Swimming to lose weight - a question

That's awesome!!! That's quite a workout you're doing. I learned a lot of
fat-burning stuff from a body builder named Tom Venuto. Basically, this is
what he recommends to become lean and mean. I followed his recommendation
to go from an overweight 35 year old down to the look and conditioning I had
when I was swimmer/tennis player in high school:

1. Do aerobic exercises regularly - with your treadmill and swimming, I think you're set.

2. Eat 5 - 6 times a day (every 4 hours or so). Make sure your body doesn't go in starvation mode.
Eat healthy, natural foods and lots of protein. Also, remember "portion control". After
exercising, you're probably famished. Make sure you eat an equal level of healthy complex carbs
and protein, so you will not binge. This will get rid of the cravings to eat a whole pizza box.
You may also want to read the "Zone Diet" books to learn more information about dieting.

3. Strength training. Maybe a little bit of dumbell exercises, push-ups, nautilus, whatever. As
long as you do it. This will maintain your lean muscle mass, increase your metabolism and
burn fat even while you sleep. Strength training indirectly, but surely helps in making you
lose weight.

That's it :-)

"grubas" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi everybody!

I am trying to lose weight rapidly by dieting and exercising as much as I can (available time is
the limit). I swim a mile every day and run on a treadmill 30-40 minutes six day a week.

I am not a very good swimmer. Breast stroke is the only stroke I really know. It takes me about 50
minutes to swim a mile.

Now the question: Is this time well spent or rather lost? Do I burn any fat swimming this distance
in 50 minutes? Should I rather do something else instead? Being very obese (went down from 108 to
101 kilograms this month) I don't really want to run more than 30-40 minutes (afraid to damage my
knees). Riding a bicycle is out of the question in this winter weather.

Thanks for advice?

Fatso8

(grubas) said:

I am not a very good swimmer. Breast stroke is the only stroke I really know. It takes me about 50
minutes to swim a mile.

Now the question: Is this time well spent or rather lost?

I think it's likely to be well spent, so long as you don't hit the burgers afterwards to reward
yourself. If you can, get a coach to teach you freestyle. Otherwise, breaststroke is fine. I taught
myself freestyle a couple of years ago and it was well worth the effort.

Quoted message said:

Do I burn any fat swimming this distance in 50 minutes?

Yes.

Quoted message said:

Should I rather do something else instead?

Swimming is a good choice. As good as any, especially if you are very heavy.

Don't try to do it too fast. Think of slimming (and swimming) as a lifestyle change rather than
something you do, finish and then go back to your usual.

Lift some weights, too. Muscle is metabolically expensive and will help you burn more in
the long run.

Correction. Maybe you need to sleep as well. So eating every 4 hours 6 times a day will leave less
time for sleeping (6 x 4=24 hours). In this case, eat every 3-4 hours during waking hours. I found
that having a healthy snack before going to bed actually helps me when I workout in the morning.

Another thing that Tom recommends is to exercise first before eating breakfast. When you wake up,
your glycogen levels are very low. When you exercise before breakfast, your body goes into fat
burning mode immediately instead of burning sugar for the first 20 minutes (or something like that).

Good luck, you're doing great!!!

"JungleFrog" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

That's awesome!!! That's quite a workout you're doing. I learned a lot

of

Quoted message said:

fat-burning stuff from a body builder named Tom Venuto. Basically, this

is

Quoted message said:

what he recommends to become lean and mean. I followed his recommendation to go from an overweight
35 year old down to the look and conditioning I

had

Quoted message said:

when I was swimmer/tennis player in high school:

1. Do aerobic exercises regularly - with your treadmill and swimming, I think you're set.

2. Eat 5 - 6 times a day (every 4 hours or so). Make sure your body doesn't go in starvation
mode. Eat healthy, natural foods and lots of protein. Also, remember "portion control". After
exercising, you're probably famished. Make sure you eat an equal level of healthy complex
carbs and protein, so you will not binge. This will get rid of the

cravings

Quoted message said:

to eat a whole pizza box. You may also want to read the "Zone Diet" books to learn more
information about dieting.

3. Strength training. Maybe a little bit of dumbell exercises, push-ups, nautilus, whatever. As
long as you do it. This will maintain your lean muscle mass, increase your metabolism and burn
fat even while you sleep. Strength training indirectly, but surely helps in making you lose
weight.

That's it :-)

"grubas" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi everybody!

I am trying to lose weight rapidly by dieting and exercising as much as I can (available time is
the limit). I swim a mile every day and run on a treadmill 30-40 minutes six day a week.

I am not a very good swimmer. Breast stroke is the only stroke I really know. It takes me about
50 minutes to swim a mile.

Now the question: Is this time well spent or rather lost? Do I burn any fat swimming this
distance in 50 minutes? Should I rather do something else instead? Being very obese (went down
from 108 to 101 kilograms this month) I don't really want to run more than 30-40 minutes (afraid
to damage my knees). Riding a bicycle is out of the question in this winter weather.

Thanks for advice?

Fatso8

(grubas) said:

Hi everybody!

I am trying to lose weight rapidly by dieting and exercising as much as I can (available time is
the limit). I swim a mile every day and run on a treadmill 30-40 minutes six day a week.

I am not a very good swimmer. Breast stroke is the only stroke I really know. It takes me about 50
minutes to swim a mile.

Now the question: Is this time well spent or rather lost? Do I burn any fat swimming this distance
in 50 minutes? Should I rather do something else instead? Being very obese (went down from 108 to
101 kilograms this month) I don't really want to run more than 30-40 minutes (afraid to damage my
knees). Riding a bicycle is out of the question in this winter weather.

Thanks for advice?

Fatso8

The other comments were very good. I would like to add that taking the weight of a bit
slower may be a bit healthier. 15lbs, I'm metric impaired, in a month is quite a bit of
weight almost 4 lbs a week. Granted if you just started it's probably not over the top but
continued loss at this rate could prove to be unhealthy.

~Matt

grubas said:

Hi everybody!

I am trying to lose weight rapidly by dieting and exercising as much as I can (available time is
the limit). I swim a mile every day and run on a treadmill 30-40 minutes six day a week.

I am not a very good swimmer. Breast stroke is the only stroke I really know. It takes me about 50
minutes to swim a mile.

Now the question: Is this time well spent or rather lost? Do I burn any fat swimming this distance
in 50 minutes? Should I rather do something else instead? Being very obese (went down from 108 to
101 kilograms this month) I don't really want to run more than 30-40 minutes (afraid to damage my
knees). Riding a bicycle is out of the question in this winter weather.

Thanks for advice?

Fatso8

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb) a
week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

I've also lost weight using a treadmill for 30min/day.

Make sure you go on a sensible diet. I like low-ish carb. Eat various coloured vegetables
(colour=antioxidants) and drink enough water.

gtoomey

Gregory Toomey said:

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb) a
week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could not possibly burn
enough calories to lose 1kg per week.

Quoted message said:

I've also lost weight using a treadmill for 30min/day.

Make sure you go on a sensible diet. I like low-ish carb. Eat various coloured vegetables
(colour=antioxidants) and drink enough water.

gtoomey

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"Smith, Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message = "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Gregory Toomey wrote:
=20

Quoted message said:

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a =

day. That's about 1kg (2lb) a week.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

=20
I don't think that is physically possible, unless you=20 changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you=20 did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could=20 not possibly
burn enough calories to lose 1kg per week.
=20

I agree with that. I gained weight steadily for 6 months when training = for CHANNEL SWIMs AND DOING
A MINIMUM OF 3 HOURS SWIMMING A DAY, USUALLY = IN COLD WATER. It is a balance of exercise AND
nutrition.

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in = message=20 <A=20
href=3D""]news:[email hidden]">="]news:[email hidden]= o</A>...</DIV>
<>> Gregory Toomey wrote:<BR>> <BR>> > I went from 97kg = to 72 kg=20 in six months
doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb) a=20 week.<BR>> > After losing
the weight I met a relative who didn't = recognise=20 me!<BR>> <BR>> I don't think that
is physically possible, unless = you=20 <BR>> changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you = <BR>>=20 did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could
<BR>> not = possibly=20 burn enough calories to lose 1kg per week.<BR>> <BR></DIV>
<>I agree with that. I gained weight steadily for 6 months when = training=20 for CHANNEL
SWIMs AND DOING A MINIMUM OF 3 HOURS SWIMMING A DAY, USUALLY = IN COLD=20 WATER. It is a
balance of exercise AND nutrition.</DIV>
<> </DIV></BODY></HTML>

------=_NextPart_000_005F_01C3E673.5B8890D0--

"Smith, Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Gregory Toomey said:

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb)
a week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could not possibly burn
enough calories to lose 1kg per week.

Well, I am losing even more by swimming, running on a treadmill _and_ dieting at the same time (I
started on Jan. 1:st at 107 kg and now I'm down at 99 kg). I used to exercise a lot on some previous
occasions without dieting - and that didn't help - I could get quite fit, but didn't lose any weight
to speak off.

However, I am beginning to feel the toll. My legs hurt from running, my neck hurts from swimming (a
result of bad breast-stroke technique, I guess). I still hope that I will be able to continue at
this pace.

I eat one normal-size meal at lunch - a sallan consisting of shrimps, mussels, a hard-boiled egg,
mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumber, all this with some olive oil. One piece of bread with sausage or
cream cheese for breakfast, sometimes another one for supper. When I feel hungry, I eat fruit -
mostly apples and oranges.

This "diet" is my own invention. I don't know if it is healthy or balanced, however it seems to work
and keeps me strong and alert enough to handle my job as a software designer (I can't really
concentrate when I'm starving). However, I am grateful for whatever competent advice I can get in
this NG, on both topics (exercise & dieting).

BTW: BIG THANKS to everybody who responded to my original message!

Martin said:

Gregory Toomey said:

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb) a
week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could not possibly burn
enough calories to lose 1kg per week.

Why not? Assuming that he maintained weight at 97KG with current diet and no swimming any
extra caloric burn would cause him to lose weight. Assuming a steady 50 minute swim at lets
say 60 secs per 100yd he'd be covering 5000yds a day. Assuming 100 calories per 500 yds
thats 1000 calories per swim or 7000 calories a week swimming every day. It takes 3500
calories to lose one pound. thats two pounds a week.

~Matt

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I've also lost weight using a treadmill for 30min/day.

Make sure you go on a sensible diet. I like low-ish carb. Eat various coloured vegetables
(colour=antioxidants) and drink enough water.

gtoomey

<MJuric> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Assuming a steady 50 minute swim at lets say 60 secs per

Quoted message said:

100yd he'd be covering 5000yds a day.

i'd say that assumption might be a bit awry! thats mighty fast for a rec swimmer trying to
lose weight!

serisouly though, i agree, it is possible. he makes no mention of his dietary intake other than his
preferences.

Hi Grubas,

I think you are ready to learn the "total immersion" way of swimming instead of continuing with a
breaststroke that hurts your neck. You will enjoy swimming more and will continue doing it because
it will be very pleasurable. It worked for me. I was afraid putting my head in the water for many
many years and I took a workshop one weekend and it changed my life. Of course, I had to practice
for quite a while until I could swim even one lap. Confidence in being able to breathe takes a while
to build up for the timid. Its worth trying. All the other ideas expressed here are good. You enjoy
the treadmill but I'd rather use the stregnth training machines. I don't think the treadmill or
elliptical trainer is any fun at all.

Dory

[email hidden] (grubas) wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

"Smith, Martin" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Gregory Toomey said:

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg
(2lb) a week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could not possibly burn
enough calories to lose 1kg per week.

Well, I am losing even more by swimming, running on a treadmill _and_ dieting at the same time (I
started on Jan. 1:st at 107 kg and now I'm down at 99 kg). I used to exercise a lot on some
previous occasions without dieting - and that didn't help - I could get quite fit, but didn't lose
any weight to speak off.

However, I am beginning to feel the toll. My legs hurt from running, my neck hurts from swimming
(a result of bad breast-stroke technique, I guess). I still hope that I will be able to continue
at this pace.

I eat one normal-size meal at lunch - a sallan consisting of shrimps, mussels, a hard-boiled egg,
mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumber, all this with some olive oil. One piece of bread with sausage or
cream cheese for breakfast, sometimes another one for supper. When I feel hungry, I eat fruit -
mostly apples and oranges.

This "diet" is my own invention. I don't know if it is healthy or balanced, however it seems to
work and keeps me strong and alert enough to handle my job as a software designer (I can't really
concentrate when I'm starving). However, I am grateful for whatever competent advice I can get in
this NG, on both topics (exercise & dieting).

BTW: BIG THANKS to everybody who responded to my original message!

diablo said:

<MJuric> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Assuming a steady 50 minute swim at lets say 60 secs per

Quoted message said:

100yd he'd be covering 5000yds a day.

i'd say that assumption might be a bit awry! thats mighty fast for a rec swimmer trying to
lose weight!

Yeh you're probably right. Burning 1200 calories an hour is a bit optimistic. None the less
even burning 600-700 calories and hour the person would be losing 3500 a lb a week on the
low end. BTW what would typical speeds be for a rec swimmer in 5000yds Fast/medium/Slow. I
consider myself Sloooowwww. Never tried swimming 5000 yds without stopping however the
longest race I've ever done, 1.2 mi/2112 yds, I manage to average just over 2 min per
hundred. This was an open water water swim, with a few rather large waves and I was wearing
a wetsuit so not much of a comparison. OTOH I can do 400 repeats in a pool on 8:00 without
much difficulty, not sure about doing 12 of them though. I guess I would consider my times
slow because I'm definately in the slow of the slow in masters class and normally finish
bottom 30% in the swim portions of my tri's. I guess the other reason I'm wondering about
the 60 sec per hundred is 2.4mi, Iron distance swim, would be finished in 1:24 at
2min/100yd. Thats pretty average, even on the slowish side. But I also guess you wouldn't be
working out at race pace every day.

~Matt

Quoted message said:

serisouly though, i agree, it is possible. he makes no mention of his dietary intake other than his
preferences.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Gregory Toomey wrote: [edited]

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg
(2lb) a week.<<

Quoted message said:

"Smith, Martin" wrote: [edited]...

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could not possibly burn
enough calories to lose 1kg per week.<

It's possible. I burn about 200 calories/1000 meters swimming at an easy, general endurance pace. At
that pace, if I don't do any kicking or breastroke, I can easily do a 3500 meter workout in 50
minutes. That's 700 calories. A threshold workout would probably cost 1100 calories. Lactate
tolerance with active recovery would cost about 1400-1500.

So, 4 general endurace workouts - 2800 cal 2 threshold - 2200 cal 1 lactate tolerance - 1500

Total 6500 cal. Pretty close...throw in 500 cal for residual metabolic cost & you've got 2lbs per
week swimming 50 minutes a day.

MJuric said:

Martin said:

Gregory Toomey said:

I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb) a
week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could not possibly burn
enough calories to lose 1kg per week.

Why not? Assuming that he maintained weight at 97KG with current diet and no swimming any
extra caloric burn would cause him to lose weight. Assuming a steady 50 minute swim at lets
say 60 secs per 100yd he'd be covering 5000yds a day. Assuming 100 calories per 500 yds
thats 1000 calories per swim or 7000 calories a week swimming every day. It takes 3500
calories to lose one pound. thats two pounds a week.

5000 yards in 50 minutes every day? A few people can actually do that. They don't have 25
kilos to lose.

martin

Steve Curtis said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your

diet significantly. In other words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then
you could not possibly burn enough calories to lose 1kg per week.<<

And how was this brilliant deduction arrived at? The intensity level of the workouts would be
a definite factor in the amount of weight reduction achieved. The more intense, the more
calories burned.

The brilliant deduction was arrived at this way: We assume he has not been exercising, and that he
has been neither losing nor gaining weight. Then he starts swimming. He swims 50 minutes per day.
Assuming he swims continuously and he is a competent rec swimmer, he might swim 2500m in 50 minutes.
I estimate he will burn 400-500 calories per swim. If he swims five days per week, he might burn
2500 calories. We would have to assume he doesn't increase his caloric intake to balance his
increased hunger, but 2500 calories isn't enough to lose a kilo per week. Even if he swims all seven
days it isn't enough. But, yeah, if he swims at a 60 second pace for 50 minutes straight, he can
lose a kilo a week.

martin

Martin said:

But, yeah, if he swims at a 60 second pace for 50 minutes straight, he can lose a kilo a week.

martin

See! Maybe a bit diffcult, not impossible though. Of course there are other factors involved
that wouls help burn some cals to. Assuming that the OP was doing nothing, they woudl be
burning more calories getting to the pool moving around more etc. As well as the previous
poster mentioned post workout burn, something I don't put a whole lot of stock in, but it is
a factor. Then there is teh possibility that the OP eventually adds a bit of lean mass,
continuing the healthy circle of caloric burn... All in all I agree with you losing 1KG in a
week simply from adding 50 min of swimming is "not likely" without some very specific specs.
Just didn't like the way you couched it as "impossible".

~Matt

"JungleFrog" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Correction. Maybe you need to sleep as well. So eating every 4 hours 6 times a day will leave less
time for sleeping (6 x 4=24 hours). In this case, eat every 3-4 hours during waking hours. I found
that having a healthy snack before going to bed actually helps me when I workout in the morning.

Another thing that Tom recommends is to exercise first before eating breakfast. When you wake
up, your glycogen levels are very low. When you exercise before breakfast, your body goes into
fat burning mode immediately instead of burning sugar for the first 20 minutes (or something
like that).

Good luck, you're doing great!!!

Thanks for your comments - and thanks to everybody who responded. It is easier to feel motivated,
when you know that you are on the right track!

I have another question, though. I try to diet at the same time. I eat one normal-size meal at lunch
- a sallad consisting of shrimps, mussels, a hard-boiled egg, mushrooms, tomatoes and cucumber, all
this with some olive oil. One piece of bread with sausage or cream cheese for breakfast, sometimes
another one for supper. When I feel hungry, I eat fruit - mostly apples and oranges.

This "diet" is my own invention. I don't know if it is healthy or balanced, however it seems to work
and keeps me strong and alert enough to handle my job (I can't really concentrate when I'm
starving). However, I am grateful for whatever competent advice I can get in this NG, on both topics
(exercise & dieting). Is it OK to eat a lot of fruit (4-5 apples + 1-2 oranges a day, sometimes a
banana)? Should I add / remove something? What about these so called fat-burning pills - do they
really work?

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

MJuric said:

Martin said:

Gregory Toomey wrote:

>I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb)
>a week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

I don't think that is physically possible, unless you changed your diet significantly. In other
words, if all you did was add 50 minutes of swimming per day, then you could not possibly burn
enough calories to lose 1kg per week.

Why not? Assuming that he maintained weight at 97KG with current diet and no swimming any
extra caloric burn would cause him to lose weight. Assuming a steady 50 minute swim at lets
say 60 secs per 100yd he'd be covering 5000yds a day. Assuming 100 calories per 500 yds
thats 1000 calories per swim or 7000 calories a week swimming every day. It takes 3500
calories to lose one pound. thats two pounds a week.

5000 yards in 50 minutes every day? A few people can actually do that. They don't have 25 kilos
to lose.

Yeah, folks capable of that definitely don't grow on trees. It doesn't seem like that long ago
(although I think it was in the late 70's) that Mike Bruner made such a splash for doing something
similar - 60 minutes of swimming averaging sub 1:00 per hundred yeards, if memory serves.

- Al

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

>I went from 97kg to 72 kg in six months doing 50 minutes swimming a day. That's about 1kg (2lb)
>a week. After losing the weight I met a relative who didn't recognise me!

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Why not? Assuming that he maintained weight at 97KG with current diet and no swimming any
extra caloric burn would cause him to lose weight. Assuming a steady 50 minute swim at lets
say 60 secs per 100yd he'd be covering 5000yds a day. Assuming 100 calories per 500 yds
thats 1000 calories per swim or 7000 calories a week swimming every day. It takes 3500
calories to lose one pound. thats two pounds a week.

5000 yards in 50 minutes every day? A few people can actually do that. They don't have 25 kilos
to lose.

martin

60 seconds per 100 yards for 5,000 yards? do you have any concept as to how difficult that is? I
took me 2 hours yesterday to do 7,000 yards (interval training). If am doing sprints (and I am I
think a pretty decent masters swimmer) I can do 100s (yards) freestyle on 1 minute to 1:03, but with
considerable rest (say at least 1 to 1.5 minutes in between each). to do that without rest and
continuosly is olympic swimmer caliber, if it could even be done at all (day in and day out, not a 1
time race).

for whats its worth, my weight is around 230lbs down from 280 last summer.