Yes he does....he has been so incredible for me...and i am so glad i had the DS

Keep up the good work

Good for you Patty!  I too love to swim and have bad knees.   I know I am still losing weight, because I can feel it in my clothes and that's a great thing.  I have also stopped weighing myself on the scales because it was just too hard.  If didn't lose at least 3 to 5 pounds a week, I would get so down on myself.  Now I listen to my body.  I am a size 16 in pants and that's a far cry from the size 32 I was wearing at the beginning of this journey.

Take care Patty.  You are an inspiration to me.

Blessings,
Nola

The flip turns are for when I want to show off.

If I do too many in a row, I get short of breath

Wow flip turns!  That I would learn after getting that crawl down.  I know when lanes are busy - two to a lane is normal.  Some also do a circle with three people, but I haven't actually done that.  I would probably be worrying about the timing, cause like I said...most folks are all about crawl laps.  Sounds like you and your scooby bag are making it work.  Keep it up!

What a great and thoughtful post!

I also swim. I used to have issues with displaying my old 450 lb self in a bathing suit, but I'm over it. I still am self-concious when I'm totally nude in the locker room, but not so much as I used to be. For me, the small kids were the worst. They have no filters and say what they see.

I am still not a great sight in a bathing suit, but these days I'm more concerned about getting a lane to myself (esp one in the sun on those rare sunny days) than worrying about how people see me.

One thing that help make my swims more fun is pool toys. I have a mesh bag I keep in my health club locker (Keizer Courthouse) that contains 2 pairs of flippers (long and short), a mask and snorkle and hand paddles.

I try to swim for an amount of time, but I still count laps - I'm the bean counter type. After every 10 lengths I stop, drink some Crystal Lite or G2 and mix up the toys. Here's my usual mix:

10 - mask & snorkle only
10 - add small fins
10 - add hand paddles
10 - sway out small fins for the long ones (and go really FAST!!!)
10 - back to smaller fins

I also mix in laps of water jogging from time to time during the transition times.

Anyway, that's how I keep my interest up in working out. Variety.

I saw a while back that there is now a Walkman to use in the pool. I've considered getting one but have not done so yet. 

Oh - and I prefer a snorkle and mask to goggles because by using them I can concentrate on the cardio and now worry about breathing. I did take the narrow part off the top of my snorkle to increase the air flow rate. Only problem is that if I do flip turns, I have to exhale really hard to clear the water from the snorkle. Maybe I need a better snorkle ...