Are you cycling to lose weight? Maybe you have just taken up the sport or perhaps come back to it after many years absence. In this article you will learn how many calories you are burning when you cycle. You will also learn how to structure your cycling time to achieve weight loss goals.
Yesterday my article covered cycling weight loss a simple guide to success and it gives an overview of the basic principles. If you haven’t read it, you should read it first then come back to this article.
How many calories do you burn when you cycle?
I wish I could give you a simple answer! I had though as I started to research this article that there would be a definitive answer. Sadly there isn’t. Or let me rephrase that “If there is, I can’t easily find it.”
There is no shortage of answers. Each website and book that I check looking for the answer to “how many calories I burn when I cycle” is very quick to present their answer. The only problem is that they all gave different answers. Some varied wildly. So where does that leave us?
It’s a bit of a “black art”
It appears that measuring the number depends upon many factors. So with this in mind I have put together the following
- QUICK ANSWER – In this section you get a quick takeaway answer that you can immediately apply
- ADDITIONAL FACTORS – The reason it’s complicated to calculate how many calories you are burning is it’s effected by lots of factors. So I have listed some of the main ones
- TRAINING STRATEGIES – How do you use the numbers once you have them. This section answers the question in a plain English simple style so you can make an INFORMED DCISION on how to structure your training program. This will be a separate post tomorrow
QUICK ANSWER
The quick answer to how many calories you use when you cycle is as follows. Please bear in mind with these figures that I’m not a scientist. My gut feel with the numbers is that they are correct at LOW speeds BUT could be OVERSTATING calorie usage at higher speeds but who knows! What do you think?
- It depends upon your WEIGHT, how FAST YOU CYCLE and how LONG YOU CYCLE
- For a 132 lb cyclist riding for 1 hour.
10 mph 420 calories 15 mph 600 calories 20 mph 900 calories - For a 200 lb cyclist riding for 1 hour.
10 mph 636 calories 15 mph 908 calories 20 mph 1360 calories - Are you training in the gym? Most gym cardio equipment doesn’t ask for your weight. The number they output for calorie usage is USUALLY set for a person weighing 150 pounds. So for most people the display value is OVER or UNDERSTATED.
- Remember – If a machine or by the same token a bike computer doesn’t offer / demand a weight input setting then DONT BELIEVE the calorie usage display.
Additional Factors
The numbers given above for calories usage make some very BIG assumptions and I can’t work out exactly how they are doing it. But you should take into account the following factors wqhen you are considering how many calories you’re burning.
- WEIGHT – This is not a constant that the simple figures above would like us to believe. consider the following:
- 15 mph on your heavy mountain bike or your lightweight carbon rode bike are very different
- 15 mph unloaded very different than carrying panniers and a large rucksack with 2 full water bottles.
- SPEED – Again, not all speeds are equal !
- 15 mph on skinny road tyres very different to wide knobbly mountain bike tyres
- 15mph in tight fitting lycra very differently to baggy urban commuting clothes
- 15mph into a strong headwind is going to feel like death compared to a corresponding tailwind
- 15mph up Alpe d’Huez is going to make you a legend, do it on the way down and it’s not all that!
Conclusions
As you can see the answer to the question “How many Calories am I burning” is complicated. I would like to suggest to you the following:
It doesn’t matter just get on with training
Maybe you are burning 400 calories per hour or perhaps the figure is 800+ does it really matter? The important thing is that you are exercising. You are getting fitter and that you are doing something positive and constructive about your personal weight issues.
For myself I use the figure of 500 per hour of exercise. Sure this number is probably too low but it gives me a basic yardstick to measure my progress. It’s simple, easy to remember. I can calculate my daily calorie usage easily in my head (Check yesterdays article if you need a refresher on how and why to do this)
The numbers are just not that important. if I can give you one piece of advice.
FOCUS ON THE PROCESS NOT THE OUTCOME.
So focus on the process of losing weight which is doing the exercise and being aware of calorie intake. Enjoy the journey and the weight loss will take care of itself. Maybe even, dare I suggest it DONT weigh yourself. Just go though the process each day of doing some exercise. Focus on time spent not intensity and you will make progress.
You can do it.
Tomorrow I will finish this mini series of articles on weight loss by exploring the strategies we can use in our training with relation to INTENSITY.
If you enjoyed this article please take a moment to comment or share it on Facebook or twitter. I would really appreciate it. Thanks and keep cycling.
Luke Bream
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P. P. S. Are you getting the fitness and weight loss goals you desire? Maybe I can help you. To find out more check out Cycling Training
Related posts:
- Cycling Weight Loss. Your simple guide to success
- Cycling Weight Loss. An Honest Conversation. An Honest Solution
- cycling trips – How many Kcal does the average male expend cycling 70 miles over 7 hours?
- adventure cycling – How Adventure Cycling Helps you Burn Down Lots of Calories
- Is your cycling commute helping you to lose weight?
Please give me more information. I love it, Thanks again.