Many people say that swimming is one of the best exercises to lose weight. Swimming for one hour can eliminate 1000 calories, which is almost the sum of the calories a person needs in a day.
Does this mean that as long as you swim for an hour, the calories you eat in a day will disappear? Can it really consume that much? Then why do some people get fatter after swimming?
How many calories can swimming consume?
In fact, swimming consumes 1000 calories per hour, which is not accurate and comprehensive. The amount of heat consumed per hour varies greatly with different intensities of swimming.
According to the data of "Nutrition and Dietary Guidelines for China Residents (2016)", a 66 kg male, with an average freestyle/backstroke of 30 minutes, consumes 264 kilocalories; Breaststroke for 30 minutes consumes 330 kilocalories; Butterfly swimming consumes the most calories, which is 363 kilocalories.
In contrast, a 56 kg woman spends an average of 30 minutes in freestyle/backstroke, consuming 224.1 kilocalories; Breaststroke for 30 minutes consumes 279.9 kilocalories; The maximum calorie consumption of butterfly stroke is 308.1 kilocalories.
Although you don’t exercise for an hour and consume 1000 calories, it is undeniable that swimming does burn fat. In contrast, a 66 kg man jogs for 30 minutes on average and consumes 231 kilocalories. A 56 kg woman jogs for 30 minutes on average, and consumes 195.9 kilocalories. In addition, another advantage of swimming is that there is no damage to the knees.
Why did you get fat after swimming?
But why do some people get fatter and fatter after swimming? First of all, it has much to do with how much you eat. Dr. Wu Xi, an associate professor in the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolic Diseases, Huashan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, pointed out that losing weight actually creates a calorie gap and consumes a lot of calories, but it is impossible to lose weight by taking more. People usually feel hungry after swimming and want to eat food with high fat content. Some people feel that they consume so many calories, and when they get home, they can eat some high-calorie foods with peace of mind, not only will they not lose weight, but they will also get fatter and fatter. Sometimes, after swimming for an hour, a bottle of coke will offset it.
You should still eat some foods with high fiber and low calorie before and after swimming, including bananas and tomatoes. It is not good to eat when you are hungry, which is easy to cause overeating.
Dr. Wu Xi pointed out that exercise to lose weight should be a long-term and persistent lifestyle, and weight loss should also be a gentle process. As long as you persist in sports with enough intensity for more than half an hour every day and keep your heart rate at 120-150 times per minute, you will eventually see results.
Of course, there is another possibility. If you find that you gain weight after an exercise, it may be caused by drinking more water after exercise. If you gain weight after a period of exercise, it may be that the proportion of muscle has increased and the proportion of fat has decreased. Because of the high density of muscles, muscles with the same volume are much heavier than fat, so despite the weight recovery, the weight loss effect has actually been achieved, and the body will look more compact.
"Of course, in addition to aerobic training, resistance exercise is also very important for improving basic metabolism and body shaping; Muscle training first, then aerobic exercise such as swimming and running can also prevent joint injury. Every week, 1-2 times, 30-45 minutes of resistance exercise, or HIIT exercise program (high-intensity interval training), which can effectively maintain and increase muscles. " Dr. Wu Wei said.
We should pay attention to these problems when swimming safely.
Summer is the season of rapid growth of various pathogenic microorganisms and high incidence of various ocular surface diseases, and the average infection rate is twice as high as that in winter, especially in public swimming pools. If the disinfection measures are not strict, it will easily lead to the spread of pinkeye (infectious conjunctivitis). So how to prevent it? Can I swim during my period? The reporter interviewed relevant experts.
Dr. Hong Jiaxu, an attending ophthalmologist at the Eye, Otolaryngology Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, suggested that you should choose a regular swimming place to ensure the water quality and wear goggles before entering the water. Regular swimming pools will sterilize the water source, but once one or two patients with pink eye enter the swimming pool, they may still infect other people.
Pink eye disease is mainly transmitted through contact, such as towels, face plates, eye drops, coins, keyboards, door handles, faucets and so on. After touching things with germs, rubbing your eyes with dirty hands is more likely to infect bacteria. Therefore, the management of swimming pools should also strengthen supervision, prevent patients with pink eye from swimming, and strengthen the sterilization of water sources. In addition, patients with pink eye should also be conscious, swimming may aggravate their condition, so they should not go swimming in public swimming pools again. In addition, everyone should also pay attention to personal hygiene, wash their hands frequently, and don’t cross-use daily necessities such as towels.
Huang Weihong, deputy director of obstetrics and gynecology department of Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, pointed out that some women think that they can get into the water safely by using tampons or moon cups during menstruation, but this method is not desirable. Women’s vagina is connected with the outside world, which provides the possibility for bacterial infection. Moreover, the cervix of the uterus is relatively dilated during menstruation, and the blood flowing out of the uterus during menstruation itself is a good culture medium for the reproduction of germs. After the tampon is soaked in water, germs can easily enter the body, causing reproductive system infection.
"Of course, if you enjoy the environment very much when traveling, and women are at the end of their menstrual period, if you really want to go into the water, it is not bad to use tampons or menstrual cups, but swimming during menstruation for a long time will increase the chance of infection, which is definitely not recommended."
Dr. Huang Weihong said, "Female swimming during menstruation is prone to reproductive system infection or menstrual disorder, and it will not be cured for a long time."
Dr. Huang Weihong warned that if you swim in unsanitary water, dirty water can enter the vagina, and germs can take the opportunity to cause various diseases. Although the water in the swimming pool is disinfected circularly, it is impossible to be sterile, and there is no guarantee if it is not disinfected thoroughly in some places. There are many swimmers with tinea corporis, tinea pedis, trachoma, fungal vaginitis or trichomonal vaginitis, and even patients with gonorrhea and condyloma acuminatum. They bring pathogens into the pool water and easily infect healthy swimmers.
