Bike Riding As a Weight Loss Exercise

Riding a bike is an excellent weight loss exercise because it burns a similar number of calories per hour as jogging, without the joint stress. Depending on a number of factors, including your age, weight and effort level, you can burn from about 300 to over 600 calories per hour by cycling. To lose weight through cycling and other daily activities, make sure that you burn more calories than you eat.

  1. Ride Often

    • No matter what kind of cycling you do, consistency will be the best way to guarantee weight loss success. For this reason, choose a style of cycling that you enjoy, whether that's mountain biking, road biking or commuting on whatever bike you have in the garage. The more often you ride, the more overall calories you can burn. A structured training plan is one way to ride frequently, but don't underestimate the effect of non-structured rides as well. Riding your bike to the store or office instead of driving adds up and helps melt more pounds over time. Choosing a goal like riding 1000 miles in a year or completing a charity ride will also keep you motivated to mount your bike day after day.

    Pedaling to Weight Loss

    • Coasting doesn't burn any calories, so remember to pedal whenever you have open road in front of you. Resist the temptation to "mash" a very hard gear. Although it may feel like the best way to burn calories is to push the pedals really hard, choosing an easier gear that lets you pedal at a fast cadence (called "spinning") is actually a better way to meet weight loss goals. High-cadence pedaling spreads the work over more pedal strokes with the added bonus of burning a larger proportion of fat for fuel. Just like you can walk for longer than you can do lunges, riding in a manageable gear lets you ride for a longer period of time and thus burn more overall calories. Spinning is also easier to recover from than gear mashing, so you can ride on consecutive days, racking up an even higher calorie burn.

    Eating to Lose Weight

    • Even though weight loss is your goal, don't skip meals before or right after your workout. Cyclists need energy to continue riding and to recover from their workouts. If your ride will last longer than two hours, pack a carbohydrate-rich snack so that you have enough energy to get home. Make sure that you eat a nutritious meal within an hour of getting off the bike. If you need to cut extra calories from your diet, eat lighter meals later in the day when you have recovered from your ride.

    Calculating Calorie Needs

    • Wearing a heart-rate monitor during your workout gives you a realistic estimate of the calories you have burned during your workout. From there you can calculate how many calories you need to loose weight. Experts recommend losing no more than a pound a week. To reach this goal, create a deficit of 500 calories per day through a combination of cycling and dietary restriction.