Originally Posted by
icyclist
My 2 cents: you won't be able to lose weight cycling. I know lots of people on BF have done just that. However, read through old posts and note that many of these people admit to totally changing their diet. In fact, they could have lost the weight with the diet change.
Getting in shape has many benefits and you should certainly keep riding, OP. however, exercise will make you hungry. How hungry? Enough to put back the amount of energy you've expended on your last ride.
This is not true, at least it is not true in my case. It depends on volume of exercise, and on your eating and drinking habits. When I returned to cycling after a ten-year gap, I made no changes to my diet (which, apart from a fondness for wine, was pretty good) and lost about 15 lbs over the course of six months or so.
I commuted to work, a journey of about 16miles each way. So when one included weekend rides I was spending 12-15 hours per week on the bike. Still am. I assure you that riding at moderate intensity for that amount of time will have an impact on your weight. You can't out-exercise a poor diet, of course, but if you eat properly, enough exercise will shift weight.