Ride your bike, gain less weight

Image by richardmasoner via Flickr

I dusted off my bike a few weeks ago and have been riding it to and from work 2-3 times per week, weather and schedule permitting.  I’m fortunate to live less than one mile from our city’s bike trail system, I’m doubly fortunate that said system also deposits me within four blocks of my clinic, and I’m triply fortunate that it is a gorgeous ride.  For an activity that only adds a total of twenty minutes to my day (round-trip car ride takes twenty minutes, round-trip on the bike is forty) but burns close to 500 calories, it’s probably the most high-yield calorie-burning thing that I do.  Plus it gives me an excuse to wear some really obnoxious cycling gear, and in a profession like mine, you need a place to let out your crazy every now and then.

As an added bonus, in the latest edition of the Archives of Internal Medicine, bicycling has been associated with less weight gain in premenopausal women.

Bicycling, similar to brisk walking, is associated with less weight gain and an inverse dose-response relationship exists, especially among overweight and obese women.

Lusk A, Mekary R, et al.  Bicycle Riding, Walking, and Weight Gain in Premenopausal Women.  Arch Intern Med.  2010; 170 (12) 1050-1056.

Really, in my situation it’s almost silly not to.