Bike riding 5 to 10 miles a day. How much weight will I lose within the coming months?

Question

Been doing it for the past 3 weeks. I actually gained 5 pounds. Help?

Answer 1

You have probably gained muscle, and that's what that weight is, if you're biking so much every day.

Try walking briskly, or even jogs. Unless you do that hardcore, You'll lose weight without bulking up on muscles.

Answer 2

You will gain weight through muscle initially.  I've been there - you store more water and build muscle.

How much fat you burn is another story altogether and that all depends on how you ride - how long and how fast.

The body kicks in to fat burning after about 20 minutes of cycling so the 5 miler won't do much for burning fat but it will burn calories that the body might otherwise convert to fat - it stops weight gain and that is good.

The legs and buttock muscles will build up a few pounds and muscle takes calories to maintain 24 hours a day - so those 5 mile rides have an additional benefit that would add to a few pounds a year.  It depends on how much you ride and how much muscle you build.  (I am blessed by genetics that make building muscle easy - I won't generalize that to others, women rarely will build up muscle with any sort of normal exercise and diet.)

Finally for those longer rides...  I'm sorry, but if you want to lose weight quickly and measure it the game plan takes a long time.  One pound of fat carries about 3600 calories.  Riding at a fair clip but not at athlete racing levels will average about 600 calories an hour for me.  That is six hours to a pound.   Five to ten miles a day is about half an hour, average, so you will lose a pound every two weeks or so, two pounds a month, ten pounds a year assuming you have winter where you are.  The longer rides will be the ones where you feel more out of breath for the same speed - the body starts converting to burning fat which needs more oxygen.  

The best way to lose weight when cycling is to simply enjoy the cycling.  Not measuring 5 miles a day but going out for an hour or two or three with lots of water and healthy snacks so you don't die.  Do these on the weekends when the whim takes you and ride to work or to the store.  

Since it comes off so slowly you will hardly notice by measuring week by week.  

Generally with "diet and exercise" that feel like being deprived you can lose up to 2 pounds a week after you get past the muscle building stage.  By just enjoying the ride you can establish a lifestyle of enjoyable exercise that will keep you feeling good for the rest of your life without worrying about your weight.  

I've found that while I had the "lifestyle" of cycling to shop, to work and so one my weight dropped and while I would drive around and try to use the bike for "exercise" my weight would creep back up.  

Answer 3

What beelnite & carl said.

This question, in one form or another, constantly appears here.

Good luck

Answer 4

We can't lose weight unless we can control what we eat. That means cutting down on junk foods, fast foods, sweets, and sugary drinks. It's that simple.

And you can't gain 5 pounds of muscle in 3 weeks.

Answer 5

Hey don't sweat it... well actually, DO sweat cuz you can't drop the pounds without a workout.

How intense are you riding?  It is possible you'll gain weight if you focus solely on anaerobic excercise - too often beginning riders have their gears set too high with too much tension.  So you're cranking on the pedals and huffing - building muscle and risking injury.

You need an aerobic "spin" to get your heart rate up and start dropping the pounds (provided you have a proper diet).  Try this.  Get up to speed and then drop down one gear - increase your spin rate and try and maintain.

It might be worthwhile to invest in a bike computer so you can track your progress over the rides.  The average person starts out at about 10 mph - but within a couple of months you could easily be hitting 15-16 mph with an ultimate goal of 20 mph for 20 minutes (depending on the bike and terrain of course).

I've been there myself.  Patience.  You won't see dramatic results until about Week 6 but you gotta stay with it.  Good luck!

See you in the bike lane.

Answer 6

depends are you riding down hill>? have you tried this workout video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKCGe2Ezr...