Cycling Your Way To Weight-Loss
Whether you start cycling alone or in some company, you are going to enjoy the ride either way. You’ll get the chance to explore nature, to activate your muscles, and breathe in some fresh air. If you have trouble with your weight, cycling can help you solve this problem too. If you don’t know how, just keep reading!
Cycling is a great activity. It has a ton of benefits for your health and it is still fun and interesting. Once you start cycling, the chances are you will adore it. You will find that you’re in a much better mood, you have more energy, and your overall health is improved.
Whether you start cycling alone or in some company, you are going to enjoy the ride either way. You’ll get the chance to explore nature, to activate your muscles, and breathe in some fresh air. If you have trouble with your weight, cycling can help you solve this problem too. If you don’t know how, just keep reading!
Set a realistic goal
When it comes to losing weight, the first rule is always the same. Regardless of the way you’re going to use, you need to set some realistic goals. The first reason why setting a goal is important is because that way it’s easier for you to stay disciplined. If you know what you want and in what time you want it, you are much more determined. It suddenly becomes easier to follow the rules you’ve set for you. As a result, you’ll see progress pretty effectively.
The other important part of this is that the goal should be realistic. Namely, you can’t set goals that are very hard or impossible to achieve. This will only end up in disappointment and demotivation. Instead, you should pay attention to your height, your eating habits, and the approximate time you’re going to spend cycling. These are all very important factors when it comes to losing weight. Once you’ve calculated how much you’ll be able to lose daily, it’ll be easier for you to set a monthly goal.
Work on your eating habits
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No weight loss plan can go by without the changes in your eating habits. The chances are that you’re going to have to change some things, and the sooner you do that, the better for you. The first thing you’re going to have to do when it comes to food is to eat regularly. You should remember that having three healthy meals is everything. If you eat well for all three meals, that means that you won’t have intense cravings between them. As a result of that, you’ll cut down on excessive carbs or sugar, which will ease your weight loss journey.
Another thing you should do is try and eat less. Even though this may seem obvious, it should be mentioned, nevertheless. There are a few simple tricks that may help you eat less. For instance, you could place all your food on a smaller plate. That way, your mind will perceive it as a full portion, instead of a part of some bigger portion. You should also keep in mind that you should always be hydrated. If you lack water, your body may trick you into thinking that you are hungry. Because of that, every time you feel hungry, make sure to drink water first.
Limit food and drinks high in fat or sugar
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Speaking of food and drink, there are a couple more things to pay attention to. It’s not only important how often and how much you it. What’s essential is what exactly you eat. Since calories can make your way to the perfect body very difficult, you should think well of everything you are about to eat. Foods that are very high in calories can’t really satisfy your hunger and they can just lead you to eating more. That means that you should cut down on chocolate bars and soda cans for some time.
Instead of having a chocolate bar, it’s much healthier to have an apple or any other fruit you like. You may experience frequent sugar cravings after you’re done with your ride, but moments like these are the key for you and your body. It makes a huge difference if you opt for a fizzy drink or a protein-filled shake in these kinds of situations. You should remember that your goal is to burn more carbohydrates than you take in. If you don’t do this, you won’t be able to successfully lose weight.
Cut down on alcohol consumption
Your habits play a key role in your journey to a perfect body. That means that you’ll have to be very careful if you want to lose weight. Unhealthy behaviors are a big no if you want great results. Unhealthy behaviors such as drinking alcohol excessively, smoking, losing sleep are bound to slow the process down for you.
Alcohol, especially, can do a lot of harm to you. It actually helps you gain weight instead of losing it. That means that you’ll be able to quickly get all of the pounds back in one night out after days of hard work and training. Alcohol also encourages you to binge eat, which is another thing that will make you gain pounds rather than lose them.
Pay attention to the exercise intensity
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Your cycling journey starts after you get a bike. To start as soon as possible, get to it. You can visit an equipped bike shop right now and get into your weight loss adventure pretty quickly. You should have your meal planned and goals set before you actually get to cycling. That way, you’ll be able to immediately focus on other things once the bike is there. One such thing that you’ll have to think of is the speed you’re going to ride at. Luckily, the speed isn’t the thing that will influence your ride mostly, so you can choose the speed you feel most comfortable at.
On the other hand, what will significantly influence your weight loss rate is the exercise intensity. During a higher-intensity ride, you will burn a lot more calories than during a lower-intensity ride. What will have the biggest impact on the intensity of the ride is the type of bike. You should keep that in mind when buying a new bike. To know exactly how hard you’re working, you can always use a heart rate monitor. A device like this is great for measuring how much effort you’re actually putting in your training. However, if you don’t feel like investing in this, you can use some pretty cool trick. Namely, you should ride to stay mostly out of breath, but that you can still have a conversation with someone.
You can also train with a power meter. Use the tool to set the intensity and steadily work toward improving performance. You can work with a fitness coach to make adjustments to your training program adjustments based on the power meter’s insights. The tool is useful in HIIT too.
Add frequent high-intensity sessions
As previously mentioned, high-intensity sessions are essential for good results. Since high-intensity sessions bring the most of you, they will improve your cardiovascular fitness significantly. With a quality cardiovascular, you can burn calories more effectively. It will be a bit hard for you to have such sessions all the time, but you should have a few of them weekly. For a week level, two or three high-intensity exercises are perfectly enough.
A real high-intensity session means that you should ride to 70-90 percent of your heart rate for the biggest part of the ride. There is no need to keep this rate during the whole session. The effects will be even better with some interval training than with the constantly high heart rate. You will not only successfully lose weight this way, but you will also build muscle, improve your spatial awareness, and overall well-being. With more muscle, you’ll be more fuelled and ready to burn fat even more effectively.
Don’t forget about commuting
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When it comes to cycling, the first thing you probably think of is riding through some nature, exploring, and setting challenges to yourself. While this is a perfect scenario for cycling, you shouldn’t forget that you can expand cycling and make it part of your day-to-day life. The best way to do so is to change all the forms of commuting in favor of bikes.
If you got used to going to work by bus or a car, now is the time you’ve moved to the bike. This is a perfect opportunity for you to keep cycling since commuting is an unavoidable part of your daily life. It’s the best way to use most of your day and the numerous tasks. You can also hit the shops by bike or go to your friends. This way you won’t miss a chance to lose some pounds. Another benefit of this is that you’ll do a lot for the environment since cycling can reduce air pollution much more than any other form of commuting.
Keep track of your progress
In order to make sure that you are doing everything correctly, you’ll need to keep track of your progress. That way, you’ll know what works best for and what you should keep doing. You will also know what isn’t working as expected and where you should bring in some changes. If things don’t go smooth at the beginning, don’t worry, no beginnings are simple and easy. You should just keep trying.
On the other hand, if you immediately start seeing some good results, you’ll be even more motivated to keep going. You’ll be able to adjust the training to your needs and possibilities once you see how good or bad you are. This is the main reason why monitoring your progress is important.
Sleep well
Finally, sleep may be the most underrated thing when it comes to cycling and losing weight. You may feel like it’s better to stay up late riding and then get up early for work instead of sacrificing an hour of riding to sleep. If this is your train of thought, you may be wrong. Namely, sleep is essential for an effective workout.
When you don’t sleep enough, you tend to feel restless all day. Because of that, you may catch yourself unnecessarily chewing on some chocolates or some other sugar-filled foods. Due to that and the body’s inability to repair and build muscle after a day of intense workout, you need to sleep.
Conclusion
Losing weight doesn’t have to be annoying and tiring. Instead, it can be a very satisfying and exciting activity. With these tips, you’ll be able to seamlessly lose weight and have a lot of fun in the process. What is important is that you stay determined and disciplined, and you’ll have no trouble.