I was just wondering if any of you guys lost weight after you started commuting?
Where you overweight or average in the first place? Things like that.
Did you stop working out because you worked out bicycling to work?

I go to a gym right now and Im just wondering if I could let go of my membership at the gym? I mainly do cardio when I go anyways. Or when you commute are you kind of on a lackadaisical leisurely ride?

Im about 6 miles away from work so I'd be doing 60 mi/week.

One of the main reasons I started bike commuting last year was to lose weight. Without changing my eating habits, in 5 months I dropped about 20 pounds. I regained a good chunk of that over the winter when I stopped riding, but am back to the commuting. I will ride through next winter. I need to lose some weight - probably want to drop 40 pounds or so. I don't hammer my commute the way I did on a gym spinning bike, but my commutes aren't "leisurely" either. I try to spin a good cadence and work on form.

I didn't start for weight loss - I started for cardiovascular health.
Nevertheless, I think I've lost about 5 pounds since October without really trying. Haven't lost more weight than that because along the way I've gained a lot of muscle mass.
And if anything, I eat more than I used to!

I started at 5'10", 180 lbs.

I dropped 35# last summer (combination of the commuting and the side effects of a medication I now have to take - it realy cuts back my apetite)

I only gained about 10# back this winter. I'm happy with what I'm at now (6' 215#) but wold like to get <200 (like that will ever happen )

I am the same way, I am 6' 215 and I am hoping by commuting and running a few times a week I can get to below 200 maybe 195 or so. I think I have lost 5 pounds or so since I have been back on the bike this year and I rode through the winter for the most part.
I think I need to cut back on beer a bit if I really want to reach this goal, yikes!

I have put on about 17 lbs since last November! Luckily I'm tall so I can carry it. BUT, my jeans are getting really tight.

So I thought, hey why not knock out two birds with one stone? Lose weight and be more green ...

I've been commuting/riding every day for the past two years (20km round trip plus incidental trips to shops etc each day). I wasnt all that heavy to start with, but I dropped over 10 kg (22 pound) in the first few months. I had to buy new clothes as everything swam on me. I am now 67kg (148 pound) and 180cm (6 foot) tall. I havent been this fit since I was 12.

I ride 40km a day and I hit the gym 4 times a week for weight training.
The resistance and endurnace training are two different things and if you can do both, you should. Resistance training with weights will make you a better rider and you can't beat it for over-all health benefits.
I haven't lost or gained any weight in years so I can't comment on that.

See, I'm a "fat kid". Always have been, Always will be. Even when I was in Recruit Training at MCRD SanDiego and weighed 165#, I still thought of myself as a fat kid. I'm alot better than I was in HS at 275# though!

I can't run (bad ACL in my left knee, Thanks Marine Corps!) so Biking is the best bet for me (cant swim to work )

It's not only the exercise, its the experience and the time out from any responsibility.... It takes 35-45 minuets to get to school or work, regardless of how fast I pedal. I just sit back, cruise at 15mph and just relax! When I'm in the PimpVan (I drive a MiniVan.... Its got to have a cool name, right? ) I'm always stressing about getting somewhere faster or doing more..... I hate it. Biking takes alot of that away.

Billy

Started about a year and a half ago, about 60 miles/week average for commuting, plus probably about another 20 miles/week on the weekend.

I tend toward the leisurely on the way to work and save the sprint/interval training for the ride home.

So far I've gone from 5'8" and 180 lbs to 5'8" and 160 lbs. I don't expect (or believe I need) to lose a whole lot more than that.

I'd keep the membership. Cardio is mainly to strengthen the heart and increase your abiliity to lose fat. You will burn up muscle if you do not incorperate weights into your workouts. I quit lifting because if CTS and I kept biking and I lost 10 lbs and most of it was muscle, that was in a two month period of time.

60 miprwk isn't enough on it's own to lose weight. I do between 120-200 miprwk and eat quite a bit of low fat/high yeild protein. Chicken(w/o the skin), garbanzo beans, soy powder, etc. For carbs I do alot of whole wheat bread, brown rice, oatmeal and granola. 3-4 pieces of fruit per day...bananas, apples, oranges and lately, strawberries. Tons of water.

Keep your gym membership and add 'strength building' reps instead of cardio. Not 'bulk' training...high weight/low reps, but enough resistance to make you work. Any 'floor trainer' should be able to give you some tips. Try swimming laps...start out w/20 mins regardless of proficiency level. It's amazing how much your 'climbing skills' will increase w/upper body strength. You'll drop weight at first then as your muscle mass grows you'll gain, but your BFC(body fat content) will decrease.

My commute is 40 mi rt and I lost quite a bit in the first 6-8 weeks and now am starting to gain 'muscle weight' as I've 'gotten skinnier'...my wife's words. Give your body a couple of months to adjust to the new 'stress level' and you'll avoid things like impatience, sleeplessness, etc. Most of all make sure you get enough 'rest'. Not sleep, quiet time...it's really almost more important than working out and pushing oneself.

I wouldn't say that, I only ride 40 miles per week and I lost 20 pounds over 6-8 months eating tons of unhealthy food and drinking lots of beer

It's amazing what a LITTLE BIT of exercise will do to someone who is used to NONE (I'm living proof )

I was average at 165 pounds 5"11 (male). I lost nearly 20 pounds last year going down at the worse to 145 pounds which in my opinion is way too low. So I started eating more (taking protein supplements because I'm not hungry enough) and now I'm staying at 152 pounds average and building (leg) muscle!!

I don't go to the gym anymore; it would still be good for the upper body and core workout though but I don't want to have to go there. For cardio it's definitively enough for me. I use my commute as a training ride (10.5 miles each way); adding intervals and stuff like that when possible (still have to stop at red lights ). I commute 2 - 3 times a week and trying to augment this to 4 - 5 times a week. I feel that if I'd take is easier I could do 5 times a week. But right now I'm trying to balance it out with rest days instead and work harder. It's a balance between hard workout and long term endurance I guess. So I say yes, there's definitively a way to incorporate a structured workout in the daily commute.

Third season commuting (40 minutes each way). Lost about 10 lbs per season. Probably ate more and built muscle/lost fat. Went on a "pre diabetic" diet (ie: around 2000 cal per day, big breakfast, 3 meals with snacks in between...proper nutritious diet... balanced with carbs, protien, fat) in Jan and have lost 30 lbs... so guess it works best if you do both (at least for me). HAve started commuting again and find I have to eat more calories to avoid losing too much weight (who woulda thought?).

I started commuting in March, biking 5.5 miles each way about the same length your commute will be. I am lucky in that we have a locker room and shower at work, so I push my self a bit and get sweaty. Since I started cycling, my appetite has gone up and I have been eating like a horse but I'm still losing weight. I started at 6' 220 lbs and am now down to 205. I'm expecting to keep losing some pounds because I'm still a bit overweight. Now that I am in better condition I'm thinking about lengthening the bike part of my commute - I currently do a multi-modal commute car-ferry-bike. If I cut the car out entirely I'll be going 14-15 miles each way.

I went from 210 a few years ago to the 160s. I found the gym to be unexciting at best.
However, I would like to start a bit of weight training so I may return. It seems that acquiring the needed equipment for home use may be prohibitively expensive.

I don't weight myself, but my clothes get looser as soon as I start riding regularly. You have to keep in mind muscle weighs more than fat so you can be decreasing in size and not necessarily see the result reflected on a scale.

Right. Meant to convey that 60 miprwk wasn't enough for the op to lose weight in swapping cycling for gym cardio. Should've been more clear.

She did not mention how much cardio she was doing at the gym so the biking might be an increase. I also lost about a pound a week commuting ~50mi a week. I think the secret was that as I got fitter other none biking activities increased, like chasing the kids. These were harder to tabulate than the 50mi.
Eric

You lose about a pound a week when you burn 500 cal per day more than you eat (1 pound=3500 cal). There is a rule of thumb that biking burns 40-50 cal/mile which is probably about twice the rate that I appear to burn at (based on estimating calories-out from observations of calories-in and weight loss). I have a ~7 mile each way commute, I didn't really wind up losing weight until I started adding in 12 mile lunchtime rides. That's mostly a reflection on what I was eating, I guess.

Others have mentioned that regardless of weight loss there is shape change.

I can gain weight at 250 miles a week if I do not watch what I eat. Cardio is a needed piece but your nutrition is as important. Right now I am eating reasonably and riding roughly 100 miles a week and loosing about a lb a week. However, I am also not just riding at my cruising speed but following a training plan as well. One day intervals, the next a slower speed base mile ride, and so on.
One can loose weight at 50 miles a week. Just watch your nutrition and make those miles count. However, it may be easier with more miles.
My two cents.

I go to the gym about 3x a week - and do mostly upper body work. Combined with the cardio from my commute I'm extremely satisfied with my regimens.

I've been commuting since Feb, and am now up to full-time (4 days a week, 16-25 miles a day, depending on route and whether I take the bus part of the way; one day a week I telecommute). Can't stand the gym, but I am keeping my membership through the summer so I have the option if I need it when it gets really hot.

Plus there's a part of me that is convinced that as soon as I drop the membership I'll get hurt and have to re-up so I can work out while rehabbing!

Haven't lost any weight as far as I can tell, but that wasn't the point.