Can I get some advice. Am a size 18 and want to lose weight. Now that school hols over was going to go to ponds forge swimming. but will it help at all? Dont want to diet but have cut down on sugar and fatty foods and bread. is swimming good to help lose bit of fat. dont want to be size 8 but aiming for a 14. :confused:

Yes it will!

Any exercise that gets your heart and lungs working will get you fitter and healthier. In your case, as your goal is weight loss, it will help with this.

One of the great benefits of swimming is that there is no impact on your joints, which reduces risk of injury.

If you swim at Ponds Forge, ask the lifeguard to point out the "Swimfit" stand. On the stand are training sessions for you to follow which breaks up the monotony of just swimming up and down the lengths.

Good Luck!

Swimming is excellent for fat loss, but you will still have to watch your diet.

Good luck.

Craig
www.kapapsheffield.co.uk

Hi olliemol - well done for getting started... it's just about increased activity and healthy food choices...

If you're enjoying swimming you could try swimfit as well - see info on link below - I've done the sessions - great coaches and really motivate you through an hour in the pool - 3 lanes for different abilities. Maybe come swimming one day at the same time and you can have a nosey and chat to the coach to see if you'd like to try it...

http://www.ponds-forge.co.uk/pages/158/lane_swimming.html

Also feel free to chat to one of the guys or girls in the gym while you're here to get some more advice/ideas...

All the best
helen - ponds forge

hi there, have you started swimming yet? i am a bigger girl and wanted to go swimming but i am really scared that everyone will stare and stuff. i'm about a size 22 so the thought of ME in a swimming costume scares me to death LOL.


Can I get some advice. Am a size 18 and want to lose weight. Now that school hols over was going to go to ponds forge swimming. but will it help at all? Dont want to diet but have cut down on sugar and fatty foods and bread. is swimming good to help lose bit of fat. dont want to be size 8 but aiming for a 14. :confused:

Can i suggest ponds forge for the larger exerciser? I go there and its fab, there are all sizes of people and no-one looks at you at all.

excellent i am a member there, just joined!!!

Can i suggest ponds forge for the larger exerciser? I go there and its fab, there are all sizes of people and no-one looks at you at all.

Swimming is a great sport for toning your body and all round fittness,I use ponds forge and the international pool is excellent particularly when they have it laid out in 50meter format.

A word of caution imediatley after swimming you tend to feel very hungry more so than other sports so make sure you eat the right food afterwards, filling up with mars bars afterwards is not such a good idea.

thats really good advice, is fruit the best option then to have afterwards?

Swimming is a great sport for toning your body and all round fittness,I use ponds forge and the international pool is excellent particularly when they have it laid out in 50meter format.

A word of caution imediatley after swimming you tend to feel very hungry more so than other sports so make sure you eat the right food afterwards, filling up with mars bars afterwards is not such a good idea.

I didn't think - though I could be wrong - that swimming was particularly good for weight loss, as most people can't swim for long enough to get the benefits as far as fat loss is concerned.

Against that, it is still exercise and will use more calories than not exercising. I think the main thing is to find an activity you enjoy doing, so you'll keep doing it and get the benefits. As others have pointed out, it is also a good form of exercise for keeping stress off your joints. So if you want to give swimming a try because you think you'll enjoy it, then give it a go.

Good luck with your goal,

Ade

thats really good advice, is fruit the best option then to have afterwards?

Sometimes I have a banana after excercise but often I wait till I get home and eat a normal healthy meal problem is its very tempting to put your money in the vending machine and buy sweets/crisps which will very quickly put back the calories you have burnt off!

I once read a survey which basically said one of the main reasons some swimmers strugle to lose weight was they tend to over compensate with food afterwards .

Can I get some advice. Am a size 18 and want to lose weight. Now that school hols over was going to go to ponds forge swimming. but will it help at all? Dont want to diet but have cut down on sugar and fatty foods and bread. is swimming good to help lose bit of fat. dont want to be size 8 but aiming for a 14. :confused:

swimming is really good for weight loss, however DO watch what you eat, im not saying go on a diet, but just control your calorie intake.

I go to kapap 3 times a week, and ive lost a stone within about 6weeks. I highly recomend it.

good luck!

what is kapap???

swimming is really good for weight loss, however DO watch what you eat, im not saying go on a diet, but just control your calorie intake.

I go to kapap 3 times a week, and ive lost a stone within about 6weeks. I highly recomend it.

good luck!

the way i see it, walking and gentle cycling, and swimming are amongst the best activities. you want to raise your heart rate slightly (not maximal all out effort, such as sprinting) for a relativley long period of time. personally i belive the best amd most accesible way of loosing weight is walking, if you walk to town or whatever instead of getting the bus, thats a start. a good long walk in the country side will be great the longer the walk the better taking it at a steady pace.

my two cents.

what is kapap???

go to www.kapapsheffield.co.uk

its really good and gets you fit and lose weight.

I didn't think - though I could be wrong - that swimming was particularly good for weight loss, as most people can't swim for long enough to get the benefits as far as fat loss is concerned.

Against that, it is still exercise and will use more calories than not exercising. I think the main thing is to find an activity you enjoy doing, so you'll keep doing it and get the benefits. As others have pointed out, it is also a good form of exercise for keeping stress off your joints. So if you want to give swimming a try because you think you'll enjoy it, then give it a go.

Good luck with your goal,

Ade

http://www.thefitmap.com/women/features/calorie_counter.htm

Swimming for an hour can burn as much energy as circuit training.

Obviously it depends on how hard you swim, but it certainly can be used as useful exercise.
Fat loss will occur whenever you burn more energy than you consume over a period of time, so reduce intake and increased expenditure is all you need.

Fat loss will occur whenever you burn more energy than you consume over a period of time, so reduce intake and increased expenditure is all you need.

I dont agree with that, you can burn more energy than doing nothing by doing things such as sprints, and other anerobic, practically full out activities - but you wont loose fat. you will however gain muscle but muscle as im sure you know weighs more than fat.

As i have said, if you want to loose weight and become fitter, walking is great as its prolonged activity that raises the heart rate (aerobic) and will burn fat.

True swimming is easy on the joints and swimming is a good one, but you want to use the same principle in that swim fairly slowly or slow enough so you dont have to stop to raise your heart rate for a relativley long period of time to burn fat.

Walking can be made slightly less tiresom on the joints by using poles, or walking on soft ground.

Cycling is also another alternative, but not flat out... as you want aerobic, prolonged exercise to loose fat and weight.....

hope this helps, cheers

Swimming is excellent excercise. Please try it.:thumbsup:

Swimming is great for fitness and weight loss, with any form of exercise do it briskly ( so your out of breadth ) tip. not too much so you drowned :gag:

Try it out, I'm sure someone at the pool can give you a swimming programme to follow.

Good luck
Craig

I dont agree with that, you can burn more energy than doing nothing by doing things such as sprints, and other anerobic, practically full out activities - but you wont loose fat. you will however gain muscle but muscle as im sure you know weighs more than fat.
You won't gain muscle if you aren't eating enough calories to replace those burnt. There's no way to gain weight by expending more energy than you consume, although I agree that it makes a difference how you burn the energy.

As i have said, if you want to loose weight and become fitter, walking is great as its prolonged activity that raises the heart rate (aerobic) and will burn fat.
So is swimming or jogging, you can't sustain anaerobic exercise for more than a few minutes at a time, so the higher level aerobic you can maintain the quicker you'll burn energy.

True swimming is easy on the joints and swimming is a good one, but you want to use the same principle in that swim fairly slowly or slow enough so you dont have to stop to raise your heart rate for a relativley long period of time to burn fat.
Swim at a speed that allows you to keep going. I swim crawl for 30 minutes, moderately fast. It's aerobic though.

Walking can be made slightly less tiresom on the joints by using poles, or walking on soft ground.

Cycling is also another alternative, but not flat out... as you want aerobic, prolonged exercise to loose fat and weight.....

hope this helps, cheers

Anaerobic can be interspersed with the aerobic exercise, something like fartlek, but in whatever style you choose, that would probably be the quickest way to loose weight, but I doubt that any who's not already very fit could train in that way for long enough for it to matter.

Yes, swimming works for weight loss. In fact, I believe it is one of the best ways to lose weight and not only that; it is the best way that I have found to maintain weight loss and have a healthy firm body. I know because I have been rather hefty most of my life. You've heard it before -- Nothing worked. Diets, pills, you name it. I lost weight sometimes, but I would be perpetually hungry and I would usually feel awful. and then I would gain it all back. As I am a physiologist by profession, I decided to apply what I knew about metabolism and the physiology of exercise to myself. To make a long story short, it turns out that swimming is best for your body, your health and for losing weight. I've lost over 100 lbs. in the last year by swimming laps and I now feel great.

So if it is so great, why doesn't everyone do it? Well, like everything in life, it seems, there is a catch. Let's face it -- swimming is BORING. When I started swimming, it wasn't so bad as just doing something different was interesting enough. And I started to lose a bit of weight. Nonetheless, after about a month of doing laps about 3 to 4 times a week, I began to dread going to the pool. Swimming seemed to be a form of sensory deprivation. You can't talk, you can't read, all you see and hear is bubbles.... I then thought... what if I could listen to music while I was swimming? As swimming is a rhythmic activity, music might be an incredible addition to my swim workouts. So I looked on the web and in fact saw that there were a few waterproof mp3 players that were available. I immediately bought one and tried it out. Fantastic! It has changed the entire swimming experience from one of boredom to exhilarating. Music and swimming go together better than bread and butter (sorry for that one).

As waterproof audio players are relatively new to aquatics, most of them don't really work very well. I had to try out 3 or 4 different types before I found the one that is, in my estimation, truly the best. It is called the Swimman waterproof iPod Shuffle. It is the only unit that doesn't get in the way of swimming and has a headset with excellent sound quality and wearing comfort.

I am writing this out only because swimming has really worked for me as long as I could beat the boredom of doing laps. Without music, I don't think I could have maintained my swimming exercise routine and therefore I would still be overweight and feeling awful. It has changed my life. I only wish that I knew about Swimman before.

Swimming to music, that sounds interesting.

It is really more than interesting. You've got to try it. It literally changes the swimming experience from one that can be rather boring, to a water world with its own soundtrack. Ever wonder why Michael Phelps listens to music before he jumps in the pool? He says that he gets the soundtrack in is head and it helps with the swimming motion. Maybe someone should give him a Swimman and see what happens! Swimming becomes dance. Revolutionary. Now we all can dance in a 3 dimensional environment.

Yes, swimming works for weight loss. In fact, I believe it is one of the best ways to lose weight and not only that; it is the best way that I have found to maintain weight loss and have a healthy firm body. I know because I have been rather hefty most of my life. You've heard it before -- Nothing worked. Diets, pills, you name it. I lost weight sometimes, but I would be perpetually hungry and I would usually feel awful. and then I would gain it all back. As I am a physiologist by profession, I decided to apply what I knew about metabolism and the physiology of exercise to myself. To make a long story short, it turns out that swimming is best for your body, your health and for losing weight. I've lost over 100 lbs. in the last year by swimming laps and I now feel great.

So if it is so great, why doesn't everyone do it? Well, like everything in life, it seems, there is a catch. Let's face it -- swimming is BORING. When I started swimming, it wasn't so bad as just doing something different was interesting enough. And I started to lose a bit of weight. Nonetheless, after about a month of doing laps about 3 to 4 times a week, I began to dread going to the pool. Swimming seemed to be a form of sensory deprivation. You can't talk, you can't read, all you see and hear is bubbles.... I then thought... what if I could listen to music while I was swimming? As swimming is a rhythmic activity, music might be an incredible addition to my swim workouts. So I looked on the web and in fact saw that there were a few waterproof mp3 players that were available. I immediately bought one and tried it out. Fantastic! It has changed the entire swimming experience from one of boredom to exhilarating. Music and swimming go together better than bread and butter (sorry for that one).

As waterproof audio players are relatively new to aquatics, most of them don't really work very well. I had to try out 3 or 4 different types before I found the one that is, in my estimation, truly the best. It is called the Swimman waterproof iPod Shuffle. It is the only unit that doesn't get in the way of swimming and has a headset with excellent sound quality and wearing comfort.

I am writing this out only because swimming has really worked for me as long as I could beat the boredom of doing laps. Without music, I don't think I could have maintained my swimming exercise routine and therefore I would still be overweight and feeling awful. It has changed my life. I only wish that I knew about Swimman before.


Thats a great story well done.

I agree ref music although I dont use it in the pool on many of my long runs I use an ipod shuffle it does make a world of difference.