Riding a bike is intense exercise, and you burn a lot of calories doing it. But how many calories do you burn cycling? This post shows you how to calculate how many calories you burn while cycling.
The short answer to the question of how many calories you burn cycling is: really a lot of calories! You burn calories all the time, of course, even while you are sleeping. These are the calories that are required to keep your body functioning. But once you start cycling as well as just existing, you need extra calories.
If you weigh 150 pounds and you bike at an average easy pace, you will burn up 400 calories in an hour. That’s a lot of calories burned cycling – enough that if you bike an hour or two a day, which happens naturally if you’re commuting, it becomes pretty hard to put on weight – and relatively easy to lose weight.
Work out How Many Calories are Burned Cycling in an Hour
To work out how many calories you burn in an hour, while cycling at an easy, average pace of between 15 and 20 kilometers per hour (10 to 12 miles per hour), do this:
- Start with your weight in pounds, e.g. 180 pounds
- Divide this by 2.2 to give you your weight in kg, in this case, 81.8
- Multiply 81.8 by 6, to give you 490 calories per hour – pretty cool!
Of course, if you go faster, you burn even more calories – so get on your bike and get going! And the more weight you lose, the faster you will go, the more calories you will burn, the more weight you will lose, the faster you will go … it’s great to be stuck in a GOOD cycle! With so many calories burned cycling, it’s no wonder so many cyclists end up in such GOOD SHAPE!
Calculator to Figure Out How Many Calories You Burn Cycling
This site has a handy calculator that you can use to calculate how many calories you burn cycling.
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How Much Weight can you Lose by Cycling?
If the average person cycles for three hours a week, he or she will burn off an extra 1,470 calories a week. In a year, this will amount to 76,440 calories burned cycling. A pound of body fat equates to approximately 3,500 calories. So 76,440 calories burned could see you losing 22 pounds a year – without cutting down on food.
This is me before and after a year of bike commuting. I lost about 40 pounds by cycling to and from work most daysIn my own experience, the key is to embrace bike commuting. When I bike commuted every day, I lost weight effortlessly, without even thinking about it. Why? Because every morning I was outdoors exercising, before I even had time to think about it. Often, before the sun was even up. And then at the end of the day, I had no choice but to exercise again, in order to get home. So I was basically doing ten workouts a week.
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You Can Lose Weight Cycling INDOORS!
If you are on the large size, it may be intimidating to go outside and ride a bike. Well, first of all, do NOT be intimidated! Our permanently popular post, a Guide for Fat Cyclists, will give you a LOT of encouragement about going out and cycling, even if you don’t look like a greyhound.
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But if you are still feeling a little shy, remember that you can get all the great benefits of cycling within the privacy of your own home. You can simply buy a gadget that converts your regular bike into an indoor trainer. Check out our in-depth comparison of the features and prices of 7 of the best budget indoor bike trainers right here! These gadgets are also excellent to get fit during winter.
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Here are a lot more posts about how to lose weight cycling. Check them out!
Read more about how to get fit with cycling by choosing a post from the slide show below:
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