Yes! Of course. Cycling helps lose weight no matter you’re commuting neighborhood, riding a long way, or using an exercise bike to lose weight at home.
If you’re not getting a visible result and being a little hesitant on does cycling really lose weight, this article is for you. This article contains 10 expert-backed tips to get an effective result. Keep reading the whole article!
Does Cycling Lose Weight: 10 Essential Expert-Backed Tips!
Balance Your Meal
Balancing your meal doesn’t mean how much you eat but the balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates you consume. Avid athletes are more likely to have more carbs to fuel their rides, protein to repair muscles after a workout, and fats to feel fuller. You won’t need to make a drastic change to your meal but a little modification.
Instead of having a full bowl of noodles or pasta, fill the half of it with salad, processed sweet, or substituting fruits. Give time to your stomach to pass the signal to your brain that it’s full. Eating less is tricky, so, sip a glass of water to kill hunger caused by dehydration.
Reduce High Fat and High Sugar Consumption
Limiting high fat and high sugar is considered an obvious point in losing weight considering their negative impact on nutrition fact. If you’re prone to munch chocolate bars at mid-morning, our recommendation is to swap it with fruits or other healthy homemade recipes. Some of the riders like to have a fizzy drink after a ride which is highly advised to avoid. Having a recovery drink instead, stores carbohydrates and protein. Losing weight should be burning your fat, not losing muscles.
Take Proper Muscle Care
The pounds you lose are not always fat. In some cases, they may come from your muscle tissues. So, cutting calories by a diet may put you at the risk of being slower, weaker, and thinner on the bike.
As muscles can burn calories, the more muscle volume you have, the more calories it may burn. So, you need to optimize your retaining muscles by strength training and increase protein intake.
Go for a Smooth Long Ride
Although a 30-minutes of the short ride can help weight loss. You have to go hard and an interval workout.
But you don’t have to go harder all the time to get results. A slow but long ride of a few hours at least once a week will help you burn a lot of fats.
Recover Carbohydrates
Recovery is a must. Refueling protein and carbohydrates to yourself after a ride is important, no doubt. You’re totally wrong if you think eating less will lose your weight faster. Unless you recover yourself in a proper manner, you can get sick or weak. Also, go for a slow and easy recovery ride.
Cut Alcohol consumption down
Alcohol consumption? no way! This is considered to be one of the big contributors to unnecessary weight gain. It can lead you to binge eating that piles on more calories. In plain words, if you want to lose weight by cycling, alcohol consumption is prohibited.
Take Care of Your Upper Body
As cycling is a sport that engages your lower body part, it may put you at risk slightly of losing muscle volume in your upper body. Now what? Well, resistance training is the solution. Don’t think you have to spend a huge time in the gym. Your upper body can be maintained by 20- minutes of training twice a week during cycling sessions and 30-minutes in the winter season.
Remain Hydrated
Do you have any doubts about the importance of remain hydrated when riding hard in the summer? No. right? Don’t forget to carry at least two bottles of water in your ride. Refill the bottles when you stop for a break. Keep siping after a certain period of the time interval.
Avoid Stuffing Yourself
Don’t stuff yourself after almost every meal. It’s normal to feel a little hungry. Stop eating before you stuff yourself and give some time to your brain to determine that you’re full.
It can be a better idea for you to keep track of your meals so that you can analyze and cut what’s unnecessary in your diet.
Consult a Nutritionist
It’s quite hard to maintain all these alone. If you have a formal plan, tour weight loss will be easier. So, our recommendation for you is to consult a certified nutritionist to get help in planning a meal to lose weight. You can follow some online forums and groups to get virtual support.
Conclusion
Hope these tips will help you lose your weight in no time. No matter if you’re cycling in an exercise bike, Keep track of your calorie intake and the calories you burnt.
And of course, don’t forget a sound sleep.
FAQs
Does cycling help lose belly fat?
Yes! Cycling helps lose your belly fat. All you need is to go hard and do some interval training. High-intensity training along with cycling reduces total abdominal fat.
