How Effective Is Indoor Cycling For Weight Loss?
Indoor cycling for weight loss can be an incredibly effective exercise which yields amazing results. Whether you are on a stationary exercise bike or a turbo trainer, like me, indoor cycling benefits are many and varied.
There are also plenty of cycling apps for weight loss too, including Zwift, Trainer Road, FulGaz and Peleton.
However, I often talk to athletes who do stationary cycling to lose weight who feel exhausted, in pain and super hungry after a session on their turbo trainer. I have also heard complaints that even after exerting themselves that much they still don’t see weight loss results!
If you are experiencing something similar and beginning to question how effective indoor cycling for weight loss really is, then you’ve come to the right place.
I am going to explain how a stationary bike workout for weight loss can be a great plan and what the common pitfalls are that might prevent you from achieving the goals you are setting for yourself.
Indoor training sessions can get sweaty and burn a lot of calories… but that doesn’t always mean that it’s good for losing weight!
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Weight Loss Rules of Thumb
Before we get into indoor cycling for weight loss specifically, let’s discuss some general rules of thumb around weight loss. These are important to consider for anyone at the start of their weight loss journey.
The first thing to think about is how much weight you are going to lose and over what timeframe. It is tempting to want to lose weight as quickly as possible, but the healthy and sustainable option is to stick to around 0.5kg per week.
If you take it slow, you will remain healthy and energised and therefore be more likely to stick to your plan, and keep the weight off once you’ve lost it.
The next thing to consider is your calorie deficit. To lose 0.5kg a week, you need a calorie deficit of 500 calories. This is the amount I would generally recommend.
Once you start, you can adjust this according to the rate at which you are losing weight. Don’t be afraid to add more calories if you are losing weight too quickly - you will still meet your goals, just with less yo-yo effect and more long term sustainability.
How Many Calories Does an Exercise Bike Burn?
If you’re wondering how long to ride stationary bike for weight loss, these stats should help you to figure out what you need to do to achieve your calorie deficit.
It all depends on pace and weight so this will vary massively person to person. These stats refer to how many calories are burned in 30 minutes and were calculated by scientists at Harvard.
Moderate pace:
a 125-pound (56.7 kg) person: 210–240 calories
a 155-pound (70.3 kg) person: 260–298 calories
a 185-pound (83.9 kg) person: 311–355 calories
Fast pace:
a 125-pound (56.7 kg) person: 300–495 calories
a 155-pound (70.3 kg) person: 372–614 calories
a 185-pound (83.9 kg) person: 444–733 calories
These help give a rough idea of the sort of calories you might burn if you're training on a static bike. If you use power then your fitness device should have a far more accurate calorie expenditure.
Cycling 1 hour a day for weight loss is a great goal, and I'll explain later on my full thoughts about high Vs low intensity exercise.
Nailing Nutrition for Indoor Cycling for Weight Loss
What to Eat Before During and After Training
After a long hard workout on your stationary bike or turbo trainer you might find yourself feeling absolutely ravenous and wanting to eat anything in sight.
If you are feeling this way, it’s probably because your nutrition before, during and after your workout session isn’t quite right.
This is what you should be eating around training:
Before: At least 30g of carbohydrates for any session. If it’s an easy session that’s less than an hour, this will suffice.
For a harder session, then you should eat at least 1g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight.
You can also include protein and fat in this meal too. I've written more info about eating before a cycling workout later in the article, which details about the pros and cons of fasted training.
During: If your session is less than 1 hour long, eat up 30g carbs, depending on the intensity of the session. It would also be ok not to eat anything.
For a 1 - 3 hour session, eat 30-60 grams of carbs. For a session that is longer than 3 hours, consume 60g carbs per hour.
For reference, a banana is just over 20g of carbohydrates.
After: Eat at least 25g protein and 30g carbohydrates within 1 hour of finishing training.
For some people this advice can feel counter intuitive. They're eating more calories around their training than they otherwise would, but this is exactly when their body most needs the energy! The time to eat less calories is when you are sedentary and not burning through as much fuel.
If you follow this guidance for nutrition around training sessions, you should be able to avoid insane cravings and exhaustion after you finish cycling.
This will then help with maintaining a calorie deficit to facilitate weight loss.
What to Eat The Rest of the Day
There are certain food groups that are brilliant when it comes to losing weight and maintaining muscle. The star of the show here is protein.
Protein is one of the most filling macros, so a protein rich meal will keep you full for a long time.
Protein also contributes heavily to the growth and maintenance of muscles, so it is crucial to get enough protein if you want to avoid the muscle wastage that all too frequently accompanies weight loss.
I recommend eating 1.6-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight when you're trying to lose weight. This should be spread throughout the day, with at least 25g protein in each meal.
The other important food group to consider is fibre. Fibre is the other most filling nutrient, as it takes your body a long time to digest, helping you to feel super satisfied after meals.
Fruits and vegetables are a key source of fibre and if you eat plenty of those, you’ll not only feel full but will also be loading up on important vitamins and minerals.
If you’re looking for more guidance on training and nutrition, I offer a 1:1 coaching service for athletes. You should check it out!
What Indoor Cycling Workouts Are Best for Weight Loss?
Let’s have a look at the best ways to workout on your exercise bike to reach your weight loss goals. Should you stick to high or low intensity workouts? And what about the much fabled fat burning zone and the benefits/disadvantages of fasted training?
What's Better, High or Low Intensity Workouts?
Lots of people assume that high intensity workouts are the best for weight loss. However, I think that when cycling to lose weight plan to stick to lower intensity exercise instead!
Weight loss simply boils down to a calorie deficit. It doesn’t matter how you get that calorie deficit, just that you get there. So why burn yourself out doing super high intensity training, when you can achieve the same results at a lower intensity which is easier on your body?
It’s not how hard you exercise that will make the difference, it’s how consistently you do it. 1 month exercise bike results are going to be better if you have stuck to a regular plan at a steady pace, than if you have done a few intense sessions and had to stop because it was too much.
I've personally seen that with clients that I've worked with. They've struggled to lose weight and do 3 or 4 high intensity sessions a week. They end up frazzled, then they drop sessions, and unsurprisingly they fail to lose weight.
You don’t need to avoid high intensity workouts all together, just don’t make them the bulk of your training. And, hey, enjoy the fact that you can do chill workouts and still lose weight!
Personally, I don’t recommend high intensity training without having food beforehand
The Fat Burning Zone and Fasted Training: What Are They and Do They Work?
The fat burning zone is this much discussed ‘zone’ of exercise in which your body burns the highest amount of fat to use for energy.
To be in your fat burning zone you need to be doing easy exercise. This probably corresponds to about 55-70% of your max heart rate and is at an intensity that you could keep up for a long time.
Typically, most people get this zone wrong and end up exercising too hard.
One tip I use with clients that I work with is nose breathing. If you can still breath through your nose and hold a conversation, you're doing it right. If not, it's too hard!
However, there's one key point to the fat burning zone: the fat you burn for energy does NOT directly correlate to fat loss. It simply means you're generating more energy from fat as a fuel.
As I mentioned need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight and it doesn't matter how you get there.
What I rate about the fat burning zone is that it signifies you're doing easy training which isn't overly taxing - meaning you can do more of it and not feel super fatigue.
The upshot of this? You keep consistently training over time!
What is Fasted Training?
Fasted training basically means exercising on an empty stomach, or having not eaten for at least 8 hours before.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of this when it comes to weight loss.
It might help you achieve a calorie deficit simply because you haven't eaten beforehand, but that's about it as far as the potential positives go.
A common misconception is that doing fasted training will make you burn more fat and therefore you'll lose more weight. As I mentioned, the fat you burn during exercise doesn't translate directly to losing body fat.
The negatives outweigh the positives in my opinion; fasted training puts your body under more unnecessary stress and creates an unhealthy association between training when hungry and weight loss.
This is not worth it when you can train just as effectively and lose weight just as effectively having eaten around your bike sessions. Generally this will also help you manage your cravings for the rest of the day.
I've worked with athletes who have been ravenously hungry after cycling (leading to binge eating), but when we add some food beforehand, it's suddenly fixed!
With all that said, for some people, it just works! If you are one of those people, then I would recommend doing it no more than 2 times a week and sticking to easy training when you do.
I would definitely recommend avoiding doing any high intensity workouts after fasting. This is a sure fire way to feel fatigued, sick and unmotivated.
The Importance of Sleep and Recovery When Losing Weight
It’s common to get hooked on exercise, especially when you are seeing weight loss results. It can be tempting to want to bash out cycling sessions every single day to keep up your momentum, but I would really encourage you to take days off to rest and recover.
Weight loss is a long term journey; taking a couple of days off here and there won’t change the long term outcome.
If anything, it will make you more likely to reach your goals because you won’t burn out!
As well as learning to be OK with time off and recovery it's worth focusing on sleep, as it's hugely important for general health and weight loss.
We recover and adapt whilst we sleep!
We also know that people make worse food choices when they're tired or aren't sleeping enough, which clearly isn't helpful for weight loss.
If you want to learn more about losing weight as an athlete in general, check out my article on weight loss for athletes!
Indoor Cycling for Weight Loss FAQS
To round it off, I’ll answer some common questions surrounding indoor cycling for weight loss. If you have any more enquiries, drop me a comment below and I’ll try and respond!
Does indoor cycling reduce belly fat?
Is cycling good for weight loss on stomach? Yes, it can help it, but only when combined it is being done in conjunction with other things. You need to be in a calorie deficit. If you are eating more than you are burning you will not lose belly fat.
If you do indoor cycling and also make sure you eat the right amount of food, you will lose weight.
How much indoor cycling should I do to lose weight?
Start with shorter sessions if you're new to it and gradually build it. 10-15 minutes three times a week is a great starting point.
Indoor cycling can help contribute to being in a deficit of 500 calories per day. You should maintain this over a long period until you have lost the amount of weight you are aiming for.
Remember, you have to ensure your diet is appropriate too.
Can riding an indoor cycle 30 min a day lose weight?
A 30 minute daily indoor cycle can help you lose weight if it is helping to get you into a calorie deficit. If you are not in a calorie deficit you will not lose weight, so indoor cycling is only helpful for weight loss if done in conjunction with a weight loss meal plan.
