Campag4life

Many of us hate being fat. I have never been fat but admit to having an aversion to fat. Skinny bike riders are the fastest of course and I don't like being fat anyway. So what is my recipe for dropping weight? Diets suck of course. Riding in cold weather doesn't seem to melt off the pounds...not that I do big miles in cold weather. Over the years, I have learned that sweat is the way to drop weight. It probably isn't the safest thing to do...have to be a bit careful and hydrate a lot. I am a bit careful now into later life to not ride too aggressively in hot weather. It is very hot throughout the country this early summer...including the Midwest. Even trying to ride in the morning or night, the temps are up and that means a lot of sweat on bike rides. Yesterday's 60 mile ride was quite the sweat fest. Water rolling off my head onto the top tube like it was being poured. Riding moderately fast in heat for me is what melts the fat off. Yeah. This is what I like. Melt the weight off...get thinner and faster then be able to eat what I want like today on July 4th.
Good riding everybody.

Machka 

Can anyone say ... dehydration?


How often do you cramp on rides, after rides?

RT

Funny thing about sweat - when I was boozin' and smokin', my sweat smelled, well, like sweat. Since quitting both and improving my diet (can't help it, really), my sweat has no odor. It's awesome.

But dropping weight for me is achieved the quickest not by sweating, but by laying off the white starches. Pizza, bread, pasta, tortillas. Since cutting back about 90% on consumption of these items, my weight drops like a stone.

Campag4life

False extrapolation. I didn't talk about how much I drink during the ride. I drink copious amounts of water. If you ride hard in hot weather whether you are a pro or amateur, you are going to sweat.

Campag4life

But I like that stuff. What I like about riding often and hard is...I can eat what I want. Many top athletes have a hard time keeping their weight up. I don't seem to have that problem...mostly because I don't train enough.

DaveWC

No doubt that you'll lose more weight on the ride when it's hot & you sweat. But water loss does not lead to sustained weight loss. I've seen no indications or studies that suggest that you burn appreciably more calories in hot weather for the same amount of work. The battle over weight loss is won & lost in the kitchen, not on the bike IME. Eat a sensible diet, cycle a lot and you'll be fine.

The comment about dehydration makes sense if the reader assumed that you were saying that you lost more weight on the ride in hot weather.

Machka 

So when you're talking about sweating on rides, is that another way of saying you're riding hard? That you're putting in some effort for a change?



And there's nothing wrong with sweating, but if the reason you are losing weight is because you're losing water weight, that's a problem. I notice you didn't comment on the number of cramps you experience on and off the bicycle.

Campag4life

Conflating riding hard with sweating? Really? I may sweat under my layers in 20deg F weather...but I sweat a lot more at 85deg F riding at the same intensity. I didn't respond to cramping because I never cramp...for the simple reason, I restore lost water weight while I ride by drinking.

Campag4life

Just sharing my experience. Ride a lot hard + sweat = SUSTAINED body mass reduction. I don't like changing my diet much. The widely understood ratio of food calories to exercise is 80/20 to 70/30. Yes, the kitchen is transcendent for body weight.

cmc0108

When you sweat you lose water weight, when you rehydrate you cancel out any weight loss there may have been.

There are zero legitimate studies that show any sort of link between sweat loss and weight loss.

That being said, it's likely that the days you're sweating harder are also the days that you're working harder and therefore burning the most calories...which will lead to weight loss.

Machka 

+1

AdelaaR

I agree with the OP.
Stationary bike riding for half an hour at 75+% of max HR.
Sweating like a pig (do pigs actually sweat that much?)
Lost 4 kilo's in 2 weeks

Campag4life

Simply not so. Again, my experience. I work harder on the bike on cold days for the simple reason that punching a hole in colder air takes more watts.

DaveWC

Indeed, that's true. So is Ride a lot hard = SUSTAINED body mass reduction. Anecdotal evidence aside, weight loss comes from burning calories. Sweat is a by product of hard work. It's the hard work that burns the calories.

DaveWC

Q: "Is how much a person sweats during a workout a good indicator as to how hard a person works?" – RI Jones


A: Great question RI! Since our workouts are often sweat filled sessions, we were anxious to know the answer to this one too. We asked Michele Olson, Ph.D., professor of exercise science at Auburn University in Alabama to tackle this question. This was her response:

"The reason we sweat is to control our body's temperature. When liquid hits our skin (from the inside) and then evaporates, the evaporation is cooling. However, this is not the most accurate indicator of how intensely you are working out or how many calories you are expending. In fact, you actually burn more calories running outdoors in the cold versus summer in the heat."


"How? To warm our bodies, our muscles will perform extra small and rapid contractions that are usually not felt, but anytime your muscles contract more, they use extra calories. Heat is released every time a calorie is burned — and this is what helps keep the body's core temperature up and stable. Sometimes the twitching is very noticeable and we call it shivering. But, the process of sweating does not require active calorie burning. So, don't rely on sweat as a sole gauge of exercise intensity. A combination of heart rate and perceived effort are much better indicators of how hard you are working and how much energy you are expending."

Campag4life

Thanks for the reference Dave. Hey, maybe I am wrong about this...but relating sweat to exertion is ridiculous. A rider who rides at 0 deg F may have 1.5 x's the exertion of riding at 85 deg F and sweat three times as much at 85 deg. I am on board with relating amount of calories burned relative to level of exertion. What I am less sure about is...for the same level of exertion at higher temp, to me, I drop more weight. The best times at the Boston Marathon are always in cooler temperature. This isn't related to exertion. Exertion is the same among elite runners. Their times are faster, likely because of delta T aka the difference in ambient temp versus their body temp. I have to believe more calories are being burned at the same level of exertion in higher temp and hence more weight loss.

Campag4life

Yes...ride hard a lot = sustained body mass reduction. My point which you get is, with higher ambient temp, ride hard a lot + sweat = more body weight loss. That is my experience at least. I ride about the same intensity independent of temperature. In fact, in very hot temps, I back off because I don't want to overheat my body. Yes, I do ride a bit more in the summer but I have been off the bike a fair amount this year because its been wet.

DaveWC

IMO relating sweat to anything is ridiculous. I consider the HR & power when I ride and anything else means little. Regardless, my weight is whatever it is and has little bearing on my cycling, much more related to my eating. I find that longer I ride, the harder I ride, the more weight I put on. Of course my weight drops more after the ride if I go longer or harder, but I also tend to eat & drink much more and end up heavier at the end of the day.

But I do agree that when I get on the scale after a ride where I've sweated a ton, my weight is lower than it would be had I not been so sweaty. It just doesn't last & doesn't mean much. IME it's just water loss. Mind you, my rides during the week are 45 minutes & weekend are under 3 hours so I don't know how much additional calories could possibly be lost on a single ride due to heat. Seems negligible to me.

pallen

I don't think sweat is any indicator of weight loss beyond temporary water loss (even when drinking a lot, you can see a net loss). But hey, if you continue losing weight, and you're doing it safely (don't forget electrolytes), then keep it up - its working.

cmc0108

You're failing to understand that amount of sweat doesn't necessarily have a direct correlation to effort alone, calories burned alone, or outside temperature alone. Sweat is simply a response to body temperature. As our body temp gets higher, we produce more sweat to cool down. So if you're riding in 85+ degree weather and pushing hard, you're likely to sweat a lot because your body temp will be high. If you put the same amount of effort into a ride when its 10 degrees outside, you'll likely sweat a lot less because the 10 degree outside temp will keep your internal body temp a lot lower.

Its the same reason I can just stand outside when it's 100 degrees out and I'll start sweating. I'm not putting in any effort, but simply my body is overheating. Yet I can go for a 10 mile run when its 20 degrees and barely sweat...why? because my internal body temperature is not raising enough to produce the cooling effect of sweat.

Does that make sense?

Campag4life

You basically wrote things that I believe to be largely irrelevant...only my opinion. Perhaps sweat is even irrelevant. Maybe sweat is a barometer however. Sweat likely correlates to internal body temp. I can't believe internal body temp is irrelevant to calories burned for same level of exertion.
I can only tell you guys what my experience is every year. I drop more 'sustained' weight when I ride hard and sweat. When I ride hard in colder weather and don't sweat as much, I don't drop the same level of weight for the same diet. I know this is anecdotal and am not saying its gospel...just my experience. I am a bit surprised to learn that many believe sweat to be irrelevant to weight loss.

cmc0108

Earlier you mentioned that you dont put as many miles in when it's cold...couldnt that be why you dont lose as much weight in the winter?

WhyFi

We don't sweat fat.

Nachoman

dave1442397

You can sit in a sauna and sweat like a pig, but you won't be burning many calories.