Many people who ride bicycles, especially road bikes, seem to be dieting or building up their bodies.

While I don't have detailed statistical data, all the road bike riders I know are careful about their diets.

Here, I will provide information about cycling, dieting, and carbohydrate restriction.

■Effective Dieting and Cycling

Even if you try to diet, it's often difficult to see results, isn't it?

However, if you follow the correct methods, you can achieve results without special exercise.

Here, I will share a method that I personally tried and lost 3kg in one month.

It's said that effective dieting requires "moderate exercise" and "diet."

It seems that special exercises, like those bodybuilders do, are not necessary.

Correct knowledge and its execution seem to be sufficient.

Regarding exercise, cycling is more than enough.

The amount of exercise from road biking, in particular, seems to be higher than from city bikes or mountain bikes.

Road bikes are very light, making it easy to start pedaling and gain speed.

Why is road biking more suitable for dieting? Perhaps it's because it's enjoyable.

You tend to ride longer distances without realizing it.

As a result, the amount of exercise might increase.

It's enough to switch all your commuting to cycling, or switch from taking the bus to the station to cycling, for example.

■Consider Your Diet Too

"Carbohydrate-free dieting" has been a boom for many years, but strictly speaking, it's about "carbohydrates" rather than "carbohydrates."

Carbohydrates are the name for "dietary fiber + sugars."

Dietary fiber has zero calories and is good for bowel movements, so it's best to consume a lot of it.

On the other hand, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's "Dietary Reference Intakes for Japanese," the daily energy requirement for adult men is 2200kcal, and for women, it's 1800kcal.

From this, the appropriate proportion of carbohydrates (sugars) to consume is 50-65%, which means approximately 1100-3348.6kcal for men and 900-1170kcal for women.

Since 1g of sugar is 4kcal, this translates to 275-837.1g for men and 225-292.5g for women.

Since these are the amounts deemed appropriate by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, it's possible that people generally consume more in their daily lives.

A 150g serving of rice (white rice) contains 57.1g of sugar, which might serve as a benchmark for sugar intake.

If you cut out sugar, you will lack energy.

The first thing to go is muscle.

Since muscle protein is broken down for energy, fat remains, and muscles decrease, making it harder to lose weight.

Therefore, road bike riders around me supplement protein by drinking it from the morning.

If protein is not lost, fat is consumed, and you become leaner.

Also, consuming protein after exercise tends to build muscle, leading to a lean, muscular physique, often called "hoso-maccho" (slim but muscular).

■Summary

Light exercise like road biking, cutting down on carbohydrates, and consuming protein.

With these three elements, dieting is not that difficult.

If you're constantly hungry, your body will go into starvation mode and store fat instead.

Eat properly (but limit carbohydrates) and do light exercise, and your diet will definitely succeed.