Diet and Work Out routine for swimming?

Will swimming help decrease my weight and body fat? And question about ab workouts?

• I know I asked this before, but I left some info out. I am 16, and am going to be a senior in high school. I weigh 160, and I am 5'10" Right now, I swim 1 mile a day, 5 days a week. I take a break every 3 laps (150 meters), but my goal by the end of the summer is to do 2 miles (66 laps), in 6 sets of 11 laps. Once I achieve this, I will do it continuously, 5 times a week. Right now, I have about 18~19% body fat, but I workout (weight training) 5 days a week for about an hour to an hour and a half. I work my chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and my back occasionally. I want to start doing ab workouts, but I haven't found the right one for me. Crunches hurt my lower back, and my arms feel it more than my abs do when I do planks. Now, my diet is this: Breakfast: Slim Fast (Original) Snack: Some sort of fruit, usually banana or strawberries Lunch: Slim Fast (Original) Snack: Same thing, a fruit of some sort, and a nutrigrain bar Dinner: Usually whatever my family is having for dinner, like burgers or hot dogs, maybe beans or soup. Nothing too healthy, but not extremely bad. My main goal is to decrease my body fat and weight and tone my body. Is this possible through swimming 2 miles a day, 5 days a week and my diet? I also plan to join the swim team next year at my school. For all you swimmers, what is practice like on a high school swim team? Also, do you think it would be a good idea to do some high intensity interval training? Like run for 1 minute and walk for 2 minutes, and repeat that about 8-10 times? Or will I be drained from energy?

• Answer:

  swimming is the best and fastest way to lose weight. it works all parts of your body, so keep going with that. and the food, great. try to eat more salads for dinner though. it can help you lose weight. drinking tons of water helps you lose weight faster also. and for ab workouts, something that always helps me is by laying on the floor with one knee bent and the other straight out. put your hands behind your head/ears and everytime you bring your shoulders up[like a crunch], bring your outstretched leg toward your chest. another - lay on the floor, have one knee bent, the other leg straight UP in the air, pulse that leg down, then up about 10 times. then pulse it down and hold it for about 5 seconds, then do another 10 pulses. it reallly works your abs. good luck. :)