I am just wondering as to what extent your indoor cycling has helped you to lose weight?
I’ve been with Sufferfest from when you had to download videos and use RPE, and am currently using SYSTM and just recenly signed up to RGT. Throughout the years, although my indoor cycling has likely helped me maintain my weight, and has certainly given me some killer glutes and thighs, I don’t believe I have actually lost much weight through my indoor cycling. Typically during the Winter months I will do three or four “rides” a week.
What has your experience been? Have you lost much weight, and if so to what extent? I also understand that diet plays a key role as well and likely need to keep a better eye on that. What is the magic formula?
Thanks! And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!
Mine only goes up year in year. Whether I run, bike, walk or whatever.
Can’t outrun excess calories in my case.
My personal belief is if I want to weigh less I simply have to eat less than I currently do. Exercise (there are athletes out there burning a gazillion calories a day in the Andy Murray type camps - which is a different game to me).
I sit at a desk when not getting some bike / run time in, and it simply boils down to calories in being too high (for me)
From purely cycling and fitness without diet changes, I’m down 30 pounds. I can do more if I ramp up my training load some more, but to do more it’s diet changes. Otherwise I can maintain that even with breaks.
I lost 25 pounds when I started a couple of years ago, then reached a new equilibrium and have been stable ever since. I think I simply needed to increase my burn enough to compensate for my normal intake.
I never lost weight from cycling or other athletic activities without first restricting calories. More exercise only made my hungrier. Once I lost weight, avid cycling kept it off. This is going back 40+ years. Different people will respond differently, but based on my experience, what I usually suggest is to start losing weight first and gradually ramp up physical activity. It’s tricky, as you need to fuel properly to be effective at training, so it’s difficult to both train effectively and lose weight.
Same as above. Was able to drop 25#/11kg with good nutritional habits and LOTS of Sufferfest from pre-COVID days. Have stabilized this past year and been able to maintain, but would still like to go down another 5-10#/2-5kg, but likely going to be all diet at this point.
Thank you all for your input. It would seem, generally speaking, I’m not alone with respect to negligible weight loss. Diet is the key. Still love the rides though. Need to put the new Kickr Core though it’s paces…
There are several ways that indoors training and HIIT workouts assist in fat loss, as I assume that’s the weight loss that you are targeting. A quick point though, fat can go down while weight remains the same or increases. Muscle weighs more than fat for the same volume/size, and having more muscle can increase W/Kg still.
Anyway, doing the intense workouts themselves obviously burns calories, but there is also the excessive post oxygen consumption (EPOC) which is why you stay warm after a HIIT, as the body is still using oxygen and burning fuel at a rate higher than it would at rest. So the calorie burn is extended.
Another benefit for fat loss, coming back to muscle again, the more muscle mass you have the higher your resting metabolic rate, so the amount of calories you burn a day even at rest or sleeping will be higher.
A few things to bear in mind though, if you were riding for more duration outdoors in the summer, then you likely had a higher calorie burn. Let’s say a tough indoor session uses 800kcal an hour, but a light outdoor session probably still burns 500-600kcal per hour. Outdoors generally with have a higher overall energy usage due to the duration. Another factor is that HIIT generally gives us more of an appetite after the session. It’s important to refuel with carbs and protein straight away as this will prevent excessive food cravings later on in the day.
One final point, it is more difficult to be in a calorie deficit after HIIT. HIIT uses carbs, and this is not something we have a huge store of, and although we burn fat after through EPOC and resting metabolic rate, fat burn during is limited. A longer slower endurance ride will use more fat as a fuel source, which although needs some carb and energy intake during the session and the rest of the day, does require the same priority refuelling that HIIT does both to perform it and to recover from it.
It does come down to kcal in vs kcal out, but there are several factors that affect this input and output. So you can shift weight with shorter indoor HIIT, but you need to refuel straight after to reduce craving later, and take into account the overall intake.
Push come to shove, it also all kind of depends on from where you’re starting. I wouldn’t call 25# “negligible”, and there have been many others on the forums with significant weight loss as well. But again, I had the 25# to lose in the first place…
CPT_A you are absolutely correct. A 25 lb weight loss is not negligible, and indeed is commendable. I was more aligning myself with those who indicated that they didn’t notice much weight loss. There are certainly some success stories out there such as yours. I think, for me, I will simlly just need to eat less or more sensibly, along with continuing my bike training, to achieve the same result.
Coach.Andy.T thank you for your in-depth input regarding this. You have raised some good points. To answer your question, yes it is the “fat loss” that I’m talking about. It could very well be that I am trading some of this fat for muscle, as you suggest, and may result in the negligible changes to actual weight that I am seeing. In the end I think more attention to what and how I eat will help with this as well and perhaps more of a focus on HIIT rides.
My experience is that what you eat (macros and calories) is - sadly and very annoyingly - much more important for weight loss than exercise. And you have to figure out what works for you and your body in terms of how to eat to lose weight. Everyone is different and has different needs and there is no magic formula. For me, cutting sugar and carbs and eating a lot more protein than seems right generally works but it’s a constant battle. I encourage you to experiment and figure out how to eat to lose weight for your body.
IKR? I sat down with a nutritionist after metabolic testing to figure out my “goal” protein intake, and the grams/day were CRAZY! I rarely can hit it w/o careful planning for a day.
That’s because government and medically based nutrition guidelines are based on how much to stay alive, not how much for optimal health/fitness. I’m on 2g/kg of bodyweight per day when training hard and trying to sort out body composition. And 1.4-1.6g/kg body weight per day when having a period of time off training.
I also used to struggle to get my intake that high, but some small tweaks help. Whey isolate instead of 100% whey increases protein per serve. Collegen adds an extra 10g of protein. 2nd breakfast of cold chicken or beef. 3 eggs plus whites rather than a standard 2 egg serving. If I plan my proteinz the rest falls into place.
I lost 25 pounds when I started a couple of years ago, then reached a new equilibrium and have been stable ever since. I think I simply needed to increase my burn enough to compensate for my normal intake.
I never lost weight from cycling or other athletic activities without first restricting calories. More exercise only made my hungrier. Once I lost weight, avid cycling kept it off. This is going back 40+ years. Different people will respond differently, but based on my experience, what I usually suggest is to start losing weight first and gradually ramp up physical activity. It’s tricky, as you need to fuel properly to be effective at training, so it’s difficult to both train effectively and lose weight.
Same as above. Was able to drop 25#/11kg with good nutritional habits and LOTS of Sufferfest from pre-COVID days. Have stabilized this past year and been able to maintain, but would still like to go down another 5-10#/2-5kg, but likely going to be all diet at this point.
Thank you all for your input. It would seem, generally speaking, I’m not alone with respect to negligible weight loss. Diet is the key. Still love the rides though. Need to put the new Kickr Core though it’s paces…
There are several ways that indoors training and HIIT workouts assist in fat loss, as I assume that’s the weight loss that you are targeting. A quick point though, fat can go down while weight remains the same or increases. Muscle weighs more than fat for the same volume/size, and having more muscle can increase W/Kg still.
Anyway, doing the intense workouts themselves obviously burns calories, but there is also the excessive post oxygen consumption (EPOC) which is why you stay warm after a HIIT, as the body is still using oxygen and burning fuel at a rate higher than it would at rest. So the calorie burn is extended.
Another benefit for fat loss, coming back to muscle again, the more muscle mass you have the higher your resting metabolic rate, so the amount of calories you burn a day even at rest or sleeping will be higher.
A few things to bear in mind though, if you were riding for more duration outdoors in the summer, then you likely had a higher calorie burn. Let’s say a tough indoor session uses 800kcal an hour, but a light outdoor session probably still burns 500-600kcal per hour. Outdoors generally with have a higher overall energy usage due to the duration. Another factor is that HIIT generally gives us more of an appetite after the session. It’s important to refuel with carbs and protein straight away as this will prevent excessive food cravings later on in the day.
One final point, it is more difficult to be in a calorie deficit after HIIT. HIIT uses carbs, and this is not something we have a huge store of, and although we burn fat after through EPOC and resting metabolic rate, fat burn during is limited. A longer slower endurance ride will use more fat as a fuel source, which although needs some carb and energy intake during the session and the rest of the day, does require the same priority refuelling that HIIT does both to perform it and to recover from it.
It does come down to kcal in vs kcal out, but there are several factors that affect this input and output. So you can shift weight with shorter indoor HIIT, but you need to refuel straight after to reduce craving later, and take into account the overall intake.
Push come to shove, it also all kind of depends on from where you’re starting. I wouldn’t call 25# “negligible”, and there have been many others on the forums with significant weight loss as well. But again, I had the 25# to lose in the first place…
What is the magic formula?
