Want to lose weight? Try cycling!
Wed 31st January 2018
Nathan Wilson of Wilsons Wheels shares some top tips for losing weight and burning excess body fat by cycling - you may not even have to break into a sweat!
Firstly, you do need some fat in your diet; you can’t live without it. It’s an important part of your diet, especially naturally-occurring fats, and it’s also a great source of energy when it’s broken down during exercise.There's no need to go out and eat lots of fatty foods though! Light, gentle aerobic exercise burns off the greatest amount of fat to carbohydrate ratio, so going for a steady bike ride, for example, at a low-level intensity can do the trick. If you have a heart rate monitor, try not to exceed 130bpm. If you are a bit older, your maximum heart rate will generally be lower, so you can adjust this to roughly 110bpm or even 100bpm. The body doesn’t really start burning fat properly until about 30 minutes into exercise, so you do have to exercise for longer than this in order to start burning the fat - I find that an hour is usually a good round figure to aim for.
One way to trick the body into using fat for energy more quickly is to exercise whilst fasted. A great example of this is to exercise in the morning before you have any breakfast. You may feel a bit sluggish doing this, but it is proven to burn that fat quicker. Caffeine has also been proven to increase the amount of fat burned during exercise. Maybe have a coffee first thing in the morning before going for an hour’s bike ride or setting off on your commute to work. It’s perfectly possible to burn off any excess fat/weight with exercise and a healthy diet. Then, going forward, to maintain a healthy weight by eating a balanced diet and exercising.
