Home gym and workout program

[shyapril]

Hi everyone! After going through all the messages on board I still have some questions.
I go to the swimming pool three days a week and have a 45 min class of hydro gymnastics (I'm not sure if that is the english term...). I would like to do some workout at home, with "home made" wheighs and home-adapted exercises on the other days as I don't feel the pool is working the way I thought it would: I have not lost a single pound or size in clothes. I also want to loose fat which hasn't been happening at all!!! And all this with an very balanced diet. Can anyone help me? Thank you!

[Trinity]

What do you eat in a typical day? Do you have any idea how many calories you consume? Since it sounds like you are pretty active, I think your diet may be the culprit. Try to eat 500 calories fewer than you burn in a day to lose one pound a week.

[shyapril]

My usual meals are:

- breackfast: small bread with white cheese and a glass of milk with coffee;

- snack: low fat yogurt

- lunch: salad with tomatoe, salman, carrot, and a handfull of pasta.

- snack: cereal bar

- dinner: 1 portion of rice, 1 portion of fish or meat and salad

- snack: apple

I'm sorry if I mispelled something...

After reading some more messages I wonder if I'm not having enough carbs and my body thinks I'm starving!!

Anyway, I guess that if I take off 500 cal...well... I guess I won't eat at all...I must be around 1500 or 1300 cal per day.

In european measures:

high: 1'58 m
weigh: 55 kg

but, as most women, I have fat around my waist and hips...

[Jessipan]

I've read studies that claim that swimmers tend to have more body fat than other athletes who get similarly difficult workouts. It has also been shown that immediately after swimming the appetite is stimulated, while exercise like running inhibits the appetite. This effect on hunger is thought to have to do with the different effects on body temperature. I know that when I was on the swim team in high school I was starving when I got done, but when I run I'm not hungry at all (just thirsty).

Swimming is great exercise (both for muscle toning and for your joints), but you might want to consider this effect- I would definitely add some land-based cardio and some weight training- that is what competative swimmers do to try to correct for the swimming problem. I'm not sure that you could eat much less.

This link discusses the "swimming paradox" in more detail:
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/...h/swimming.htm

My personal theory is that your body can tell that it is getting cold and tries to maintain a layer of fat as insulation...

[shyapril]

Actually, after my class the only thing I can get in my stomach is some soup, a slice of white cheese and a piece of fruit... I don't swim to compete and probably that makes the difference. I get really relax after my class because I come home so tired from work that I just "explode" in the water you know? After an hour of "fighting" the water all my strenghs sink! LOL!Anyway on swim days that is my dinner: soup, cheese anf fruit. My metabolism must be thinking of something else really... it must be like sooooooooooooooo slooooooooooooooooooow...

[guava]

Originally Posted by shyapril

My usual meals are:

- breackfast: small bread with white cheese and a glass of milk with coffee;

- snack: low fat yogurt

- lunch: salad with tomatoe, salman, carrot, and a handfull of pasta.

- snack: cereal bar

- dinner: 1 portion of rice, 1 portion of fish or meat and salad

- snack: apple

I'm sorry if I mispelled something...

After reading some more messages I wonder if I'm not having enough carbs and my body thinks I'm starving!!

Anyway, I guess that if I take off 500 cal...well... I guess I won't eat at all...I must be around 1500 or 1300 cal per day.

In european measures:

high: 1'58 m
weigh: 55 kg

but, as most women, I have fat around my waist and hips...

Lunch sounds great, and dinner sounds fine.

I don't count calories myself, so I might be a bit off on any suggestions, but I'd suggest replacing the cheese and bread with fruit and oatmeal.

There's a controversial opinion that foods high in glycemic index can cause weight gain (or impede weight loss, I suppose). In fact, in the newest food guide, it says you should limit quantities of white rice, white bread, pasta and potatoes.

[Jessipan]

Even if swimming doesn't make you feel hungry, I would still pay attention to the fact that people have more trouble losing weight using swimming as their exercise (even non-competative swimmers). See this study:

"What's more, research published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine shows that in the absence of a controlled diet, swimming has little or no effect on weight loss.

Professor Grant Gwinup compared three exercise programs for three months. Each program began with up to 10 minutes of daily exercise. The length of each workout was increased by five minutes every week.

• Test subjects following the walking program lost 17 pounds of weight during the three-month study.

• Those following the cycling program lost 19 pounds of weight.

• However, subjects following the swimming program actually gained 5 pounds."

Given how little you eat already, and the fact that swimming without additional food restriction probably won't help your lose weight, I think what you really need to start doing is building muscle. If you don't GAIN weight, as you increase your muscle you will definitely lose fat (since muscle weighs more than fat). So, I would start a weight training program. I don't think I'm the best person here to give you good advice about what sort of strength training to do, though....

Jess

[Bernee]

My only recommendation is to track your calories for a while to see how much calories you are consuming. Look at this link below and once you put in the numbers it can help you calculate the amount of calories you need to help you lose weight or maintain.

http://michaelandkendra.com/BMRCALC/bmrcalc.htm

[shyapril]

Thanks for the tips Bernee and Jessipan! I'll start tracking my calories and guess I'll try and start a new cycling program between swimming days. Take care!