How to achieve your weight loss goals with cycling.
Cycling is an excellent way to lose weight.
Whether preparing for an upcoming race or wanting to achieve personal health reasons, cycling can help you achieve your goals.
This blog post explains how to use cycling for weight loss.
What you will learn:
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Why cycling is a great tool for weight loss
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How to set realistic goals to support your weight loss journey
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The importance of fuel for training and recovery (even when trying to lose weight)
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How to set up your training program to achieve weight loss goals
Is cycling good for weight loss?
Cycling is excellent for weight loss because it’s a low-impact activity. It’s easier on the joints than running and other activities. Also, because you can cycle longer than you can run, you can burn more calories with less risk of injury.
To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit. This is where you burn more calories than you consume. Cycling is a way to burn more calories to help facilitate weight loss.
Also, if you want to reduce the risk of injury—at least from taking a fall—you can train indoors on a stationary bike or turbo trainer.
Moreover, adding strength training to your routine can help build muscle mass and protect against injury. It will also improve your metabolism to burn even more calories.
7 tips for weight loss with cycling
Whether training for personal health goals or an upcoming sportive or race, the below tips will help you achieve your cycling weight loss goals.
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Set realistic goals
Aim to lose 1 to 2 lbs a week, recommends the CDC.
While it can be tempting to lose weight quickly, especially when motivated, gradual weight loss is more sustainable. It is also much healthier and will likely keep the weight off rather than returning to old eating or exercise habits.
If you are trying to lose a lot of weight, whether to improve your cycling performance or for health purposes, it’s better to chip away with a sustainable approach rather than lose lots of weight in one go.
Set realistic goals and look at progress in weeks and months rather than days.
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Refuel properly after cycling
When trying to lose weight by cycling, it’s essential to eat and refuel properly after riding.
You may think this is counterproductive.
However, getting enough carbs and protein improves your recovery. This means you will have more energy and less muscle fatigue and soreness to continue your weight loss journey.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends you get 1.2 to 2.0g of protein per kilogram of body weight.
If you are 100kg, that’s between 120 and 200g daily.
Protein also makes you feel full for longer because it’s satiating. So, getting plenty of protein will help in your weight loss journey.
Carbohydrates are also important because they are used as fuel for exercise and stored as glycogen.
When you cycle for long periods, your glycogen stores get depleted.
Replenishing these gives your body the nutrients needed to kickstart recovery. It also helps fuel your body for your next ride.
Avoid refined carbohydrates, which are often higher in calories and have less nutritional value. They will also cause spikes in blood sugar, which can cause lethargy.
Instead, prioritise complex carbs like oatmeal, brown rice, pasta, and potatoes.
You can have the occasional treat when on a weight loss journey. But don’t overdo it.
At the end of the day, to lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you eat more calories than required, you will not lose weight.
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Fuel your training correctly
As well as refuelling after a ride or workout, you want to fuel your training correctly with plenty of carbohydrates.
Again, avoid refined carbs like pastries and sugary snacks. These foods are often higher in calories and sugars and will cause blood sugar spikes.
Eat oatmeal with honey or peanut butter 2-3 hours before riding.
Also, as a general rule of thumb, the longer you have before riding, the more balanced a meal you can eat.
Read our blog post, "How long should you wait after eating to work out?" for more details.
Even when losing weight, you need to fuel your training. Otherwise, you risk running out of energy. You will also feel terrible.
When riding for upwards of 75 minutes, you can also experiment with eating on the bike.
Aiming for 30 to 60g of carbs per hour is a good starting point. When riding for 2-3 hours or longer, a consistent carb intake ensures you have enough energy to finish your ride. It will also help improve your recovery.
GEL30 contains 30g of carbohydrates, is easy to digest, and helps you finish your workout strong.
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Follow a training plan
Even if your goal is exclusively to lose weight, I recommend following a training plan.
Why? This is to help distribute your training load and fatigue appropriately.
Sessions should include plenty of easy rides, long rides, and weekly dedicated rest days.
Rest days, especially for weight loss, are essential to help combat burnout. Days off from training are also when your body repairs and recovers.
Without adequate rest and time away from cycling, you may struggle to continue training at the same intensity on your weight loss journey.
Check out our beginner cycling training plan with coach Jason Streather to get started.
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Prioritise sleep and recovery
When losing weight, it’s essential to prioritise sleep and recovery.
You risk burnout, injury, and generalised fatigue if you don't get enough sleep.
Sleep is when your body repairs and rebuilds.
During exercise, your muscles break down. When you sleep, your body repairs the damage.
You may have noticed more prominent muscle soreness if you have had bad sleep and exercised a lot. You are also less likely to perform as well in your workouts.
As for recovery, get plenty of protein and enough carbs to replenish your glycogen stores and fuel your cycling.
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Add strength training to your routine
Yes, I know strength training is not cycling.
However, adding strength training to your routine can help improve your strength on the bike. It can also help reduce injury risk and sustain your weight loss journey.
Start by adding 1-2 weekly strength sessions into your training routine.
Perform exercises like:
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Squats or leg press (if squats are uncomfortable)
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Lunges
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Deadlifts
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Lower back extensions
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Step-ups
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Banded side steps or monster walks
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Lat pulldowns or pull-ups
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Bird dogs
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Planks
These are just a few basic exercises to get you started. For the best results, follow a cycling-specific weight training program.
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Track your progress
It can be easy to forget how far you’ve come when losing weight.
I recommend keeping a training journal, whether pen and paper, in the notes section of your phone or on a training app like Strava.
You also want to weigh yourself regularly, but do your best not to get caught up in the numbers.
Your daily weight will fluctuate.
But as long as you are cycling often and eating healthy—and most importantly in a caloric deficit—you will lose weight. Add strength training to the mix, and you will improve your lean muscle mass and reduce injury risk.
Key takeaways
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Cycling is great for weight loss because it is a low-impact activity
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Set realistic goals and track your progress (weight on the scales and training)
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Fuel your training correctly to give you energy for cycling
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Refuel after training with carbs and protein to kickstart the recovery process
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Take regular rest days and focus on getting high-quality sleep to improve recovery
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Add strength training to build lean muscle, which boosts metabolism and reduces injury risk
FAQs
Is cycling good for weight loss on stomach?
You cannot choose where to lose weight. People naturally carry more fat in different places, such as the stomach, legs, or chest. After you lose weight, you will notice your body fat lowers across most of your body.
Is indoor cycling good for weight loss?
Yes! Indoor cycling is good for weight loss because it’s easy to control and has low impact. If riding for hours, it can become repetitive, though.
Can I lose 1kg in a week by cycling?
You can lose 1kg weekly by cycling, but a more sustainable approach is to lose between 0.4 to 0.9 kg a week. You may notice that after the first week, you lose more weight than in the following weeks. This is likely water weight.
Is 30 minutes of cycling a day enough to lose weight?
Yes! So long as you are in a calorie deficit, 30 minutes of cycling a day is enough to lose weight. Diet is everything when it comes to weight loss. Cycling is simply a way to increase your calorie deficit.
