Guest Post – How can you lose weight on your way to work?

Hey guys, Yossif here. I haven’t updated much but I wanted to tell you about a friend of mine who had a similar weight loss story to tell. While nutrition is of course a huge part of weight loss, Mathias found that a simple change in the method of getting to work everyday can make a big difference. Here’s his story:

In 2012 I weighed 340 pounds and I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. Something that I think some of us can relate to. I started going to the gym, but it was a pain to try and put aside an hour a day in my already busy schedule to exercise.

One day when I was sitting in rush hour traffic, I thought to myself: “What if there was a way to lose weight while commuting to work?” I pondered the idea for a bit and saw someone bike past me when I was stopped on the side of the freeway.

The one thing that I started to notice when I started to bike to work, was how much energy that I had once I arrived. When I was driving to work I wasn’t actually doing anything besides driving. That was the task at hand. I had to make sure that I wasn’t getting side swiped by any other cars, and that I was giving enough space to the car in front of me. The last thing you want to do when you’re driving a car is cause an accident. Make an expensive thing even more expensive and more stressful.

Biking will give you more energy

Researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens found that after a single 30-minute session of stationary cycling, subjects reported a boost in their energy levels. In addition, the authors of the study were able to record positive electrical changes in the subjects’ brains related to energy (via an electroencephalogram). “The cycling seemed to activate brain neural circuits that make a person feel energized,” says Patrick O’Connor, a professor of kinesiology at UGA. “We tend to think of physical activity as being tiring, but in fact physical activity adds energy to our lives,” says Kate F. Hays, Ph.D., a clinical and sport psychologist in Toronto.

What can you do with your new found energy levels? The sky’s the limit! I started becoming more active in the planning sessions at work. Speaking my mind and helping people that were outside my department. Not too long after my superiors saw all of the responsibility that I was giving myself and decided that I should receive a promotion. Now I’m taking on even more responsibilities at work, and I have all the energy that I need.

Biking helps relieve stress

While I’m biking I don’t have a care in the world. I can lose myself to my thoughts. All I have to do is point my bike in a direction and start pedaling. It allows me to daydream and collect myself for the new day.

At the time that I started commuting to work I was working on an extremely difficult project. The client was horrible, the problems that we had to solve were not easy, and the individuals that were working with me on the project were rage quitting because they didn’t want to deal with the stress.

I was able to get over this small hump with a relaxing ride between an avenue of trees every morning. People were asking me left and right “how are you staying so calm?”. It was simple. I was biking to work and getting all of the bad vibes out by smashing the pedals up the hills, and feeling the wind in my hair as I was zooming down the inclines.

In addition to this, it helps you solve problems. I have solved more problems on my bike than anywhere else. Spending time biking to work clears your mind in such a way that it allows you to think about the big issues which saves me hours of work sitting at my desk. Which in turn save my clients thousands of dollars and gets them their product on time and under budget. If there was ever any way to convince whoever is paying you to buy you a bike, this might be the argument that you try to go for. Also depending on your employer, you may be eligible for a “Bicycle Commuter Benefit” which your employer will give you $20 a month tax-free just for biking to work!

Biking is great at helping you shed those extra pounds.

When you’re sitting in your car, it’s obvious that you aren’t burning any extra calories. Maybe a few extra if you’re a pro at rocking the air drums. You might even be consuming tons of extra calories when you stop and get that big gulp from the gas station which could cause you to put on a few extra pounds.

This isn’t the case when you bike to work. There are plenty of stories out there of people getting on a bike and losing a ton of weight. In fact, I am also one of those people. I’ve lost over 100 pounds, and am still losing more every year. Biking is an amazingly low impact way to lose weight, literally anyone can jump on a bike and take it for a spin around town.

A calculator can be found at bicycling.com in which you can plug in your weight and how fast your biking to get a quick number of calories burned.  For example, someone can burn around 500 calories an hour when biking a brisk 13 mile per hour pace. As long as you’re eating healthy and making sure your caloric intake is less than what you burn, you should be on your way to losing those extra pounds that you’ve been carrying around. As a benefit of losing those extra pounds, you might even bike just a little bit faster!

These are just some of the benefits of biking to work.

After you create a commuting habit it becomes as easy as driving your car to work, and it will make you such a happier and healthier person!

To learn more you can check out Mathias Rechtzigel’s ebook – The Beginner’s Guide to Bicycle Commuting

It’s FREE for a limited time! Check it out!

-Yossif

Last updated by Yossif on October 3, 2015.