Cycling can be a fantastic way to add some extra activity to your schedule while simultaneously losing weight. It’s not only a terrific form of cardio, but it’s also a great opportunity to see your city from a different angle.
This article will cover cycling for weight loss, if weight loss can negatively affect cycling, and how to lose weight while biking so you can cycle the pounds away.
Cycling can help you lose weight. Riding can increase your activity level, burn calories, enhance your heart health, and make you more fit. However, cycling must be combined with a healthy diet to be successful.
Editor’s note: This article was updated on July 5, 2022, to include additional information about whether cycling is good for weight loss.
Before learning more about cycling and weight loss, let’s first understand whether cycling is good for weight loss.
Is Cycling Good for Weight Loss?
Yes! Cycling has various advantages. Riding can help you get more active, burn calories, and enhance your heart health. Aside from these advantages, riding a bike is enjoyable! However, cycling isn’t the only way to lose weight. A balanced diet combined with cycling is essential for success. Adaptive Training: With training that adapts to you, you’ll always get the proper workout.
Additionally, biking is frequently promoted as a low-impact cardio workout. However, as opposed to running or jogging, it helps you raise your heart rate while putting less strain on your knees, ankles, and other joints. It’s also a wonderful way to help you lose weight.
State Bicycle Co. Black Label 6061
State Bicycle Co. Black Label 6061
Five Tip for Losing Weight While Biking
Cycling can burn many calories, especially if you go faster than at a leisurely pace. Here are four crucial weight-loss tactics to drop a few pounds with your biking routine.
1. Start with a goal
When trying to lose weight, it is common for the focus to shift to the number on the scale. But you should also have a clear goal other than a number. When developing your goal, connect it to an event. By linking your goal to an event, you may make it measurable and timely.
2. Aim for consistency
It takes time and effort to lose weight healthily. Your best ally is consistency. A consistent approach will assist you in analyzing what works and what does not to establish beneficial new habits. Maintain consistency in your diet choices and training through several months.
3. Increase the intensity
Pedaling along at a leisurely speed is unlikely to help you lose weight. You will, however, make greater progress toward your weight loss target if you push yourself to work harder and increase the intensity of your ride. The faster you cycle, the more calories you’ll burn in general. This is because your body expends more energy when cycling faster. And the more calories you burn, the more likely you will lose weight.
Cycling at a steady, moderate pace burns about 300 calories in 60 minutes, but you can burn more if you increase the intensity. For example, according to the Harvard Health Letter, a 155-pound person can burn up to 298 calories in a 30-minute bike ride if they pedal at a 12-to-13.9 mile per hour. Cycling at this speed will burn 355 calories for a person weighing 185 pounds.
Likewise, a 155-pound person can burn up to 372 calories in 30 minutes at a quicker pace of 14 to 15.9 miles per hour, while a 185-pound person can burn 444 calories in that time frame.
4. Opt for high-intensity interval training (HIIT)
If you want to lose fat and lose weight, HIIT can be a wonderful approach to pushing your body. In HIIT, short bursts of intensive activity are alternated with intervals of low-intensity exercise. For example, a HIIT workout with a bike might look like this: For 30 to 60 seconds, cycle as rapidly as you can against high resistance. Then, do 2 to 3 minutes of low-resistance cycling. Continue in this manner for the next 20 to 30 minutes.
This workout can help you burn more calories in less time while improving your aerobic fitness and weight loss. According to a 2017 study, HIIT and moderate-intensity continuous training reduced fat mass by 10% after a 12-week program.
The advantages do not end there. When you stop cycling, and your workout is finished, your metabolism continues to function. This means that even after your workout and your body return to its normal resting state, it still burns calories faster.
5. Go further
Try to go a bit further. This is the concept of endurance training. According to research, endurance training may assist in burning fat, aiding in weight loss. When aiming to improve endurance, it’s best to start slowly. So, if you start with 10 to 15 minutes of cycling in one session, you can gradually add a few minutes to each session until you reach at least 150 minutes of riding every week.
6. Determine your success
Keeping track of your statistics allows you to measure your progress, but it also allows you to celebrate your successes. That meant weighing in daily and tracking your weekly weight and body composition trends.
Skinfold calipers and a body composition scale are simple tools for measuring body composition. Utilize a Tanita Body Fat Scale. Using one of these scales every day was quite effective. Just make sure you measure in similar conditions.
Always measure under the same conditions for the best results. Check that the time of day is consistent, that you are not wearing any clothing, and that your nutrition and hydration before the measurement are accounted for if not regulated. Below are a few products that can help you measure your results.
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How far should you ride?
When biking to lose weight, duration is more important than distance. You don’t have to cycle the Tour de France to lose weight. Start with a basic test if you’re new to biking. Track 30 minutes of biking using your odometer (a GPS watch or smartphone app). Note the time in your workout record and strive to lower it.
You’ll run farther and burn more calories as your fitness level rises. Schedule longer rides as you gain confidence. Three times per week, take one short (30-minute) bike ride, one moderate (45-minute) ride, and one long (60-120-minute) ride.
How fast should you cycle?
Workout intensity is more important than speed. A more intense ride will burn more calories than a less intense one. Your intensity (how hard you work) and speed will be affected by the sort of bike you ride and the trail you choose (how fast you travel). For example, if you’re riding a big mountain bike at 12 miles per hour on muddy off-road tracks, you’ll undoubtedly have to work quite hard. However, riding a road bike down a hill can almost attain that speed.
Consider learning to understand how to utilize a heart rate monitor. The device accurately determines how hard you are working. Aim to work at 70 to 75 percent of your maximum heart rate for most rides. Use the perceived exertion scale if you don’t want to invest in a monitor. For example, you should feel like you’re working at level 7 on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being maximal exertion). It would help if you inhale deeply but are not tired or out of breath.
Can weight loss negatively affect cycling?
Rapid weight loss frequently results in muscle loss. So if you want to lose weight by cycling, don’t forget to hit the gym as well!
If you want even more tips, watch this video called “How to Lose Weight with Cycling (with an expert Sports Dietitian)” from the Cam Nicholls YouTube Channel.
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
Do you still have questions? Below are some of the most commonly asked questions about whether cycling is good for weight loss.
Is cycling a good way of losing weight?
Yes! Cycling is a terrific approach to losing weight if you want to get fitter, leaner, and lighter, not to mention healthier.
Can you lose weight by cycling every day?
Cycling one hour per day is a fantastic technique to accelerate weight loss. For example, a 180-pound person cycling at a moderate intensity for an hour burns approximately 650 calories. If you cycle six days a week for a year, you will burn approximately 202,800 calories, equating to approximately 58 pounds of body fat!
How much should you cycle a day to lose weight?
The duration and intensity of your bike ride are the most important factors in determining how many calories you burn. If you’re starting, biking for 15 minutes a day or 30 minutes a few times a week is a terrific way to improve your health and likely lose weight.
How long does it take to see results from cycling?
The benefits of cycling do not appear overnight. The general rule is that it takes one month to notice your development, two months for your friends, and three months for everyone else to notice.
Can cycling help you lose belly fat?
Not exactly, Shedding fat in a specific place is known as “targeted fat loss” or “spot reduction,” which is largely untrue. When you lose or burn fat, it doesn’t always come from where you want it to.
Conclusion
Your physique is one-of-a-kind. What is a healthy weight for someone else is not necessarily the optimum weight for you. Instead, focus on leading a healthy lifestyle that leads to improved performance. We hope it helped you learn how cycling can help you lose weight and enhance your overall health.
This article covered whether cycling is good for weight loss. Can weight loss negatively affect cycling? And how to lose weight while biking. Here are some key takeaways:
Key takeaways
- Riding can help you get more active, burn calories, and enhance your heart health.
- A balanced diet combined with cycling is essential for success.
- Rapid weight loss frequently results in muscle loss.
- Biking is frequently promoted as a low-impact cardio workout.
- Cycling can burn many calories, especially if you go faster than at a leisurely pace.
So, how much weight do you think you have lost cycling? Did we cover everything you wanted to know? Let us know in the comments section below (we read and reply to every comment). If you found this article helpful, check out our full blog for more tips and tricks on fixed-gear and single-speed cycling. Thanks for reading, and stay fixed.
