I am planing to join cycling to help me lose weight. I understand that by riding the bike, I'm really only working the lower half of my body. How often should I do upper-body exercises? How often should I ride my bike? appreciate any help.
How to loose weight
- Thread starter charlottebainb
- Start date
Ride as often as you can. Every rides does not need to be a killer and you can alternate your training between intensity and maintenance rides.
It is important to maintain a toned core but as in the cycling training in all depends on what your goals are.
It is important to maintain a toned core but as in the cycling training in all depends on what your goals are.
charlottebainb said:
Agreed with JH.
Although you may be only exercising your lower half of your body, by maintaining your position on the bike, your arms/back also get a workout as well.
My wife - and she isn't a cyclist as such - says that she finds that cycling is not only good for the legs but that she finds her arms/back is toned too from cycling.
In terms of controlling weight, cycling with definitely help you to burn calories.
if you're not in doing long rides (by that I mean 2 - 3 hours minimum), I would suggest that you try combining cycling with another aerobic activity such as running or swimming.
Bike riding by itself will cause you to lose weight (fat) over your entire body if you do it several times a week, do it with sufficient intensity, and eat right.
As you know, it does provide a little upper body muscle toning.....but, mainly works your lower body.
Depending on the amount of time you have during the week, you might just try alternating your workouts. For instance, ride your bike on Monday and then do upper body weight training on Tuesday...riding on Wednesday, weights on Thursday....rinse...repeat....etc....
Unless you are trying to build big upper body muscles, then you would want to use smaller weights with high repetitions and very little rest between sets. That will keep your heart rate up, burn fat, and build lean sexy muscles.
Alternate bike riding and weight training, eat right, and you'll be lookin' wonderful before you know it.
As you know, it does provide a little upper body muscle toning.....but, mainly works your lower body.
Depending on the amount of time you have during the week, you might just try alternating your workouts. For instance, ride your bike on Monday and then do upper body weight training on Tuesday...riding on Wednesday, weights on Thursday....rinse...repeat....etc....
Unless you are trying to build big upper body muscles, then you would want to use smaller weights with high repetitions and very little rest between sets. That will keep your heart rate up, burn fat, and build lean sexy muscles.
Alternate bike riding and weight training, eat right, and you'll be lookin' wonderful before you know it.
charlottebainb said:
Glad to hear you are attempting to lose weight via cycling. Losing weight takes discipline - moreso on the intake side (eating habits) than the expenditure side (burning calories). That said, try to burn calories at every opportunity throughout the day and don't simply leave it to your time cycling.
IMO, you should attempt to do some sort of aerobic exercise everyday - even it's only 30mins. Weight loss takes discipline, and gaining momentum (consistency in exercising and eating properly) will increase your level of discipline.
Be dedicated and give it your best effort, otherwise results will be very mediocre, at best...
tonyzackery said:
Yes it does.
Gaining weight takes lots of discipline too. Do you know how many beer curls it took to regain pretty much all the weight I lost last year?
it really depends on what your goals are. are you simply looking to loose some lbs or are you looking to shed some lbs and gain some muscle structure as well? doing cardio will help in itself but adding some weight training of High reps and lighter weight. This will strengthen your muscles and lean you without bulking. cycling will help you throughout your body, but you should after time see a loss in weight as well as more lower body definition (calves, quads, butt..etc) ( I guess "64paramount" already mentioned a lot of this)
your food intake will be a large part of your dieting as well. if you are going to be cycling, you will need energy which means you should be eating carbs. your body will use the carbs as a source of energy so you dont have to worry about you gaining weight from them. This doesn't mean you should eat a large pizza and a full loaf o bread though either. Stick to 1 to 2 servings of things such as pancakes, spaghetti (or other noodles), breads, crackers....(little tip...if you have a bit of a sweet tooth, eat them after exercising as your body will use the sugar to resupply the sugars lost while working out.)
Good luck and stick with it! it varies for some people as the first 2 weeks are the most difficult to stay motivated with the soreness and time it takes to stay dedicated. for others the first 2 weeks are the most exciting and easiest to stay on track but slowly loosing motivation eventually fading exercise out all together till 4 months later realizing they need to start exercising again cause there weight has gotten out of control even more and the cycle starts all over again. Be the guy that follows through and kills it!!! you can do it
your food intake will be a large part of your dieting as well. if you are going to be cycling, you will need energy which means you should be eating carbs. your body will use the carbs as a source of energy so you dont have to worry about you gaining weight from them. This doesn't mean you should eat a large pizza and a full loaf o bread though either. Stick to 1 to 2 servings of things such as pancakes, spaghetti (or other noodles), breads, crackers....(little tip...if you have a bit of a sweet tooth, eat them after exercising as your body will use the sugar to resupply the sugars lost while working out.)
Good luck and stick with it! it varies for some people as the first 2 weeks are the most difficult to stay motivated with the soreness and time it takes to stay dedicated. for others the first 2 weeks are the most exciting and easiest to stay on track but slowly loosing motivation eventually fading exercise out all together till 4 months later realizing they need to start exercising again cause there weight has gotten out of control even more and the cycle starts all over again. Be the guy that follows through and kills it!!! you can do it
Here are four step to loose weight in 15 days.
step 1)
drink only water or unsweetened tea. Sodas and juices have a lot of calories, but they don't fill you up. Even diet soda has been known to trigger cravings for sweets. However, drinking water has been shown to speed up your metabolism.
Step 2)
Avoid salty foods. You should not eat anything that contains a lot of salt. You should even avoid putting salt on the foods that you do it.
Step 3)
For 15 days, you should only eat fruits and vegetables, and occasionally lean meats. Do not eat any breads, pastas, dairy products, or fatty dressings. This will cause you to lose any water weight that you have been retaining, making you look and feel slimmer.
Step 4)
By exercising for at least 30 minutes every day, you can increase the amount of weight lost.
Enjoy your life.
step 1)
drink only water or unsweetened tea. Sodas and juices have a lot of calories, but they don't fill you up. Even diet soda has been known to trigger cravings for sweets. However, drinking water has been shown to speed up your metabolism.
Step 2)
Avoid salty foods. You should not eat anything that contains a lot of salt. You should even avoid putting salt on the foods that you do it.
Step 3)
For 15 days, you should only eat fruits and vegetables, and occasionally lean meats. Do not eat any breads, pastas, dairy products, or fatty dressings. This will cause you to lose any water weight that you have been retaining, making you look and feel slimmer.
Step 4)
By exercising for at least 30 minutes every day, you can increase the amount of weight lost.
Enjoy your life.
HI,
To lose one pound of fat, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. That sounds like a lot of calories and you certainly wouldn't want to try to burn 3500 calories in one day. However, by taking it step-by-step, you can determine just what you need to do each day to burn or cut out those extra calories. Below is a step by step process for getting started..
Thank you...
To lose one pound of fat, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. That sounds like a lot of calories and you certainly wouldn't want to try to burn 3500 calories in one day. However, by taking it step-by-step, you can determine just what you need to do each day to burn or cut out those extra calories. Below is a step by step process for getting started..
Thank you...
I’m 5 ft. flat, 133lbs, 20 years old. I’m not way overweight, but I do have more chub than I did a couple years ago. For me.. it wasn’t freshman 15, it was freshman 25! I am not very athletic and I never take the time to workout. I don’t eat very healthy either. I really want to get motivated to get into a healthier lifestyle. I’m afraid that if I continue at this rate I’ll keep gaining weight. I avoid going on dates with guys because I am embarrased to tell them I have stretch marks and that I’m very self conscious. I don’t like going to the gym because I hate when people look at me working out. Like I don’t know what I’m doing and I just feel like an idiot. How do I avoid cravings??
Hello and welcome to the forum. After reading you post, it sounds like you do not like to exercise and you really just want something to help with the cravings. Can’t help with the cravings part, but here are a few general comments.
First, as was mentioned above, to lose a pound of fat you need to burn 3500 cal more than you consume. Start taking a journal of everything you eat and drink. Then do a web search for websites that give the approximate calories for that item. Calorieking.com is one site you can use. Soon you will see how many calories you are taking per day. You will also see what foods are really high in calories and what isn’t so bad. If your weight isn’t changing, then try to cut 500 calories a day. This will give you the 3500 calories in a week and thus you should loose about a pound a week. It has been recommended to not lose more than two pounds per week, so shoot for 1-2.
As you do this, you really need to change your lifestyle. Watching the calories should hopefully give you a better perspective of healthy eating. But sooner or later, you really need to find an activity you like. It doesn’t sound like you like the gym and I am not too sure you are into cycling. Think of it this way, if you cut 250 cal per day and you burn 250 cal from brisk walks, running, cycling to …… you will be loosing one pound a week, and getting better muscle tone on top of it. But it has to be something you like and can stick with for the long haul.
Good luck
First, as was mentioned above, to lose a pound of fat you need to burn 3500 cal more than you consume. Start taking a journal of everything you eat and drink. Then do a web search for websites that give the approximate calories for that item. Calorieking.com is one site you can use. Soon you will see how many calories you are taking per day. You will also see what foods are really high in calories and what isn’t so bad. If your weight isn’t changing, then try to cut 500 calories a day. This will give you the 3500 calories in a week and thus you should loose about a pound a week. It has been recommended to not lose more than two pounds per week, so shoot for 1-2.
As you do this, you really need to change your lifestyle. Watching the calories should hopefully give you a better perspective of healthy eating. But sooner or later, you really need to find an activity you like. It doesn’t sound like you like the gym and I am not too sure you are into cycling. Think of it this way, if you cut 250 cal per day and you burn 250 cal from brisk walks, running, cycling to …… you will be loosing one pound a week, and getting better muscle tone on top of it. But it has to be something you like and can stick with for the long haul.
Good luck
There is no doubt that cycling is a very effective technique to loose weight and has no side-effects which most of the weight losers have to face while taking supplements for weight loss. Try to eat healthy meal which contains fresh fruit and vegetables and most of all avoid junk foods because it can spoil your health.
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