If you have been looking at TV for the past month you probably noticed that there has been a ramp up on weight loss supplement and exercise equipment commercials. Advertisers know that this is the time that most people make New Year’s resolutions and start to try to lose weight. Most will choose a weight loss supplement and try to lose weight the easy way. But there is never a easy way to lose weight. Every weight loss program calls for some type of exercise. Well, let me take that back, any well known weight loss program that is worth anything. Most will say that you need to get thirty minutes of exercise in daily either by weight training, walking, running, riding a bike or some other exercise. But most miss the mark when it come to speaking on which will help you to burn the most calories during each session. Well, I am not going to concentrate on every exercise just mentioned, except for running and riding a bike.
Running is a great exercise for those looking to lose weight, because running usually takes up so much energy the exercise will your increase heart rate and will help you to burn between 100-150 calories per mile. This not etched in stone. The amount of calories per session burnt will depend on your body mass. A person running burns calories at a net rate of 1.53 calories per kilogram of body mass per mile. This sound complicated. I know it did to me when I first started studying on the subject. But it is very simple and is calculated as so. A person running can burn 70 calories per mile for every 100 pounds of the individual’s body weight. I weight approx 270 pounds at 6'3", so ((270 * 70) / 100) is 189 calories per mile. Now, let’s take a look at bike riding.
I love to ride my bike. If I could ride my bike to the majority of places that I go daily I would. It is great exercise and just keeps your body humming. Bike riding take a little more energy than running. It also exercises all major muscle groups at the same time. Calorie loss with bike riding also depends on body mass and weight, but another factor is also introduced. How much effort is taken when biking? Are you using light, moderate or vigorous effort to peddle and ride your bike? For example a 30 minute ride going 10 to 12 mph with a 150 pound person would yield 200 calories burnt, while a 250 pound person would burn 340 pounds. If the person would to up the speed he or she would burn even more calories per session. Here is a chart explaining. As you can see bike riding yields the best result.
Activity 30 minute duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Calories burned
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150-pound person . . . . . . 250-pound person
light effort (10 to 11.9 mph) . . . . . . . . 200 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
moderate effort (12 to 13.9 mph) . . . . .270 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450
vigorous effort (14 to 15.9 mph) . . . . . 340 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
This article is brought to you by balancebiketrainer.com. Where we specialize in children's balance bikes ages 1 through 5 and review exceptional balance bikes like the Strider Balance Bike.
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I'd like to extend a warm welcome to Kenneth Elliott. He's the first guest poster to write for Bike Diva!
Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Bike Diva
Posted by: Lynn Smythe | 01/06/2010 at 07:17 PM
Thanks Lynn for such a positive introduction to your blog. I appreciate the opportunity.
Posted by: Kenneth Elliott | 01/07/2010 at 11:21 AM
It is strange that on some site I see that running is better, others say that biking is better. Anyways, as long as we do at least one of these every day, it is good enough.
Posted by: Joseph Szenasi | 02/23/2010 at 01:27 PM
Thanks for all of the great information above! All of those ways to lose calories are great and can be done at any part of the day. In order to find out how many calories you have burned walking, running, or performing chores around the house, head on over to http://www.fitclick.com and use their calories burned calculator. Head on over and try it, you have nothing to lose but weight!
Posted by: Tom | 03/15/2010 at 10:09 AM
Monitoring Calories Burned during your workout routine could be really helpful in keeping you motivated. I use this website that tells you how many calories were burned during the exercise you did that day http://www.fitclick.com/how_many_calories_burned
Posted by: Lillyadams79 | 06/01/2010 at 04:03 AM
Great comparison between cycling and running. Thanks for sharing.
p.s. bring on the ironman triathlon
Thanks,
Tom
Posted by: getting rid of double chin | 10/28/2010 at 09:28 AM
The reason you see sites arguing which one is better is simple point of view. But the comparison in this article is not a valid comparison. Biking is very different from running. You are comparing calories burned per distance compared to calories burned over a duration of time. Running requires more stress on the body, while biking is much lower impact. If a 150 lb person runs for a half hour they only need to average a mile every 10 minutes to burn 300 calories in that half hour vs vigorous biking to burn 340 calories. The issue I would have however is the impact level. Lower impact means less damage to the joints. All of these measurements are based on work put in to travel across level land. The reality is there are only a few key differences between biking and running, distance and impact. The lower impact bike ride allows for greater distance traveled (The bike carries your weight not the other way around) and you preserve more energy, travel at faster speeds for longer distances. If you bike uphill you have to put more energy in to going up the hill but you can allow momentum to build going downhill on the other side, but while running you carry yourself no matter where you go.
Posted by: Joe | 07/07/2011 at 05:57 PM