When I first started cycling a number of years ago, I thought I was going to lose SO much weight.

For a good chunk of my life I had a very unhealthy relationship with my body. 

I remember being five-years-old and sitting on the school bus and wondering why kids were making comments on my body. 

Fast forward through some pretty painful middle school, high school, and even college years, and I still had an unhealthy relationship with my body.

It was a project. It was broken. It was something to be worked on and fixed.

I was overweight, unhappy in my own skin, and constantly wondering why clothes that look so good on my friends didn’t look good on me.

When I was introduced to cycling in my late 30s I was FLOORED. I thought FINALLY! This is it! This is an exercise that I truly enjoy! This is going to be my ticket to finally losing weight AND keeping it off. 

Until it wasn’t.

Until I actually started to GAIN weight. 

I truly did not understand what was happening. How was it even possible that I didn’t have weight just dropping off my body with all of the exercising I was finally doing? 

I became a little depressed, a LOT demoralized, and didn’t really see the point in getting on my bike anymore.

It wasn’t until I started to separate cycling from weight loss in my mind, and in my LIFE, that I actually started to see the changes I wanted in my body.

If you are finding that you too are feeling stuck in this endless cycle (pun absolutely intended!) of cycling in order to lose weight and being disappointed, read on for some insights and suggestions! In this article I will share with you how changing my thoughts about cycling and weight loss led to my amazing results. 

Why You Should Separate Cycling From Weight Loss 

What I realized is that tying cycling and weight loss together in my mind was sapping the joy out of cycling. 

I started to think, “If I am cycling to lose weight, and I don’t lose weight, then what’s the point in cycling?”

I began to lose the joy that I felt when I got on my bike and rode my first 10 miles.

That feeling of accomplishment of focusing on what my body can DO. Feeling my body and my bike cut through the wind, seeing all of the awesome things that I couldn’t see if I was just running the same 1-2 miles around my neighborhood every day. 

What I didn’t realize was that if cycling, if any kind of exercise, is just a means to an end in terms of a health or fitness goal, I am highly unlikely to do it. 

You see, I am a pleasure-seeking individual. We all are to some degree. Our brains are wired to seek pleasure and avoid pain. 

That “no pain, no gain” newsletter? UNSUBSCRIBE. 

I wasn’t interested then, and I am certainly NOT interested now. 

If I am going to do something, anything, it has to be fun, and it has to be EASY. If it’s not at least one of those things? I’m out. 

Turns out that cycling isn’t always easy, but it sure is FUN! 

Cycle for the FUN 

Riding your bike is supposed to be fun. Focus on the fun. Do NOT lose sight of the fun! 

Last night, on our Wednesday Night Group Ride, my husband, bless him, helped me with the route (as he often does). 

He said, “There is a drop right around mile 16.1 that is like dropping into another dimension. Let everyone know it’s coming up, but don’t play it up too much just in case they don’t agree!” 

I gave everyone the heads up, and when we got to that spot?

It was like the heavens opened up. I legitimately almost CRIED. I am tearing up a bit just thinking about it now.

I won’t be able to do it justice in terms of the description, but I will try. The deep green tree branches met over the road and formed almost this protective little beautiful cave…until they parted. I felt like it was a storybook, like I was in Winnie the Pooh’s Hundred Acre Wood. Then, as we continued the descent the sun and clouds dazzled, the gorgeous fields stretched for what felt like miles. 

It was 12 hours ago, all of 45 seconds, and I am still riding that high.

THIS. I thought, in that moment. THIS is why I ride. 

By focusing on the FUN, on what brings you joy in cycling? You are that much more likely to get on the bike and experience your next adventure. Trust me, as someone who attempted to lose weight for years, weight loss as a motivator does NOT hold a candle to fun! 

Focus on What Your Body Can DO to Motivate Weight Loss 

Not a day goes by when I don’t think about how amazing it is that I can hop on a bike and just ride 30 miles. 

My legs, my body…we are capable of doing that, and that feels incredible. 

Just knowing that my body is what makes all of this possible is amazing.

And, knowing that if I focus on what my body can do when I am choosing how to fuel it? I am that much more likely to make better choices.

Like Wednesdays, for example. I know that I have my group rides Wednesdays. That I need to hydrate all day long, not just during the ride, if I want to be strong enough to ride. I know that I have to fuel with healthy carbs in the lead up to the ride so that my body can do what I want it to do. 

By focusing on cycling and the love of cycling, I actually want to fuel my body properly. I don’t want to put stuff in it that makes me feel sluggish or hurts my tummy. I know that I want to get my post-ride recovery shake in so that my body recovers properly and can do it all again tomorrow if I have another ride scheduled for tomorrow. 

I cannot tell you how many times I have said no to another glass of wine, or an unhealthy food choice because I wanted to be able to ride my bike later on or the next day. 

In other words, instead of cycling being the means to losing weight, cycling is the motivator. I don’t want to be bloated and uncomfortable on my bike. I don’t want to be sluggish or have a headache. I want to feel good, I want to feel strong. I want to eat well so that I can fuel my body for what it can DO. 

Losing Weight Has a Whole Lot More to Do With What You’re Putting in Your Mouth Than How You’re Moving Your Body 

I discovered very early on in my cycling journey that I wasn’t going to lose weight cycling if I didn’t start seriously thinking about my nutrition. 

The reality was that as much as I was loving cycling, and loving a more active lifestyle, I wasn’t changing my eating habits. 

In fact, cycling made me HUNGRY, so I was eating significantly MORE. 

And as much as I was being very active for someone who had not been active much at all, for some time, I wasn’t cycling the kind of distance/time each day to compensate for my overeating. 

Additionally, as someone who does not excel at math or have the patience for it, I was certainly not going to be counting calories or macros or anything like that. I am all about following loose guidelines such as “get x grams of protein in within 30 minutes of a ride!”, but I was not about to start tracking calories and macros in any kind of app. 

I mean, I have done it, but it never lasts. I am lucky if I can get three days of entering stuff into My Fitness Pal before I forget and give up. It’s not long before that app has that little “cloud” icon on it indicating that I haven’t used it in so long my phone has offloaded it! 

I realized that I needed to get back to basics with my nutrition. I needed to drink water. I needed to get enough sleep. I needed to eat when I was hungry, and stop when I was full. I needed to eat to fuel my body and my rides…not eat for pleasure, not eat as a reward. 

Now, you might be thinking that I have sapped out all of the joy related to food, and trust me, I have not! I have simply learned to find fun and joy in parts of my life that don’t involve food too. Things like time with friends and family, and of course, cycling. 

I enjoy hot fudge sundaes in the summer, and pot roast and mashed potatoes in the winter. The difference is that now I don’t have those sundaes every day, and they are smaller because I don’t need a massive sundae to enjoy the experience of having a sundae. My pot roast and mashed potatoes now take up half my plate, and on the other half is a big salad. 

I am always asking myself “am I hungry,” and “have I had enough?” If I am not hungry, if I have had enough, I don’t eat.

I feel my feelings now, instead of eating them.  Most of the time. And when I mess up and eat my feelings? Or eat when I am not hungry? I get curious about it and ask myself why instead of beating myself up for “erasing all my progress.” 

There’s always another chance to make a different choice. 

Cycle Because You Love It. Celebrate Cycling. Celebrate YOURSELF. 

There is SO much to love about cycling. The freedom. The gorgeous, breathtaking views. The wonderful, beautiful women that I get to ride with every Wednesday night. 

Riding your bike to lose weight? Well that’s just kind of boring. 

And, to be honest, it simply doesn’t work. 

So, stick to cycling for the fun of it. Separate it from weight loss in your mind. You absolutely CAN have both. I did, and I do.

If you want to connect them? Use cycling as a motivator to making changes in your nutrition, not a means to lose weight. Keep yourself from being disappointed, and focus on the FUN. You’ve got this. You ABSOLUTELY can do this.

Ride on!
xoxo
Stacy