I need to drop 150 lbs.

My brother lost a lot of weight after swimming for about 8 months (60 pounds or so). He was very out of shape and at the first swim practice told the coach that 800 yards was all he could do, and he wanted to want to come back. He impressed everyone by going three times a week and working his way up to 3800 yards in those 8 months. He lost a lot of weight and he was never swimming fast. I think you can lose weight initially if you are out of shape and fairly overweight. Later, as you get acclimated to interval training, I think your body gets more and more efficient and it is harder to lose weight unless you keep upping your training and, as previous posts have said, add something else heinous in, like the elliptical machine, or something nonheinous, like football scrimmages with buddies. I did not change my eating habits, increased my training by about double, and did not lose any weight. But I was already in very good shape. It still baffled me, but I got very strong, so perhaps my gain was muscle. Alas, the smallest things can keep you from losing weight. I worked with a nutritionist, first to gain weight, then, when I kept gaining, to keep from overgaining. My treats of 3 rice cakes, for example, on a daily basis, at 105 calories a day, could allow me to gain 1+ pounds a month. And at a job I had, because I was too nervous to drink my usual IV of tea with lots of sugar, I dropped 17 pounds in 8 months. Just because I was too nervous to drink the tea with sugar. Quit the job, regained the pounds. I say focus on getting in good shape, don't worry so much about pounds. It's always a combination of food and exercise and your own metabolism, but I am sure you will lose weight if you swim three or more times a week and build up to a good amount of yardage. Then you can retune your goals. Easy to say. Hard to do. Again, focus on the fun of swimming and see what happens. Awesome that you are tackling this. If ever you need pep talks, shoot me an e-mail. I also would say you should work out with a masters group to help motivate and push yourself to swim hard.

My brother lost a lot of weight after swimming for about 8 months (60 pounds or so). He was very out of shape and at the first swim practice told the coach that 800 yards was all he could do, and he wanted to want to come back. He impressed everyone by going three times a week and working his way up to 3800 yards in those 8 months. He lost a lot of weight and he was never swimming fast. I think you can lose weight initially if you are out of shape and fairly overweight. Later, as you get acclimated to interval training, I think your body gets more and more efficient and it is harder to lose weight unless you keep upping your training and, as previous posts have said, add something else heinous in, like the elliptical machine, or something nonheinous, like football scrimmages with buddies. I did not change my eating habits, increased my training by about double, and did not lose any weight. But I was already in very good shape. It still baffled me, but I got very strong, so perhaps my gain was muscle. Alas, the smallest things can keep you from losing weight. I worked with a nutritionist, first to gain weight, then, when I kept gaining, to keep from overgaining. My treats of 3 rice cakes, for example, on a daily basis, at 105 calories a day, could allow me to gain 1+ pounds a month. And at a job I had, because I was too nervous to drink my usual IV of tea with lots of sugar, I dropped 17 pounds in 8 months. Just because I was too nervous to drink the tea with sugar. Quit the job, regained the pounds. I say focus on getting in good shape, don't worry so much about pounds. It's always a combination of food and exercise and your own metabolism, but I am sure you will lose weight if you swim three or more times a week and build up to a good amount of yardage. Then you can retune your goals. Easy to say. Hard to do. Again, focus on the fun of swimming and see what happens. Awesome that you are tackling this. If ever you need pep talks, shoot me an e-mail. I also would say you should work out with a masters group to help motivate and push yourself to swim hard.