Hosscooper

I had read somewhere else that watching what you eat effects how much weight you loose more than how much you ride your bike. OK I'll buy that, but what does riding do for you? Especially for us big guys?

KBentley57

Weight loss happens in the kitchen, like you say. What riding does, is many things. Most importantly to me when I was larger, is that it created a "calorie buffer" so that I could eat was was still a decent amount of food, while netting a smaller amount of calories in a day. For example, my aim was to net 1600 calories a day at one point. (Whether or not that was an effective goal isn't the topic here). Eating only 1600 calories is hard. However, cycling at a moderate effort for an hour or two afforded me another say 600 calories. So, I could eat 2200 calories that day, feel at least minimally satisfied, and have the will power to continue the next day.It does much much more than that for your health, books have been written on the subject.

clarkbre

Food: calories-in vs. calories burned allows weight to fluctuate.

Excersize: (in any form) allows you to burn some calories. However, the benefits of being active also help your metabolism, cardiovascular and overall well being.

Short Cut

I've heard or read before, probably on the internet so it must be true, that when your body breaks a sweat on a regular basis it gets the message that it no longer needs all the natural insulation. Makes sense in a non-scientific way.

FrenchFit 

Probably not as much as most people think But it may be an effective gateway to a healthier lifestyle and hi intensity/long duration workouts, ones that burn 1000s of calories. You may end up riding ultras, tri athlete, become a mountain goat or even a daily runner. You have to start somewhere. If your rides are moderate, low intensity, watch out for daily rides increasing your hunger/calorie intake or you may actually gain weight.

Willbird

From over 400 days cutting and -125 lbs from my notes and Myfitnesspal I would attribute .75-1.0 lbs per week to cycling, and 1.5-2.0 lbs a week to controlled intake. Also the riding and the controlled intake sort of help each other along.....the two things work well together.

For about 4 mos straight I would drop 2 lbs one week then 3.5 the next with intake levels aimed at losing 2 a week. Riding 20mi per day mostly, on a hybrid.

Haff

Diet is how you lose weight. Exercise (riding for example) is how you improve fitness. Fitness is so many things its hard to capture them all. Its how you feel more comfortable quickly going up and down stairs, how your ankles and knees dont hurt as much, or at all. Its how you can play with your kids without stopping because you got tired. And if you really get into it, its how you can complete big events to tell the world, and more importantly YOURSELF, that you kick ass. Run a marathon, do a Tri, complete a major OCR, do a century ride. Etc. All the things you can look back on proudly because you did something physical that most people never do.

But the other huge benefit of exercise is often not mentioned. It is perhaps the very best thing you can do to battle depression. Depression is a killer. Its what often causes many of life's other problems, and once you have those problems depression worsens, so you get this downward spiral. Exercise, particularly vigorous exercise can help break out of that cycle and for almost everyone can bring them up to a non-depressed state after a while. Hell, some people become downright cheerful on life. It wont fix things overnight, but its a lot faster then you might expect. Because you dont have to be in great shape to get this benefit, you just have to do the vigorous exercise.

GravelMN

Health and Fitness involve a lot more than the numbers on a scale. Cycling can help increase the caloric deficit when combined with a well thought out nutrition plan, but the benefits go far beyond that. Improving cardiovascular and respiratory fitness comes to mind first, but there are also improvements in many facets of well-being from boosting immune system function, to improving mental acuity and elevating mood, to improved sleep. There can also be social and financial benefits. If you really want to go global in your thinking, you can see societal and environmental benefits from cycling as well.

Null66

Exercise improves health...

blood sugar/insulin maintenance, blood pressure, hormone profiles, blood lipids, and likely far more we've yet to discover...
They're finding that physical indicators (such as grip strength) are better indicators of mortality then many medical indicators...

ShortLegCyclist

Exercise in any form helps. but those that constantly require use the long muscles of the body are particularly effective at calorie burning.

Cycling, rowing, swimming, snowshoeing, elliptical in the gym, all are great calorie burns, but even walking at a moderate pace will do the trick.

dr_lha

By introducing cycling into my life, I've lost almost 50 lbs now. I have not changed my diet. The important thing is to get regular exercise, and not to eat back what you burn. That said I do not cycle for 30 mins every few days, I set myself a current minimum of 100 miles a week, and aim to go 150 miles if I can. If you want to loose weight quickly, diet. It's taken me 3 years of cycling to get to 50 lbs lost, but that said, I'm a much fitter and happier person than I was 3 years ago, even though I still weigh ~245lbs.

LGHT

I watched a show on BBC about health and nutrition and they did some research on how a 1 hour brisk bike ride help the body NOT absorb fat, cholesterol, and calories the day after. Basically the guy at a really big unhealthy meal for breakfast on day 1 and they tested his blood and hour later. The next day he did a 1 hour brisk bike ride and had that same exact meal the next morning and did another blood test. The results where pretty amazing as the number where less than half. They said it's common because the body is burning and not storing if you have at least 1 hour of exercise a day.

Mithrandir

#1 rule: You cannot out-exercise a bad diet.

We eat 3 meals a day, 7 times a week. Sometimes more. It's easier to cut calories 21 times a week than it is to fit 7 workouts in. But try an experiment. A beer costs, what, 200 calories? Ride up a huge hill. At the end, your computer will tell you that you burned, what, 800 calories? 4 beers! Nice! Except, they almost universally overestimate calorie burning by 2x, so halve that, and recalculate. 2 beers. Boy oh boy. In the amount of time it took me to climb that hill, I could have drunk 5.

So bottom line: Exercise can only supplement your weight loss goals. It cannot be the primary driver of it. Factor in the fact that we suffer periods of injury and bad weather, and there you have it. Diet, above all, is king.

Black wallnut 

~2 hours a week = improved health
2-6 hours a week = improved health + possibly some weight loss with eating right
6-10+ hours a week = great health, eat what you want within reason and weight stays off or drops slowly.

As my first 50 was coming off once I started riding every day small achievements fueled my desire to ride more. In a very real way riding became a self replicating activity in that the more I did it the more I wanted to do it. What started as a way to get a little exercise became a passion that has been going for several years. YMMV

Flatbroke

Is it within reason to assume that excercise on a daily basis could help stimulate your metabolism? And another question would be do you need a rest day for muscle recovery or can you keep peddling 7 days a week and still progress in strength ?

LGHT

As far as your metabolism, this is exactly what the study I watch covered. Even if I don't ride I try and do other stuff like brisk walk, push ups, sit ups, yoga, swim at home.

As far as a rest day since I only ride a couple of times a week I get plenty of those.

obed7

cycling is a non-boring, even pleasant way to get that attitude adjustment you need.

jsigone

If you ride everyday, you will need a good shorts collections, love your saddle and will love riding your bike unless its foul weather.

Side effects are better fitness, tan lines, fresh air, and N+1 bike stable

Flatbroke

. Lol. I have a good tan line going according to my wife. Rode 6 out of last 7 days. And I do need some more shorts. Don't seem to be losing weight as fast as I had hoped but have dropped a couple notches on the belt. My goal is 100 miles a week. And looking to up that to 125 in a month

1242Vintage

Riding everyday means performing lots of routine maintenance on my stable of bikes and has earned me the reputation as the neighborhood bike mechanic. Current repair job is a well-worn single speed from a college kid. Just waiting on parts and he'll be ready to roll back to class.

More to the point, right now I am 195 lbs and riding everyday and the good cardio conditioning that comes with it helps me keep up with the some of the skinny guys.

bgraham111

Isn't it something like 3500 cal to make up 1 lb? Last Sat I rode 100 miles, and tracked my heart rate with the Garmin, and it estimated my calorie burn. 2354 cal. So a little over half a pound. But I also ate a few energy snacks and drank a (awful tasting) carb / electrolyte drink. I'm going to guess I burned about 0.5 lbs. - That was 100 miles in one sitting. On one day. I try to do that every few weekends.

Now this is just me - but I don't lose much with exercise. But I did with Diet.

Diet has helped me loose a bunch of weight.
Biking (exercise) has made me healthier.

Hosscooper

I enjoyed reading y'alls responses. Y'all hit the nail on the head. I am mainly riding for the cardio benefits, but am enjoying all the other benefits as well. Made me feel better about my riding too. I only ride about 3 miles every other morning, but that is a good start I figure. I want to get to about 10 miles a day every other day. As I progress and hopefully get my bike in good road condition, need some modifications to make it what I want, I may find myself doing more. Not hard to see myself doing that some day. Again , thanks y'all.

auldgeunquers

I am a mostly utility and commuter rider. I ride often but moderately - well, unless I am hauling heavy up hill LOL.

There are 2 main benefits for me. If I am home and bored, then I am snacking. The habit is so deeply ingrained that if I stop consciously deciding not to eat, I find myself eating. So ... if I am not home, not and not bored I am not constantly snacking. Riding really helps control my intake.

And - the phychological benefits for me are huge. I feel so much better about life, the universe, and everything when I have rode "enough" in a day - though I have not documented how much "enough" is, it probably has something to do both with distance and effort. I am looking at working split shifts in the fall, so double the commute time. YAY!!!

TheManShow

A simple answer to acomplicated question is. If you burn more calories than you consume you should drop weight if you are in good health. If you have metobolic problems you need to consult a medicial professional for advice.

gear64

Interesting... My experience is nearly identical. Winter weeks are the low side of 2 - 6. Summer weeks are the high side of 6-10. Spring/Fall variable in between. Steady weight loss for 6 years. Just slow, steady chipping. I'm probably getting close enough to ideal that I'll start plateauing in a year or two. I think a big key to the consistency is not stressing about diet. It has to be something well balanced you can live with for life. There's a lot of grey area, between obsessively restrictive and BigMac's everyday. What good is a long, healthy life if you can't enjoy something sinful once in a while?

Ironically, the worst holidays are in the winter so I actually gain some back, but it's always net loss for the year.