Started swimming again after 10 years

Quoted message said:

The only thing I can think of is that I have gained around 25lbs since I last swam (mostly fat, I'm
sure! I'm 5'10 and 170lbs).

I am an expert at these things--not at swimming, but at gaining weight, for I do it so very well (a
God-given talent, I might add, as I gain untold amounts of weight without trying) ....

Now, through Draconian diet and exercise efforts, I fairly quickly *lost* another 25 pounds. (I have
medical problems which can be alleviated with maintaining a lower weight).

Losing much of the large abdomen I got to know and love, I'm still of slight positive buoyancy--now
at the wood-plank rather than corklike stage. :-)

Thus, I have your new found discovery (or problem, if you want to call it that) in reverse.

My freestyle kick has had to become faster and more frantic.

I don't know if you ever did butterfly, but I lost some of my arm strength, my sense of balance is
shot (despite increased ab strength), and my back is stronger also, but a lot stiffer. Thus, no more
butterfly for me.

(I did a few dozen feet of it at a time at best, so that's not much of a loss.)

Since I am a middle aged lady who has yo-yo'ed in weight regularly, I am traveling over very
familiar terrain right now. I expect all my strokes--breaststroke, freestyle and backstroke--to
get much faster with major modifications in the kick, over the next just-over-20 pounds I would
like to lose.

Quoted message said:

And if so, is it likely that my newly discovered front-crawl ability will disappear once I start to
reduce my bodyfat from swimming regularly?

It sure will. Modify your kick. Total Immersion techniques might work, but not always--not with
positively buoyant bodies. You'd probably have to modify your kick.

I wish I could tell you differently!!

If so, does

Quoted message said:

anyone know a cheap mail order source for bulk twinkies?

Twinkies are not good for you....Try blending a shake made from ice soy milk and fresh
fruit instead.

--B