Was out at the pool, and this chick comes over wanting to interview me for her research paper about weight loss and swimming. She said she had been out there once a week for a month, and because I looked like I didn’t have much body fat, could she ask me if the constant swimming had an impact. She had done all this empirical testing and subjects before coming out and scouting, which I did not know, until we got into a spat about it.
I said, "hell no, this isn’t how I got skinny. I got skinny by all the constant running. I told her that if I just lifted weights and swimmed I’d be a fatass. A pretty muscularly tight one, but a fatass none the same. I pointed out to here the guys in the lanes much faster than me, and how fat they were compared to me, and how they had more bouyancy. But they are out here all the time, go interview them. They don’t look like sticks. It hasn’t chipped away at their fat, and I see these guys every day, for the last 2 years.
If you want to look like a “stick”, start long distance running or biking.
I told her to scan the internet and this topic is widely debated. You don’t get skinny by swimming. I made the proviso, yeah, if you are, you know, 55-60 pounds over weight, yeah, just getting out here and kicking your legs and what not, is surely going to cause you to lose weight. Then, I had to listen to her statistical what not, how it helps reduce weight, which I agreed. Sure, if you aren’t doing something else and just sitting on your ass watching TV.
But compared to running or biking, no way.
I never got skinny by swimming, but I certainly have stayed skinny while swimming. I didn’t see too many fat swimmers at National’s when I was in college, and I don’t see too many fat master’s swimmers at meets either. If it is all about calories consumed vs. calories burned, I don’t see how swimming would be any different than cycling or running, as long as your calorie intake stayed the same. The reason you are skinnier than the swimmers is probably because you are running and cycling in addition to swimming, which the others aren’t. Perhaps the guys you swim with are partaking of a little too much “liquid bread” after their workouts?
Back in high school, I’d always drop about 15-20 pounds during my June through November swim season and then put them back on during the rest of the year. (volleyball and track) I actually managed to add weight as a middle distance runner- just wasn’t burning the same number of calories running as I was during a nice, highly anaerobic 2+ hours in the pool.
Don’t confuse weight loss from swimming (or lack thereof) with the heavier layer of subcutaneous bodyfat, produced by the body as a defense mechanism to preserve body heat. You lose warmth much faster through water than through air, and the thicker fat develops to inhibit this heat loss. As a result, muscle definition may not be as sharp.
That being said, the average person WILL lose weight from swimming, assuming that the addition of swimming to one’s schedule results in a relevant increase in the number of calories burned, as Jill pointed out from her experience.
All of the following is based on my interpretation of the original post as describing a study targeted at the person who is not a competitive athlete, but simply wants to find an activity to lose some weight.
The previous replies overlook one important aspect. You describe training for college/high school competition. Jill mentions 2+ hour workouts. Well, of course any athletic activity that you approach at that level is going to burn enough calories to keep you lean. But if we’re talking about the person who is looking for an activity for the purpose of losing weight, we aren’t talking about the college or Masters swimmer. We’re talking about the sedentary person who might eventually build up to excercising 3-4 times a week for 30 min. to an hour. If you were doing multiple 2+ hr. run (or bike) workouts each week, you would drop much more weight than you would in the pool for the same time invested.
As boothrand said, if you add swimming to whatever you’re already doing then you will burn more calories and you should be able lose some weight. But if you’re trying to derive the most bang for you buck (time), then running and biking are, in my experience, more effective calorie burners. I’ve seen plenty of decent Masters swimmers, who had years of experience, carrying around a nice spare tire despite swimming 3-5 times per week for around 1 hr. per session.
Happy trails,
Chris