Don’t Rely Solely on Diets
Yes, you lose weight when you cut calories, but all of the lost poundage isn’t fat. A significant percentage of weight loss—up to 30 percent—comes from muscle tissue. Cyclists on a diet often end up thinner, but become slower and weaker on the bike. As pioneering diet expert Covert Bailey wrote, “When someone says that they lost 20 pounds, the key question is: 20 pounds of what?” Some dieters can end up having a higher percentage of body fat even as they lose weight. And don’t forget that muscle burns calories. The more muscle volume you have, the more calories your body consumes. If you lose muscle, you will gain fat faster when you return to your pre-diet eating habits
Ride, Ride, and Ride Some More
The average road cyclist burns about 40 calories per mile. At a relatively sedate 15 miles per hour, this means a weekly time commitment of 10 hours on the bike can burn a whopping 6,000 calories