One of the main reasons people get started with a peloton is to be healthier and lose extra pounds. Today I will cover how effective is the peloton for weight loss based on my experience.
- A peloton does help you lose weight because the 30-minute class can burn anywhere from 200 to 400 calories.
- However, according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 50% of people who lose weight regain it back within the first 5 years.
- Regular cycling together with strength training and calorie deficit leads to negative energy balance while maintaining muscle mass, which helps to keep the results for longer.
Keep reading if you wanna know why and what you can do not only to lose weight but also to keep it off.
Peloton and weight loss transformation
I got my peloton bike in the summer of 2020 when the whole world was under lockdown. My goal was to be able to train at home, without having to go to gyms.
In the beginning, I was focused mainly on the cycling part. I was doing heaps of peloton climb rides, HIIT and Tabata rides, and even longer rides that burn the most calories.
Initially, I lost a lot of weight, but I wasn’t getting any stronger. In fact, after the first 6 months, I did lose a lot of muscle becasue I wasn’t lifting enough weights.
Peloton helps to lose weight fast
How fast you can lose weight with a peloton will depend on multiple factors.
For example.
- Your calorie intake and how much food you eat in general.
- Your current fitness level and weekly training volume.
- Your lean body weight and how much muscle mass you have.
People who are consistent and have more lean body mass will see the results relatively fast.
So doing peloton classes is just one of many things that you need to consider. Here is the breakdown of what else is important when it comes to weight loss that will either speed up or slow down your results.
| Speed up results | Slow down results |
|---|---|
| Calorie deficit High protein and high fiber diet Strength training Focusing on behaviors Good sleep and recovery Low stress | Low protein diet No strength training Focusing on outcomes Poor sleep and recovery High stress |
Plus, there are other things that can stall the results like hormonal imbalance, medications, circadian rhythms, home environment, social support, and many more.
The good news is that if you focus on doing more of the stuff that will speed up the process, you can overcome almost any obstacle.
Does riding the peloton help you lose weight? As a general rule, riding the peloton does help you lose weight because you increase calorie expenditure. When calories burned throughout the day exceeds calories consumed, the body creates a calorie deficit, which leads to using stored body fat for the energy source.
How Does Peloton Help You Lose Weight?
Peloton helps you lose weight by burning calories and increasing the metabolic rate. A higher calorie expenditure leads to enhanced fat oxidation as a result of a negative energy balance. The more time and intensity you do on the peloton bike, the more weight you can lose.
This will lead to quicker results because you will burn a lot of calories per day.
The second option is to use a peloton bike as a supplement to your strength training, add more calories and focus on building muscle mass and performance first. Then, after several weeks of training, you cut the calories.
This approach is slower, however, the moment you cut the calories afterward, it is so much easier not only to lose fat and also to keep it off because you’ve built muscle mass (which is the most calorie-demanding tissue).
Of course, there are pros and cons of both approaches.
| Peloton Only | Peloton + Strength Training |
|---|---|
| Fast results Hard to maintain Slows down metabolic rate | Slow results Easy to maintain Increases metabolic rate |
Will I Lose Weight With Peloton Bike?
In general, you will lose weight with a peloton bike because cycling at home helps you to be consistent with the exercises. Also, access to the peloton workout library with several different types of classes, user metrics and leaderboard keeps you motivated.
In the peloton app, you have 11 categories of classes (strength, tread, yoga, bootcamp) with over 22,000 different workouts. This is a great opportunity to not only focus on cycling but also try and implement other stuff.
Adding strength training will help to maintain muscle mass, keep the metabolic rate high and burn more calories in the long term.
On the other hand, just doing cycling without resistance training will reduce muscle mass and slow down the metabolic rate in the long term.
Learn more: Click here to read more about “best peloton classes for endurance“
How Long Does It Take To Lose Weight On Peloton?
In general, it takes around 12 to 24 weeks to lose weight on a peloton, depending on your current weight and personal goal. Realistically, you can lose between 1 to 3 lbs per week, as long as you’re consistent with classes and implement a calorie deficit.
Keep in mind that apart from eating less it is important to have a high protein diet. Being in calorie deficit creates metabolic adaptations (this means the body changes its priorities when it comes to metabolism).
For example, during regular calorie intake, the daily recommended allowance (RDA) for protein is around 0.8 grams per kg.
This is enough to maintain all body functions, have sufficient muscle protein synthesis, and have minimum muscle protein breakdown.
NOTE: Muscle protein synthesis is when the body builds more lean body mass. Muscle protein breakdown is when the body breaks down muscle for amino acids because it didn’t get enough from the diet.
However, when the body is in the negative energy balance (more calories burned than consumed) that same 0.8 grams of protein per kg is no longer sufficient to maintain all the functions.
You need to have more. Much more.
In fact, the study done by (Pasiakos, et al. 2010) has shown that people who consumed 1.5 grams of protein, twice the RDA, while being in the calorie deficit had significantly greater muscle loss, compared to maintenance calorie intake.
This means when you’re in a calorie deficit, it is imperative to focus on the diet even more because of the metabolic changes. Here are examples of changes in the body:
| Metabolic Adaptations During Calorie Deficit |
|---|
| Decrease in protein synthesis (the body uses fewer proteins to build and repair cells) Increase in protein breakdown (the body prefers to use amino acids from muscle) Decrease in metabolic rate (lower calorie burn) Changes in appetite (feel more hungry) |
Adding more proteins while you’re losing weight with peloton comes with a lot of benefits:
- High protein synthesis / low protein breakdown
- High satiety (you feel less hungry)
- Higher metabolic rate (proteins require more calories for digestion)
Curious about proteins? To learn more about how much protein you need during calorie deficit check out my article “calorie deficit and proteins“.
Has Anyone Lost Weight Using Peloton?
As a whole, dozens of people share their weight loss results from using the peloton every day via social media, forums, or blog posts. Peloton has over 4.4 million active subscribers, with over 90 million workouts completed every 3 months.
Personally, I work with several clients who use either peloton bike or peloton digital apps. This allows them to access thousands of on-demand classes at their fingertips.
What I also like about peloton is they encourage beginners to stay consistent giving badges and achievements. For example, if you accomplish 100 workouts in a given category, you will receive a peloton century T-shirt.
I’ve already written an article “peloton century shirt” with all the details about this program, which I recommend you read.
Peloton Everyday To Lose Weight and More
There are tons of benefits from doing peloton every day that goes beyond weight loss. Being physically active not only improves your cardiorespiratory system but also improves health markers and reduces stress levels.
Will I lose weight doing peloton every day? As a whole, you will lose weight doing peloton every day because it significantly increases your metabolic rate. Around 20 – 30% TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) comes from physical activity and the more you do it, the more weight you lose.
Plus, the more you do it, your body gets more efficient at your workouts, so you can increase the speed, duration, or resistance to get even better results. This means doing more challenging classes to burn even more calories.
Peloton Workout To Lose Weight
Your peloton workout routine should include both peloton rides, as well as other classes. I highly recommend adding strength and bootcamp classes as they help you to build muscle mass.
Muscle mass is the most important factor that keeps the metabolic rate high. It increases the demand for energy, so you can burn more calories at rest.
However, without optimal strength training and a high protein diet, the body will trigger muscle protein breakdown (Tipton, et al. 2018).
Here is the example of 7 days workout schedule using the peloton.
| Day | Peloton Class |
|---|---|
| Monday | Peloton Bike Bootcamp 45-minute with Cody |
| Tuesday | Pro Cyclist Ride 45-minute with Christian |
| Wednesday | Outdoor Walk 30-minute with Jess Yoga Slow Flow 20-minute with Ross |
| Thursday | Full Body Strength Class 45-minute with Andy |
| Friday | Power Zone Endurance Ride 75-minute with Matt |
| Saturday | HIIT Ride 20-minute with Sam |
| Sunday | Power Walk Outdoor 45-minute with Chase Restorative Yoga 30-minute with Aditi |
As you can see, there are several ways to be active. Keep in mind that you should always take time to schedule a recovery exercise like walking or light stretch.
This will help you reduce muscle aches and speed up the recovery process before your next big session.
I like to keep 2-3 big workouts in one week, followed by a couple of medium paces and at least one where I just relax (like restorative yoga).
Peloton Weight Loss Plateau
Adding enough time for recovery not only helps you to restore your energy but also prevents exercise from a plateau. This happens when we keep the intensity high, without allows the body to rest and recover.
Keep in mind that the weight loss is a long-term project. It’s more about sustainability than anything else. Everyone can kick ass in the short term.
But for the results to last, you need to spread your effort and make sure you have time to down-regulate.
Peloton Classes To Lose Weight
As you can imagine, out of the thousands of peloton classes, some will be more effective when it comes to weight loss than others. I won’t be covering here my recommendations for the best peloton rides.
I’ve already done that in “best peloton classes for weight loss“, which I recommend you read.
Conclusion
Using a peloton to lose weight is relatively easy because not only you can exercise at home but also you have access to thousands of on-demand classes. All you need is to ride almost every day and watch what you’re eating.
However, this approach doesn’t always work for everyone because there is so much more to the metabolic rate than just calories in versus calories out.
Weight loss happens during the negative energy balance, which also triggers other metabolic adaptations in the body. This means your body’s requirements for nutrition (protein) changes.
Also, if all you do is a cardio exercise on the peloton, the body will burn a lot of calories, but at the same time it will break down muscle mass. To keep you at the safe side add more strength training and implement more down-regulating exercises to reduce stress and cortisol levels.