Swimming makes me HUNGRY!

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone has any tips for preventing the overwhelming urge to eat a huge meal after swimming laps?

I really enjoy swimming, and would go more if I didn't think it would lead to eating so much!

Thanks!

You should eat after swimming - you need to repair the msucles you have stretched and torn. However, dont grab a chokkie bar. Try and egg white omlette - low cal and protein rich, to help your muscles repair and therefore you burn more (as your muscles grow bigger etc.)

Maybe just time swimming so you will be eating dinner/lunch after it. So do an hour of swimming at 1630, leave 30 mins to get changed and then make dinner.

If you're really worried about eating, drink water. You'll feel fuller. Also, maybe you are just thirsty - its hard to drink whilst swimming, whereas running/gym work, you can sip on water. THe lack of water will make you want to eat.

It doesn't matter if I eat a full meal before swimming laps, as soon as I'm not I'm starving! I don't know what it is about swimming, but absolutely nothing else makes me hungry like that. I usually eat a banana smoothie - 1/2 cup skim milk, a few slices of banana, 1/3 cup fat free yogourt, and 5 icecubes. Fills me up pretty good for around 160 calories.

yep me too! i get sooo hungry! and its a different kind of hunger than I normally feel I think. It feels...deeper sort of. Yall swimmers probly know what I mean by that. Im not sure what to do about it either because i love swimming and need to lose the weight, but i have no idea how many calories im burning in the water so I dont know what I can afford to eat. *shrug* soo confusing :P

I have the same challenge and plus, as a mom, I can testify that my kids are hungry like no other time after they swim. I'm guessing it has something to do with our bodies being in a cooler environment (water temps, even "warm" ones, are still significantly less than a human body temp).

I've just started adding some swimming to my workout, mostly for my arms and back (I don't kick at all). Even after just a 15 minute swim, I can feel that hunger! I find the only thing that helps is to eat lots of protein, so a smoothie with protein powder or omelet sounds just about right! Good luck.

 

I treat my swim workouts just like any other cardio workout - it's important to fuel up within 20 minutes of stopping - don't worry about eating before, eat after! (Don't work out on an empty stomach, but you don't need to eat first). My best recovery snack is a protien shake and if I'm extra hungry I have a banana too - I have it in the car driving home so by the time I get home my hunger is in check so I don't over eat.

thanks for the info sybil that sounds like a good plan!

im always starving too, i mean manic starving, even when i dont do that hard of a swim. like mkculs said, i did read some where at some time something that says something about it being because your body is not really allowed to heat up like in other exercises????

I think it may have to do with the cooler temperatures. If your body is not only having to work at an aerobic level to get you from one end of the pool to the other but also having to keep you from freezing (even tho the pool I swim in says the temp is 82 most days, which seems kind of warm for swimming laps once you get in and warmed up). *shrug* I truly have NO idea lol. big fat mystery right there.

actually...continuing on that thought...i dont see how it would be any different than walking in freezing temperatures. I walk around the block at night when its 27 degrees for exercise and I dont feel that same hunger when I get thru as i do after i swim. maybe its all in my head.

i've been a swimmer my whole life and i'd have to say, swimming leaves you super hungry and i never got thin from doing swim. i think afterwards we tend to overcompensate for what we burn. sometimes my team and i would have watermelon or like melons and stuff b/c they're low calorie and filling and then eat more later.

you should alway ingest some form of protein after any kind of workout, what a lot of people don't realize is that you can get dehydrated in a pool, thirst wise.  after i get done with swimming i drink around 16 ounces of water and that seems to usually do the trick, and can help curb appetite for a while at least.