Over the past several years, I’ve gotten back into distance running. At first it was just a way to get back into some sort of shape, but then in a desire to not be too one dimensional, I started doing triathlons - mostly sprint and a couple olympic distances. However, my weight never really budged that much - always right around 195.
The thing is, throughout all that, I’d look at estimated calories burned during a run(about 125 calories/mile or so) and think ‘damn, thats a lot of effort to only burn off barely a mouthful of food’. It coincided with what I had heard for a while - weight loss is far more affected by diet than exercise.
This year, though - I’ve been cycling a lot more, typically doing between 50-70 miles once/week on a long ride. I started noticing, based on my HR estimation of calories burned, that I was burning about 70 calories per mile. Significantly less than with running, but considering that a long ride takes 3-5 hours, that adds up. In the end, many of these rides burn between 3500-4500 calories. Estimated, of course (the HR monitor isn’t perfect, but I also tried a BodyBugg for one ride and although its estimate was lower, it was still reading in the 2500-3000 calories burned range).
The end result is that I find myself dropping 1.5 - 2 lbs per week, for a total of about 20 lbs so far.
(I suppose I should also add that the other major change was to have a smaller meal for dinner - and make lunch the largest source of calories for the day. I actually started noticing some weight loss then, but it really accelerated when the weather got warmer and long rides were possible).
Not sure why I’m bothering to post this, other than to express my continued amazement at how many calories are burned by cycling as opposed to running. I feel like I hit the jackpot.
Wow, you’re really tracking it. Any idea what the personal caloric deficit number is for you per pound? The general rule is 1 pound is 3500 calorie deficit. For me that number is closer to 2800 per pound. I’m interested to know what your number is.
I disagree with the “seems like cheating” statement. Carving out blocks of time to ride 50-70 miles 1 x Week is difficult for me right now. Not to mention the other training events you must also be giving up other activities to accomplish. Like I’m sure you do other multiple hour long training sessions besides the 1 x week bike ride.
I lost most of my Freshman 30 just by biking to work (about 4.5 miles each way) over the following summer. I never did manage to completely lose it (I’m probably about 10 pounds above what I should be), but the biking made a huge difference.
Of course, the weight loss regimen that works best is always the one that you can stick to. If it feels like “I’m doing these hours of exercise to lose weight”, it won’t work nearly as well in the long run as if it’s “I’m going on these bike rides to see the scenery and enjoy the fresh air”.
I have no clue what my personal caloric deficit number is… how do you find out? I’ve always gone by the 3500 calories/lb rule, and didn’t realize there could be much difference from one person to another.
I guess I could calculate it by seeing how many calories I eat in a week, how many I burn, and do the math. But to me that is laden with inaccuracies (hydration level at weigh in, caloric burn estimates that can vary widely, etc). I could definitely be wrong about that, though - I’d just need someone to tell me my skepticism is misplaced
I suppose you are right about the cheating - because I do bikram yoga 1/week as well (used to be 4x per week over the winter), plus a couple 30-45 minute long swim sessions per week, a long run once/week, and a couple p90X sessions per week as well. But I had been doing those swim sessions and long runs (actually, multiple runs per week) for the past couple years with little change. Once I started yoga, I’d get back late and would just make myself a fruit smoothie for dinner, and that ended up precipitating a good amount of change in my diet. So yes its true there are a lot of contributing things, but in my unscientific estimation based on what trends I’ve seen, the weight loss seems to follow closely with the cycling volume.
Yesterday on my ride I was passed going uphill by a bunch of motorcyclists… they are cheaters!
runner_pat - yes that has crossed my mind. The major advantage of cycling, I’m finding, is that I can do it for a longer period of time because its a far lower impact activity. Also, being at a average HR of 135-140 for 3-5 hours has actually done a LOT for running - I run far fewer miles this year than in years past, yet my performance hasn’t dropped significantly. Not that I was ever really fast to begin with…
Chronos - well said about doing something you can stick to. The weight loss is a nice side benefit, but I do enjoy getting outside (even if I have a funky looking tan), seeing the scenery, and the pride that comes from a sense of accomplishment.
It depends on how much info you track over time. The more you track, the easier it is to back out the numbers.
I get more consistent weight numbers when I weigh in at the morning, after answering the call to nature, before eating. Day to day the numbers vary, week to week the numbers seem to make sense.
I stopped using the scale myself, just curious to know if you knew what your number was. No big deal.
Fill out your details and it’ll tell you how many calories you need a day to maintain your current weight. If you take in more than that, you gain weight. Less, and you lose.
It also has a great food database that you can use to track your calories. I used it with great success to drop 40lbs over the course of about 6 months.
I also found out that it’s much easier to eat less than exercise more to lose weight. It take’s very little effort to eat that 300cal bag of chips in the afternoon, but about a mile at a brisk run to take it back off. When i think about it that way - i just don’t eat the chips.
