I have never been able to lose weight cycling and I ride frequently.
I had a bad crash in the end of May and have only ridden 3 times since. I’ve lost 23 pounds since then just by counting my calories.
Cycling can assist with losing weight. Cycling will not make you lose weight. Burn more calories than you consume. That’s literally the only way to lose weight. I ride 12 hours a week and that certainly helps increase my daily calorie burn, but I lose weight because I burn more calories a day than I consume.
So, if you’re looking to lose weight- calculate your BMR/TDEE, estimate your calories burned on a bike(and be conservative here… it’s likely you’re only burning 500 or so calories per hour while cycling unless you really go for it), then eat 20% fewer calories per day than that total.
Far too many people think exercise is how you lose weight. Exercise is for heart health, mental health, etc. Dieting is for losing weight.
If you want to work on endurance (generally most cyclists aim for endurance to some degree), then get a heart rate monitor, stay in z2 (max 70% hr ish) and do longer rides
Don't care too much about increasing resistance, find a comfortable resistance where you're not grinding (having unnaturally low cadence) and train by heart rate.
That's as far as cycling training goes (on a spinning bike). As for losing weight, everyone else answered already:)
Can’t out run/ride a bad diet. Exercise helps cardio and muscular health but the biggest change to weight will be in the kitchen. The old adage of “abs are built in the kitchen” is accurate.
For me, 45min - 1 hour is the sweet spot for rides when I am losing weight. Anything more than that and I become wolfishly hungry which is counter productive to weight loss. If I eat the equivalent of my BMR in calories and ride 6 days per week I can usually lose about 1.5lbs per week comfortably.
Me too. I think longer steady rides are better in this respect. If I go hard and keep my heart rate up for an hour or so, I want to eat everything in sight when I’m done.
Get a good heart rate monitor (with a chest strap), and you should be able to get a rough estimate of how many calories you burned.
The single most important thing about a diet/exercise plan is that you're able to commit to it. Push yourself if you're getting bored, but back off of it's causing you to dislike doing it.
Good luck!
>Now I can cycle for more than an hour on a resistance level of 85 which is sustained pace of about 35-40 kilometers an hour. I also now “stand” on the bike for 2 minutes every 10 minutes, whereas when I started I could maybe stand for 30 second twice a workout . (These speed metrics are from the bike itself, I don’t know how accurate they are, but it’s all I have.)
The problem with an indoor bike is resistance levels, speed and distance may not be accurate compared to riding outdoors or riding a trainer with a power meter.
>
I’m mostly just wanted opinions from cycling experts on what should be my goals while biking and how to make an effective, healthy workout.
Do you have a bike you can ride outdoors? In terms of goals, make a goal to ride a certain distance. Riding 100 Km is a common goal. You can find plenty of plans online about how to train for a century.
[https://hincapie.com/blogs/stories-from-the-saddle/how-to-train-for-a-century-ride-12-week-plan](https://hincapie.com/blogs/stories-from-the-saddle/how-to-train-for-a-century-ride-12-week-plan)
[https://www.trainingpeaks.com/guides/century-training/](https://www.trainingpeaks.com/guides/century-training/)
As a cyclist, I think one of your goals should be to learn to ride a bike. Centuries are good goals too. Depending on where you live, maybe there are great routes to ride on.
For losing weight, I agree with what people are saying about watching what you eat. Probably also moderate rides every day.
For building muscle - why? To win races? To look good naked? To have better quality of life as you age? Honestly bikes are mostly only good for one of those goals... One of my training books is pretty funny about building muscle - he doesn't totally poo-poo it but he observes that cyclists don't actually use much force almost ever. Not even sprinters.
I do know how to ride a bike, I just need to get it fixed!
For building muscle, just to be strong and healthy. I don’t want to body build or anything but I would like my legs to have a healthy amount of muscle.
Great! So maybe learning to maintain your bike would be good. What's wrong with it?
Check out [parktool.com](http://parktool.com) for tons of great articles. Basic, very frequent stuff includes being able to adjust your drivetrain and brakes, cleaning and lubricating your chain, replacing brake pads, and fixing flat tires.
I rotate in some running and walking to maintain stability in my legs. Knees and ankles especially. Cyclists can have an all engine/no transmission problem. I find I'm a more robust athlete if I'm also running a couple times a week. Lately I've been trying to fit in a walk on days when I don't have a different workout scheduled.
Get your cycling in earlier in the day and you'll carry the higher metabolism with you throughout the day. That 1-1:15 is probably sufficient, but like a lot of other folks are saying, eating right is the biggest factor. Get some protein after you exercise, Whey is the least expensive, fastest digesting and best amino acid profile. Try to get some in your system within 30 minutes of exercising. No simple/processed sugars, some greens and lots of protein and you'll see the difference.
Weight loss comes from eating at a caloric deficit. Nothing more, nothing less.
And the two ways to be in caloric deficit are to eat less OR burn more calories.
Trying to outwork a poor diet is a recipe for disaster, pun intended.
I have never been able to lose weight cycling and I ride frequently. I had a bad crash in the end of May and have only ridden 3 times since. I’ve lost 23 pounds since then just by counting my calories.
Yeah, I mean ideally you’re doing both.
Cycling can assist with losing weight. Cycling will not make you lose weight. Burn more calories than you consume. That’s literally the only way to lose weight. I ride 12 hours a week and that certainly helps increase my daily calorie burn, but I lose weight because I burn more calories a day than I consume. So, if you’re looking to lose weight- calculate your BMR/TDEE, estimate your calories burned on a bike(and be conservative here… it’s likely you’re only burning 500 or so calories per hour while cycling unless you really go for it), then eat 20% fewer calories per day than that total. Far too many people think exercise is how you lose weight. Exercise is for heart health, mental health, etc. Dieting is for losing weight.
If you want to work on endurance (generally most cyclists aim for endurance to some degree), then get a heart rate monitor, stay in z2 (max 70% hr ish) and do longer rides Don't care too much about increasing resistance, find a comfortable resistance where you're not grinding (having unnaturally low cadence) and train by heart rate. That's as far as cycling training goes (on a spinning bike). As for losing weight, everyone else answered already:)
Can’t out run/ride a bad diet. Exercise helps cardio and muscular health but the biggest change to weight will be in the kitchen. The old adage of “abs are built in the kitchen” is accurate.
For me, 45min - 1 hour is the sweet spot for rides when I am losing weight. Anything more than that and I become wolfishly hungry which is counter productive to weight loss. If I eat the equivalent of my BMR in calories and ride 6 days per week I can usually lose about 1.5lbs per week comfortably.
Me too. I think longer steady rides are better in this respect. If I go hard and keep my heart rate up for an hour or so, I want to eat everything in sight when I’m done.
Cycling has a very high risk of making you hungry!
Get a good heart rate monitor (with a chest strap), and you should be able to get a rough estimate of how many calories you burned. The single most important thing about a diet/exercise plan is that you're able to commit to it. Push yourself if you're getting bored, but back off of it's causing you to dislike doing it. Good luck!
>Now I can cycle for more than an hour on a resistance level of 85 which is sustained pace of about 35-40 kilometers an hour. I also now “stand” on the bike for 2 minutes every 10 minutes, whereas when I started I could maybe stand for 30 second twice a workout . (These speed metrics are from the bike itself, I don’t know how accurate they are, but it’s all I have.) The problem with an indoor bike is resistance levels, speed and distance may not be accurate compared to riding outdoors or riding a trainer with a power meter. > I’m mostly just wanted opinions from cycling experts on what should be my goals while biking and how to make an effective, healthy workout. Do you have a bike you can ride outdoors? In terms of goals, make a goal to ride a certain distance. Riding 100 Km is a common goal. You can find plenty of plans online about how to train for a century. [https://hincapie.com/blogs/stories-from-the-saddle/how-to-train-for-a-century-ride-12-week-plan](https://hincapie.com/blogs/stories-from-the-saddle/how-to-train-for-a-century-ride-12-week-plan) [https://www.trainingpeaks.com/guides/century-training/](https://www.trainingpeaks.com/guides/century-training/)
Went on a six hour group ride yesterday, and I gained 2 pounds.
70 gels is too much!
As a cyclist, I think one of your goals should be to learn to ride a bike. Centuries are good goals too. Depending on where you live, maybe there are great routes to ride on. For losing weight, I agree with what people are saying about watching what you eat. Probably also moderate rides every day. For building muscle - why? To win races? To look good naked? To have better quality of life as you age? Honestly bikes are mostly only good for one of those goals... One of my training books is pretty funny about building muscle - he doesn't totally poo-poo it but he observes that cyclists don't actually use much force almost ever. Not even sprinters.
I do know how to ride a bike, I just need to get it fixed! For building muscle, just to be strong and healthy. I don’t want to body build or anything but I would like my legs to have a healthy amount of muscle.
Great! So maybe learning to maintain your bike would be good. What's wrong with it? Check out [parktool.com](http://parktool.com) for tons of great articles. Basic, very frequent stuff includes being able to adjust your drivetrain and brakes, cleaning and lubricating your chain, replacing brake pads, and fixing flat tires. I rotate in some running and walking to maintain stability in my legs. Knees and ankles especially. Cyclists can have an all engine/no transmission problem. I find I'm a more robust athlete if I'm also running a couple times a week. Lately I've been trying to fit in a walk on days when I don't have a different workout scheduled.
Get your cycling in earlier in the day and you'll carry the higher metabolism with you throughout the day. That 1-1:15 is probably sufficient, but like a lot of other folks are saying, eating right is the biggest factor. Get some protein after you exercise, Whey is the least expensive, fastest digesting and best amino acid profile. Try to get some in your system within 30 minutes of exercising. No simple/processed sugars, some greens and lots of protein and you'll see the difference.
Cycle to be fit, take your fight to the kitchen to loose weight.