What is the best exercise bike for weight loss? Well, the fact that you’re here right now means you are unhappy with your weight at the moment and looking to shed some extra pounds.

It’s also a given that you are seriously considering investing in a stationary exercise to help you achieve weight loss goals.

Well, the stationary nature of both upright and recumbent exercise bikes means most people can be skeptical of their weight-loss boosting capabilities.

But the truth is, engaging in workouts that require staying at the same spot doesn’t necessarily prevent you from burning calories.

In fact, exercise bikes provide some of the most rewarding cardiovascular workouts for the body. They induce your heart to pump faster, increasing blood supply to various areas.

This effectively boosts the body’s ability to burn high amounts calories, leading to plummeting body fat.

Whether you are working out alone at home or as part of a workout class, there’s no reason why you can’t lose weight from biking.

Healthy Diet

There’s no limit on the number of calories your body can burn regardless of the type of exercise bike being ridden. As long as you identify a routine and stick to it on a consistent basis, with significant levels of intensity, calorie burn will be inevitable.

However, weight loss is a complicated process that requires a lot of variables to be perfect in order to achieve results.

Remember, losing weight is simple math: As long as you burn more calories than you consume, the body will inevitably get leaner.

In fact, eating a healthy diet devoid of excess calories can be a great way to lose weight even without any form of exercise.

This is because a calorie-deficit essentially forces the body to burn calories from its fat stores, leading to a slimmer physique over time.

How Much Calories Can You Burn?

What is the magical figure of calories you need to burn in order to achieve your desired body size? In most cases, the larger your weight, the higher the amount of calories burned even at the same intensity of training.

This means all things being equal, and at the same intensity, a 400-pound person is likely to burn more calories than another weighing 250 pounds even on the same exercise bike.

Interval Training

If you consistently pedal your exercise bike for an extended period of time even at low intensity, you will definitely burn some calories. However, this may not be enough to lose weight even if done every day.

This is one of the reasons why many people see little to no difference in their weight levels even though they work out consistently.

High Intensity Interval Training is one of the best ways to lose maximum amount of weight whether you pedal a recumbent, upright, or spinning bike. It involves repeated cycles of high intensity and low intensity workouts for an extended period of time.

Interval training is also effective in transforming your aerobic resistance so you can train harder and get fitter.

Conclusion

Both recumbent and stationary upright bikes can be an effective tool for inducing your weight loss.

At the end of the day, how much body fat you shed all comes down to your diet as well as the amount effort and level of intensity you are willing to put into your exercise routines.

However we realize that this still doesn’t answer your question. We believe the upright bike is the best option for weight loss over the recumbent.

This is because regular stationary bikes by design place more demand on the core muscles of the body. This forces the body to find more muscle fibers to fire up which leads to more calories being burned.

Recumbent style bikes demand fewer muscles in your hips and back in order to stabilize your body during workouts. Due to the back rests and reclining seat, relatively less calories end up getting burned.

Therefore at the same level of intensity, resistance, and time, you’ll end up burning more calories and hence lose more weight on an upright bike.

However, keep note that the differences may be negligible at best.