25lbs gone...here's how I did it.

Well, I weighed myself today, although tomorrow is my actual weigh-in day, and I have lost a total of 25 pounds. Its gone away, far far away! I couldn't be more thrilled. This swimming thing certainly seems to be paying off big time! Just for the math geeks: I have lost 7.94% of my original body weight. So, I am slowly creeping toward being a B student in weight loss!!

I have been swimming four days in a row now and each time have swum a little longer. I ended up doing about 2 hours and fifteen minutes today. Burned approximately 1800 calories. I have decided to take the lowest estimate of calorie burn I could find out there on the web. Although, I am tempted to get a heart rate monitor and see exactly how many calories I do burn. I am not sure if there is one designed specifically for swimming but if there is I will find it.

So just to give an idea of what I have been doing to lose this weight.

1) You have to know your basal metabolic rate or BMR. This is essentially how many calories you would burn just to stay alive if you were lying in bed all day. Mine is currently 2530 based on my height and weight.

2) Secondly, you have to set a calorie consumption limit for yourself that is below your BMR. Mine is currently 1580 calories. Now, it is important to make healthy choices in regards to what you eat. Low fat and low sugar is excellent. There are also many people who proselytize the low sodium diet as king. I am not sure about this since I drink plenty of water, go over my suggested limit alot and am still dropping the LB's.

3) This brings me to my next point. Water, you have to drink water everyday. Eight 8 oz. glasses at least. More if you exercise.

4) I guess I have to say that exercise is truly the key here. You don't even have to do a whole lot of exercise to make it work. 30 minutes a day 5 days a week should cut it. The more you exercise the more it works.

5) Now here is where the magic happens. If I have a BMR of 2530 and I eat 1580 calories then I have burned a total of   950 calories doing nothing. Then if I exercise I burn even more. So today I burned 1820 calories swimming which leaves me at a calorie deficit of  2770 burned today.

Three important notes: You cannot let your body starve. If you do not eat enough calories then your body will go into what they call starvation mode. This means everything you eat that your body doesn't use to stay alive will try to turn into fat. The reason is because it thinks it is starving and doesn't know when you will get to eat again so it stores energy as fat. You have to eat to lose weight. Secondly, none of the numbers here are exact. You and I could be the same height and weight and still might have different BMR's. Also, metabolism is different for everyone. Calorie burn is different depending on the person as well. So all of these numbers are only estimates. However, it is better to have some numbers to work with than not at all. Finally, never eat below 1200 calories a day as this will automatically send you into starvation mode. It just isn't healthy and frankly its stupid.

Oh yeah and one more thing, I am not an expert on weight loss. This is just what has worked for me and I figured I would share.

Remember that tomorrow is a new day and a new beginning. Take it one day at a time and don't give up on whatever your goal may be.

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Just keep swimming

For the first time in almost ten years, I am back in the water. Yesterday, I decided to go swim some laps. So I headed over to the Marty Robbins public pool off of George Dieter and Vista Del Sol. I swam for an hour, taking minimal breaks to adjust my cap and goggles. Boy was it tough. I mean I still have the strokes down but the endurance is almost gone. I found the easiest stroke for me to do was breast stroke because it didn't hurt my shoulders as much and because I had a difficult time breathing otherwise. I am sure this is due to the smoking. When I went home I was hungry, tired and hurting all over but it was great! I haven't felt like that in years. Getting back in the pool was like coming home again. Just me and the water.

It felt so great that I went back today. This time I went back to my old pool where I swam in high  school and swam for an hour again. This time practically non-stop. It wasn't so bad this time. I think I will go tomorrow too. I will keep on going every day for as long as I can. According to several websites I checked I burned 
3586.841142 calories today swimming laps of breaststroke continually. I basically swum off a pound. =) If you know how to swim it is really the best exercise out there. It's cardio, strength training and stretching all in one, not to mention its low impact. So at any rate, I think I have found my exercise. I can burn calories and meditate at the same time. So happy today!

When I was in high school I could swim a 50 freestyle, that's two laps, in under thirty seconds. So when I can do that again, I will know I have regained my former skill as a swimmer. So that is my long term goal. My short term goal is to swim a 500 freestyle non-stop. Who cares how long it takes! So for now I will just keep swimming. Feel free to post suggested workouts for swimming that I can use. I swim at a moderate to leisurely pace at this point.

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