We’re burning with our favorite cycling stories that we want to share with you. Whether you enjoy a cozy outdoor ride or spinning indoors, we have a host of must-know ideas to help you push your fitness to the next level.
From research conducted by Harvard University, a 155-pound person cycling moderately burns about 298 calories in 30 minutes, and 372 calories when biking at an intense rate in the same duration.
Let’s share some quick facts:
An average woman burns about 200 calories by cycling moderately for 30 minutes, while an average man burns 225 calories.
If both a man and woman cycle more intensely, a woman will burn 310 in 30 minutes, while the man burns up to 360 calories.
It’s correct to say that the calories burned through cycling depend on how intense or soft the practice is.
You should always keep track of calories you burn every time you bike unless you do it for leisure. In this article, we will get you more informed starting from your age and weight range.
Slow and steady biking vs. fast and vigorous biking
Slow biking doesn’t require a lot of energy to burn calories. Your body relies on aerobic metabolism for energy. Intense biking requires more oxygen (anaerobic metabolism) to convert fats and proteins to energy. Therefore, you burn more calories.
To be precise, this is what we mean by slow and intense biking:
By slow speed, we mean 12 to 14mph
By moderate speed, 14 to 16mph
By vigorous speed, 16 to 19mph or faster
Certain factors affect calories burned. People burn calories differently even if the cycling rate is the same. Let’s look at them in the next-gen.
Factors Determining Calorie Burning
In case you didn’t know, men and women burn calories differently, that’s why we have demonstrated this in two different tables. Older people have a less muscle to fats ratio, hence lower calories are burned.
- Sex
- Age
- Cycling rate
Calories burned cycling by men
Men have more muscle and less body fat than women have. If a male and female cycle together at the same mode, intensity, and duration, the male will burn more calories because males require more metabolic demands to maintain their muscles.
| Cycling rate | Weight range in kg | |||||||||
| Up to – 69 | 70 – 76 | 77 – 83 | 84 – 89 | 90 – 95 | 96 – 101 | 102 – 106 | 107 – 111 | 112 – 116 | 117 – 120 | |
| Slowly (30 mins) | 82 | 87 | 92 | 97 | 102 | 106 | 109 | 113 | 116 | 118 |
| Slowly (60 mins) | 164 | 174 | 184 | 194 | 204 | 212 | 218 | 226 | 232 | 236 |
| Moderately (30 mins) | 194 | 210 | 225 | 240 | 254 | 269 | 283 | 297 | 310 | 323 |
| Moderately(60 mins) | 308 | 420 | 450 | 480 | 508 | 538 | 566 | 594 | 620 | 646 |
| Vigorous (30 mins) | 307 | 333 | 358 | 384 | 408 | 433 | 457 | 481 | 504 | 527 |
| Vigorous (60 mins) | 614 | 666 | 716 | 768 | 816 | 866 | 914 | 962 | 1008 | 1054 |
Calories Burned Cycling by Women
Women have fewer caloric needs than men. There are also factors such as estrogen and testosterone hormones that trigger more metabolism in men.
| Cycling rate | Weight range in kg | |||||||||
| 46 – 51 | 52 – 57 | 58 – 64 | 65 – 70 | 71 – 76 | 77 – 83 | 84 – 89 | 90 – 95 | 96 – 102 | 103 – 108 | |
| Slowly (30 mins) | 69 | 76 | 83 | 89 | 95 | 101 | 106 | 111 | 116 | 120 |
| Slowly (60 mins) | 138 | 152 | 166 | 178 | 190 | 202 | 212 | 222 | 232 | 240 |
| Moderately (30 mins) | 151 | 168 | 185 | 202 | 218 | 234 | 250 | 265 | 280 | 294 |
| Moderately(60 mins) | 302 | 336 | 370 | 404 | 436 | 468 | 500 | 530 | 560 | 588 |
| Vigorous (30 mins) | 232 | 260 | 287 | 314 | 341 | 367 | 393 | 418 | 443 | 468 |
| Vigorous (60 mins) | 464 | 520 | 574 | 628 | 682 | 734 | 686 | 836 | 886 | 936 |
As you can see, certain factors such as weight, how vigorous you pedal, and time intensity have a direct say in whichever amount of calories you burn.
Biking is a near excellent calorie burner because you can easily choose the number of calories you wish to burn. For example, you can bike uphill or steep slopes to burn more.
There are different ways of cycling. Some bikers move to the fitness studios for stationary biking while others cycle on landscapes. Both are efficient methods to burn calories but as aforementioned, the deal is to spend a lot of energy to burn calories.
That makes outside biking a better choice for those who want to burn more calories. We’ve prepared a more detailed comparison in the next slides.
Stationary Biking
You still get top-notch fitness results by working out at the gym. However, it is less intense than outside biking, hence, you burn fewer calories. Biking at a moderate pace of (12 – 13.9mph) for 30 minutes, helps you burn:
- 210 calories for 125 pound
- 260 calories for 260 pound
Outside Biking
Outside biking burns more calories since bikers may ascend mountains or steep terrains and rocky grounds which require intense exercises.
- 240 calories for 125 pound
- 298 calories for 155 pound
- 355 calories for 185 pound
Why Cycling Is A Good Choice For Burning Calories
Cycling is an inexpensive, healthy, easily accessible way to keep fit, burn calories and lose weight. Most people can do it without discomfort like from the gym.
There are also great benefits it offers and more:
- Burn more calories easily
- Direct effect on weight and BMI index
- Easily accessible
- Has no limits, you can bike anywhere
- Impacts healthfully on your back, joints, leg, and hands at the same time.
- Cheap, there are no membership fees
- No fixed schedule
If your target is to lose weight, biking for 30 minutes alone won’t help. Make sure to visit a dietician to prescribe the right diet. Some diets may interfere with the calories burned, so, research more about low-calorie diet meals.
Finally, all these are estimates. There is no efficient way to measure calories that you burn by cycling. If you have any questions related to this topic, leave me a message below. I will be very pleased to answer.
“How Many Calories Are Burned Bicycling for 30 Minutes? | Livestrong.com” https://www.livestrong.com/article/292402-how-many-calories-are-burned-bicycling-for-30-minutes/
https://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/calories/burning_calories/cycling-burns-calories.htm
“How Many Calories Do You Burn Biking?” https://www.healthline.com/health/how-many-calories-do-you-burn-biking#indoor-biking
