Is Biking Good for Weight Loss?

Biking is a great form of exercise that can increase your endurance and boost your mood. But did you know that biking is good for weight loss too?

This low-impact workout can help you burn calories, maintain muscle mass, and improve your heart health. Here’s how biking can help you lose weight — plus tips for maximizing the benefits of biking workouts.

Can biking help you lose weight?

Yes, biking is a low-impact exercise that can help you lose weight. Regular physical activity through biking requires your body to use more energy. Over time, this can help reduce excess weight by improving your metabolism and building muscle.

It’s important to note that healthy, sustainable weight loss involves many factors. These include:

• Eating a balanced diet with nutritious meals

• Getting quality sleep

• Managing stress

• Maintaining a complete fitness routine

Biking burns calories 

Physical activity requires your body to use more energy. Whether you’re walking more throughout the day or dedicating time to biking, your body has to burn more calories for energy. 

Burning more calories through biking is a great way to help you lose weight. Calories burned will vary from person to person depending on age, fitness level, and body composition. A 150 lb person biking for 30 minutes can burn calories at the following rates, based on how fast they’re going: 

• Slow: 136 calories at 5.5 mph

• Average: 272 calories at 12 mph to 13 mph

• Fast: 408 calories at 16 mph to 19 mph

Biking increases muscle mass

People who want to lose weight typically want to reduce their levels of body fat, not muscle mass. It’s important to maintain muscle mass, particularly as you age. Low muscle mass is associated with increased risk of falls and disability. 

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Biking builds muscle mass, particularly in the quadriceps muscles of the thighs. And you’ll build more muscle the harder you work to pedal. Boost your muscle-building by biking uphill or increasing the resistance level on a stationary bike.

Biking improves heart health and metabolism 

Biking is a form of aerobic exercise. That means it causes your heart rate and breathing to increase. 

Over time, regular aerobic exercise improves your heart’s ability to pump blood, which builds endurance. This allows you to: 

• Exercise longer

• Use energy more efficiently

• Burn more calories

It also keeps your heart healthy and can decrease your risk of heart disease.

Biking reduces stress and improves sleep 

Exercise is a great way to reduce stress and improve mood. Regular exercise can also lead to better sleep. Incorporating regular exercise into your routine can help you feel more tired at the end of the day, so that you fall and stay asleep.

Biking provides sustainable, low-impact exercise 

Biking is a low-impact exercise. This means it places little stress on your joints. Biking can be a great choice for people who have osteoarthritis or other knee conditions because it reduces pressure on the knees. 

Biking may also be better for those with less endurance who have a harder time doing standing exercises for longer periods.

How can you lose more weight from biking?

As with any form of exercise, consistency with biking is key. Start slowly, and gradually increase your biking time, frequency, and intensity. 

The CDC recommends that all adults engage in at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week. This can be broken up as follows: 

• 30 minutes of exercise, 5 days a week

• 60 minutes of exercise, 2 to 3 days per week

The amount of weight you can expect to lose will vary from person to person. If you’re exercising regularly and following other healthy lifestyle habits, 1 lb to 2 lb of weight loss per week is a good goal. But everybody is different, and you may lose weight at a slower pace. 

Tips for maximizing your metabolic health with biking include:

• Gradually increase distance or speed: Increase the amount of energy used during your workouts by gradually increasing your biking distance or speed.

• Try faster biking intervals: Intervals are a great option if it’s difficult to increase your cycling speed for a long period of time. You can customize the length of your intervals. An example is 1 minute of fast pedaling, followed by 2 minutes of moderate pedaling over the course of a 30 minute workout.

• Add hills or inclines: Increasing the intensity of your workouts will help to use more energy and build endurance. Biking up hills requires your muscles to use more energy. If you have a stationary bike, you can increase the intensity by raising the resistance level.

• Practice cross training: Biking is a repetitive exercise that works the same muscles over and over again. Cross training, where you perform other types of exercise like strength training, uses more muscle groups. This requires your body to use more energy and builds endurance.

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Written by:

Kristen Gasnick, PT, DPT

Kristen Gasnick, PT, DPT, practices outpatient rehabilitation focusing on orthopedic injuries and post-operative recovery.

Edited by:

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH, is a medical editor at GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified pediatrician with more than a decade of experience in academic medicine.

Reviewed by:

Christine Giordano, MD

Christine Giordano, MD, is board-certified in general internal medicine. She received her medical degree from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and completed residency at Thomas Jefferson University.

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