To think that swimming is making me bigger???

[Springheeled]

I've started swimming 2-4 times a week, 30-40 lengths of 25m pool and I swear it's making me bigger- I've just tipped the scales at half a stone heavier than 6 weeks ago. How can this be????

Have you ever wondered why you are not getting thirsty when swimming?

You are a nutter .....in this theory of yours, at what point does the body stop drinking the water...empty pool...exploding head?

Well, most people pee a lot in the pool.

< sick not envious.

And on this cheery note I am off to bed. Toodles!

You never see a skinny Olympic swimmer. If you want to be thin you need to run marathons.

Totally agree with matleave. I'm getting swimmers shoulders and strong arms and legs, I love it. I love athletes bodies, far more beautiful than a models body 'type' to me(not that I'll ever come close to achieving that).

For weight loss while swimming, which can work swimmingly, (ha) i would suggest you look into the different methods your body can train. For what you are trying to achieve you might just need to do it harder. For instance, rather than setting a distance over time, set yourself a number of lengths you can swim at maximum output. That is, as fast as you can, so when you finish your beat. Stop at that point and get your breath back and relax for a while etc and then do it again as fast as you can. With the aim of matching what you did on the first go. Then on your next swim try for the same speed but a little further. And keep giving it your all each time but each visit just aim for a little bit further to keep that output at.

Essentially, when it gets really hard to keep going that's when you are burning the most fat so just a touch more then does more good than the first whatever number of lengths you did. So try to get to that point more often and then rest in between.

Best of luck.

Do sets of 6 lengths, 2 steady, 2 faster last 2as fast as possible. Do this five times then do 10x1 length sprints then a longer swim mixing up the strokes. Or something similar soul jacks is right, most pool plodders won't exercise that intensively. Go to a masters session to feel the burn!

Swimming definitely burns plenty of calories, you just have to swim hard and fast enough, and of course don't eat loads to cancel it all out!

Might well do that Sleepwhenidie :-)

Babesh - our masters section of the club has a joining criteria though so the general public can't just join up because they want a slightly harder work out. Most of us are ex-county level or above.
Swim fit could be could be good enough for most people. The program's look reasonable.

Jewk, Souljacker and Babesh have it. You need to vary the intensity of your swims instead of aiming just to do a certain distance. Drills and sprints and things.

That said, I don't really swim, but that's the principle I apply to my other exercising and it works for me.

If you want to be thin you need to run marathons.

Ha! I was at my fattest the day before race day! I figured I was doing all that running so I could afford to eat loads!

Swimming is the one thing guaranteed to make me lose weight, but you need to put the effort in. I'm at my slimmest when I swim 60 lengths front crawl in 40 mins twice a week (on top of other exercise). I aim to be so tired I can just about make it back to the changing room

I never lose weight swimming and I swim between 1 - 2km 3 - 4 times a week in summer. It makes me really hungry, compared to running which burns more calories and doesn't make me ravenous.

It does tone me up though, and I enjoy it much more than running.

Not quite sure why auto correct felt the need to put an apostrophe there!

I think it might just be a case of people's bodies responding differently to exercise. I've always found swimming good for weight control, and I can't swim up to the standard of some people. I can't even swim freestyle.
I just push myself as much as I much as I can, I make sure I get out of breath, hot and sweaty and tired. Not very scientific, but it works for me.

I swim 70 lengths 5 times a week and have done so for almost 15 years. I don't think it makes me lose weight but I am very toned without really trying much and I think that it's all because of the swimming.

Top tip for reducing post-swimming munchies - make sure you warm up properly afterwards. People who exercise in cold water tend to eat 44% more calories afterwards than those burning the same amount of calories in warm water or out of the water. Before you eat anything, have a warm bath or go for a brisk walk (with dry hair!) to warm up.

I've probably got a bit of an overview of this issue. I do long-distance open water swimming, and pool training. Say, 3-6 hours in cold water or 6 miles in the pool, and some speed sessions inbetween.

I've given up running last year as i got injured, so just do swimming, weights, spinning and yoga. I'm bigger and fitter than ever before and always have a layer of fat than doesn't shift. My diet hasn't changed much at all and i don't think Im hungrier than when i was a runner (I'm certainly more tired though). When I was training recently up to 5 hours a day in the sea, I didn't feel any hungrier than I would have done normally.

I think my body 'holds onto' fat more, probably because it panics everytime I try to freeze myself . Psychologically, I wouldn't want to be less fat as I'll get colder, so maybe I eat more than I think. I always eat every half hour during a long swim anyway, so maybe that makes a difference to what I eat afterwards.

Sorry - not very helpful but it is something I have thought about. I think if you really cut down on your calories and trained hard, you would lose fat. But I have never seen a skinny open water swimmer (unless in a wetsuit).

That just proves my theory...

summerbreezing 'dieting the only way to lose weight' - that's a very extreme stance! "

Eh, that's not what I said. I said that I had read that your diet is the only way to lose weight ie the food choices you make. More and more research has shown that exercise has a negligible impact on weight loss. However, it does help you to lose inches and to tone up. As well as all the other health benefits of course.

Op - a tumble is basically just a forward roll. push off on your back if you can only get half way round. If your head does it, your body will follow. Failing that just don't touch the end, rather just tread water momentarily before setting off in other direction.

I'm going to give it a whirl! Tumble turning- but worried about nose burn/ forgetting to breathe! Lots of good advice here for improving the workout. I have noticed my swimming stamina improving at least, and the aim is fitness rather than thinness.
Would love to do more open water/outdoor swimming but scared of it!

Open water is wonderful. real feeling of freedom and calm. And you don't need to tumble!