Cycling to lose weight

[esrite]

Cut out the crap food and the booze. 11 miles is a good mileage. Keep cycling and eat healthy.
That's all you need to do.

On top of this cycling before eating breakfast or drinking anything with sugar is good way to burn fat. (the distance can't be too far else you will hit the wall- 11 miles should be ok).

 

[VamP]

11 miles each way will be a lot more than that. It depends on your weight and the bike weight, and how fast you go, but I would guess you are burning 1200 to 1400 per day. Any exercise will help burn calories off. Cycling harder will be harder because of the wind resistance (20mph is much more than double the energy needed to do 10mph)

As for sweating, I have to go very slowly not to sweat. How long is 11 miles taking?

That's a ridiculous overestimate. I don't burn that and my commute is 50+ miles round trip.

 

[Rob3rt]

Maybe jay clock is refering to overall daily burn, not just the bike ride. I don't know....

 

[VamP]

Maybe jay clock is refering to overall daily burn, not just the bike ride.

Ah. That is in fact a possibility. But that would be a bit of an underestimate unless the OP is a slight female.

Not entirely useful when someone first starts cycling - I burnt far more calories than I was taking in when I started cycling...and my body shape changed, but the scales stayed pretty much the same as they did before. Weight alone isn't always the best measure.

So how do you account for this apparent contradiction?

 

[Stu Plows]

You’ll definitely be burning a lot on an 11 mile commute. As long as you’re getting you’re heart rate up you will be. The rate at which you will do it as you can see from some of the posts vary from person to person… According to my HRM I have been known to burn 700 calories in half an hour and even 3000 calories on a 50 mile ride. I take it with a pinch of salt and fuel as I see fit.

Riding along at a steady pace will benefit you too and you will still lose weight as long as you keep a good diet, that’s not to say balls out won’t benefit you either.

 

[Koga]

Not sure of the above, I thought at a steady pace (say at least 18 mph on average) you will do well to burn 500 calories per hour. I may be wrong, comments from others ?

 

[e-rider]

Hi

I have been cycling to work and back (about 11 miles each way) for a couple of months on and off. According to Strava, I am burning about 400 calories a day doing this, which is good

One question - am I correct in that to actually lose weight cycling I need to to get myself into a sweat, that is I need to push myself harder and harder? Simply ambling along at a relatively normal pace is not going to help?

although exercise is essential for good health, the best way to lose weight is through diet. That doesn't mean you should stop cycling - certainly not. However, you will see better results quicker if you adjust your diet to lower cal, lower fat, lower sugar

 

[MichaelO]

So how do you account for this apparent contradiction?

If you read the whole post - when I first started riding I was definitely putting on muscle & losing fat - but to begin with, these were pretty much equally themselves out - I was disappointed when the scales hadn't moved much more than a pound over the first month. Since then I've consistently lost weight with the same amount of cycling.

 

[e-rider]

Not sure of the above, I thought at a steady pace (say at least 18 mph on average) you will do well to burn 500 calories per hour. I may be wrong, comments from others ?

it was once thought (not long ago) that steady exercise was best for burning fat and losing weight - it is now believed (by many, but not all) that more intense exercise is best for this

 

[VamP]

If you read the whole post - when I first started riding I was definitely putting on muscle & losing fat - but to begin with, these were pretty much equally themselves out - I was disappointed when the scales hadn't moved much more than a pound over the first month. Since then I've consistently lost weight with the same amount of cycling.

It's physically impossible to increase muscle mass by a pound per week (or anywhere near that) through cycling.

 

[Dusty Bin]

Manage your weight in the kitchen. Manage your fitness on the bike. Expecting the weight to fall off simply by riding a short distance a day is unrealistic.

 

[Rob3rt]

You’ll definitely be burning a lot on an 11 mile commute. As long as you’re getting you’re heart rate up you will be. The rate at which you will do it as you can see from some of the posts vary from person to person… According to my HRM I have been known to burn 700 calories in half an hour and even 3000 calories on a 50 mile ride. I take it with a pinch of salt and fuel as I see fit.

Riding along at a steady pace will benefit you too and you will still lose weight as long as you keep a good diet, that’s not to say balls out won’t benefit you either.

The values you quote seem to be large over estimates. Esp the latter.

 

[vickster]

How much does the Op weigh? This will have an influence too I believe on calories burnt for a given amount of effort?

 

[Stu Plows]

The values you quote seem to be large over estimates. Esp the latter.

Hence my comment about taking that with a pinch of salt.

I’ve never really fussed about calories burnt during exercise, just interesting to see, it’s the fitness I’m more worried about and being quicker ride by ride (or not as it seems).

 

[MichaelO]

It's physically impossible to increase muscle mass by a pound per week (or anywhere near that) through cycling.

It was my experience though. I went from practically no exercise to 100-120 miles a week (as well as eating a far healthier diet), and lost approx 1 pound in the first month. Far less than I would have otherwise expected. But I did notice the change in my waist & overall shape/fitness - so it was definitely doing a lot of good, just not on the scales