Can I lose 10 kg in a month by swimming? No. That’s too High
If you are swimming to slim and tone your body, you will want to know the answer to the question: how much weight can you lose swimming in a month?
And losing weight when you swim daily a month is guaranteed. Even if you swim 3 times a week, you will see good weight-loss results.
If you are swimming to lose belly fat, you will lose it. However, you want to have a specific number or even an estimate in mind.
So, how much weight can you lose swimming in a month? You will need to burn 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of weight. 60 minutes of intensive swimming can burn up to 800 calories. You can calculate how many times you need to swim a week to lose at least 4 pounds in a month.
How much weight can you lose swimming in a month?
Swimming can help you lose more weight than running.
When you swim, you get more resistance from the water. This is more than you would get from the air. Therefore, you use more energy, compelling your body to burn more calories.
Also read: swimming in the ocean with a yeast infection
To lose weight by swimming, you have to hit the pool or the ocean consistently. The body only responds to a proper schedule. Thus, if you swim once a week, you will not see any noticeable change in a month.
Swim at least three times a week in the first month. Actually, it is recommended to swim 4 to 5 times a week. Professional swimmers do much more than that because they swim between 10 and 20 times.
You can make your swimming sessions last between 30 and 60 minutes. Also, you have to eat carefully to create a calorie deficit.
There is no sense in burning 800 calories and then overeating by another 1000 calories over the recommended daily intake of 2000 to 2500 calories.
If you are obese, engaging in any activity will cause you to lose weight fast at first. However, after some time, you hit a plateau stage where you do not seem to be making any progress. This is also good because it is when your body is toning up. Keep swimming!
You can read more about this in our post on my body before and after swimming.
How can you lose weight faster by swimming
Swimming alone can help you lose weight. However, when you want to lose weight faster, you have to come up with a strategy. Here are a few things you can do:
Swim 5 days a week
Swim for at least 30 minutes five days a week. During these swimming sessions, you should alternate between different swimming strokes.
Some swimming strokes burn more fat than others. Alternating swimming techniques give you the best of both worlds.
You do not have to swim from Monday to Friday. You can break up the days. For instance, you could swim Monday and Tuesday, skip Wednesday, and then swim Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Create a calorie deficit in your body
To get the body to burn fat, you have to create a calorie deficit. Generally, a man requires 2500 calories a day. The body burns these calories to produce energy and power different bodily functions.
A woman requires 2000 calories or thereabouts. Therefore, to burn fat for energy, you should consume fewer calories than the recommended daily intake. That way, the body has to burn its fat reserves for energy.
Swimming is one of the best aerobic workouts. When you swim, it will increase your heart rate, improve your lung health, and give you more benefits.
A good heart rate enhances the transportation of nutrients and oxygen to different parts of your body. When you eat a nutritious diet every day, your body will not have any excess calories to convert to fat.
When you increase your swimming sessions and intensity, your body will burn fat and leave you with lean muscle mass.
As you find out how you could create a calorie deficit and swim at the same time, please remember that swimming is an energy-intensive exercise. You don’t want to deny your body enough calories and faint in the water.
Swim in cold water
Swimming in cold water can help kick-start your metabolism. However, this does not mean you go dipping your body in the winter. You could time your swim to coincide with the coldest time in the morning.
If you would like to swim throughout the year, you will need a heated swimming pool for winter. If you swim in ice-cold water, you can burn 500 calories more as compared to a person who swims in warm water.
Cold water swimming has other effects. For instance, it can enhance the release of the hormone testosterone.
Change your diet
Today, people don’t eat because they are hungry. Rather, they eat because they have to feed their addiction to certain chemicals used in the food.
Therefore, to lose weight, you have to fight your addiction to food. Swimming can help you very well in this regard.
When you swim, your body releases feel-good hormones. These hormones bring a feeling of satiety, contentment, and happiness. You do not feel the urge to eat too much.
Thus, when you are going for your swimming session, just take a protein bar. Protein calories are not easily converted to fat.
Besides, protein takes longer to digest, so it will release energy gradually, enabling you to swim a “marathon” rather than a “relay.”
If you do not eat cleanly when swimming to lose weight, all the weight that you lose will come back.
When you feed your body too many calories, it does not know what to do with them. It converts them into fat and stores them around the belly and other fat areas.
Use the butterfly stroke to lose more weight
The butterfly stroke is the king for losing weight while swimming. But if you are a beginner, you might want to try the freestyle swimming style because it is easier. It will not burn you as many calories as the butterfly, but it will come close.
Incorporate HIIT in your swimming workout
High intensity interval training is the best technique to get your heart rate up quickly. To incorporate this into your swimming sessions, you can swim at a high burst of speed for half a lap and then swim the other half at a slow speed.
Because of its efficiency in burning fat, HIIT is used in all aerobic workouts, such as indoor rowing, cycling, and treadmill running. You could also use it for track running.
Check my past posts on:
How to swim safely in the Great Salt Lake
I pee in pools hoodies and T-shirts
Conclusion: How much weight can you lose swimming in a month?
There are many factors to consider here. However, if you weigh about 200 pounds, you will lose up to 600 calories per hour swimming.
Considering that you have to burn 3500 calories to lose 1 pound, do the math! You have to swim for 6 hours to lose 1 pound.
If you weigh less, say 154 pounds, you will burn about 500 calories per hour of swimming. Thus, to lose 1 pound, you need to swim for 7 hours.
With these rough figures in mind, you can find a style that works well for you. The most important thing is to keep swimming. Besides, you will be building up your survival swimming skills.