Is swimming really help to loss weight?

[andymark25415]

Hello everyone this is my first time in this forum and i want to know that Is swimming really help to loss weight fast?

[nbaffaro]

I'm new to the forum but not to fitness and nutrition.

Swimming can help with weight loss and provides an alternative to other cardiovascular exercises such as running, aerobics, and biking.

However, swimming is a skill that needs to be practiced and honed each and every time you get in the pool. Most of us know how to run, jump, twist, turn, and bike. But, the skill of swimming is not something every one has. But, is something that everyone should learn.

You will find that by adding swimming to your exercise routine that you will burn additional calories. As with any exercise you should try to spend at least 20 minutes actively swimming. I would shoot for more time than that 30min +.

However, there is something that you need to very well aware of. You cannot out run a fork. Weight loss is a very personal thing that means different things to different people. If you want to lose weight that is going to stay off you really need to look at your diet. Weight loss, for most, is a simple equation. Calories in < Calories out. The best way to figure out exactly what you are eating is to keep and honest journal. There are many ways to do this. There are even great phone apps that can keep up with it for you. I personally like myfitnesspal. I am sure others will chime in with what they do as well.

I am sure there are plenty of folks on here who know a thing or to about swimming for health and weight loss. Post up where you are currently and what your goals are. That should give us something to help get you started.

[CoachDavidShen]

in my experience with weight loss, the first thing that everyone must fix is their nutrition. if you do not, then exercise may have zero effect on your weight problem.

that's not to say that applies equally to everyone in every situation. for some genetically inclined, a little bit of activity can shed the last bit of unwanted pounds. for others (most I would say), exercising won't make the slightest dent in your weight no matter what you do. Or, you'll find that you need to take exercise to the extreme in order to shed a few pounds which is most likely not suitable for most people (ie. ironman race training).

the biggest issue out there for modern society in terms of nutrition is processed sugars and carbs and the craving for it that is often present after years of consuming. you remove those and you will lose unwanted weight for sure. add in exercise and it will accelerate the process.

[johnford]

Agree with Coach. No amount of exercise, swimming or anything else, will reduce weight unless you take care of what you eat. Keep stuffing yourself with sugar loaded carbs will just make you heavier and hungrier.

Originally Posted by johnford

Agree with Coach. No amount of exercise, swimming or anything else, will reduce weight unless you take care of what you eat. Keep stuffing yourself with sugar loaded carbs will just make you heavier and hungrier.

Agree!
I wanted to reduce weight, but it happened only when I started to eat healthy food !!!

[Shepster]

Originally Posted by andrewuza

Swimming does work, and is very good for toning up. But to lose weight you have to really exert yourself, you can't do the gentle, slow up and down that you see some of the more mature swimmers doing.

You have to get to the point where you're breathless.

I second this opinion. Swimming is great and very healthy and beneficial but it's more about toning and shaping up than losing weight. It shouldn't be the only thing you do if you expect stunning results. Also: the diet or change of your eating style - that is the key.

[AndrewLRose]

Originally Posted by andymark25415

Hello everyone this is my first time in this forum and i want to know that Is swimming really help to loss weight fast?

It's very helpful to loss weight if you swim regularly. Besides, it's better for you to combine this with some other activities such as running or cycling. You will get healthier.

[bogger]

It's very helpful!I'm swim for 5,6 years.and i'm not fat.

[sclim]

Just my 2c: I'm more on the side of those who say you can't out-run a fork (I love that). If that's true, then it's even more true that you can't out-swim a fork!

For those who advocate swimming as a weigh loss method, citing the caloric cost of swimming, I would advise that while in theory, any small caloric cost will help, to be truly effective, the caloric cost of the activity has to be significant.

One detriment that must be considered is that TI is all about efficiency. If you are an excellent TI student, then your swimming is smooth and waste-free, or, in other words not very conducive to weight loss. The only way for an efficient swimmer who is swimming at a level nowhere near his top speed to burn large amounts of calories is to swim long hours to make up the deficit due to low number of calories per hour of swimming. This would generally only apply to serious or competitive swimmers, although the latter group would be burning more calories per minute because they are training at fast speeds as well as huge distances daily.

Some evidence that this is true is the fact that in my pool (and I'm sure this is true at most other pools) there are significant numbers of individuals with varying levels of excess body fat who, nevertheless, swim quite well, and with respectable durations. This speaks to two facts -- firstly, excess body fat in itself does not impair the ability to swim well or even fast, and secondly, for these people at least, swimming has not been enough to removed the excess fat that we are observing now (although, to be fair, we have no insight as to whether that individual is in the process of successful weight loss or not).

In contrast, in groups of habitual distance runners, the incidence of individuals with residual excess body fat seems to be less, as is the degree of the excess. It is useful to remember that for an average person about 100 calories is burned per mile run (over and above the background metabolic burning of calories).

Working backwards to get calories per minute of running for runners of various speeds, even slow runners burn more calories per minute than most swimmers (I'm talking about non-competitive swimmers here).

[Danny]

Originally Posted by sclim

Just my 2c: I'm more on the side of those who say you can't out-run a fork (I love that). If that's true, then it's even more true that you can't out-swim a fork!

For those who advocate swimming as a weigh loss method, citing the caloric cost of swimming, I would advise that while in theory, any small caloric cost will help, to be truly effective, the caloric cost of the activity has to be significant.

One detriment that must be considered is that TI is all about efficiency. If you are an excellent TI student, then your swimming is smooth and waste-free, or, in other words not very conducive to weight loss. The only way for an efficient swimmer who is swimming at a level nowhere near his top speed to burn large amounts of calories is to swim long hours to make up the deficit due to low number of calories per hour of swimming. This would generally only apply to serious or competitive swimmers, although the latter group would be burning more calories per minute because they are training at fast speeds as well as huge distances daily.

Some evidence that this is true is the fact that in my pool (and I'm sure this is true at most other pools) there are significant numbers of individuals with varying levels of excess body fat who, nevertheless, swim quite well, and with respectable durations. This speaks to two facts -- firstly, excess body fat in itself does not impair the ability to swim well or even fast, and secondly, for these people at least, swimming has not been enough to removed the excess fat that we are observing now (although, to be fair, we have no insight as to whether that individual is in the process of successful weight loss or not).

In contrast, in groups of habitual distance runners, the incidence of individuals with residual excess body fat seems to be less, as is the degree of the excess. It is useful to remember that for an average person about 100 calories is burned per mile run (over and above the background metabolic burning of calories).

Working backwards to get calories per minute of running for runners of various speeds, even slow runners burn more calories per minute than most swimmers (I'm talking about non-competitive swimmers here).

sclim, this post is almost a year old, so I doubt you will read my response, but I did want to differ slightly with what you are saying above. The first thing to keep in mind is that most swimmers swim with lousy technique, because developing swimming technique that lets you swim distance at a high exertion level is more difficult than developing running technique that lets you run distance at a high exertion level. I would compare the swimming that most people you see doing laps down at the pool with running in deep snow. That is, it's great exercise, but it's so unpleasant that no one in their right mind does it at the exertion level and for the time that most serious runners put into running. However, a good swimmer who knows how to push himself using his core in a rhythmic fashion can swim 40 continuous minutes or a span of hours at a pace that a lot of runners run for 40 minutes, and that, I think, is a better comparison. Unfortunately, I don't think we have any real data for this, that I know of at least.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there is a selective process that works against fat runners in that they are more likely to develop impact injuries when they put in heavy miles. This fact has nothing to do with how many calories are being burnt.

Finally, I have heard one form of speculation, and I have no idea how true it is, that you need to get your body temperature up to a certain level before you can start to efficiently burn fat, and swimming tends to keep your temperature down, which may hinder that process. No idea if there is any truth to this, it's a folk story, that one might want to consider.

In summary, it's difficult to compare the two activities.