When you’re trying to lose weight and stay healthy, exercise is so important. The problem is, we don’t all have time to go to the gym when we already have so many other responsibilities like family and work to juggle. That’s why so many people struggle to stick to a good workout routine. But if you can find ways to introduce exercise into your normal routine, it’s a lot easier to stick to. One of the best ways to do that is by cycling instead of driving. You’ll have to add a little extra time to your commute but if you’re cycling to and from work every day, you’ll start shedding pounds in no time. If you think that cycling might be the key to your weight loss goals, here are a few important things you should know.
Safety First
Safety is so important when you’re cycling, especially if you’re going to be on busy roads with lots of traffic. Even if you’re a careful cyclist, you can’t guarantee that the drivers on the road are going to be as careful as you are, so there is always the chance that you’ll get knocked off. If you are hit by a driver because they were reckless, it’s worth pursuing a compensation claim (visit recoverylawcenterhawaii.com/bicycle-accident-lawyer/ for more information on how to do that). Hopefully, you shouldn’t need to do that because you can avoid accidents in the first place by following the rules of the road to the letter. You also need to invest in a good quality helmet so if you do come off your bike, you’re not at risk of seriously injuring yourself.
Adjust Your Diet
When you’re exercising a lot, you need to adjust your diet accordingly so you’re getting enough calories. When you’re trying to lose weight, you’ll probably be following a diet plan of some kind which is fine, however, you need to account for the extra exercise that you’re doing by cycling. If you don’t increase your calorie intake, you’ll experience lack of energy and your body won’t recover effectively, which means you’ll have sore muscles all of the time and it’ll be hard to keep up with the cycling.
Your diet needs to be high in protein so your muscles can repair properly and if you’re trying to lose weight, you need to cut back on sugar and fat as much as possible. You should try to avoid eating snacks while you ride as well because that’s calorie intake that you don’t really need. As long as you’re not doing an excessively long ride, you should just need to drink water.
Increase Your Distance Regularly
When you first start off, you should take the shortest route to work and give yourself a week or two to get used to it. As you become more confident on the bike, you should start increasing your route and taking a long way around to get more miles in. Visit https://www.bikemap.net/en/l/ for a great route planning app that you can use to find different paths and plan out your commute.
Cycling to work instead of driving is only a small change but it can help you to lose a lot of weight in a short space of time as long as you do it the right way.
