Best ride for losing weight?

Ringo 68

For some reason I decided not to ride my bike over the winter and as a result all the weight loss and fitness from last year has gone. This is a mistake I will not repeat again.
I have 2 rides that I do on a regular basis.
The first is a 30 miler which is pretty up and down with a couple of (for me) tough little climbs. I always feel pretty knackered by the end of it and I get a good cardio vascular workout.
The second route is about 28 miles on a gravel cycle path (the Wirral Way) which I do on my Hybrid. It is pretty flat and, dog walkers permitting, I just spin along and work at keeping my cadence high. Apart from one short section I never feel as though I am out of breath.

I need to lose at least a stone in weight. Would one of those rides be better than the other to shed this spare tyre which is not very flattering in my cycle jersey?

Thanks.

styxd

Which ever ride you can do at the hardest pace then do it, probably smashing the 30miler in. Weight isnt dependent on exercise - if you dont exercise you dont start gaining weight, unless you have a bad diet. Sort your diet first.

Pross

Ringo 68 wrote:

For some reason I decided not to ride my bike over the winter and as a result all the weight loss and fitness from last year has gone. This is a mistake I will not repeat again.
I have 2 rides that I do on a regular basis.
The first is a 30 miler which is pretty up and down with a couple of (for me) tough little climbs. I always feel pretty knackered by the end of it and I get a good cardio vascular workout.
The second route is about 28 miles on a gravel cycle path (the Wirral Way) which I do on my Hybrid. It is pretty flat and, dog walkers permitting, I just spin along and work at keeping my cadence high. Apart from one short section I never feel as though I am out of breath.

I need to lose at least a stone in weight. Would one of those rides be better than the other to shed this spare tyre which is not very flattering in my cycle jersey?

Thanks.

Whichever one you ride hardest on is the easy answer. The harder you ride the more calories you burn. I would assume the first as it is longer and hillier and leaves you knackered but it would be possible to burn more calories in a flat out blast on the cycle path although cycle paths tend to not be good for high intensity rides.

Ringo 68

Thanks for the replies.

The harder ride does seem the obvious answer but I hear things like fat burning zones relating to MHR and I know that my heart rate is pretty elevated for the majority of the longer ride. I wondered if this would affect things.

As for diet, this is most definately being addressed (and to be perfectly honest, this hurts far more than the climbs)

Pross

Ringo 68 wrote:

Thanks for the replies.

The harder ride does seem the obvious answer but I hear things like fat burning zones relating to MHR and I know that my heart rate is pretty elevated for the majority of the longer ride. I wondered if this would affect things.

As for diet, this is most definitely being addressed (and to be perfectly honest, this hurts far more than the climbs)

Ignore fat burning zone. It comes from the fact that riding at certain heart rate levels takes a greater percentage of calories from fat. You can also maintain the rate for longer rides. However, at higher intensities you burn more calories in total and as an example if 75% of 1000 calories come from fat in the 'fat burning zone' and 65% of calories come from 1200 calories burned at higher intensity you are actually burning more total fat in the latter.

ricey155

What works for me is going faster and pushing myself every ride, burning calories and the more the better

i tend to work on doing different routes some 3hrs some 1 1/2, im 6ft 2 and 83kg so not a lot to lose

stick in work hard your body shape will change more than weight lose after a while, enjoy it tho its supposed to be fun

alwaystoohot

Hey Ringo, my mother's house backs onto the Wirral Way at WK! You're not going to lose weight with that style of riding, its not consistant enough effort. I've lost 10kgs in the last 12 months and 2 inches off my waist riding hard and long on the road. I started from scratch and am now upto 1 x 40kms ride mid week and a 100k saturday ride, average speed 30kms/hour. Constant effort, concentration and the weight drops off - I'd recommend joining a riding club, so much easier to ride faster with a group of friends.

Good luck and give my best to the WW!

ilm_zero7

I always find the greatest fat burn returns are for mileage - not speed - so 2 hours steady would be better then i hour hard (for me anyway)

Lossie Loon

styxd wrote:

Weight isnt dependent on exercise - if you dont exercise you dont start gaining weight, unless you have a bad diet. Sort your diet first.

Having lost 7 stone and then maintained my new, better weight through exercise alone (i.e. without changing diet) I'd dispute that. But then I have a very sedentary job in front of a computer.

Both exercise and diet are crucial depending on your circumstances. If you are exercising and still overweight, change your diet. If you have an ok diet but are overweight, then get some exercise. The latter was my issue.

springtide9

Pross wrote:

Ringo 68 wrote:

Thanks for the replies.
The harder ride does seem the obvious answer but I hear things like fat burning zones relating to MHR and I know that my heart rate is pretty elevated for the majority of the longer ride. I wondered if this would affect things.
As for diet, this is most definitely being addressed (and to be perfectly honest, this hurts far more than the climbs)

Ignore fat burning zone. It comes from the fact that riding at certain heart rate levels takes a greater percentage of calories from fat. You can also maintain the rate for longer rides. However, at higher intensities you burn more calories in total and as an example if 75% of 1000 calories come from fat in the 'fat burning zone' and 65% of calories come from 1200 calories burned at higher intensity you are actually burning more total fat in the latter.

+1

I see a post following this one that initially look like it disagrees with the above post, but actually is agreeing

It's about the number of calories you burn.... if you burn more calories doing a 2hr ride at a lower intensity than a 1 hr ride at a higher intensity, the 2 hr ride will help you loose more weight. Unless you are doing lots of high intensity rides, the key generally guide seems to be to ride as hard as you can for the duration that you have available.
A good explanation is here: http://concept2.co.uk/weightloss/chewing_the_fat#4

Alibran

The best ride for losing weight is whichever you enjoy the most, because you'll do it more often.

cje

Do a 12 hour time trial.

Eat a dry Ryvita every hour.

springtide9

cje wrote:

Do a 12 hour time trial.
Eat a dry Ryvita every hour.

You forgot the part about doing this everyday for a a month

Ringo 68

@Alwaystoohot I stopped for a break at West Kirby on Sunday and it took a lot of effort to stop myself dumping the bike, getting the biggest icecream I could find, and sunbathe on the beach for a couple of hours.

Thanks for all the replies. I have one more question.

I need to lose weight around my middle, is there a particular style of riding/position that works the stomach muscles in particular?

keef66

Sadly you don't get to choose where you lose the weight from, and for blokes the spare tyre is usually the last to go. Just go as fast as you can for the time you have available, and try not to eat like a pig when you get back.

Mark Alexander

cje wrote:

Do a 12 hour time trial.

Eat a dry Ryvita every hour.

Lol, been there. My tuppenceworth... speed is irrelevent. time / effort. too hars you'll be building strength in the muscles. get the HR up but be able to chat.. just. then you'll be burning your reserves. There's a reason they say todo miles not strength in the winter... so you can drink and eat too much over christmas guilt free..

Giant Phil

There's alot to be said about strength training as well, though you probably won't find much in cycling literature because of the emphasis on keeping weight down. The theory goes that when you do strength work you tear the muscles and burn calories for hours afterwards repairing. You'll lean up but will probably put on weight in muscle.

Search hour of power.

danowat

2hrs hard is a pretty good session for weight loss, a couple of those a week and maybe a couple of long, slow fasted rides.

daysofspeed

Dropping food, or eating low fat minimal carb food then trying to ride hard will be a disaster.

Tweak the diet don't do anything nuts. Ride. Unless you come home and smash a takeaway every night I'm sure the weight will slowly drop. And slowly is better.

ShutUpLegs

Fat only gets one way into your body

You cannot out exercise a bad diet

Interval training best for loosing wait.

pilot_pete

You need to look at nutrition as well as exercise. I started using Mapmyride, specifically the nutrition page. Login in then start logging everything you eat. It is a bit of a pain to start with, but ou soon get used to it. Do it for at least a couple of weeks to get a good idea of what you are taking in.

I have done this for nearly three weeks now and with a basic metabolic rate of 2650 calories a day (based on age, height, weight and activity level) I have had to accept that in order to get a calorie deficit in order to lose weight you really need to drop those crisps, chocolates, cakes etc. it is really shocking how many calories they bump your daily intake up by, even just having one!

You can also log exercise sessions in there (I personally use Strava and just copy it across) which allows you to see your daily deficit/ exceedence. I have lost about 6lbs so far, without being silly, just not eating the crap and being aware of my calorie intake.

What is great is that many foods have already been entered so you just select them, and if they haven't you just enter the food and input the data from the nutrition label on the packet. If you are rigid and enter everything, like the butter on your toast, the dollop of brown sauce with your poached eggs etc you are not cheating yourself. They are all estimates, as is the calorie burn from something like Strava without a heart rate monitor or power meter, but it is a close enough ballpark figure to have the desired effect. I only spend about 10 minutes a day inputting my food and it is working for me.....I am getting quicker up the hills, now staying with/ out climbing my ride buddies!

PP

rick_chasey

Most energy put into the ride = the most 'slimming' ride.

1hr riding at 50 Watts burns the same as 30 minutes at 100Watts, right? (roughly of course. I understand you'll spend a bit more enegy holding yourself upright on a bike on a longer ride, but you get the idea).

If you want to lose weight, eat less and ride more.

Ringo 68

I found a new route yesterday, into Wales and then along the River Dee to Chester which seems to tick all the boxes. I did 41 miles yesterday which is the longest ride I have done since I was 16. Plenty of time in the saddle (2hrs 40mins) and a lot of effort too.

The good thing is that the ride can easilly be extended for when I build up better fitness levels.