Discover How Many Calories You Burn While Swimming: Refer to This Chart

Michael Phelps said that he ate between 8,000 and 10,000 calories per day at his peak. It’s not crazy to wonder how someone can eat thousands of calories and stay in shape.

How many calories does swimming burn, anyway?

If you train like an Olympic swimmer, spending hours in the pool swimming at a vigorous effort in addition to other training, you’re going to burn a lot of calories.

So much, in fact, that Phelps was able to eat that many calories a day and still walk away with a six — er — eight-pack.

But for the average person who simply wants a good, low-impact workout from their swimming routine, chances are you rarely have more than an hour to stay in the pool.

Still, that can burn a good number of calories, even if you’re only in the water for a half-hour.

That’s largely due to the fact that swimming is a killer cardio workout that challenges your whole body and builds cardiorespiratory endurance.

Below we calculated the number of calories burned swimming laps with a freestyle stroke at both a vigorous and moderate effort for 30 minutes according to the MET, or Metabolic Equivalent of a Task, totals for each. (Calculations come from the Compendium of Physical Activities and Cornell University’s METS to Calories Calculator.)

How Many Calories Does Swimming Burn?

For a 150-pound swimmer, a half hour of freestyle laps (5.8 METS) swum recreationally will burn about 198 calories. Of course, swimming workouts can vary greatly depending on type of stroke, intensity of effort, and sustained duration.

For example, those same freestyle laps swum by the same person at competitive intensity can increase significanlty to 9.8 METs, or 334 calories in a half hour. Meanwhile, regular old water tread in a pool at moderate effort burns a mere 3.5 METs, or 119 calories in a half hour.

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So, check out the charts below to learn approximately how many calories you’ll burn in a half-hour workout based on your weight, then dive in!

Remember, though, that these are just estimates. Actual calorie burn depends on a lot more than just weight. Your body composition, age, gender, genetics, and fitness level will also affect your total energy expenditure during exercise.

Calories Burned Swimming at Vigorous Effort

Weight (lbs.) Calories Burned (30 mins.)
130 290
140 312
150 334
160 356
170 379
180 401
190 423
200 446

Calorie Burned Swimming at Moderate Effort

Weight (lbs.) Calories Burned (30 mins.)
130 171
140 185
150 198
160 211
170 224
180 237
190 251
200 264

Swimming Tips and Workouts

Now that you know how many calories you can burn swimming, it’s time to get to work!

Need some guidance? We’ve got you:

calories burned swimming graphic | How Many Calories Does Swimming Burn

Lesa O'Leary
Lesa O'Leary

Lesa is a dynamic member of OzHelp’s Service Delivery Team as the Service Delivery Team Leader and Nurse. She has been with OzHelp for five years and believes in leading by example. Lesa has experience in the not-for-profit sector, as well as many roles throughout different industries and sectors, including as a contractor to the Department of Defence. She has expertise in delivering OzHelp’s health and wellbeing programs and engaging with clients in a relaxed and comfortable manner that aligns with the organisation’s vision and objectives.

Lesa has a Certificate 4 in Nursing from Wodonga Tafe, Certificate 4 in Mental Health from Open Colleges, and is currently undertaking a Certificate 4 in Training and Assessment from Tafe NSW. For the past few months Lesa has been an Education and Memberships committee member of the ACT Branch of the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC).