Is spinning good for weight loss?

NotSoPerfectPam

I just went to my second spinning class, and I really like it. BUT, i've seen several websites and "stories" that spinning isn't good for weight loss. Any success stories or results that anyone can share??

hill8570

The key to weight loss is calorie deficit, plain and simple -- you can always eat back far more than you can exercise off.

Spinning can be a good cardio workout, so it's good for your health, and the lower-body work helps limit waist-down muscle wastage. Doesn't help much with upper-body muscle sparing, 'tho. If you like it, roll with it.

jacksonpt

Weight loss is primarily about diet. Get your intake dialed in and you'll be set.

Calorie deficit for weight loss... exercise (including spinning) for body composition, fitness, strength, health, mood, etc.


But to your question directly, spinning (or any kind of exercise) is won't HINDER weight loss.

NotSoPerfectPam

here's one of the stories: http://www.today.com/health/your-spin-class-addiction-may-be-reason-youre-gaining-weight-2D11899301

Looks as though the claim was made based on people who spin every day.I don't want to do that, but am interested in spinning related weight loss success stories.

hill8570

NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »

here's one of the stories: http://www.today.com/health/your-spin-class-addiction-may-be-reason-youre-gaining-weight-2D11899301

Cliff notes: spinning builds muscles in flabby thighs. This is a good thing! And, as the article points out, dieting without keeping the muscles active will cause muscle wastage This is a bad thing!

If you're focused on the scale instead of your health and you're out of shape, any exercise is going to cause some temporary weight gain while you add some muscle. If that's a problem, then throw away the bloody scale, and focus on NSVs, like how you feel, how your clothes fit, your waist and hip measurements, or something else useful.

As for success stories, I lost 60 pounds over the last year. Half of that was during the summer, when I mountain bike probably five days week (not spinning, but same effect on the quads). I still lost weight just fine.

MostlyWater

The woman who spins next to me has an artificial knee and can't do most exercises so she spins 5 or 6 days a week and says it's the best to get your heart rate up without the damage that running can cause. Swimming is good exercise too but it's not as easy to find a pool as a Spin class.

NotSoPerfectPam

hill8570 wrote: »

Cliff notes: spinning builds muscles in flabby thighs. This is a good thing! And, as the article points out, dieting without keeping the muscles active will cause muscle wastage This is a bad thing!

hmm, I certainly don't need to gain muscles on my thighs or quads. they are already big because of hereditary and lots of biking in my youth

astrose00

I love my spinning bike. I do HIIT and/or Spinervals on it and really get a good sweat in. I agree it won't hurt your weight loss but CICO is the bottom line.

Roxiegirl2008

I do spin twice per week and have for a year. I love it. I it has helped with my endurance while not being really hard on my knees on my non running days. I have lost 90lbs since Sept/Oct 2013. Here is my week to give you an idea

Sunday- Long runs
Monday- Spin
Tuesday- short run or yoga
Wed- weight training (Les Mils Body pump)
Thursday- trainer (cross fit, HIIT or TRX) with added 45 min spin class
Friday- med run
Saturday- trainer (cross fit, HIIT or TRX)

Like others said thought calories deficit.

callmerundmc

Roxiegirl...do you ever take a rest day?

VeryKatie

NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »

hill8570 wrote: »

Cliff notes: spinning builds muscles in flabby thighs. This is a good thing! And, as the article points out, dieting without keeping the muscles active will cause muscle wastage This is a bad thing!

hmm, I certainly don't need to gain muscles on my thighs or quads. they are already big because of hereditary and lots of biking in my youth

Your thighs will slim down with a calorie deficit, even if you're retaining or even gaining a little muscle. I wouldn't worry about it.

xcalygrl

If you enjoy spin, do it.

Weight loss comes from keeping your diet in check and eating at a deficit. I have done the whole "I'm working out but not losing" bit before. It wasn't because of the workouts, rather it was because I was eating more than I was burning and thus eating in a surplus. You can lose weight without working out, but working out is good for your joints, muscles, heart, and lungs.

douglas49461

Its been a while since I was at a spinning class but an hour of intense cycling was a but kicker and would have to help slimming down, just from the fact that you can eat more in the day due to burning 500 to 750 extra calories.

Roxiegirl2008

callmerundmc wrote: »

Roxiegirl...do you ever take a rest day?

I do every other week take an active rest day which I stretch. It is built in as part of my training plan. I am running a marathon on Jan 25th so after that yes I will be resting a little more.

cwolfman13

NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »

I just went to my second spinning class, and I really like it. BUT, i've seen several websites and "stories" that spinning isn't good for weight loss. Any success stories or results that anyone can share??

Spinning is fantastic exercise...but you can't out-exercise your diet. Weight control is about energy balance...you can spin your *kitten* off, but if you eat too much (i.e. consume too much energy) you aren't going to lose weight.


Diet for weight control, exercise for fitness.

sofaking6

I have to say, I think claiming that exercise makes you gain weight because it makes you pig out and not count your calories might be the stupidest claim of all time.

Codefox

Anyone who writes an article that says any type of exercise may cause weight gain because "an lead to weight gain: It makes you super hungry, and gives you a handy way to justify post-class beers, or fries, or whatever your personal caloric Kryptonite may be" should be fired. I'm so sick of seeing this in articles about weight loss and healthy lifestyles. I've seen the same thing said about running.

No, exercise does not cause fat build up. Eating food does that. And anyone worried about gaining muscle mass as 'weight gain' is doing it wrong.

erickirb

sofaking6 wrote: »

I have to say, I think claiming that exercise makes you gain weight because it makes you pig out and not count your calories might be the stupidest claim of all time.

But it does happen, quite a bit. a lot of people training for a marathon tend to gain a little weight. But if you count calories and pay attention to what you are doing then it can help you lose fat.

NotSoPerfectPam

accd to my heart rate monitor I burned about 600 calories. Not nearly as hungry as I would be had I run/walked that amount of time

HeidiCooksSupper

If exercise, spinning for example, makes you hungry so you eat more then you will gain weight. Weight gain and loss depends primarily on whether you eat more or fewer calories than you burn each day. Increasing your activity (through exercise, for example), increases how many calories you burn but not as many as people tend to guess. They say losing weight is 80% diet and 20% exercise.

sofaking6

erickirb wrote: »

sofaking6 wrote: »

I have to say, I think claiming that exercise makes you gain weight because it makes you pig out and not count your calories might be the stupidest claim of all time.

But it does happen, quite a bit. a lot of people training for a marathon tend to gain a little weight. But if you count calories and pay attention to what you are doing then it can help you lose fat.

You gain weight if you eat more than you burn. Period end of story. You do not gain weight because you exercised, no matter how much you exercised it did not cause you to gain weight ever ever ever no matter what.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

Anything that creates a calorie deficit is good for weight loss.

fearlessleader104

I like spin classes. I am not doing it for the weight loss but doing it for fun.
I am in a caloric deficit to lose weight (eat less than I burn), everything else is for fun.

cwolfman13

sofaking6 wrote: »

erickirb wrote: »

sofaking6 wrote: »

I have to say, I think claiming that exercise makes you gain weight because it makes you pig out and not count your calories might be the stupidest claim of all time.

But it does happen, quite a bit. a lot of people training for a marathon tend to gain a little weight. But if you count calories and pay attention to what you are doing then it can help you lose fat.

You gain weight if you eat more than you burn. Period end of story. You do not gain weight because you exercised, no matter how much you exercised it did not cause you to gain weight ever ever ever no matter what.

You don't gain weight because of an exercise, but I have found that I do better losing weight when I'm just working out and keeping things light to moderate...when I'm training for a century as an example, I'm always hungry and I'm always worried about recovery and performance far more than I am about weight control...it is not unusual for me to put on weight while training for a century...not because of the bike obviously but because despite needing 3500 + calories per day just to maintain, it never feels like enough...I'm always famished when I'm training.

I actually had my best weight loss when I was doing nothing more than walking everyday...it was easy to keep my diet in check and I wasn't overly hungry or tired and not at all concerned with proper recovery. I think a lot of people actually do better keeping their exercise at moderate to light levels during weight loss..maybe that's what the article was getting at and the OP is just misinterpreting it or something.

erickirb

sofaking6 wrote: »

erickirb wrote: »

sofaking6 wrote: »

I have to say, I think claiming that exercise makes you gain weight because it makes you pig out and not count your calories might be the stupidest claim of all time.

But it does happen, quite a bit. a lot of people training for a marathon tend to gain a little weight. But if you count calories and pay attention to what you are doing then it can help you lose fat.

You gain weight if you eat more than you burn. Period end of story. You do not gain weight because you exercised, no matter how much you exercised it did not cause you to gain weight ever ever ever no matter what.

No one said it did. But it can make you feel hungry and if you succumb to the hunger you may end up eating more than maintenance and will gain weight.

jdhcm2006

I go to spin class once a week. I like it b/c it's a great cross trainer and much easier on my knees than running. It's too cold and dark to get outside and run right now. So I replaced spinning with running. I'm running in a relay marathon in April, I'll start running outside in March when it's a bit lighter outside.

I also like the resistance aspect of it because it helps slim my legs down some. I'm never going to have super small legs b/c of genetics, but I can combat genetics a little with this form of exercise.

I never thought I'd like spinning, but I do love it. It makes a great addition to everything else I do.

OP, to make a long story short, if you like spinning. Keep spinning. Do things that you are going to stick with.

cwolfman13

Also, as far as indoor cardio goes, spinning is fun as all hell...I much prefer to be out on my bike, but sometimes it's just too cold this time of year and a good spin class is in order.

glevinso

NotSoPerfectPam wrote: »

here's one of the stories: http://www.today.com/health/your-spin-class-addiction-may-be-reason-youre-gaining-weight-2D11899301

Looks as though the claim was made based on people who spin every day.I don't want to do that, but am interested in spinning related weight loss success stories.

Did I seriously just read "exercise makes you fat"?

Wow... Maybe articles like this are why there is an obesity problem...

That said... it is not uncommon for people to train for an Ironman and not lose anything, or gain a few pounds despite the approx 400 hours of cardio you have to do to get ready... It isn't hard to over-fuel for long cardio sessions if you aren't paying attention.

NextPage

Any form of exercise can lead to weight gain if you totally overestimate your calorie burn and eat back way too many calories - this certainly isn't unique to spinning. However, exercise can help keep you from overeating depending on your personal motivators and/or triggers. For me, exercise really helps with weight loss because it is my go to strategy for dealing with stress. There are many days that I would have stuffed my face with comforting junk if I hadn't headed to the gym after work instead. I also feel more confident and happy and don't turn to food because I'm feeling down on myself. In terms of motivators, when I spin and weight train the muscle gain is something I feel good about I also want to see (and frankly have others notice) my muscle definition. For this I know I need to loss weight/fat. Therefore if I want to not see the full benefits of my hard work I also need to ensure I watch what I eat. I don't necessarily think these positive "spin-offs" (pun intended) of exercise help with a calorie deficit for everyone but it works for me.

sunglasses_and_ocean_waves

I used to not like my puffy quads, but now I'm trying to make them bigger. I've been thinking about spinning, but really, I'd have to eat more to build muscle.

cardbucfan

I spin three times a week and have for close to 10 years because I enjoy it so much. Best exercise for my time. ( I also, lift, golf, do zumba and HIIT). Spinning didn't cause me to gain weight-eating too much food did that. Likewise, spinning didn't cause me to lose weight. Getting my eating under control did that. What it does do is help me improve my cardiac conditioning, strengthen my legs and give me a ton of extra calories to eat.

If you like it do it. We have people of all shapes and sizes in our spin classes. If you want to lose weight, count your calories and eat at a reasonable deficit.