I think it is more than safe to say that fall is my absolute favorite season.
You see, I am not a big one for decorating (I really appreciate those of you who ARE!), but if I was, you could absolutely bet that I would be breaking out all of the fall things right about now.
Additionally, I am obsessed with all of the fall foods too! I got my first pumpkin spiced latte of the season today (I know, they have been out for a bit already but I need it to FEEL like fall first).
Fall is freaking great, and it is the perfect time for you to lose weight riding your bike.
Now, you might be thinking that January is actually the best time to lose weight biking. I will admit, January is great too!
It was January 2nd of 2020 when I set my goal to lose weight for the last time…so I get it. There is something special about starting the year fresh with an awesome weight loss goal.
However, I am here making a bold claim that FALL is actually a perfect time to lose weight biking. Curious as to why? Read on for all of the reasons why you should lose weight biking in the fall.
#1: The “back to school” effect.
Here’s the deal. I firmly believe you don’t need to be a teacher or a student to feel the “back to school effect.”
There is something about the fall that screams “a new beginning” to all of us, regardless of whether or not we are going back to school. It’s almost like by the time we are adults it is a part of our DNA!
Each and every one of us has experienced this. We go into that new school year thinking that we are going to crush it, that this is going to be the year where we are on top of our school work and get all the things done.
We come off of the summer hopefully nice and rested, having experienced a vacation (or two..or three!).
There is a quality about this time of year that signals a slight shift in all of us, that gives us this opportunity for a new beginning. It’s like sharpening your new pencils, and cracking open that stiff notebook that is just waiting for you to write things in it.
Research has shown that fall is the most productive time of year…and I think it has a lot to do with the back to school effect combined with coming off what is (hopefully!) the restful period of summer.
#2: Fall has some of the BEST biking weather.
Hands down my favorite time to ride bikes is the fall.
I feel like fall has the absolute BEST weather for outdoor activities. All you have to do is have some warmer gear to throw on in the fall season for when it gets a little chilly, and you are good to go!
Yes, you do have more daylight in spring and summer, but literally nothing beats getting out on your bike on a crisp fall day. In fact, I simply love riding on an October afternoon and stopping to snap some photos of some pumpkin patches.
Sometimes it is a little chilly to start, but once you get moving you warm yourself up so fast that it’s not even noticeable!
If you are in the habit of thinking that the biking season is pretty much over once September rolls around, I strongly encourage you to adjust your window for biking. Sure it might be a little dark in the evening, but you can still get out on the weekends!
#3: Having less time left in the year can actually make you more productive.
As you approach the fall months, there is a chance that some of the progress you have been making on those goals that you set at the beginning of the year have stalled.
Maybe you set a health goal, and you were all about it from January to March, but then the spring/summer months got busy.
Fall is the best time to jump back into those goals. If you have ever heard of Parkinson’s law, you know that we as humans have a tendency to make tasks expand to the time that we allot to them.
In other words, if you have two hours to complete a task, then you will take two hours. BUT, if you only have 30 minutes, you will complete that task in 30 minutes.
This is actually great news for those of us that find ourselves stalling on our yearly goals over the spring and summer. We can jump right back in once fall rolls around and make tremendous progress!
Therefore, if you gained some weight over Spring and Summer (I most certainly did) this is the best time to jump in and start working on getting the scale to go back in the other direction.
#4: It’s the perfect time to get a handle on your eating habits BEFORE the holiday season starts.
I don’t think that you need me to remind you that the holiday season is right around the corner.
So many of us go into the holidays with all sorts of anxiety about weight gain and the food that is seemingly thrown at us in a steady stream from Halloween to Christmas.
And my Canadian friends?! You all get Thanksgiving in OCTOBER. My gosh!
Why not use this time in the lead up to the holidays to start working on making small, doable changes to your eating habits?
Now, to be clear I am not talking about dropping a bunch of weight in an unhealthy way in order to create a “buffer” for your weight gain during the holiday season.
I am talking about now being the time to start really thinking about your food choices. To practice eating when you are hungry, and stopping when you are satisfied.
These are great habits to work on so that when we encounter all of the fabulous holiday food we enjoy it without eating our face off.
Likewise, this is a great time to get in the habit of regularly getting on your bike. This way, when you start to transition more towards riding indoors than outdoors you have a number of indoor rides to shoot for accomplishing each week.
#5: It’s fall right now.
Here’s the thing. The best time to lose weight? Is right now. Whenever now happens to be, and now happens to be fall.
Hear me out. There is truly no reason to wait to lose weight. We always have all of these reasons in our heads why now isn’t the right time to do something that we really want.
Maybe we are really busy in this season of life. Perhaps it is a stage where we are really finding ourselves putting other people first.
Maybe you find yourself just completely unable to focus on one more thing, and you want to wait until your calendar frees up a little bit.
I am here to tell you that weight loss does not take a lot of time. Maybe five minutes in the morning planning your meals…10-15 minutes each weekend deciding when you are going to fit in your bike rides for the week.
Some real talk here. If you have time at the end of the night or when you wake up in the morning to scroll through your phone? You have time to lose weight.
You don’t need to make a lot of complicated, healthy meals. Instead, you just need to start being intentional about what you eat and deciding ahead of time when you aren’t stressed, tired, and about to eat your arm off.
You don’t need to ride your bike a ton of miles every week. Instead, you just need to find some places to insert movement, any kind of movement, into your day to day so that you feel GOOD.
If you keep putting off weight loss and making yourself a priority, I promise there is never going to be the perfect time.
You just need to start small. You just need to start today.
A Final Note
Fall is truly the perfect time to lose weight biking.
Between the “back to school effect” and feeling like it’s a new beginning, to the fact that we still have a solid 90 days left in the year to work on our 2024 goals…there is just no reason NOT to focus on weight loss in the fall.
This is the perfect time to work on your habits so that you can go into the holiday season feeling like you are in control…you know so that you can actually enjoy the season AND the food without feeling guilty for what you are eating and for not riding your bike.
There is no better time than to start losing weight than right now. Even if you are busy. Even if it seems hard.
There will never be the perfect time to lose weight…nor should there be! It’s actually GREAT to focus on weight loss when you have a lot going on because then you are SO much less likely to make changes that aren’t sustainable.
So why not start now? Why not start today? It’s fall, it’s exciting, it’s time.
Ride on!
xoxo
Stacy
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