Women swimmers depend on a strong upper body to power through the water, but also benefit from healthy levels of body fat to enhance flotation. Since severe calorie limitation can interfere with performance and recovery, it's important to maintain a healthy diet that supports your level of training. A balanced diet that provides an appropriate number of calories, along with regular training, will lead to a healthy body fat percentage.
Factors
Normal body fat percentages for women swimmers vary based on fitness level, training schedule, weight and age. Elite women swimmers who maintain a strict training and competition schedule will likely have less body fat than women who swim for fitness or recreation. Focus on eating a healthy diet and maintaining a regular training schedule rather than aiming for a specific body fat percentage. When you're physically fit and maintain a healthy weight, your body composition will be healthy, as well.
Identification
Women with a healthy weight who exercise regularly for general fitness typically have a body fat percentage of 21 to 24 percent. A typical body fat percentage for women athletes ranges from 14 to 20 percent, according to the American Council on Exercise. However, swimmers tend to maintain a higher percentage of body fat than other athletes, including endurance runners, says Carolinas Medical Center. CBS News reports that three-time Olympic gold medalist Brooke Bennett was at 18 percent body fat when she set the world record for the 800-meter freestyle swim in Sydney, Australia. The average body fat percentage for women swimmers ranges from 14 to 24 percent.
Interpretation
The body mass index estimates body fat based on your weight and height. Although the index may overestimate body fat in athletes who have a higher percentage of muscle, women swimmers can use BMI as a tool to evaluate body weight status. If your BMI ranges from 18.5 to 24.9, your weight is in the healthy range. If you train regularly, your muscle to fat ratio should be healthy, as well, as long as your weight stays in the normal range.
Considerations
Base your diet on your training schedule. Swimming burns almost 300 calories every 30 minutes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Depending on the frequency and duration of your swims, you could burn a significant number of calories every day. You need to consume enough calories to meet your nutritional and energy needs. If your weight is in the overweight category, try to take in 250 calories less than you burn through everyday activity and exercise. If you're working on weight maintenance and trying to add muscle, try to balance the number of calories you take in with the number you burn.
References
- Australian Institute of Sport: Swimming
- Carolinas Medical Center: Estimating Percentage of Body Fat
- American Council on Exercise: Percent Body Fat Calculator
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: Assessing Your Weight and Health Risk
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Physical Activity for a Healthy Weight
- USA Swimming: ABCs of Mental Training
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