5 min read
You probably know there is no one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss. This means everybody’s journey is a little bit different. What might be an easy transition to exercise and weight loss for one person might be a struggle for another.
Knowing that simple truth helps when you’re beginning, but it also helps to know what processes are actually going on in your body when you try to jumpstart a weight loss routine.
In Cycling for Weight Loss, Bicycling’s new video program, you’ll learn how to align your training, nutrition, and recovery for real, sustainable results. Along with our host Ryan Grewell and other cyclists and experts, we’ll help break down two of the most misunderstood factors in weight loss—metabolism and body composition—so you can better understand what’s actually driving your progress.
What You’ll Learn
In Cycling for Weight Loss: Metabolism and Body Composition, our expert Kate Baird will teach you:
What metabolism actually is—and why most people misunderstand how it worksWhy lean muscle mass plays a bigger role in calorie burn than you thinkWhy body composition matters more than the number on the scaleHow different types of training (endurance, strength, intensity) impact fat loss and fitnessWatch VideoGo DeeperUnderstanding Metabolic Rate
Metabolism refers to all of the chemical reactions happening inside your body that turn food into usable energy. If you have a higher metabolism, you burn more calories throughout the day, and it’s easier to lose or maintain weight.
But while some talk about “fast vs. slow metabolism,” know that metabolism isn’t something wildly different from person to person—it’s actually fairly stable, says Kate Baird, CSCS, metabolic testing coordinator and exercise physiologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. Your goal on a weight loss journey is to estimate your energy needs and fuel your body accordingly. That means adjusting your intake based on activity levels, not chasing a perfect daily calorie deficit.
“Labeling yourself as having a slow metabolism is not helpful—and probably not physiologically true.”
—Kate Baird, expert
Metabolic rate does change as you get older or deal with certain health factors (how active you are, hormonal imbalances, lean muscle mass vs. fat, etc.). Around 60 years old is when some research shows you’re going to begin to see age-related hormonal changes that may lower that energy demand, specifically for women who are going through perimenopause and menopause.
When it comes to your calories, your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is essentially the minimum number of calories you should be taking in for daily cellular functions. Though it varies from person to person, the average resting metabolic rate (RMR) is around 1,400 calories for women and 1,800 for men. Without even lifting a finger, this accounts for up to 75 percent of your daily calorie burn.
The best way to calculate your RMR is in a lab, but The Harris Benedict Equation formula gives a close estimate using your weight and height. We have a tool below that gives you an estimate:
When trying to lose weight, you want to consume slightly fewer calories than your total daily calorie burn. To calculate this, you can multiply the number you got above by how much cycling you do per week.
1.2 = sedentary (little or no exercise)1.375 = lightly active (light easy runs 1 to 3 days/week)1.55 = moderately active (recreational spirited running 3 to 5 days/week)1.725 = very active (training, running, and/or racing 6 to 7 days a week)1.9 = extremely active (racing, hard running, and a physical job)The Importance of Strength Training
Lean muscle mass is one of the biggest drivers of how much energy your body uses. That leads you to the importance of strength training. When you do strength workouts alongside your cycling, it helps build and maintain muscle, which supports fat loss, improves performance, and protects long-term health—especially as you age.
If you need a starting point for strength workouts, Bicycling has a whole range of workouts to choose from, including our new Guide to Strength Training that you can follow along with at home.
Understanding Your Body Comp
Your body composition is representative of what your body is made up of—bones, fat, muscle mass, organs, blood, and fluids. All of this makes up the composition of our body when we measure it. Body fat percentage refers to what percent of your body is made up of fat versus everything else.
There are multiple ways you can measure this, but one of the best ways is via a DEXA scan at a sports performance or medical clinic. There are other ways, like using online calculators or body composition scales, but the results will not be as accurate.
Body fat percentage should fall within a certain range. For men, that means a body fat percentage of less than 21 percent, and for women it’s less than 31 percent. These are the age-adjusted body fat percentile recommendations health pros use:
Men:
Essential Fat: < 5 percentAthletes: 5 to 10 percentGeneral Fitness: 11 to 14 percentGood Health: 15 to 20 percentOverweight: 21 to 24 percentToo High: > 24 percent
Women:
Essential Fat: < 8 percentAthletes: 8 to 15 percentGeneral Fitness: 16 to 23 percentGood Health: 24 to 30 percentOverweight: 31 to 36 percentToo High: > 37 percent
“We do know that when people are able to successfully increase their lean muscle mass, although their weight may not change significantly, the composition of their body might change significantly, and we might see a decrease in fat mass and an increase in lean mass,” says Baird. “And I think for a lot of people, that’s really helpful, first and foremost, to see along your journey to get that feedback.”
How Exercise Boosts Your Metabolism
Your metabolism doesn’t just get a boost while you’re exercising; it stays up afterward, too, which means you’ll continue to burn calories after you ride. This phenomenon is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).
For EPOC to occur, you must work your muscles to the point of fatigue—so the harder the workout, the greater the effect. “So in order to recover, we are going to be burning energy to repair those muscles and to get the heart rate back down and to help slow the breathing rate,” Baird says. This means you might not experience much of an after-burn from an easy zone 2 ride, but you will from speedwork and HIIT sessions.
That doesn’t mean harder, intense workouts burn free calories and that this is the only workout to focus on, Baird says. Both steady-state efforts and HIIT workouts are really important, and the right balance allows you to go out and cycle comfortably—doing higher climbs, longer rides, faster rides, all of those things are going to require more work.
Director of Content Operations Runner’s World & Bicycling
Brian has spent more than a decade focused on creating compelling news, health, and fitness content—with a particular interest on enthusiast activities like running and cycling. He’s coordinated coverage of major events like the Paris Olympics, Boston Marathon, New York City Marathon, and Tour de France, with an eye toward both the professional race and the engaging stories readers love.