Let me know if this sounds familiar.
You decide you want to lose weight. You have been told for years that you need to a) exercise and b) watch what you eat.
You then set out to do either what has worked for you in the past, or you consult with family, friends, or strangers on the internet to see what has worked for them.
Someone is going to tell you to do keto or a Whole 30. Someone will tell you to do weight watchers or noom. Others will tell you that it’s simple calories in, calories out, and you have to put all of the things into my fitness pal or some other sort of app.
You then pick one, and you are HYPED. You are all in! You are thinking, if this worked for so and so, that maybe it will work for me too.
I mean, I know that I did something similar about eleventy million times. But, at the end of the day, do you know what the REAL differencemaker was?
Riding my bike. Yup. And probably NOT for the reason you are thinking. Not because I was burning a ton of calories. Not because I was building all of these muscles in my legs.
The REAL reason why biking, or really movement in general, is the key to weight loss is because it feels GOOD to find that ONE THING that you LOVE to do.
That one way to move your body that you just WANT to do. That you would gladly do even if it wasn’t a means to lose weight.
Intrigued? Read on, because we are going to break down exactly why biking is essential to long term weight loss.
1. When you are in the habit of moving your body regularly you focus on what it can do, and you WANT to take care of it.
I will never forget this one time I was in my 20s. I was chatting with an older and wiser co-worker, and she said, “I really don’t think too much about what I eat. When I make a point to work out and go to the gym I want to eat better.”
I didn’t realize it at the time, but THIS idea is 100% the key to long term weight loss. Now, yes, technically you can lose weight without ever getting on your bike by eating less. But this puts WAY too much focus on the food.
You will start obsessing over calories, judging your food choices, and thinking about food ALL OF THE TIME. One of the big things my program members always say to me is that they just don’t want to be thinking about and obsessing about food anymore.
When we are in the habit of moving our bodies regularly, we inherently want to take care of and support our bodies through better food choices.
However, unlike my friend, the gym never really did it for me. What finally did it for me was riding bikes!
2. Riding bikes is FUN.
If you are going to really be consistent with moving your body and be happy about it, you need to find SOMETHING that is FUN.
Movement shouldn’t always feel hard or feel like work. It should be enjoyable, and something that you actually WANT to do.
You know, like when you were little and climbed that hill and got to fly down it on your bike? Your hair blowing in the wind and squealing with delight? THAT kind of fun.
Now, here is where I have to grudgingly admit that maybe you don’t find bikes as fun as I do. Maybe, just maybe, there is some other kind of movement that you prefer. I will allow this for you, but also say that if you aren’t riding bikes right now, you should give it a try!
I can actually relate to this a bit. When my husband wanted to buy me a bike I was really resistant because I thought I loved running. Turns out that once I really gave cycling a shot, and realized how much further I could go in the same amount of time, and how much fun it was to go down hills that I was hooked.
That being said, as long as you are moving your body I truly don’t care how you are doing it, as long as you find something you really, truly enjoy. My friend Lori recently took up ice skating, and when she talks about it her face LIGHTS UP the way that mine does when I talk about riding bikes! Finding YOUR movement, whatever it is, is the ticket to sustainable health and weight loss.
3. Regular movement is a HUGE mood booster and stress reliever.
Studies, like this one referenced by Harvard Health, have continually shown that exercise and movement make us feel better.
I know that I never go for a bike ride, get off, and think “well that was a bad decision.” Even strength training, which I don’t love in the same way, always seems to make me feel pretty awesome.
Not only that, but exercise can help reduce stress by reducing cortisol levels according to this study referenced by the national institute of health.
So how is feeling good and feeling less stressed the key to losing weight? Because you are so much less likely to overeat.
Follow me here. We are overweight because we overeat. And we often overeat when we are stressed and unhappy. We come home from a hard day at work, we finally get the kids to bed, and then we are DONE and ready to relax and unwind in front of the TV with some snacks.
Now, this isn’t an issue or a problem IF you are actually hungry. But most of the time you will find that you are either doing this to avoid feeling the stress and frustration, or to treat ourselves after having a bad day…you know, because you “deserve it.”
Do this once or twice and it’s not going to be a big deal. But if this is your pattern every night, it can most certainly lead to results in your body that you don’t particularly want.
4. There is a direct link between moving our bodies and getting better sleep.
According to the National Library of Medicine “Regular physical activity has several health benefits, including improved sleep quality and symptoms of sleep disorders.”
One of the things you will likely hear me talk about a LOT is how important sleep is to biking weight loss. I am a HUGE proponent of getting sufficient sleep.
When we are sleeping our body is actually recovering both mentally and physically from our day. When we don’t get enough sleep we are a lot more likely to be cranky and stressed, and to not make the best decisions about the food we eat.
We also might feel like we don’t have the energy to ride, and this can put us in this viscous cycle of not riding and not sleeping. Our metabolism also needs sleep to function properly, so we aren’t giving our body what it needs to metabolize food.
When we move regularly, however, we actually make it even easier for our body to get the sleep it needs.
5. Riding bikes means you are getting stronger, which means you are building muscle and increasing metabolism.
Now, you have probably heard somewhere along the line that muscle is going to burn more calories than fat. Therefore, the more active you are, the more calories you are burning, and, as long as you aren’t also overeating, the more likely you are to lose weight.
You may have heard that strength training, especially lifting heavy weights, is an essential component here, and it is! But cycling also helps us build muscle too. I will never forget when I had been riding consistently for the first time. A few months after I started riding I looked in the mirror and actually saw my quads for the first time! It was a pretty cool moment, I’m not going to lie.
A Final Note
At the end of the day can you lose weight without moving your body or biking? Of course you can. BUT, ask yourself, is it really going to be sustainable weight loss? Are you REALLY going to be healthy if you aren’t moving your body? Don’t you want to have that increase in energy? Don’t you want to HAVE FUN?
The fundamental reason why biking or regular movement in general is key to weight loss is because it makes us FEEL good. All of the science-y things I talked about here hopefully gave you some concrete data points if you are that sort of person, but they all lead to feeling good and feeling strong.
When we move our bodies regularly, we feel good. We feel strong. We get better sleep, we build muscle, and our metabolism burns more calories. It is ALL connected. But the bottom line is when we feel good and are happy, we are so much more likely to make the sorts of decisions that lead to the results we want, and weight loss is no exception.
Ride on!
xoxo
Stacy
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