Originally Posted by
pgjackson
Yep, diet is more important than exercise. Many cyclists who pick up the sport to lose weight fail because they listen to all the "experts" who say you have to carbo load before a ride, then eat some sugary "energy" gel crap, a banana, and a PBJ sandwich every 30 minutes during a ride, then pig-out after a ride to recover.
This, and unless you're really hammering it you don't need all that carb loading. I do my morning ride before breakfast, often pushing myself fairly hard, and I never bonk. Even when I'm doing long rides of 20-50 miles or more, I don't "carb up" before heading out, I just eat my normal diet. I may take a carbed-up or sugary snack such as a Clif bar along with me, but honestly I could probably do just fine without it. The truth is that I enjoy having a snack while out on a long ride, and I figure it's as good a time as any while I'm out burning sugar while spinning my legs around on my bike. But nobody needs to carb up or eat sugary foods if they're just putting a couple of miles around town no faster than 10 MPH.
I really think the OP is making a mistake by focusing on increased exercise for weight loss rather than on diet. It's much better to focus on your diet in order to lose weight and ride the bike to maintain your health.