Cycling UK Forum

Worth knowing:
Cycling uses about 500 calories an hour on average.
Your body uses about 150 calories an hour watching TV. So net loss of calories = 350.

One lb of fat = 3 500 calories.

So to lose 1 lb of fat you'd have to cycle for 10 hours and not eat anything extra! As the previous posts indicate, in fact you're eating a lot more.
The horrible truth of weight loss is that you can only lose weight by eating less food.
Quite a lot less. And we don't like that.

Russell160 wrote:Worth knowing:
Cycling uses about 500 calories an hour on average.
Your body uses about 150 calories an hour watching TV. So net loss of calories = 350.

One lb of fat = 3 500 calories.

So to lose 1 lb of fat you'd have to cycle for 10 hours and not eat anything extra! .

So cycle for 2 hours most days, and eat 350 calories more food a day - that's quite a lot of food if you eat sensibly.
Result : you'll lose plenty over a few months.
(leaving aside all the stuff about raising your metabolic rate).
Like others have said, riding needs to be frequent and regular.

An equally valid approach would be to not worry about the weight, do the 2 hours and eat the 700 calories .

Russell160 wrote:Worth knowing:
Cycling uses about 500 calories an hour on average.
Your body uses about 150 calories an hour watching TV. So net loss of calories = 350.

One lb of fat = 3 500 calories.

So to lose 1 lb of fat you'd have to cycle for 10 hours and not eat anything extra! As the previous posts indicate, in fact you're eating a lot more.
The horrible truth of weight loss is that you can only lose weight by eating less food.
Quite a lot less. And we don't like that.

Essentially right, but a lot of other things come into play. If you start to increase the amount of exercise you take regularly then, you will have a better metabolism and will burn more claories at rest as well. Fat does not burn calories when at rest muscle does.

Diet is such a complex thing, and crash dieting is about the worst thing you can do to loose weight. If you eat a lot unless you can educate yourself to want less then you'll starve yourself for the duration of the Diet and pile it back on afterward. exercise, and as we all know cycling is the best form of, combined with small changes in diet are the best way to go to loose weight. Take it as a life style change.

A few things I discovered When I found myself onthe large side. If your temped to grab biscuits after a ride make sure the fruit bowl is full snack on fruit. Never deny yourself anything, If you like roast potatoes have them, but cook in oil rather than fat. Crisps are a high fat food So swap for twiglets or nuts (not roasted) raisins are another alternative. If you have a sweet tooth and like to smother things in sugar try honey. I increased the size of my veg portion and decreased the meat, A six ounce steak I found was enough, if the plate didn't look empty. If your exercising regular and your at least concious of whats going in then the weight comes off.

The problem with riding hard is that it puts on muscle, which weighs more than fat! Anyway at high outputs the body burns glycogen almost to the total exclusion of all else, you either replace what you burn to keep moving or fall on the floor with rubber legs, high temperature, dizziness and all the other stuff we've all felt before.