What's The Best Way To Lose Weight?

It’s not quite as simple as ‘eat less, exercise more’

- Michael Donlevy

Whisper it, but most of us would like to lose a few pounds. Some of us more than just a few. On one hand cycling is great for weight loss because it burns lots of calories, but on the other cake-filled hand all that riding requires fuel in the form of food, energy gels and sugary sports drinks. Losing weight on a bike isn’t as easy as it seems.

First, here’s coach Ric Stern of RST Sport with the bad news: ‘It varies too much from person to person to give a prescriptive answer other than: you need to eat fewer calories than you expend, you need to be consistent with your food choices and you need to be consistent with your training.’

It is at least possible, then, even if it does involve making gargantuan lifestyle changes. Paul Butler of pbcyclecoaching.co.uk lost seven stone after quitting his job in the City to become a personal trainer and qualified cycling coach.

‘Your weight loss targets should be reviewable based on motivation, performance, mood and sustainability,’ he says. ‘Keeping a training diary and talking to a coach will help you through.’

Depending on how much you want to lose, you should aim to shed between 0.25kg and 1kg per week. For most people, 0.5kg is a sensible and achievable target, says Stern. ‘Half a kilogram of fat has around 3,500 calories of energy in it, so by reducing your daily intake by 500 calories, or upping your energy expenditure by 500 calories – or a combination of the two – you could lose 0.5kg a week.’