Day 4 – Burning Calories and Losing Weight

As with any new activity, you must become proficient before you will see any real benefits. The first couple of weeks on a bike can feel pretty awkward, from getting used to the saddle, knowing the true meaning of chaffing and understanding the premise of chamois buttr, to figuring out how to clip in and more importantly, clip out, admiring your chain ring tattoo and understanding the importance of frequent gear changes. Once you acclimate to a bike, you may begin using this machine to accomplish your fitness goals. Once your muscles acclimate to the motions and once you can endure more than 30 minutes on a trainer, the true benefits will begin to reveal themselves. The first being weight loss.

As a personal trainer and producer of cycling fitness videos, I have heard many incredible and motivating stories of people who seemed to be a mere heartbeat away from death reversing their health condition by simply riding a bike. I’ve received 100’s of emails from clients who have given me credit for their rapid change in improved health. I wish I could take credit, but, the credit goes to them and their ability to make changes in their lives. I’m not pedaling the bike for you, this you must do on your own. I just try and make the activity of indoor cycling a bit more enjoyable. This is simply a testament to the incontrovertible reality that if you ride a bike, you will lose weight and it all begins here and now.
Let’s break this down.

Weight loss is not just about burning calories, it’s not just about eating less and it’s not just about exercise. All these are important, yes, but, you must discover a balance. Balance is critical. You will not lose weight if you cannot stay motivated. You will not lose weight if you are not willing to make a few sacrifices. But, making sacrifices is demotivating. How do we maintain balance?

My first rule of diet and exercise is, if you begin a workout routine, be conservative with a change in your diet. I know, I know, this sounds bad. If you are eating Mickey D’s every day, it pains me to say this, keep eating at Mickey D’s. Our body acclimates to a specific diet and learns how to most efficiently utilize the food you eat to keep you running. If you suddenly change your diet to include meals consisting of only chicken breast and salads, you will feel miserable and your body will not perform as needed. You may want to change your diet gradually and only slowly make sacrifices while you are working out. For example, stop drinking soda and get an iced tea with your Big Mac and fries.

You also need to create a balance between your life routine and your fitness routine. If you have no fitness routine and you are just begining one, this is a tricky challenge because you must rearrange your schedule to accomodate your workouts. Perhaps you will need to sacrifice a routine to incorperate a fitness routine. Just like diet, I would encourage you to do this slowly. Begin with 30 minutes a day. Instead of watching Hogan Hero’s reruns, get on your bike and train. Maybe you will simply need to set your clock 30 minutes earlier. What ever you need to do, figure it out, make the adjustment and commit to it.

There are 2 things to consider when you are working out:

How much fat you’re burning and
How many calories you are burning.

Fat and calories are not the same thing. A calorie is actually a unit that defines heat production. A hamburger has so many calories as it can release a stored amount of energy (heat). So, a calorie is not a magic word that dissolves fat and makes you skinny. However, you only have a set amount of energy stored in the lunch you ate. When you exceed that amount, your energy is gone.

Your target heart rate will define whether you are burning calories or fat or both. There are no absolutes to this. Many guides suggest that to burn fat, your heart rate needs to be in the fat burn zone (60%-69% max). Others suggest that to lose weight you should be burning more calories by increasing your intensity (70%-85% max). In truth, these are both correct. However, these percentages do not take into account longevity or motivation. Simply put, if you want to lose weight and burn fat, you simply have to workout for extended periods of time (1.5 hours or more) and do this on a regular basis. So, if by working out at higher efforts you can only go for 30 minutes, you’ve somewhat defeated the purpose of a weight loss workout. You need to pick intensities that will provide you with longer workouts.