I am swimming 3 days a week, need help or opinion.?

Question

Hi,

I go swimming three days a week, I will swim for around 45mins to an hour with about 2 breaks in between lenghts of the pool (breast stroke normally), and have adapted my diet also.
My current diet currently consists of:

Breakfast (8am) bowl of cereal ie Crunchy nut cornflakes or one bannana.

11am(ish) one bananna

1pm, Another bananna and some other fruit, ie apples or pears.

6pm, Dinner ususally consists off loads of veg sometimes potatoes and meat (never fried though) pork fish beef chicken etc.

At the weekends I could consume around 12 bottles of beer in total.

Am I doing enough to try and lose weight?

If so when I should the benefits start being evident on my body? I have been doing this for almost three weeks now but dont notice any difference yet.

Ps I ususally go for a half hour walk each dinner hour.

Answer 1

If you're trying to lose weight the exercise routine you have at the moment is fine...as a start.

The diet may need a bit of revision, maybe try switching the Crunchy nut cornflakes for Muesli or Porridge; these alternatives will keep you fuller for longer and contain less artificial ingredients.
You might want to try making your lunch more substantial too, maybe a healthy sandwich, vegetables with fish/chicken or rice salad. The gap between your two large meals will effect your blood sugar levels, leaving you craving food as the energy you have ebbs away.
The main meal at night sounds a bit heavy so try lightening it up, and I agree with the other people in this chain. Potatoes eaten in any form are a definite hinderance to any diet.

If you've ever heard the old saying "Eat like a King at breakfast, a Queen at lunch and a Pauper at dinner", this is how you should approach the subject.

When you're trying to lose weight the aim isn't to shed a load of pounds immediately. You should be aiming to increase your metabolism so your body becomes a fat burning machine. Exercise which gets your heart rate up helps this, cycling is a good soft way of starting the ball rolling. Move up to running and rowing after a few weeks/months and you'll be more able to exercise harder.

Eating a balanced and healthy diet helps to raise your metabolic rate too, if you drink a half pint of milk before bed at night and green tea throughout the day these will fire up the furnaces. Nuts, beans and pulses make good additions to any diet for example.

My major piece of advice is to take it one step at a time, don't try to change too much at once. If you're exercising now and you weren't previously then keep drinking the beer, it'll relax you, look at it as a reward for a week of hard work.

If you deny yourself too much your routine and diet will fail within a few months...think long term...life is a marathon, not a sprint

Best of luck

Answer 2

Sounds like a good start, but the best way Ive found to lose weight is to keep a record of everything i eat over 3 days, then just stop eating the things I shouldnt til the weight comes off. Unfortunately the best way is to cut the booze completely for a few weeks

Also maybe consider a heart rate monitor, and push the intensity a bit so as you are in the optimal fat burning zone

Id also add that there is a difference between dieting and healthy eating. Given the choice chose healthy eating

Answer 3

First off- Great start! You're really dedicated.
Lessen or Drop the Beer. If you're not seeing results, that's why.

And try to swim 4 or 5 times a week too. That will help more. And maybe on the days you don't swim, go for a jog instead of a walk.

All these things will help you see results faster.

Good Luck! =]

Answer 4

Sounds fine swimming is excellent exercise but may I suggest you change your stokes in order to give yourself ab it of cardio vascular as well.

The front crawl will defiantly help and works different muscles sections maybe just incorporate a length doing crawl then change back to breast stroke.

Diet wise crunchy Nut Cornflakes are coated in sugar and the banana on top is high in calories,sorry to bring this to your attention.

Fruit is good but has hidden calories what about making your lunch the main meal using meat but the white meat instead of red,trying to cut out the potatoes but keep all the other vegetables.

Beer like everyone has mentioned is a no no 12 bottles ouch,make the change to maybe just 2! and water instead not so much fun but better to help weight loss.

You will defiantly notice a change in your appearance keep it up and good luck

Answer 5

For a start I dont think the beer helps and sometimes although its healthy loads of fruit is a bit weird- have you tried the Low GI diet thats very good- based around foods that keep you fuller for longer- and yes I think you're doing enough exersise but maybe need to do something more aerobic to kick off your metabolism- basically with swimming and things like that you're more likely to tone up first rather than loose weight and muscle is heavier than fat so keep on with it and if you're worried go and see a nutritionalist or dietician!!!

Answer 6

Drink more water and less beer. Swimming is very good, just be sure not to eat for 4 hours before you start swimming. Potatoes are not good for diets, no matter how they're cooked. Eat green vegetables, and the ones with green leaves. Banannas are also not very good, try to eat only one/day. Cereals are ok in the morning, but still not very good, especially if you belong to the blood group 0.

Answer 7

Just plodding up and down the pool will have short term benefits but the body gets used to exercise and the effects will stop. It will keep you fit but you need to vary the speed and stroke you swim at. set goals ie. improve the number of lengths you do in the time, or try and sprint swim for say 5 minutes during your 40 minute swim.

Answer 8

You probably need to add some protein, instead of a banana at !!am eat 12 almonds, at lunch eat 3-4 oz of chicken. Lay off the beer and potato's get your carbs from veggy's. Protein is what will get you metabolism going.

Answer 9

My, my, thats very good 4 u. I just dont know if that is trying to lose weight.

Answer 10

you wont notice the difference your self people you don't see for a while will don't go to you family's for a month i bet when you do they Will notice the difference straight away