If you are one of the 100 million Americans who own a bicycle, an obvious strategy for weight loss is to take your wheels out for a ride. Sustained increases in physical activities, such as bike training, can be key to weight-loss success. If you bike as part of your daily exercise for 30 to 60 minutes and limit your calorie intake to about 1,500 per day, ideally taken in small meals, you can be on your way to losing 10 pounds or more.
Significance
An hour of bike riding per day at 15 mph, a recreational pace, will burn almost 4,000 calories a week, the equivalent of slightly more than a pound of fat, according to Cycling Performance Tips. Eat enough carbohydrates to fuel your daily ride to provide your muscles with glycogen, a substance that stores energy in the muscles. Add 20 to 30 minutes of strength training three times a week to balance your upper-body muscle strength with your lower body and provide increased muscle tone and a sense of well-being.
Types
Select a good road bicycle for your weight-loss program, budgeting about $400, recommends Jerrold S. Greenberg and his co-authors in “Physical Fitness and Wellness: Changing the Way You Look, Feel, and Perform.” You can also ride a mountain bike or a secondhand bike. Purchase a helmet and gloves with padded palms for greater comfort. The better the bike, the more you’ll want to use it to take trips and the more you will enjoy your cycling intrinsically as well as for its weight-loss benefits.
Features
As a beginner, start by riding two miles three times a week, advises “Physical Fitness and Wellness,” in its 21-week cycling training program. Challenge yourself by trying to finish the distance in 12 minutes or less. Move up after six weeks to three miles three times a week, and then four times a week. After 12 weeks, move up to five miles three times a week. After 18 weeks, as an advanced rider, try for eight miles four times a week and to eventually lower your time to 24 minutes or less.
Benefits
You can do interval training one day, such as bouts of hill climbing and recovery time; long steady mileage on another; and a spring pace later in the week, according to Susan Weaver in “A Woman’s Guide to Cycling.” Each type of training targets a different source of body fuel, either carbohydrates kept in the muscles as glycogen or stored fat. Although you burn energy in different ways, what counts for weight loss is the total calories burned per day, Weaver notes.
Time Frame
A loss of a half-pound to two pounds a week will favor the retention of muscle while fat disappears, according to Weaver. After maintaining a 10-pound overall weight loss for six months, limit calories further or increase your training to attempt further weight loss if desired. The delay will help your body recognize its new lower weight as its usual weight to prevent further gain.
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