It seems our society is becoming more exercise conscious with every passing year. Rising rates of obesity probably have a lot to do with it, but obesity can actually make exercising more difficult. It can be harder to motivate yourself if you’ve already fallen into a pattern of inactivity. Obesity can also make it more difficult to perform exercises without injuring yourself. Swimming has been found to be a great activity for those who find themselves carrying more weight than they should. It can reduce the harm caused by high impact exercises often associated with weight loss. It can also help those who have mobility issues due to their weight. So, if you want to try swimming to help tackle obesity, how much weight can you lose if you swim everyday?
How Many Calories Does Swimming Burn?
Swimming is thought to be a very efficient method of exercise as it requires work by several parts of the body at once. Arms and legs need to be in constant motion to keep moving, while the core muscles need to be activated to help stay afloat. Water resistance also plays a role in forcing the body to work harder. How many calories you’ll burn while swimming depends on the power of your strokes and the type of swimming you’re performing or if you’re using a swim spa. Swimming the breaststroke for 30 minutes at medium intensity can burn around 350 calories. This can be increased to 400 calories by swimming freestyle. Swim at top speed and you can see the number of calories burned double. If you compare these numbers with the 100 calories burned while walking or 300 calories burned while jogging, you can see that swimming can be a very effective form of exercise.
How Can Swimming Burn Body Fat?
When you swim you will definitely burn calories, but just because you’re swimming doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll burn body fat. It’s been found that the best way to burn body fat is to participate in high intensity, short interval exercise known as HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training. HIIT combines short bursts of maximum energy expenditure with short rest periods between each burst. By setting up your swimming sessions in this method you can burn 25 to 30% more calories compared to a regular workout. It will also boost your metabolism to the point where it continues to burn energy even after you’re finished swimming. If burning fat is what you’re after, consider modeling your swimming workout after HIIT.
Swimming to Create a Calorie Deficit
In order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume or known as a calorie deficit. In order to lose weight, it’s essential to balance your exercise and diet. If you swim at a low intensity and eat a high calorie diet, you could swim for hours a day and still gain weight. Even if you’re executing HIIT, but still ingesting more calories than you’re burning, you still will not lose weight. If you want to lose weight by swimming, you must ensure you’re balancing your diet with your swimming to create a calorie deficit.
How Much Weight Will You Lose If You Swim Everyday?
For those who are consuming the recommended number of calories each day (2000 for women and 2500 for men) and combining it with HIIT workouts, you should be able to lose at least five pounds a month. If you’re swimming everyday at a moderate pace, you may only lose a pound or two in a month. It’s important to remember that these are just general guidelines and everybody’s weight loss journey will be different. However, what this shows is that all else being the same, the intensity of your swimming will play a large role in how much weight you’ll lose.
To learn more about the health benefits of swimming, download a free buyer’s guide today.