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How To Lose Weight when Cycling?
If you want to get more athletic, fit, and lighter, not to mention health, cycling is a great way to achieve those goals. It’s effective, enjoyable, fairly easy to fit into your schedule, and most importantly, has emotional benefits in addition to physical ones.
How can you not like it?
We’ve compiled 14 tips to help you lose weight while cycling.
1. Set Always realistic goals
When setting goals, you can focus on the Body Mass Index (BMI). It is based on the ratio of height to weight, is used by many healthcare providers and nutritionists, and allows you to set a measurable goal to strive for.
BMI may not be ideal, but a good enough way to set a goal.
Another way is to focus on your body fat percentage. The body of an ordinary healthy man contains 15-18% fat, women – 25-32%. For men who exercise regularly and maintain good physical shape, this percentage can be 8-10, and for women – 24-28%.
Now on sale there is a large selection of scales with the ability to measure body composition – such a purchase can be a good investment in your health.
2. Focus on a gradual weight loss, up to 1 kg per week
While you may want to lose weight as much and quickly as possible, research shows that rapid weight loss is generally not long-term, and most people who lose weight quickly return to their original (or even more!) Weight.
Approach weight loss as a gradual process and lifestyle change. You don’t just want to lose weight, you want to maintain your new weight, right?
P.S For most people, the following rule works: if you can train for 1 hour every day, you can expect to lose 1 kg per week.
3. Cycle more often at low speeds.
If your goal is to burn fat, you need to train at an intensity where your heart rate is 68-79% of your maximum heart rate. You can set a target heart rate zone in your heart rate monitor or cycling computer.
If you do not have a heart rate monitor, focus on the speed at which your breathing is already difficult, but you can still talk.
4.Ride your bike to work!
The great thing about a bicycle is that it can be thought of as transportation, so if you switch to this two-wheeled vehicle, you will automatically get a regular dose of training during the time you would have spent on the road anyway.
Cycling to and from work can help you lose weight. A recent study by the University of East Anglia and the Center for Diet and Activity Research found that people who cycle to and from work and spend 30 minutes on these trips. one way, on average lost 7 kg per year.
Cycling also helps improve concentration, creativity, and reduces stress. Therefore, you will probably be more productive at work by cycling there.
5. Add 2-3 high-intensity workouts per week.
High-intensity workouts will train your cardiovascular system and help you burn calories more efficiently. Either replace them with 2-3 regular low-intensity workouts or, if you feel strong enough, make them additional workouts, or combine them, adding a high-intensity ending to a calm workout.
For high-intensity workouts, ride your bike at a heart rate of 70-90% of your maximum heart rate most of your workout, or ride so fast that you can barely talk. You don’t need to maintain that pace all the time – an interval training format will be sufficient and effective.
I personally recommend you making these high-intensity interventions the final part of your workout routine. Your body starts to work anaerobically, and will continue to burn calories during recovery after the effort is over.
Also, thanks to such training, your muscle mass will grow. And the more muscles you have, the more fuel you need just to maintain them, the more calories you burn in the normal course of life.
In bad weather, you can use an exercise bike for training or take a cycle class at the fitness club. It may not be as fun as outdoor cycling, but you can still stay tuned to your workout even if it rains
6.Sleep A lot
Sleep is the often overlooked hero of the entire process. Research shows that people who sleep 6-8 hours a night are more successful in losing and maintaining weight and are less stressed.
At the same time, people who do not get enough sleep at night are more likely to feel hungry and less likely to feel satisfied with what they eat.
And of course, a good night’s sleep is necessary for the recovery of muscles and the whole body after training.
It sounds very simple, but it is very important: try to get about 7 hours of sleep every night, this will significantly increase your chances of losing weight
7.Track your progress
Don’t worry if you don’t see an immediate change from your workouts; you are training your body to become stronger, fit and efficient. You will see noticeable progress, in some weeks, you may have a plateau effect. Most important is the general trend over a relatively long period of time.
If you are tracking your progress based on weight or body fat percentage, take measurements once a week, preferably at the same time of the day. First thing in the morning after going to the toilet is a very popular time for many!
If you use any activity tracker, you can easily see how your fitness level improves – your progress along the stretches will improve and you can be proud of your achievements!
Another great way to keep track of how things are going is with clothing. If you have a favorite item that you “grew” from and want it to fit you again, try it on every couple of weeks.
8.Add alternative workouts and Stretching
Incorporate regular stretching into your training routine to aid recovery and minimize the risk of injury.
While cycling is a great way to lose weight, it can be stressful and painful for your body, especially if you’re a beginner. Alternative workouts will balance the load by distributing it to different muscle groups, and stretching will help relax your muscles and ligaments.
Gym classes, Pilates, swimming, dancing, boxing are all things to do – they all strengthen your core muscles, which will also contribute to your cycling success. Pilates and yoga are great options for stretching.
9.Eat small and Frequently
If you think of your body as an engine, then you probably want it to always have enough fuel to run smoothly throughout the day.
Andy Wadsworth recommends eating a little every 3-4 hours; this will help you maintain a stable energy level and metabolism, and keep you strong enough to cycle in the evening.
When you finish your workout,protein and a meal with lots of vegetables will help you recover faster.
10.Try exercising before breakfast
A short bike ride before breakfast can be a good weight loss boost. Your body will be forced to use up its fat stores due to the lack of other fuel.
Aim for a 30-60 minute ride. However, if you’re going to be exercising longer, you should definitely eat something before going out.
11.Avoid Over Training
If you are trying to lose weight, you may be tempted to exercise frenziedly or severely limit your diet. Neither is good for your health, nor will it benefit in the long term.
Exercising too hard on a bike, especially if you have just started to exercise, you run the risk of bringing yourself to such a degree of fatigue that you have no energy left for anything else. It can also lead to injury, which generally knocks you out of the saddle for a long time.
If you cut your calorie intake too much, your body will not be getting enough nutrition for the workouts you are trying to do, and workouts will become ineffective. Also, the body is more likely to go into “starvation mode”, when it first creates reserves from any food entering the body.
If you are trying to lose weight, the estimated calorie intake per day should be 1900 for men and 1400 for women.
Sensible exercise combined with quality, low-fat food is what will lead you to weight loss and help you maintain your new weight.
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