You can lose weight fairly quickly by working out on a road bike, but your results will depend on how fast you ride, how long you ride, and how much you weigh when you're starting out, according to Harvard Medical School. A road bike can provide a good workout for you, but you'll need to make sure you're pushing yourself enough to see real benefits.
Weight Loss Basics
To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume in food -- 3,500 more calories for every pound of weight you want to lose, according to Columbia University. Most experts recommend a combination of calorie-cutting and increased physical activity. If you're accustomed to riding your bike -- or even if you're relatively new to the sport -- a road bike can help you lose weight faster.
Weight Loss Speed
Depending on how much you weigh, you potentially can burn more than 700 calories per hour of road biking at 12 to 14 miles per hour, according to Harvard Medical School. Lighter people burn fewer calories -- if you weigh 125 pounds, you'll burn about 240 calories per half-hour, while if you weigh 185 pounds, you'll burn about 355 calories in that same half-hour.
Weight-Loss Time Frame
If you weigh 125 pounds and ride your road bike for an hour each day, you potentially can lose about a pound each week through exercise alone, assuming you don't eat any more than you normally consume, according to Harvard Medical School. If you weigh 185 pounds, you'll lose weight even faster -- one pound every five days.
Considerations
If you're planning to use your road bike to lose weight, you need to keep up a vigorous pace -- the amount of calories you burn through bike riding falls off substantially if you're meandering at less than 10 miles per hour, according to Harvard Medical School. In addition, make sure to schedule a visit with your physician prior to starting your road bike exercise routine.
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