For getting in shape and losing weight, should I swim 3 days a week or 6?

Question

I'm at about 280 lbs, and I'm trying to cut down closer to 200lbs. I have been on a better diet and strength training for about a month which seems to be working well. This week I joined the Y and started swimming before work. My question is, in order to get into good shape and lose the weight, would it be more beneficial to swim 3 days a week (Tu-Th-Sat) for 60 minutes at a time, or 6 days a week (Mon-Sat) for 30 minutes at a time? I get to the pool at 6am.

Answer 1

find calorie/fitness calculator on the net, enter all your stats and it will tell you how many calories you need a day to maintain, take off 300-400cal off that number and thats how much you need to lose.
eat 5-6 small meals a day (eat every 2-3 hours)
5-8 servings of fruit and veggies a day
8 glasses of water
have complex carbs for breakfast - they give you energy
have lean meat (protein) for dinner - repairs muscle
cardio exercise 4-6 times a week for 30-50min, light weight training
dont consume foods that are made of white flour (white bread, cakes, past etc.), sugar loaded foods (cookies, icecream, candy etc) and nothing fried, oily.
ofcourse you can spoil yourself once in a while with a little treat:)

Answer 2

Weight takes as long to come off as it took to pile on. You can do sit ups until the cows come home. Unless you do some serious cardio, the level of body fat around your abdomen will not shift by doing crunches alone. There are 3500 calories per pound of body fat. So if you have a calorie deficit of 500 calories you would lose approximately one pound per week: (500 x 7 = 3,500) A calorie deficit of 1000 calories would therefore mean that you'd lose approximately two pounds per week (1000 x 7 = 7000). Two pounds a week is commonly accepted as the maximum rate of weight loss that is healthy. If you run 3 miles 3x a week until the party, in three weeks you could shift 2700 calories (100 calories per mile).

Answer 3

Studies have shown it takes about 5 days of exercising 30 min moderately to maintain your weight, or 5 days of 60 minutes moderately to lose weight.

Either way, you are doing 180 minutes of swimming, so I would think it wouldn't matter too much. I would choose whichever routine is easier for you to stick with.

Answer 4

To avoid burn out, I would start with 45 min. for 4 days a week. That, along with a healthier diet and strength training will be an awesome combination.
I'm assuming you will mix up your patterns of swimming( one day do slow and steady, another day do interval training) so you don't get bored, and your body doesn't get too used to doing the same thing over and over?
Runners have to do the same thing.

don't forget to take before & after pictures!

Answer 5

I lost 70 pounds by swimming. I started out with 3X a week until I hit a weight loss plateau. Then I added an extra day each time I hit a plateau. Your body will require more and more exercise to keep dropping weight and if you get your body already used to 6X a week then you will have to lengthen the time of your workout.

My doctor told me to start by modifying my eating habits. When that no longer works to start gradually adding cardio. He told me that if I start out like gangbusters, I will end up having to do more and more cardio to keep burning fat.

Answer 6

you had better build yourself up to the 6 day routine. If you over due it you will get to fatigued and stop the exercising all together. That with a good diet will get you to your goal quickly.

Answer 7

crank your ipod as you walk at 3 5 mph for 23 minutes

Answer 8

Eat an apple instead of bottled juice

Answer 9

make your cosmo 100 calories skinnier by mixing a raspberry infused vodka with club soda

Answer 10

pass on pop youll be amazed by how much weight you drop by simply switching to water