If I swim 20 lengths of an Olympic-sized pool 4 times a week

[wallyfeatures]

• how long before I am absolutely gorgeous?!?
  

I am 5'3' and in the last year, due to a job change, have piled on a stone and several inches. I look like a blob and none of my clothes fit. I hate diets, but want to up my activity levels. Swimming is a good one as if I buy a monthly card, I'm so tight, that I feel motivated to get every last penny's worth from it. So, will it make a difference to my weight and figure?

[wallyfeatures]

Well, I think I'm going to use this thread to chart my progress and to see if there is any change and how long that might take.

So yesterday I did 20 lengths. Forgot to check the time it took. today I also did 20 lengths and it took about 30 minutes. My arms are aching, but apart from that no other effects. The pool early morning is just fool of old folks. Which is nice to see

Tomorrow I'm not sure if I can fit in the full 20 as I have to be somewhere for 9. It all depends on if I can get the kids to school on time.

[wurzelburga]

It’s a good start and will help firm up flabby muscles. 1k in 30 minutes is a reasonable target.

But don’t aim to do the same routine every session. You will get bored and stale and your body will get lazy.

Get something like Swimfit (free app) which will give you different programmes for different days.

Much moe effective and enjoyable.

[wurzelburga]

You will probably burn around 200k per session at that rate. So don’t expect to lose weight unless you also reduce calorie intake.

[immortalmarble]

I think running is a better exercise for weight loss than swimming. I hate running but have slowly been getting into it!

[wallyfeatures]

Ah, now I have tried running before and I find it as tedious as watching the wall. I am also a fair weather runner and find any excuse not to go out. With the swimming I have bought a monthly card and that is my motivation to bloomin' well use it. Plus I binned my trainers in a wardrobe clearout last month. But if it works for you immortalmarble then that's fab. Anyway, we'll see about the weight loss. Went out for dinner for a birthday last night so it's not looking good on that front .

Thanks for the advice wurzelburga. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing for now until I am going as fast as I can and then switch it up to something else. The swimming pool is an amazing facility as there are several pools besides the lengths pool, so I can even pretend I am in a washing machine and whip around the mill race

[delilahbucket]

It's a good start but just remember you cannot out train a bad diet. If you burn 800 calories a week swimming, and then eat half of them because you are starving afterwards, you will lose a pound every 8-9 weeks.

[SeaGlassHunter]

I swim 50 lengths of a 25m pool (so 1.25km) 3 or 4 times a week. This morning I actually did 100 lengths as I didn't have to rush to work.

I'm not thin. I do however have fabulously toned arms from swimming.

If I ate less I'd be thinner. But I like food. Swimming keeps me fit, but doesn't make me thin.

[wallyfeatures]

So I could get a fabulously toned pair of arms? How about my bottom will it be toned even if on the large size? At the moment everything wobbles.

[wurzelburga]

It’s great for obliques!

[wallyfeatures]

I've just had to look up what 'obliques' are! Anything that tones any part of my middle body is great, as at the moment I am giving a sack of spuds a good run for its money.

Managed 14 lengths of 50 m in 22 minutes today before I had to get out and make a dash for my 9 am meeting. No idea if that is a good time or not. I am built for comfort, not speed at the moment.

Body-wise my arms are a bit achy but I am going to bed feeling nicely tired all over, so it must be doing something. We won't, however, mention what it is doing to my hair.

Any answers on the bum front? It's huge and I would so like it not to wobble so much.

[KingIrving]

Try to increase speed. Aim to swim 100 met in 100 seconds. That's 1.40 min. Then have a 20 seconds break, and do the same again.
It is about intensity. It must make you slightly short breathed .

[wallyfeatures]

Thanks KingIrving , I'll try and build up to that. I worked out that 100 metres is taking me 188 seconds at the moment, so I need to knock off 48 seconds. I also have to coordinate my breathing so that I don't swallow a load of water or snort it up my nostrils. Everything takes a bit of practice.

[llangennith]

I swim loads most days and have done for years. Keeps me fit but I've been overweight for years too so don't expect to lose weight.

[KingIrving]

OP, then you have something to aim for. Every week you cut 10 seconds.

If you swallow water it means you are not turning enough. A common mistake is to stay flat in the water and only turning your head. It is the upper chest and shoulder that turns before and after the head. Watch a couple of videos. This one is good. .
Also try to elongate the body as if you were trying to touch / grab the end of the pool

[wallyfeatures]

I've designated Fridays as rest days. So I still went to the pool, but did some exercises in the physio pool, then spent 10 minutes in the jacuzzzi, 5 minutes in the steam room and 5 minutes in the sauna.

Back on it tomorrow

[KingIrving]

Pure bliss! Well done OP

[Annarex]

Hmmm I like swimming, but I wonder if all that chlorine destroys your natural gut biome and is counter productive?

I've been reading a lot about our biome and how it effects weight loss, and chlorine destroys bacteria, right?

[KingIrving]

Sorry Anna, but this is total BS

Luckily the anus is a tight sphincter and there is no exchange between the water and the bowel. When you take a bath, water does;t come in and you don't leak the second you stand up. Can you imagine the state of our pools if this wasn;t the case!
In the same way, you don't swallow water when you swim.

So swim as much as you like!

[MotherForkinShirtBalls]

Could I ask what you're using for tracking your time and distance? I have a finger clicker thing to keep count but it's very basic so I've no idea of my speed, splits, etc.

[OzymandiasFanClub]

I think swimming is a great cardio workout- it will also build muscle, strengthen your core and lift your mood.
Unfortunately it's not a great help to weight loss- as PPs have said, weight loss is best achieved through diet.

[FrangipaniBlue]

I burn more calories in a 45minute swim than I do on a 60minute run.

Much better on the joints too

[firehousedog1]

Running is the best form of exercise for weight loss.

[KingIrving]

Fire, I need to disagree on this one. When I trained to get my open water lifeguard certification, I ended up ripped and shredded. Laps after laps on massive intensity, me 37 and swimming with all those squads swimmers, swimming against the clock with only 5 to 10 seconds break, a 1000 mt as a warmup, then laps, laps, more laps and underwater swimming.
If you put the intensity, meaning you are out of breath, unable to talk and all you body aches and you can hardly pull yourself out of the water, you will lose weight.
You get home at 10 pm so exhausted you crush on the bed forgetting to eat your dinner.
OF course if you swim gently , strolling around the pool and much on cookies and chips in the next hour you won't .

Anyone looking to lose weight in the pool should enrol in a lifeguard program. There are several levels, open waters is the hardest swimming pool the easiest. Great skills for life and the first aid course will stay with you all your life.

[wallyfeatures]

Morning Campers,

After realising that my swim card doesn't allow me to swim on weekends I took a break and put all my newly found energy into gutting out the children's rooms this weekend. They are hoarders and it was like a rerun of Mr Trebus and Life of Grime. However I reckon I burnt a fair few calories after mucking out three bags for the charity shop, three for passing on to friends and lots of full bin bags, hoovered, polished and scrubbed floors shifting heavy furniture round in between.

Back at the pool today and another kilometre under my belt. I'm not a proper swimmer in anyway shape or form and I'm sure my technique leaves a lot to be desired, but I am getting a a little faster, today was 100 metres in 180 seconds KingIrving. MotherForkinShirtBalls I look at the digital clock on the wall. There are three large displays down the side wall that show hours, minutes and seconds. I just make a note of what it is when I start, and what it is when I finish. It's an Olympic standard training facility so that's why there are fancy clocks etc... It also means that today there were a load of fancy pants swimmers training in most of the lanes and looking amazingly sleek and professional. I am a manatee in comparison.

Last week's total distance swum 3.7 km.

In other news, I seem to have lost two pounds. No idea how as I have been eating butter icing whilst birthday cake making, eating out and drinking red wine. Also, I think my arms feel a bit tighter. No change to the bottom or the stomach.

Very impressed with the descriptions for lifeguard training KingIrving but not something for me with all the other stuff that has to be fitted in to each day. But I bow down to your skills and experience

[wallyfeatures]

Another 20 lengths (1 whole km!) under my belt.

I thought yesterday's weigh in must have been an anomaly, so I weighed myself again this morning and had lost another lb overnight. I think my scales need new batteries.....