Can Exercise Bike Help Lose Belly Fat

Can Exercise Bike Help Lose Belly Fat – Yes, By Exercising In Your Home

 

Introduction

Can exercise bike help lose belly fat? The answer is yes. However, it may take some time and patience. Goal setting is vital in reaching your weight loss goals. Having a goal to reach is important in reducing belly fat and weight on a regular basis.

Everyone likes to shed some excess pounds and an exercise bike can be an excellent choice since you don’t need any gym memberships to buy. You also can do your exercising in the comfort of your own home. Using a bike with a regular routine will be a successful way in losing some excess calories.

One pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories. To lose a pound of weight, you must reduce your calorie intake by 3,500 calories. The average diet consists of 2,000 to 3,000 calories a day or more depending upon your age, body type, work, and gender. A valid goal would be to reduce your calorie intake by 500 a day. This would make you lose 1 pound of fat per week.

When starting on a weight loss program, it is vital to do it slowly. Losing weight too quickly may result in problems like gallstones, muscle loss, and extreme fatigue. Also, during a weight loss program you may experience more bowel movements because of eating more fiber in the diet.

Weight loss must be planned which includes diet and the amount of exercise you do each day. Once you have established your daily routine, stick with it. After you have reached your desired weight goal, then begin a process to maintain the current weight. Do this by using both amount of calories needed to maintain your current weight and the exercise program that is best for you.

You can check out our article on the slim cycle stationary bike which is an excellent indoor exercise bike.

Benefits of Cycling

Below are some of the benefits you can receive when cycling on a regular basis.

• Overall Body Weight Management: Some workout plans include cycling as it is a good option to lose overall body weight. Besides burning calories it affects the basal metabolic rate and muscle mass. The resistance you feel when pushing down on or up on the pedal will assist in building muscles.
• Lowers Belly Fat Increased Good Fat: A 30-60 minute cycling workout and a healthy protein-rich diet is an effective way to lower belly fat and increase the good fat (high-density lipoprotein) levels. This has been proven to lower health risks and help in the weight-loss program.
• Lowers Insulin Resistance: A study (Boutcher) found that regular cycling may significantly lower insulin resistance. By cycling regularly, makes the cells in the body absorb the glucose in the blood better. So, people with diabetes may also benefit from cycling. It is not that difficult to lose fat from the belly through cycling. It should be consistent with determination. Don’t expect to lose all the weight at once, but it will take some time. With effort, you should reach your goals.

Best Ways To Lose Belly Fat When Cycling

As you begin to plan your cycling program, we have provided some ways belly fat can be lowered during your exercise.

• Start with Moderate Intensity: If you use a cycle to burn your excess belly fat, start riding at a moderate intensive pace. For example; start riding at 80% moderate intensity and 20% at moderate to high intensity. By using this 80/20 method of high-intensity intermittent exercise you burn fat and calories. As your endurance increases you burn calories and cut off some of the excess belly fat.
• Type of Bicycle: The type of bicycle does not matter when using it for cycling indoors or outdoors. The weight loss depends on you and how you ride the bicycle. So, if you ride a road bike, mountain bike, or hybrid bike, they are easy and comfortable for exercising.
• Fasting Cycling: Cycling on an empty stomach is another way to burn belly fat faster. Consider the 8-hours period between the last meal and the time to start fasted cycling. Doing this can provide some impressive results. The drawback to this option is it can be hard to continue and tiring. You should not do this on a daily basis. You can have some liquid like coffee or water before starting. Having some high-energy food and water available is a good option if you are doing a long ride. The body will burn more fats as fuel since you are fasting with low glycogen levels. Go steady but stay focused. After cycling for about 2 hours on an empty stomach, you can eat. Avoid starving yourself after cycling.
• Take Trips To Work: If you can, you should take trips to work on the bike regularly. This is a great way to burn those excess calories when there is no time for exercise. Results may not be seen immediately. But, it may improve your basal metabolic rate (BMR) periodically. This will let you lose some the hidden body fat.
• Do Off-Bike Exercise: If you cannot use the bike, you can do some exercises off the bike which can help in weight loss. For example; lying down bicycle, planks, yoga, and Zumba. This will strengthen and benefit your core exercise (cycling). You will help improve your endurance and strength level. By exercising more your fitness level should increase. This will allow you to do more cycling and you can burn off more belly fat.
• Diet: As you are trying to burn off those excess pounds, you also need to eat right. So, your diet will play an important role. Eating the right foods and avoiding those that don’t help your weight loss. You should avoid eating cheese, sugary foods, foods with high saturated fat, and butter. You can add more lean proteins (eggs), leafy greens, lean beef, chicken, beans, potatoes, and salmon.
• Rest: This cannot be stressed enough. You need adequate rest after a cycling workout. It is essential to losing weight effectively. Studies have stated that you are likely to gain excess weight if you are deprived of sleep. So, get a good rest 6 hours or more after your day of cycling.
• Comparing Results: Never compare your weight loss with others. Even if you don’t see quick results. This could get you discouraged, but don’t. Just motivate yourself towards your goal every day. You will eventually see results and reach your desired weight loss goal.
• Relieve Stress: You may be asking how does this play into fat loss? A way to break down fat is to reduce stress. Of course, this is easier said than done. There is a strong link between fat cells and stress. Fat causes the body to release cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Cortisol is to help give you energy you need to overcome the stressful situation. This in turn can stimulate your appetite and lead to eating more and gaining weight. By working out, this releases the endorphin hormone that relieves stress while helping you reduce the fat storage. Now, you are attacking belly fat from multiple angles and can reach your weight loss goal.

The Breakdown of Belly Fat

We are now going to share some information on breaking down belly fat for a trim waistline and good health.

There are two types of abdominal fat: subcutaneous fat and visceral fat. The subcutaneous fat is the layer of fat that sits beneath your skin. You can pinch the subcutaneous fat on your belly using your fingertips. However, you cannot pinch visceral fat because this type of fat sits deep within your abdominal cavity. Visceral fat surrounds the liver, pancreas, kidneys, and the intestines.

Visceral fat is firm where the subcutaneous fat is soft and squishy. Visceral fat is known as active fat, and can be dangerous. The higher amount of visceral fat a person has the greater risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems.

According to Harvard Medical School, 10% of a person’s body is visceral fat. This means more fat you are carrying around, the greater amounts of visceral fat you have. It also means losing any amount of fat helps decrease visceral fat. By just performing 30 minutes of exercise each day can help you burn visceral fat when you incorporate a low-calorie diet.

This is one of the best kept secrets in losing belly fat is exercise. The Rush University Medical Center calls moderate-intensity exercise the “magic pill”, because, when you exercise, visceral fat is the first fat you lose.

Exercise and Diet Prevents Belly Fat

We all know trying to lose belly fat can be difficult, but not impossible. The objective is to burn more calories than you consume in order to lose weight.

First and foremost, avoid trying to use fad diets and weight loss supplements. They usually involve long periods of starvation or unusual foods and can be difficult to sustain long enough to be effective. Instead, opt for a low-calorie, low in sugar diet that includes fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats.

As we mentioned before, 3,500 calories equals on pound of fat. That means if you burn 3,500 calories more than you consume, you lose one pound of body fat.

It is recommended that when you begin your diet that you plan on losing 1-2 pounds of weight per week. Losing more than that can cause your body to react with certain side effects. These are mentioned below:

• Headaches
• Irritability
• Fatigue
• Hair Loss
• Dizziness
• Constipation
• Muscle Loss
• Menstrual Irregularities

The best way for losing weight on a regular basis is to plan on eating up to 500 less calories per day to prevent your body from shock and the side effects listed above. Doing this you will lose 1 pound of body fat per week. For example; if you eat 2,500 calories per day, begin by eating only 2,000 calories per day. After 7 days, you will have lost 1 pound of body fat. Keep this up until you reach your desired body weight goal.

After you have reached your goal, now just maintain your current weight. You now will increase the calories until you find your daily requirements.

Remember, before starting any kind of diet, always check with your doctor or nutritionist first. They know your bodies condition if you can take on a reduced food diet for any length of time. They may also may advise you on the foods to eat too.

When exercising using the bike, be sure to note the number of calories burned during the workout session. Write them down and keep a log on your progress. Your objective is to burn 500 more calories than you take in on a daily basis.