I'm a bit confused what consitutes hard or medium swimming for the calorie counter. Is anyone else using this to count their calories?

I am using this to track my swimming calories. I think it relates to speed. I am not swimming at a leisurely slow pace but neither am I whizzing up and down at a very fast pace like some people do. I have always chosen the 'medium' option and the same for the other exercises i.e. bike, running etc.

Thanks for your reply. I am doing about 2.1km in an hour but then others are whizzing past me! I put down hard but then once I get the rhythm going with the legs and arms it doesn't feel particularly hard. On the other hand, as the water supports you, you don't feel it. If you did those arm/leg movements on dry land it would really hurt! People will probably tell me 2.1km/h is slow but I do want to know. For my age (fast approaching 40) I suppose it's not bad!!

I'm aiming for 5 swims a week and the occasional easy hour's cycle at weekends. The weight is coming off as I'm healthy eating too, at a rate of about 1 or 2 lb a week.

I've started logging swimming and wasn't quite sure which category to use - I think that the easy, medium or hard should relate to your particular level of effort and not the speed that you are going. If you are a seasoned swimmer, your effort will be a lot less to swim at the same speed as someone who has done very little exercise.

I think I would use the terms easy, medium and hard to relate to swimming as such:
Easy - You are not out of breath, and can swim up and down the pool effortlessly at a slow pace
Medium - You are pushing yourself slightly harder, and may find that your breathing quickens
Hard - You are sprinting up and down the pool, breathing very heavily and may be out of breath. This is the stage at which I go bright red and wish that the pool temperature was a couple of degrees cooler.
I hope this helps,
Emma

I, too, find this a bit confusing.

When I cycle to work I usually class it as hard or extremely hard because I tend to go hell for leather, even though it is only 11 miles.

When I do a long ride I grade it by the amount of effort involved (hills, wind, types of road, stops/starts, etc), trying to ignore the time factor. Ironically, this could mean a 10-hour, 100-mile ride or longer being classed as medium (for you swimmers that's a bit like classing a Cross-Channel swim as medium!), so I add in a pain/exhaustion effect, though this may have nothing to do with calories at all.

I'm not too worried at the moment as I am still trying to lose weight, but it will matter more as I get down to my target weight and want to maintain it. To do that I'll have to balance my calorie intake with my expenditure, so I'll need a more accurate measure of the latter. I may get one of those whizzy computers that can measure such things.

When I fill the chart in I log it as:

Easy - Gentle no sweat
Medium - Good session but no extremes of energy used
Hard - Had to focus to complete the session - putting in extra effort
Extremely Hard - Left the class/gym exhausted and a little puddle of perspiration.

Hope this helps.

JENNIFER

Check out this:

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/ women/body_and_soul/article3503960.ece

In Mark's article (came across it yesterday), he rates the level of intensity, which equates to what I assess. In aerobic terms, I understood that you should aim to exercise at a pace where you can just about hold a conversation, which is a rough guide for your heart pumping pretty good. This would be hard, level 8 on Mark's scale.

I found the article helpful, anyway!

I just log everything as medium. Tried to use a chest strap heart monitor as well, to check the cals burned. It worked out around the same give or take a couple of cals.