I am one that does not enjoy exercising through running and sports because i dont like the feeling of heat and sweating.
therefore i swim quite often. Ive read in stuides and journals that swimming is not a good form of weighloss because you body stays cool during swimming. They say that most people dont lose weight or lower cholesterol. But then Ive read other reports that say swimming is one of the best forms or exercise for weighloss.
Now i know that swimming not better than running, but still better for nothing... But i want to know if i continue swimming will I lose any weight at all??
Just wondering what the truth is...

thanks

I'm not an expert, but I think that any form of exercise will help you to lose fat. As long as you maintain the workout for at least 15 minutes, and you do it at a moderate pace. I have heard that exercising to hard (too fast, etc.) actually only burns sugar. To burn fat, you need to exercise at a more moderate pace for a longer period of time.

I hope that this helps you http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif.

Colleen

I find it hard to believe that just because your body stays cool that you would not lose weight. Under that argument, swimming in warm water would cause weight loss faster?!
Also, I believe that it is all in the intensity of your swimming. If you swim at a pretty fast clip, you will undoubtedly see results after a while.

Swimming is a great cardio exercise and does help with weight loss...when you're swimming laps your heart rate is increased, similar to when someone is running or doing any other form of cardio. Although you're not "visibly" sweating while swimming, your body is still working just as hard (depending on your pace of course). I've found swimming to be a great way to tone all muscle groups...arms, legs, and abs. I also enjoy running, but I don't seem to get the same toning results from just running as when I'm swimming laps.

The sites i read about the weight gain or lack of weight loss from swimming are below.

I know that your muscle tone will be better and more toned.. my only concern though is that i will gain weight or have no weighloss......
i find it weird that there are so many different opinions.... some say its the best, some say its not effective....
http://www.drmirkin.com/archive/7208.html
http://www.goaskalice.columbia.edu/0746.html

there were many other sites as well..

calorie expenditure results in weight loss.. period. the body heat helps burn fat, instead of carbs (in a sense); however, that is a poorly misguided phrase. I think that your fat burning portion of your calorie expenditure is like 5-10% less than it would be for something like running (that's a guess); however, it's no more than 10%. If you do all the math, the worst case scenerio is a negligable difference. oh man i can't find my references on this so take it with a grain of salt.

my true feelings are that you can replace that 10% decrease with a 10% increase (roughly?) by doing interval workout-type-swimming. the interval routine increases the fat burning to carb burning ratio.

sorry if this is so very unscientific sounding-- i can't find my source. it's on www.exrx.net (http://www.exrx.net) somewhere i think. read up on intervals and aerobic excercising on exrx.net if you like.

I'm with amwood on this. Swimming is great exercise for weight loss. As already stated, any work that gets your heart rate up will contribute to calorie burn. The notion of "you're not hot and sweaty so you're not burning calories" is bogus. The fact is that your body is under the same conditions as if you were jogging, but since you are in water, it is not as evident.

This can actually lead to problems for avid swimmers, as they may not be aware of their need to drink water and watch their minerals and electrolytes. If you're swimming a hard swim, you actually are getting hot, even sweaty... but since you are in water, it may not be evident, since you're not noticeably sweating buckets. Watch Olympic swimmers sometime.. when they come out of a long race, their faces are flushed and they're breathing heavily. That's because of the extreme effort they just put out.

I used to be on a swim team in my teen years, and I can tell you it's great for fitness and weight loss. As long as your caloric burn is higher than your intake, you're on the right track.