Do You Ride Your Bike to Lose Weight or to Gain Fitness? You Can Lose Weight with Cycling, But It Takes Time

If asked, many of us would say we chose to take up cycling for a plethora of reasons. It might have been to do an activity you enjoy, for the fun of going for a casual bike ride around the neighborhood, to get fit, or to lose weight. Truth is, most people would probably say it’s a combination of all these factors.

For me, cycling was a way to reconnect with my youth and partake in an activity I enjoyed when I was young. Eventually, the sport evolved for me and I became interested in cycling as a way to get fit, participate in events, and to lose weight.

Over time, I became a stronger cyclist and I did lose weight, but today I use cycling to explore different destinations and to bolster my mental health. But can cycling help you lose weight and keep it off? That depends on various factors and your individual goals and metabolism.

Typical Weight Loss for Cyclists

If you ride all the time and burn 500 or more calories each time, weigh yourself, and see your weight hasn’t changed, you might scratch your head and wonder why. Scientifically, 3,500 calories equals a pound of weight. If you aren’t dropping weight, here are some elements that may explain why.

A good indicator of your weight loss would be to study your current BMI (Body Mass Index), which accounts for fat. If your BMI is high, a more reasonable goal would be to see if that number decreases. That is when you can say, definitively, that exercise is responsible. But there’s a second point here that explains it a little clearer.

If you burn 500 calories or more on a ride, then replace those lost calories with food and drinks with the same amount (or more) calories, weight loss will take longer, as well as if you sit more and move less between rides. That means, if weight loss is driving your cycling, you should alter your intake by shooting for a lower amount of calories during your meals and spend less time being sedentary.

But don’t lose heart if your working out a lot but seeing minimal gains. The more you exercise, the fitter you will become, and eventually, you’ll see the pounds evaporate. Or, as The Cycling Week states, “stop treating [cycling] as a calorie-burning machine and start using it as the aerobic engine it actually is.”

How Much Should You Ride To Lose Weight?

If your goal is to lose weight through cycling, do you need to ride a lot to achieve that? As The Cycling Week points out, there really is no magic number of days you should spend on the bike. They say the “The American College of Sports Medicine pegs 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate cardio as the bar for meaningful body composition changes in adults.”

As an example, 155 pound cyclist riding at a steady pace can burn 400 to 500 calories per hour. A heavier cyclist will burn more than that. So, when you ride, should you push yourself harder to achieve weight loss? Not necessarily. If you do a number of long, easy rides, you’ll expend more energy versus short, hard efforts a few days a week.

So, ideally, if you do several long, easy rides throught the week and maybe one shorter, more intense ride, you probably will notice a change in your weight over time. Or as The Cycling Week states, “…the smartest pattern is two longer, easier rides (60 to 90 minutes at conversational pace) plus one shorter, sharper ride per week.”

But Aren’t Hard Intense Rides Better For Losing Weight?

You might think, okay, if a bunch of easy rides can move me toward weight loss, then maybe a a few shorter but more intense efforts will burn more calories quicker. Well, yes, but if you burn twice as many calories on a ride than normal, your body will crave for those calories to be replaced.

So, actually, shorter and harder rides will mess with your diet strategy. A hot and heavy ride of 45 minutes might burn lots of calories, but you might find you feel the need to replace those lost calories with a high fat meal with lots of calories.

The truth is you need to be careful how you use short, more intense rides so that they are advantageous and not a negative. If you do intervals, The Cycling Week says that the “trick is to use intervals once or twice a week, never more, and pair them with structured eating instead of vague “I earned this” snacking.”

Cycling Isn’t A Complete Solution for Weight Loss

It’s easy to conclude, based on the above information, that if you’re doing some good rides for the same amount of time and same effort level weekly, the weight should drop off. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Your calorie expenditure will actually decrease as you ride more efficiently and your fitness improves.

The next point is that, while you might be losing some weight, you’re also losing lean muscle. That means you end up creating a metabolism deficit, which makes it harder to keep the weight off. Lastly, while you think you’re working hard in a seated position on your bike, your enegry drain is less than you think.

In other words, cycling itself won’t bring you closer to your weight loss goal. You’ll need to add in some other activities, such as walking, running, swimming, weights, etc. to fight off potential weight gain.

Last Thoughts

Cycling, of course, like other forms of exercise, is great for your physical and mental health. A desire to be fit will give you more energy in your daily life as you drop some weight and gain muscle mass.

But cycling is not the panacea we all might think it is when it comes to losing lots of weight. A good diet, good sleep, and other kinds of exercise or movement in addition to cycling are what get you closer to your weight loss goal if you choose it over something like running or swimming.

And while there is no solid answer or formula to get yourself to a weight you want to be, cycling can help you get there. Just don’t expect overnight results. You have to do what feels right for you as far as your riding and as far as your diet. But if you keep riding, pay attention to your diet, and add in good sleep, weight loss is achievable as long as you stay on track.