Anyone success cycling?

I lost my first 40lbs with just riding my mtb everyday. Can't wait for to warm up so I can get back to it.

i only use my stationary bike for exercise, and its so easy to do HIIT on it, and it toned the hell out of my thighs and narrowed my hips alot. I don't have any pictures but, trust me, you are toning you legs and burning calories at the same time! i wear a heart rate monitor and burn anywhere from 550-700 calories in an hour

I don't have specific pics to share, but I have been biking since I was little... As some have said, (and this really goes with anything in life) you get out what you put in... I will say this, from a calorie burn standpoint and cardio output standpoint, heart rate, etc....As a general rule of thumb you have to bike almost twice as much time to get the same "endurance" benefit. Meaning I can run for 30 minutes and burn roughly 400-500 calories and keep my heart rate at about 145-170. While I would have to bike for an hour to burn roughly the same calories at a lower heart rate.

Before I get any flack for this methodology, I have tested in on myself using numerous tools available and this is for me training for a endurance events.

I do know though that on days that I do major hill training on the bike, or if I push speed on the bike, I can up the ratio so that I'm burning more calories than normal biking.

I bike indoors on a trainer that I connect my road bike to, and outdoors when weather and time permit. Generally I'm not on the trainer for more than 2 hours, I frequently am out biking in the "real" world for as much as 3 hours on my "longer" rides. It is just too boring to sit for much longer than 2 hours on the trainer...I try and do as much interval training as possible to switch it up, but it is a lot easier for me to go for a run for half that time (hour ish) and burn way more calories.

Just for reference too, I average 18-24 mph on my bike both indoors/ out. 18 when I'm doing lots of hills, and faster when it is a flatter route.

I push myself pretty hard, mostly because I have strong biking legs, but general rule of thumb in Tri training for many (others use different methods) is to keep a cadence of 95-105 revolutions per minute on the bike, so when biking on the trainer I try and keep that cadence and switch gears to get the "hill" training.

It all depends for me on what I want to get out of it....If I'm going for a leisure bike ride with my family, I can hardly break a sweat at 16mph OR If I only have a short amount of time, I can push really hard and bike 14 miles in roughly 30 minutes and I'm gassed.

I will say this though, If you don't want big quads, don't push too hard! haha I have very well defined calves and quads from my biking....It also depends on what "position" you take on the bike on what muscles you define more than others. Proper seat position is a given, but an upright position is "easier" for those with less strong cores, and that is why I've been working really hard on the aero bars on my bike to improve comfort and power on the bike over long distances.

My longest ride on a "normal" ride is 50 miles... I'm hoping to up that and keep my average speed up this summer. I'd say if you're looking for the most definition for your time spent, you may want to look into spin classes or a stationary bike that you can do interval training on in a way that helps you track it at first.

Just my two cents....

Has anyone had success with their primary exercise as bicycling? (Yes I am aware weight loss comes from a calorie deficit) Did you use stationary or outdoor? If anyone has photos I would love to actually see how bicycling changed your body. Also how many calories per day did you eat? Macros? Miles per week? Anything would be great! Ive found tons of threads with regaurds to the actual exercise but not so many with results. Thanks!!!

I've lost 26 pounds since last August cycling. I had a few off years and gained all that weight, so getting back on the bike helped me get ride of it. I have not lifted one weight the entire time, so all the loss is from cycling. My body fat was around 25% and is now around 17%.

Keep in mind, I'm training for competition, so my numbers might sound a bit higher than someone who is training for weight loss and fitness.

When I ride outside, including warm up and cool down, I average 18 to 20 mph. I expect my racing speeds this year will hover around 24 to 26 mph, depending on the length of events, which range from 20 minutes to an hour. I average 9 to 12 hours a week. Most of the winter, that's been on a trainer, so it took a lot of dedication to stick with it. Luckily I have a CompuTrainer which really helped me focus my workouts. I also use a power meter and analysis software that gives me calorie expenditure numbers that are much more accurate than a heart rate monitor does.

Over the winter I was eating about 2500 to 3000 on training days. Now I'm looking to lose about a pound a month as I head into racing season and need to keep myself well fueled, so my calorie intake is at a very low deficit at 2700 to 3300 on training days.

I don't pay a lot of attention to the macros. I hover around 60/20/20, but it's not intentional. That's just what I eat.

If you look through my profile, you'll see pics (like the one with the BMC flag in the background) where I'm in the 190 range. The newer one, with the yellow spandex on the trainer, I'm at 170 or so.

People think cycling is just relaxing but your thighs and glutes are the largest muscles in your body, so working them has an effect. I have a stationary bike that I use every day and always throw in a few "intervals" of hard pedaling. I just bought an outdoor bike. I know my stationary bike burns calories because I get awfully sweated up on it. In the middle of winter I had to open all my windows to ride it (I don't like to sweat).

I personally found that biking is the easiest way to incorporate activity into your day. I always try to bike to work - when the weather allows it - and even though that's only biking at a normal city speed and in no way hardcore cardio exercise for me, it's 45 minutes twice a day that I would usually spend sitting on my *kitten* in public transport.
Even at times when I didn't really do any other exercise, I could feel the difference of being outside for more than 1 and a half hours every day. And you get some sun

I was a three to five mile a day walker up until about ten/twelve years ago. I loved walking, but we moved to big city, and there just aren't good sidewalks, and it's time consuming to drive to a trail, walk, then drive home, so I just gradually stopped.

I purchased an exercise bike about 8 years ago, and it's mostly been collecting dust while I collected 70 to 80 + pounds of the 128 I lost in 1997/98. I dusted that bike off and started riding it in November. Because I had such great cardio endurance from the walking, it didn't take me long to get up to 50-ish minutes a day, 6 days a week. I try to do more M-F, so I can do less on Saturdays and still have 300 minutes for the week. It's about 10 miles a day, average. I've dropped over 50 pounds since then, 44 since I joined MFP in December. My thighs are still enormous, but I feel muscle under the cellulite. My hips are shrinking at a rapid pace, and my belly is going down.

I still have about 38 pounds to lose to get to my ideal weight. I dunno if you can see my pictures. I'm also doing strength training.

I have been doing spin for awhile now. I do at least 3 classes a week but more if I can. I love it and the weight has been coming off but I also weight lift & watch my calorie intake about 1200 a day!!! It is with any exercise you get out what you put into it. But, pick an activity you enjoy. If you do you will stick with it longer.