 DRUSKINIS, STEPHANIE 24 1:00.85Y F MICH 071021WODY 2007-10-21 11 STEWART, KATIE 19 1:02.22Y F UNAT[] 071014BROY 2007-10-14 12 VAUGHAN, MARYANN 20 1:07.29Y F JBMS 071118TRKY 2007-11-18 13 SLOAN, AUDREY 20 1:07.58Y F MICH 071021WODY 2007-10-21 14 FINLEY, KATRINA 22 1:07.80Y F MCM 071111CNKY 2007-11-11 15 BELLOWS, CODY 20 1:09.52Y F AMS 070916BARY 2007-09-15 16 TURNBLOM, JERALYN 20 1:13.31Y F UTAH 071110DACY 2007-11-09 17 SCHIECK, LAUREN 23 1:14.34Y F NIAG 071104RITY 2007-11-04 18 KUSCHEL, KATIE 18 1:14.64Y F MICH 071021WODY 2007-10-21 19 GRIMM, JENNI 19 1:20.70Y F UTAH 071110DACY 2007-11-09 20 FROH, ALLISON 18 1:23.40Y F UTAH 071110DACY 2007-11-09

Oh what I would give to be 30 lbs lighter!! Let's keep our fingers crossed!! There's no luck involved. Just do it! Your body will thank you for it. :) p.s. Jim's list, above, is a little deceptive. Those top six ladies are all U of Washington varsity swimmers, not USMS swimmers. However, it's still very early in the short course season. There will be some legit masters swimmers putting up times comparable to those over the next few months.

You identify yourself as a Coastie wife. Has your husband ever done training at Cape Disappointment in Washington? I wrote a story for National Geographic Adventure on the "practically unsinkable" motor life boats they have out there--extremely nice folks, and a great experience for me to bob about in my borrowed survival suit in 20 foot standing waves!

A few years ago there was much discussion as to swimming being a good exercise to loose weight. There was much written with alot of pros and cons. The cold water fostered voracious appetites so there was no weight loss; the cold water and the exercise burned alot of calories so there was alot of weight loss etc. As a local club President I have seen many Masters Swimmers over the years have varied sucess with weight loss but more importantly all have felt better and have alot more muscle tone than before they swam. Swimming places less importance on body weight than other forms of exercise so it truely is a sport for everyone. As I have often told many new swimmers who call to inquire about our program: Get in the water. Try it for a few weeks for free. Than make up your mind about Masters Swimming. Dan

46 female, 5-4(well almost), 137 on good days, size 32 suit, size 4's and 6's. Was size 14-16 and 180 in 2000.

Jamie, I think you are more likely to get responses from people who are more or less proud of and/or at peace with their body types. The nice thing about swimming is that weight is less of an issue than many other sports, and the health and psychological benefits don't depend on competitive glory but just from going to practice until it becomes habitual. I think the jury is out in terms of swimming and other sports, in fact, in terms of weight loss. Some people appear to be exercise responders, some people are diet responders, some have a tough time no matter what they do. There was a great NOVA on PBS recently about marathon training for an assortment of people with different health conditions, and it did touch a little bit on the whole business of weight control. Sorry, I don't mean to get off on too much of a tangent here. I guess all I am trying to say is that no matter what your current condition, you should definitely consider swimming. If you were a competitive softball player at one point, I suspect you will quickly get hooked on competing at meets, and have a great time doing so. One thing that is amazing is that some of the fastest swimmers at nationals, etc. have body types you would never imagine would be particularly fast. And the converse is true as well: Olympic God-like replicants can often be surprisingly slow. To answer your question, I am 55, down 1/16h on an inch in height from college, and not pregnant though I am often thought to be in such a condition when wearing a body suit and people are standing too far away to see that I am bald and covered with a carpet of chestal hairs fast turning white. If you ever come to a meet where I am also participating, and you are feeling at all self conscious about any bodily matters, feel free to stand in my potbellied shadow and I will gladly distract attention. Do swim!!! Thanks Jim!! I swam competitively about 15 years ago when I was younger, and the Masters at our pool were mostly 50-70 years of age. I was just wondering where everyone stood as far as age and shape. I was really just "sizing up" my possible future competition. ;) At any rate, I have no problem putting my butt in a swim suit and hitting the pool. I know what my capabilities are, and I know that aside from being overweight, I can still get up and go for a "big girl." Of course as I woman I have bodily issues, but those are normal for every woman. I'm just ready to compete again already!!!!!

i'm 5'7", 155, up from 140 just barely 2 months ago, yikes! my body has added a layer of fat to take the place of a wetsuit (a pretty thick wetsuit!). everyone's body is different, but in my experience, swimming does not help me lose weight. at least not the type of swimming i do (slow, long distance swimming). for that i need to do something higher impact, like running.