The guy at freshbikes said my heavy MTB will not help me lose weight

[TwoWheelsDC]

Well, weight loss is primarily driven by lowering your caloric intake. Yes, exercise helps, but it won’t have a huge effect on its own, especially if you are building muscle (again, I’m talking weight loss, not “getting in shape”). That said, I’m assuming what he meant was that on a heavy bike, your tendency might be to ride slowly, and not as far, which means you won’t be getting your heart rate up for extended periods of time, which is key to the exercise element of weight loss. Of course, any riding at all will have a positive effect on your health, but the health benefits you get out of it increase with level and time of effort. They way you describe, it sounds like he explained it poorly and was generalizing a bit, but there is some truth to what he was saying.

[ShawnoftheDread]

@TwoWheelsDC 45691 wrote:

Well, weight loss is primarily driven by lowering your caloric intake. Yes, exercise helps, but it won’t have a huge effect on its own, especially if you are building muscle (again, I’m talking weight loss, not “getting in shape”).

Only partly right. Weight loss is a result of lowering caloric intake relative to caloric burn. I’ve lost a lot of weight biking the past 14 months, even though I’ve increased my caloric intake a lot.

[PotomacCyclist]

You should think about body composition (body fat percentage, muscle percentage) along with weight loss (assuming you have excess body fat).

You don’t have to worry too much about which is more important for weight loss, exercise or good nutrition. Why not? Well, you should do both, no matter what. Eat better, move more.

You’ll ride differently on a heavy MTB than on a light road bike. But there are plenty of slim mountain bikers out there, along with many slim road cyclists. It doesn’t matter how fast you are going. It matters how much of an effort you are putting forth. After all, you can get quite a workout on a spin bike without going anywhere at all.

Maybe he meant that there is a temptation on a heavy bike to spin slowly and not exert yourself. It might be the upright position, which can encourage you to sit up and take things easy. Not that there is anything wrong with doing this, but if you go for a stroll on the bike and barely pedal, it’s true that you aren’t going to be burning a lot of calories or doing much for your fitness. But it’s also possible to do super-easy rides on a road bike too.

Or it could be a part of the sales pitch. Not that there is anything wrong with this either, within reason.

[DaveK]

He’s BS’ing you. If you burn more calories than you take in, you’ll lose weight. Make sure your bike fits you and just get out and ride. The guy just wanted to sell a bike.

[ShawnoftheDread]

I’m with Dave on this one.

[mstone]

To be fair, it is harder to get a good MTB workout inside the beltway due to the lack of, well, mountains.

[FFX_Hinterlands]

Sales pitches like that make me cringe. If you ride the sidepath or the sidewalk you’ll probably be going faster on your MTB anyhow.

I once heard a sales buy in a bike shop tell a customer, “This bike is only $5,000, but it rides like a $10,000 bike.” What the hell?

[hozn]

@mstone 45710 wrote:

To be fair, it is harder to get a good MTB workout inside the beltway due to the lack of, well, mountains.

Yes, it’s true that inside the beltway there are very few mountain biking options, but just outside the beltway there are lots of miles to be had. I would say that mountain biking can be a much better — or at least full-body — workout than road biking, but I would also agree that riding at 5mph on pavement is probably not going to work wonders.

Ultimately, though, there is nothing about a heavy mountain bike that will prevent you from losing weight/getting in shape. — Any more than there is something about a light road bike that will facilitate it. It’s just exercise; push yourself and you will get results.

Of course, once you bike more, you will probably want to get a lighter/faster bike for road riding — or a fancier mtb for off-road trail riding. That constant urge to upgrade equipment is just a symptom of cycling. At least that’s what I tell myself.

[vvill]

The only merit to a heavy MTB bike slowing down one’s weight loss is that a lighter and smoother rolling bike will make it easier to ride faster and therefore possibly more fun to ride and also further motivate you to ride… further. The days I rode my studded tires on my 26″ MTB this winter were some tough workouts. Riding “the wrong way” could have merit if your bike doesn’t fit well.

[PotomacCyclist]

@FFX_Hinterlands 45712 wrote:

Sales pitches like that make me cringe. If you ride the sidepath or the sidewalk you’ll probably be going faster on your MTB anyhow.

I once heard a sales buy in a bike shop tell a customer, “This bike is only $5,000, but it rides like a $10,000 bike.” What the hell?

$5,000 water bottle holders have been proven to boost your fitness and speed by 23.68%. True fact.

[Dirt]

The hardest part for me when I was on my weight-loss journey (50+ pounds in 2 years) was staying inspired. Part of that is the sense of flying. Being on a nice bike helps that. You really WANT to get on it and ride. You probably work more on the big heavy bike, but you enjoy it more on something a little more lively.

[lordofthemark]

To be fair the dude at FB was only trying to sell me a $650 bike, which was probably the cheapest in the store.

“but I would also agree that riding at 5mph on pavement is probably not going to work wonders.”

er, how about 7-8MPH?

“The hardest part for me when I was on my weight-loss journey (50+ pounds in 2 years) was staying inspired. Part of that is the sense of flying. Being on a nice bike helps that. You really WANT to get on it and ride. You probably work more on the big heavy bike, but you enjoy it more on something a little more lively.”

I guess this is why buying a bike is on my list.

[Greenbelt]

I’ll throw in my two cents on weight loss. I think mountain bikes are terrific for getting started. They’re comfy, they can tolerate a really big rider with ease. With granny gears, you can ease up inclines without having to dismount. Plus they look cool.

One of the guys who’s riding up to Baltimore with me on Tuesday used to be really big, like well over 250 pounds. Maybe even 300. He got started on a big rugged bike going slow. Gradually started commuting. Eventually worked his weight down and graduated to lighter, racier bikes.

Now he races Cat 5 and is planning on hanging with the Cat 4s this season. Weighs about 160 I’d guess.

http://www.usacycling.org/results/?compid=374956

[creadinger]

The calories in, calories out thing is important, but the thing that’s missing is how you ride. If the bike doesn’t inspire you to ride hard at all, then you’re not gonna get much out of it, even if it weighs 100 lbs.

I used to commute on a mountain bike until I bought my first road bike. I can’t say that it changed my weight much at all, but it did change how I rode.

On the mountain bike if I put more energy into the pedals I would still go the same speed because it was heavy with big tires. So I always figured why bother to work harder? I’ll just ride across the Georgetown Branch Trail at my moderate pace and get to work in about the same time.

When I got the road bike I noticed that more energy in the pedals meant I went faster. Sure it was easier to go fast because it was lighter and designed more for speed, but most importantly it allowed me to work harder and see the results of my effort. Way more than ever before I noticed that I would get out of breath on the road bike because I was actually trying harder. That meant more fun and more ability to test my limits.

[DaveK]

I should amend my post to say that I absolutely think that the best bike is the one that will inspire you to go out and ride. But there’s no reason you can’t accomplish your goals with the bike you have now. You could also look at a new bike like a reward for hitting a certain milestone.

[Author]

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