A stationary bicycle provides advantages for weight loss that many other exercise options don't. They're readily available at most health clubs or gyms. They burn more calories than a session of weight lifting or calisthenics. And the smooth motion means less wear on your joints than jogging or aerobics -- an important factor for many people who need to lose weight. Although your stationary bicycle regimen won't be the only factor in reaching your weight loss goals, it certainly can help you on your way to attaining them.
Step 1
Set a weight loss goal in terms of how many pounds you want to lose. You may want to check with your doctor to determine a healthy and reasonable goal weight. For example, if you wanted to move from 170 pounds to 160 pounds, your weight loss goal would be 10 pounds.
Step 2
Decide how long you want to give yourself to lose that weight. Health counselor Maya Paul recommends 1 pound per week as the maximum safe rate for weight loss through only exercise. At that rate, you would assign 10 weeks to lose your 10 pounds.
Step 3
Divide the number of pounds you want to lose by the number of weeks you give yourself to lose them. Continuing the example, 10 pounds in 10 weeks is 1 pound per week.
Step 4
Multiply the result of Step 3 by 3,500 calories, the number of calories in a pound. Divide that number by four to find out how many calories you'll need to burn in each of four workouts per week. To lose 10 pounds in 10 weeks, you would need to burn 3,500 calories per week, or 875 per workout.
Step 5
Divide the result of Step 4 by the number of calories you burn per minute on a stationary bicycle. That's how many minutes you need each of your stationary cycling sessions to last to reach your goals. HealthStatus.com reports that a 170-pound person burns about 15 calories per minute of vigorous stationary cycling. That means you would need to cycle for 58.3 minutes per session -- call it one hour.
Step 6
Do your workouts. At four per week, only one workout should happen without a day of rest in between.
Step 7
Watch your diet. If you make no changes to your diet, this program should keep you losing weight at the rate you want. If you eat more than usual, you'll lose weight more slowly. If you combing your cycling efforts with a weight-loss diet, you can double your rate of safe weight loss.
Step 8
Weigh yourself once per week to keep track of your weight loss progress. Make adjustments to your workouts if your pace moves faster or slower than your projections.
Tips and Warnings
- Many health clubs now offer indoor cycling classes in a group fitness format. You can look up your precise calorie burn per minute using the control panel of most stationary bicycles or via a variety of free online calculators.
Things You'll Need
- Access to stationary cycle
- Journal
- Bathroom scale
References
- "You: Losing Weight"; Dr. Michael Roizen & Dr. Mehmet Oz; 2011
- HelpGuide.org: Healthy Weight Loss and Dieting Tips
- HealthStatus: Calories Burned Estimator
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