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July 20, 2009
News For
SWIM PARENTS
Published by The American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21 Ave., Suite 200
Fort Lauderdale FL 33309
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Are Ideal Weight Charts Meaningful?
By Keith B. Wheeler, Ph.D.
And Angeline M. Cameron
Question: A 10 year-old child who swims for times a week for
90 minutes weighs more than the published "ideal weight" for his
age and height, but the child does not appear to be
overweight. Are ideal weight charts meaningful? Should
the child be placed on a diet?
Answer: Ideal weight charts are only applicable for people
who are 18 years of age and older. Growth charts are used for
people younger than 18 years. Growth charts express a
percentile rank of height, weight, or height-to-weight ratio.
Using growth charts, doctors can compare a child's development
growth pattern with population norms. Just because a child is
in the 95th percentile for weight does not necessarily indicate
that the child is overweight. It is possible for a child 10
to 12 years of age to drop from the 95th percentile of weight to
the 50th percentile during 1 year of rapid growth. A child
who is in the upper percentiles of weight should not automatically
be placed on a diet. A restrictive diet could be more harmful
than helpful for a child who is preparing for puberty. If
they feel that their child is overweight, the parents should
discuss the issue with their child's doctor; but, if the child does
not appear to be overweight, chances are that he or she is
not.
Join Swim Team to Lose Weight?
By Guy Edson
Question: We are signing up our 10 year old boy for the swim
team to lose weight. What can we expect?
Answer: Losing weight requires a combination of exercise and
calorie reduction through controlled and monitored dieting.
Of the two: dieting and exercise -- dieting is by far the most
important element. Exercise is great for improving
cardio-vascular fitness and strength, but as a weight loss tool,
falls far short of most people's expectations.
Continuous moderate freestyle swimming for a child weighing 130 to
150 pounds will burn about 500 calories per hour. If the
child attends 5 practices of 1 hour each that would be 2500
calories. To lose one pound of weight, a person needs to burn
3500 calories so that would take about 7 practices or about a week
and a half.
However, a novice swimmer is not going to be swimming moderate
freestyle continuously for an hour. There is going to be a
lot of stroke work, easy swimming, and waiting for their
turn. A novice swimmer might be burning 250 calories an hour
which means it will take 14 practices, or almost three weeks, to
burn off 1 pound.
So the answer to what can you expect is this: Expect a very
slow reduction in weight - and ONLY if the child doesn't increase
their caloric intake.
My strongest recommendation is to get with a pediatrician or a
licensed dietitian to recommend, monitor and control your child's
diet. Dieting is the primary means of losing
weight.
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