Riding Mountain Bike To Lose Weight

Hop on a bike and feel the wind in your (ahem, bike helmet-capped!) hair: Biking outdoors can make you feel free—and pretty darn sweaty and good. And while there are so many benefits to simply doing physical activity that you enjoy, if you’re choosing to lose weight, you probably want to know: Is bike riding good for weight loss?

Short answer? Yes. Absolutely. Totally. Do it. Outdoor biking can be an important part of your weight loss journey. Whether you’re hitting the local bike trails, cruising around the neighborhood with friends, or zipping around your town to tick off your to-dos, you know you’re getting in a good heart-pumping, muscle-building, metabolism-revving, and de-stressing workout that supports a healthy weight. Let's get into it.

Bike riding is an aerobic activity, and depending on how fast you pedal, it may be considered moderate- or vigorous-intensity exercise. For instance, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), biking slower than 10 miles per hour (mph) on flat terrain is “moderate intensity, ” that will increase your breathing rate but still allow you to chat with a pal if you’re biking together. Bike 10 mph or faster on a route with hills (with more labored breathing) and you’re getting into vigorous intensity territory.

How To Lose Weight By Cycling

What’s really great about it, though is how accessible biking is for so may people. “Riding a bike is a low-impact, high-cardio exercise that’s inclusive of all fitness levels, ” says Sara Fruendt, certified personal trainer and a certified diabetes care and education specialist (CDCES) at Sweat Fitness Studios in Chicago. “Bike riding is also easier on your joints and great for athletes recovering from injuries, ” she adds.

Indoor bike rides are everything right now, but it’s worth it to hop off your stationary bike and head outside for a ride, too.

If you’re biking outdoors, your body to make adjustments during each bike ride, which recruits your core for stability on the saddle, says Fruendt. “Indoor biking allows you to see your markers such as miles, time, and resistance, but requires you to independently change these settings versus outdoors where you ride with the natural terrain and are exposed to different inclines, ” she says. “Both increase cardiovascular fitness, muscle tone, and strength, but outdoor biking focuses more on your core as you are dealing with different terrain versus indoor, which is focused more on the lower-body.”

Can I Lose Weight Riding An Electric Bike?

Also key: There are so many ways to ride a bike outdoors. You can set out for a ride on your local bike path. And outdoor biking is also great for “active commuting.” That might be commuting to work, if you live close enough and have a safe path to bike, but it can also mean running errands locally on your bike or riding your bike to meet up with a friend for lunch or brunch. Research shows that cycling to work is associated with less weight gain over time, as well as weight loss and a lower BMI. Ultimately, though, all your activity during the day adds up.

Calculating how many calories does riding a bike burn depends on a variety of factors including the distance and time traveled, intensity, speed, and the weight of the bike rider, just to name a few. Fruendt says, “On average, a moderate pace outdoors for an average adult for 30 minutes would burn around 300 calories.”

Specifically, according to Harvard Medical School, a 155-pound person who bikes for 30 minutes at 12 to 13.9 mph burns 288 calories. Weigh 125? You’ll burn about 240 calories. Weigh more? You’ll burn about 336 calories. (Crank up the speed? Your calorie burn will be higher.)

How To Lose Weight

The CDC recommends adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio per week. Since bike riding is considered aerobic exercise (aka cardio) that means if you are looking to take up bike riding for weight loss, consider dividing and conquering those 150 minutes in multiple bike riding sessions each week.

Outdoor bike riding provides that sweet-spot combo of cardio and strength. “Bike riding outside is beneficial for weight loss. You’re able to get cardio while building muscle. More muscle mass means a higher resting metabolic rate, which translates into more calories burned throughout the day, ” says Jessica Dennis, a certified personal trainer in Chicago (also at Sweat Fitness Studios).

Found that, for women, cycling more than 1.5 hours per week was associated with weighing three pounds less, having about 2 percent less body fat, and having nearly a one-inch smaller waist circumference compared to those who rode less than 1.5 hours per week.

How To Lose Weight? Try A Scooter

That said, what’s critical for losing weight is to be in a calorie deficit, adds Fruendt. So, you’ll also likely need to make changes to your diet to see results. “Additional calories burned from riding a bike contribute to weight loss, ” she says.

One of the major perks of exercise in general is that regular physical activity can help you sleep better and manage stress (especially if you find the time outside zipping through the streets restorative). Good sleep helps regulate hunger hormones, while using stress-reducing strategies can help prevent you from turning to food every time you’re feeling overwhelmed.

“Fresh air and a change of scenery are good for mental health, ” says Fruendt. “Bike riding can] decrease stress levels by increasing endorphins and outdoor bike riding provides a daily dose of vitamin D, ” she adds. Go get yourself some.

Why Cycling Is Better Than Running To Lose Weight?

Ashley Martens is a wellness writer based in Chicago. With a lifelong passion for all things health and wellness, Ashley enjoys writing about topics to help people live happier and healthier lives. With a foundation in fitness, food, and nutrition, Ashley covers it all including sexual health and travel topics. Ashley is also a NASM-certified personal trainer and group fitness instructor.

Exactly How Rebel Wilson Lost More Than 80 Pounds What Is The 75 Soft Challenge? 16 Ways To Lose Weight Safely And Build Strength How To Follow The 80/20 Diet For Weight Loss

The Bone Broth Diet Trend, Explained By Dietitians How Mounjaro Helped Whoopi Goldberg Lose Weight Can Ozempic, Wegovy And More Silence Food Noise? Oprah Winfrey Special On TV Is About Weight Loss

Hop On A Bike To Get Fit, Lose Weight

What Is The 2-2-2 Method For Weight Loss? A Beginner's Guide To The Whole30 Diet Plan Is The Watermelon Diet Legit For Weight Loss? How Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond Lost 60 PoundsIf you love biking and want to lose a few pounds, you're in luck — cycling for weight loss is fun. Having that attribute in an exercise that you actually

Gives you a leg up because consistency is key for fat loss, and it's easiest to stick with exercises you enjoy. With that said, there's no magic number of miles you need to ride to slim down. Instead, it's all about balancing your diet and physical activity so that you burn more calories than you take in, which prompts your body to use up stored fat as fuel.

When it comes to riding your bike, speed and duration matter more than distance. But if you're trying to decide how long a biking course to map out, working up to riding 10 to 12 miles at a stretch is a good place to start.

How Cycling Changed My Life. I Started Cycling In Early December…

As a general rule, the more calories you burn, the faster any excess weight comes off. A number of factors affect how many calories you'll burn on your bicycle but, as a general rule, having a heavier body and biking faster both increase your calorie burn.

Harvard Health Publishing has some useful estimates on what that might look like. For example, if you weigh 155 pounds, you'll burn about this many calories in an hour of pedaling:

As you can see, cycling speed has more to do with your calorie burn than how far you go. But if you aim for even the low end of those mileages accomplished in an hour — about a dozen miles on the bike — you'll still get an impressive calorie burn. You might need to start with a little less when you first begin your biking program, and by the time you've been biking for a few months, you'll probably be able to handle more.

Why Do You Ride Your Bike Often And You Don't Lose Any Weight?

Those estimates are for biking outside, but Harvard Health also ranks stationary bikes as one of the most efficient cardio machines in the gym, burning approximately 800 to 900 calories per hour of vigorous cycling, depending on your body weight.

Mountain biking and BMX biking both burn calories at an impressive rate, too. The key principle here is just to get moving and keep moving.

No matter which type of bike you use, pay special attention to the seat because you're going to be spending a lot of time on it. Stationary exercise bikes generally have the widest and most padded seats, with recumbent stationary bikes offering the most comfortable seats of all — most of them even offer a bit of back support.

How To Lose Weight With Cycling 8 Essential Tips For You

But you can buy specially padded seats for road bikes, too. If you're on any sort of upright bike, specially padded bike shorts are very much a worth it investment.

All that work