General Cycling Discussion - Cycling and losing weigth...

Hallo forum community,

After reading much contradicting stories and hearing even more, I've come to the conclusion that I am at a loss. This probabely sounds like a dumb question, but here goes.

The problem: Is cycling a possible sport to lose weight?

This has never been an issue for me before. Ten years ago I was 20 years old, 170 pounds (75kg) and a fanatic cyclist. Then I went to university, stopped cycling, enjoyed the "good life" and gained a lot of weigth. Today I'm 30 years old and 220 pounds (110kg) Since one year I picked up my bike again. I commute about 45 km a day and ride about 70 km on sundays. Yet I hardly lose weight.

What to do?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Regards,
Timo

Hi Timo, it is possible to lose weight by cycling, but cycling alone won't do it all, nutrition and exercise along with riding are what you need. I suggest you look in the nutrition forum if you need more help.

I use a combination of good nutrition, cycling and weightlifting, and so far, I've lost 19 pounds. I've got more 15 pounds to lose, and if I can lose another 5 additional pounds beyond that, then I'm happy.

Timo, you might not realize it but you might be losing fat, weight is just a relative number I've stayed 190 over the last 2 monthes of cycling but my waist is 2 inches smalled and my calves are about an inch bigger. Cycling you can definately lose fat and that's the true goal not just weight.

Isnt cycling exercise?If its not,i quit.

Not only will you lose weight, but your spelling should improve as well.

Mi speling haz not impuvd :(

I rode 20 miles 5 times a week 10 years ago and lost about 40 pounds in two months (or, something very close to that -- memory is getting older)! I'm slowly working my way back up to frequent riding.

It will happen. Look at what you eat closely. Don't go back for seconds anymore and snack on healthy things if you feel a little hungry during the day or at night. How many times a week do you ride? What type of intensity are you riding at? This could help determine how quickly you will lose weight.

In December I got the road bike back on the trainer after a 5 yr break when I raced in collage. I was 230 lbs and am now 189 lbs. I am working toward 175 lbs, but don't expect to be here to Oct-Nov sometime. I ride 5 or more days a week. ~ 150 - 220 mi. I ride high intensity because I hope to build enough base this year to race next year. I have stayed out of the gym so far, but plan on spending time in the weight room this winter. I found that when I started riding again I craved better food and did not tend to eat as much. I believe in the old saying that you should go away from the table a little hungry.

Yes, you can, but it has to be combined with proper eating. Please see:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29048

> I found that when I started riding again I craved better food and did not tend to eat as much. <

Interesting. I started riding 17 months ago (I'm 54 now) and dropped from 164 to as low as 141. Then I tended to level out around 146-148.

I am eating healthier as I cycled, but after a number of months and after the weight drop, I found myself eating more. But then, I was also riding more. My first year I rode a total of 4200 miles. This year I'll certainly do more than 5000 and will possibly get to 6000. I think my body has been demanding a lot of more food to compensate!

Bob

Well, you're getting tons of good base mileage... lots of good exercise and a strong heart and circulation. So, the next thing I'd look at to lose weight is diet. Do you eat sweets? Drink soft drinks? The high glycemic stuff (simple carbs) tend to go right to fat, except when used during or right after workouts. My anecdotal evidence: I used to drink one sweetened soda at lunch every day. I quit, replaced it with water, and promptly lost 10 lbs. I know, it sounds fishy. I probably increased my mileage around the same time, or something. Regardless, dropping the soda certainly helped.
Since you probably have pretty good base fitness from all the commuting, increasing intensity with one or two hard workout rides a week can speed up your base metabolism, another way to lose weight.

Originally posted by Crazy Cyclist
Hi Timo, it is possible to lose weight by cycling, but cycling alone won't do it all, nutrition and exercise along with riding are what you need. I suggest you look in the nutrition forum if you need more help.

I agree. I have my streaks where I train hard and eat sensibly. It is only those periods that I lose weight.

Modifying your diet is definitely the way to go. As long as the exercise (yes, cycling is exercise!)intensity is there, you're bound to lose weight as long as you don't eat indiscriminately. Watch the high calorie snacks and alcohol intake, they can really boost the calories you take in.

You might consider using a heart rate monitor to make sure you're getting your heart rate up sufficiently while your riding to get the training effect, and a good book on nutrition to judge how much your taking in. Fat loss is a simple equation of more output than intake. As someone else said, what you're looking for is a change in body composition, getting rid of fat and increasing lean body mass, which you may be doing already.

Good luck!

cycling does almost nothing for me in terms of weight loss.... i have to turn to running and diet for that. in fact i think my running helps my cycling more than cycling helps my running.

i made a resolution to lose 15 lbs by the end of the year.... my weight has been pegged at 158 +/- 5 lbs since january :mad:

At the risk of getting shot down in flames:eek: Simmular to you I weighed 115 kgs started doing some weights & went on to an Atkins type protien diet , my weight dropped to 95kgs , I have been cycling regularery (spelling still crap) 200- 300k per week for nearly 3 yrs & eating a normal diet ,I now weigh 87 kgs +/- . Could still use losing more kgs , but not too worried , Im 5'11" & 56 yrs old . Like you I was a very keen cyclist in my younger years .

I hovered around 74 kgs for 20 years. Started riding about 3 years ago. Twelve months ago I dropped to 72 kgs. I now weigh in at about 88 kgs. The increase can be attributed in part to giving up smoking. The other reason is weight management is essentially about calories in versus calories out.
High intensity feeding can only be managed successfully (if you consider successful management being weight loss) by high intensity burning.
Eat well, be happy, ride hard and smile at car drivers.

Originally posted by roadbuzz
increasing intensity with one or two hard workout rides a week can speed up your base metabolism, another way to lose weight.

This caught my eye (the part about increasing base metabolism) because I've been wondering about something.

When I was young, I couldn't gain weight - I was a real skinny kid. That didn't change until my mid 20's. Probably some of that was being less active, but I also think my metabolism had been very high and then went way down.

Since riding a bike (I'm 54 and have ridden for 17 months and presenty have accumulated about 7000 miles). In recent months I've noticed I've been eating a lot more at meals and eating more often. My weight fluctuates between 145-149 for the most part which is pretty much where it should be after being at 170 for years.

I used to never eat breakfast. Now I usually do. If I ate at a Subway, I'd almost always buy a half sub. Now I usually eat a footlong, etc.

Sure, I would expect a need to eat more to fuel my cycling routine, but this really seems like a big difference. So, I was wondering if all this exercise has also kicked up my metabolism so that I would need more food beyond the requirements of my exercising.

Bob

Originally posted by deliriou5
cycling does almost nothing for me in terms of weight loss.... i have to turn to running and diet for that. in fact i think my running helps my cycling more than cycling helps my running.
Same with me.....until I started riding fixed gear more frequently. You expend much more energy riding fixed. I still run regularly and it really compliments & enhances my cycling performance, but not the other way around as you say...

Thanks all for the kind replies (apart from the spelling stuff. English is not my mother tongue). I'll have a close look at all the input here and make my plan :)

Regards,
Timo

Well, Timmo, weight loss and cycling seems to be a very individual thing.

It works fine for me. I just watch my diet some and put in a potload of miles. I went on a 2 week tour in the Rockies about 70 miles and 4000'+ feet per day. I ate a bunch of carbs to keep my energy up and lost 10 lbs in 2 weeks with no problem at all.

Of course, some people GAINED weight on that tour. After finishing the day, they would go to the local greasy spoon and have the biggest burger with cheese, of course, they could find and a huge bunch of fries washed down with a titanic soft drink and topped off with a glacier's worth of ice cream and hot fudge! After that they would go eat the dinner provided by the tour with the rest of us along with the breakfast and lunch. Wonder why they didn't lose weight? Must have been bad luck or something.

Originally posted by George
Same with me.....until I started riding fixed gear more frequently. You expend much more energy riding fixed. I still run regularly and it really compliments & enhances my cycling performance, but not the other way around as you say...

Thanks George and Deleriou5,

I know I want to start running but I think I will have to lose weight first. I fear that running with 115kg is bound to cause knee problems.

Diet, ride, diet, ride, diet ride....

Last November I took a long serious look at how I was living my life. I've been an active cyclist most of my life and after a brief break in my 30s, a cyclist of passion bordering on lunacy.

but I weighed 290 pounds and couldn't figure out why. I didn't think that I ate all that bad. I ingested most of the things that most others of my ilk ingested. Yet they were trim and I needed trimming.

A nutritionist friend of mine suggested writing down everything that I ate in a day for a month and then we'd sit down and figure out what was what.

what I discovered scared me out of my socks. I averaged enough carbohydrates in 1 day to sustain my life for a week. That statement is no exaggeration.

I tapered off the carbs, cut out breads, pasta, rice, potatoes...everything that I "loved" to eat. I started losing weight.

On Christmas day, I started the Atkins way of eating. Strictly. and started training indoors, doing high cadence spins for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week.

I drank a ton of water, I ate a lot of good green veggies, some really good beef. Wonderful fruits of the oceans. I discovered some really really tasty cheeses and a love for avocados. I developed a knowledge of what gave me the juice for riding and what didn't.

I began to lose weight. I was down to close to where I am right now (I hover between 215 and 220lbs) by May 30th. The quality of my riding has gone through the roof, I"m more active and more passionate about life in general.

so yes, you can lose weight cycling, but it'll take more than cycling itself. I suggest to anyone to take a good long honest look at how you're feeding your body. You'll be surprised at what you'll find it can do.

for a great way to track your intake (and there's a section for figuring out how many calories you burn during the day, that's really helpful), I suggest this website: http://www.fitday.com