# Do you get bigger or thinner from cycling?



## rkdvsm (Jul 15, 2006)

I have female friends who work-out their legs in a gym. Some say that they get thinner while others get more muscular. The muscular part is good except that they don't get thinner; they get more beefy. 

My question is does cycling help you lose weight and get thinner or does it help you get bigger? Either way, it's getting healthy and more muscles so that's good news. It seems that most people lose weight and get thinner, but I'm wondering if cycling has made someone bigger especially in the legs.

Thanks.


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## tarwheel2 (Jul 7, 2005)

I started cycling again about 6 years ago after getting fat and lazy for a while. Had been an avid runner and cyclist through my 20s and mid-30s. When I first started cycling again, I dropped a few pounds but since then my weight has stabilized and even gone up a bit. I average about 6,000 miles of cycling a year, but it has had little effect on my weight. In fact, I often gain weight during months when I am riding the most. However, my clothes do fit better than when I started cycling again and I do look more fit. But sadly, as my hill climbing abilities attest, cycling has not helped me lose weight.


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## CFBlue (Jun 28, 1999)

Bigger legs, thinner waist and the weight doesn't change but a few pounds. KJ


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## atropos (Jul 7, 2006)

I suppose it depends how serious you are, and how out of shape you are to begin with. If you're already pretty fit, cycling is actually pretty low on the 

I've dropped 25 lbs so far this summer, but I was / am also very out of shape... I could argue that most any exercise could have yielded the same results.

My legs haven't gotten bigger, but they have gotten stronger.


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## Ridin'Sorra (Sep 7, 2004)

I grow larger a bit. Gaining a bit of weight too.

When off the bike, I gain fat, lose muscle mass and lose weight too... I tend to look smaller. So I have a belly, look wimpy and weight less right now.

I tend to last less too.... and I don't mean on the bike, which is rather obvious


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## Lartymarf (Aug 10, 2005)

Lose weight, get thinner upper boddy and in the legs, but leg muscle get
a little bit bigger and A LOT more toned/defined.


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## timmyc (Mar 21, 2006)

I'm down 30lbs since March 10th 2006 (the day I bought my first road bike). That being said, the weight loss has slowed dramatically in the last 2 months. So, it seems from my experience, you lose a bunch if you stick to it and watch your diet, etc... but then things level out for a while. Your clothes are still too big, but your weight doesn't change much. I went on vacation and only road once in 2 weeks, and when I got back I was back at 178 and now and back to 172 again in two weeks. I'm still trying to crack 165, hopefully before the winter comes!


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## rkdvsm (Jul 15, 2006)

timmyc said:


> I'm down 30lbs since March 10th 2006 (the day I bought my first road bike). That being said, the weight loss has slowed dramatically in the last 2 months. So, it seems from my experience, you lose a bunch if you stick to it and watch your diet, etc... but then things level out for a while. Your clothes are still too big, but your weight doesn't change much. I went on vacation and only road once in 2 weeks, and when I got back I was back at 178 and now and back to 172 again in two weeks. I'm still trying to crack 165, hopefully before the winter comes!


That's amazing that you and others can lose that much weight from cycling. I know that not everyone has that kind of story, but I know that some people actually get bigger from all the exercise when they were really trying to lose weight.

I don't know yet if cycling will help you become big or skinny. I hope it gets you skinny.


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## atropos (Jul 7, 2006)

> That's amazing that you and others can lose that much weight from cycling. I know that not everyone has that kind of story, but I know that some people actually get bigger from all the exercise when they were really trying to lose weight.


I'd suspect that comes from just exercising, not exercising + changing eating habits.


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## mountaineer (Sep 26, 2005)

atropos said:


> I'd suspect that comes from just exercising, not exercising + changing eating habits.


Bingo!

I suspect that the OP is female, as most guys could care less, and would actually desire their legs to look bigger.

My wife had similar concerns about cycling ie will it make my legs look fat/big. Unfortunately women carry their adipose in their hips/thighs/butt region, so more mass means bigger legs....unless you also reduce calories, the result of which is muscular defined legs, which nobody would turn down.

If you want to be skinny you have to combine cycling with reduced caloric intake.


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## CarbonFrame (Feb 5, 2005)

*This is an interesting question.*

I believe it would partially depend on how you ride. I have noticed a significant difference in the shape of my legs over the past year. I have attributed this to the fact that I spin alot more and don't stand as much when climbing. I usually maintain a cadence of between 90-110 maybe even 120 when climbing,whereas before I spent alot of time in the 80-90 range. My quads seem longer and leaner, before my upper legs just looked bigger (circumference). I don't know for sure but it makes sense to me.


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## dir-t (Oct 14, 2005)

It's funny, I lift weights from about October until April when the weather here isn't so conducive to biking. Once I start biking a lot and stop lifting there is about a one month window where my muscles are still big and the additional fat loss from biking makes me more defined. So I look relatively ripped even though I'm not lifting. 

After that month I start to lose muscle mass so I look more scrawny. It's hard to tell how much weight loss is from reduced fat or reduced muscle but I typically go from 175-180 in the spring (end of weight training season) to 165-170 in bike season.

I just can't stay motivated to go to the gym when it's sunny and warm outside.


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## bikeboy389 (May 4, 2004)

CarbonFrame said:


> I believe it would partially depend on how you ride. I have noticed a significant difference in the shape of my legs over the past year. I have attributed this to the fact that I spin alot more and don't stand as much when climbing. I usually maintain a cadence of between 90-110 maybe even 120 when climbing,whereas before I spent alot of time in the 80-90 range. My quads seem longer and leaner, before my upper legs just looked bigger (circumference). I don't know for sure but it makes sense to me.


This fits with my experience too. As I get stronger and increase my endurance (and thus my perceived effort goes down for the same speed/distance), I find that my leg muscles are lengthening--not necessarily getting thinner, but, I don't know, maybe less bunched up? Elongated.

And when I ride to the exclusion of all else, I lose upper body size very rapidly.

I get leaner all over too, but that has as much to do with how I eat as anything. What I don't do is lose any significant amount of weight, but I have an unrelated medical factor that accounts for that. As someone else said--when I ride my clothes fit better, which I reckon is as good as weight loss.


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## Ricko (Jan 22, 2004)

*Depends on your style...*

If you're a spinner your legs will tend to stay more toned but gain little mass. If you mash taller gears you are more likely to gain mass. Personally I like to mix up intervals...mash higher cogs like a madman for a while til my legs start on fire, then spin for a while to extinguish the blaze.

I'l go out on a limb and say that road riding concentrates training more on your legs while MTB wil include more upper body, particularly if you're doing a lot of climbing and technical stuff.


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## Wookiebiker (Sep 5, 2005)

It will almost entirely depend on your body type.

Some people are very predisposed to putting on a lot of muscle, others will put on almost no muscle, but both will see similar gains in strength. It has little to do with how much or how hard you ride (though it does make a small difference), but everything to do with your body type.

The three basic body types being: 

*Mesomorph* - V-shaped body, muscular, puts muscle on easy (Think NFL running back)

*Endomorph* - Pear shaped body, can be muscular but generally not ripped since they tend to carry more body fat (Jared from Subway)

*Ectomorph* - stick shaped body, low muscle mass, low body fat (Think high jumper or distance runner)

Myself, I put on muscle/size if I even think about working out. I'm a Meso/Endo mix. Since I've started riding again two months ago I've put 2" on the size of my thighs and 1" on the size of my calves while dropping 10 pounds. Even my arms and chest have grown in size with my abdomen shrinking. However, I'm somewhat of a freak of nature (in college had a 455 bench and 600 squat drug and supplement free (and ate like crap) and work outs were very inconsistent).

Others I've known that were into cycling that put on very little size overall and just got thinner with the loss of body fat. Their weight might not have changed much because they hardened what muscle they did have, but they didn't get any bigger/smaller since they lost size from taking fat off of their body. Their overall look changed, but their overall size didn't.

It all comes down to your body make up.

When it comes to women, unless they already have muscular thighs they generally don't have to worry about them growing to much or looking really odd compared to their body.


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## curlybike (Jan 23, 2002)

Women usually get leaner and more defined, and a whole lot stronger. Stronger than you would suspect by appearances. Now if I could ride and just get leaner and taller, that would be the tikkit, yup.


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## aliensporebomb (Jul 2, 2002)

I'm down about 60 pounds since I started cycling.

I have before and after pictures if you want to see.

Everyone at work definetely noticed, someone today was just mentioning
that I was looking pretty thin.

But then again, this is after almost 9000 miles (8800 at last checking)
and moderating my diet considerably. I also go to the club to work out
in a standard fashion 2-3 times a week.


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## litespeedchick (Sep 9, 2003)

I assumed , also, that the OP was female. 

It always surprises me when women are worried about "getting bulky". I've never actually seen that happen. I myself have rather unusually large thighs for a woman my size, but I wouldn't call them bulky...just muscular. (I'm a masher, so I have more quad than most people would get)

When I was 20, just reading the word "thigh" made me cringe. At 40, after riding bikes for 12 years, I wish shorter skirts would come back in style. I don't think there are many women out there that wouldn't like to make that change...I know I'm forever grateful to the person who talked my husband into buying some mountain bikes.


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## croswell1 (Feb 19, 2005)

For most of us it comes down to genetics that dictates how we look. For me, I'm still a bit of a clydesdale but I have slender legs. I'm built kinda like "big bird" from that childrens show. All I need is yellow feathers and a beak to complete the picture. With that in mind, after riding nearly 10,000 miles in the last 6 years, my legs have gotten even thinner, but with much more muscle tone. They're definitely more leaner than they used to be, and my wife (and her friends) are alway picking on me about it too, telling me I'd look good in high heels and sh't like that. At my age, if that's going to be my claim to fame, then so be it. Hell, I dont mind.


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## wasserbox (Mar 17, 2002)

Depends on the time of year. My body mass migrates depending on the season. In winter with no time on the bike and just gym time, I'll get a waist of 31-32", gain upper body mass, and weigh around 150lbs. From about May to June this will all migrate back down. Right now I've got a 28" waist and 20" quads, weighing in at around 135lbs. I get a little bit of a hard time about bizarre body proportions until someone goes out for a ride with me.

The hardest thing is having two separate wardrobes, and finding shorts that will fit my waist without restricting my legs. I'm the only person I know that wears bibs because I'm too skinny instead of the opposite.


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## rbart4506 (Aug 4, 2004)

I've been riding relatively seriously for the last seven years, the last two primarily on the road. Last year I rode 7000km's and thhis year 4000km's so far, just to give you an idea. When I started riding I weighed about 150lbs and now I hover around 143lbs. I never noticed a major change in my body until I started riding the road. My legs have become more toned and defined. I've got a climbers body, now if I could only climb! I know that all the muscles in my legs have gotten bigger, but not huge by any means. I really doubt that would happen to me because gentically I'm built to be small. My upper body hasn't changed much, actually I think it might have gotten a bit flabbier up there. Not doing much upper body work or core work because of the riding....Not to mention turning 40 does that to you...

Rich


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## screwdriver (May 22, 2006)

im keeping my weight , losing inches in the waist and shirt size but gaining a lot of bulk on the thigh and calf.


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## omniviper (Sep 18, 2004)

This is what will happen if they cycle too much

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2006/jul06/toona06/toona067/mz06toona7_27


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## Meatball (Sep 3, 2005)

I am getting much smaller. ( I am coming from the bodybuilding scene.)


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## azcycle (Jan 24, 2006)

Repeat of others here: I dropped about 25 lbs in the last two years as my cycling has increased. My legs have gotten bigger and lots more toned. I am 5'10" and now hover around 170lbs and 17% body fat.


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## Kristin (Jan 11, 2005)

*Do some people bulk more/faster?*

I feel like that guy on the "Want Faster Results" commercial. I build muscle like nobodies business, and not those long, lean figure skaters muscles either. I'm talking "The Incredible Hulk" here. And they don't necessarily make me super strong either. I read, somewhere--could have been "O"--that longer, more ropey type muscles are stronger than big fat round ones...the kind I get. Which would explain how I can add an inch to my thigh and still not get up a hill. 

If I take the entire winter off, within 4 weeks of riding its not uncommon for me to gain 5-10 pounds. And I don't lose any of that winter weight, so I just get bigger and everything in my closet is tight.

So what determines this? Is it diet? The way/time I exercise? Genetics?


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## fiore22 (Aug 7, 2006)

omniviper said:


> This is what will happen if they cycle too much
> 
> http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2006/jul06/toona06/toona067/mz06toona7_27


I'm not going to lie, being a 110 lbs. I really, NO _really_ don't want my girlfriend/fiance to look like that. Not that that is not nice. Just not my cup of tea. Now I wouldn't mind those guns at all on me!! :thumbsup:


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## Kristin (Jan 11, 2005)

*Depends on the factors*



rkdvsm said:


> That's amazing that you and others can lose that much weight from cycling. I know that not everyone has that kind of story, but I know that some people actually get bigger from all the exercise when they were really trying to lose weight.
> 
> I don't know yet if cycling will help you become big or skinny. I hope it gets you skinny.


For losing weight its simpliest to use the calories in/calories out model. If you are riding lots, but still eating more calories than you burn, you won't lose fat. But you also gain muscle...assuming that you weren't doing anything as strenuous as cycling before. So if you need to lose body fat, then make sure you eat less than you burn, even if just 200-300 calories a day (about .75 lb/week). 

Losing body fat and gaining muscle usually means a smaller, but (possibly) heavier you...it depends on how much body fat you start with and lose along the way. But some people, like me, tend to build bulky muscle and so it hurts me in the "size" department.

Also, intensity matters. The amount of calories you burn will depend on your heart rate during exercise, how many hours you exercise AND on your metabolism. Everyone is unique and it takes time & trial/error to determine how many calories you need to eat per day to maintain weight, lose it or gain it based on your activity level. If you are really analytical, there are lots of studies about intensity and percentage of body fat burned per activity. 

Still, the calories in/calories out rule applies. Keeping my BPM at 120 for an hour means I burn a higher percentage of fat, but I only burned 220 calories. If I keep my BPM at 165 for an hour I burn a lower percentage of body fat, but I burned a total of 650 calories. 

I have a bum thyroid and after a year of tracking calories and exercise I learned that I need 1800 calories/day to maintain my weight with basic excercise. If I want to lose I need to get ride of 300 calories/day or increase my activity.

There is a free calorie tracker at www.fitday.com which is really good. Be ruthlessly honest with yourself or it don't work.

Metabolism. Varies per person based on health, genetics and lifestyle. Lack of physical activity, lack of food and water and underactive thyroid can slow metabolism. This means you burn less calories during the day. On the opposite end, increasing activity and eating a healthy diet full of good nutrients and drinking enough water will increase or keep it at a healthy level. Also having a hyperactive thyroid can cause increased metabolism...not recommended.

If you have a slow metabolism its important to make all your calories "count." e.g. eat more whole grains and fruits and vegitables. You can't eat as much fast food as the other guy.


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## Kristin (Jan 11, 2005)

CarbonFrame said:


> I believe it would partially depend on how you ride. I have noticed a significant difference in the shape of my legs over the past year. I have attributed this to the fact that I spin alot more and don't stand as much when climbing. I usually maintain a cadence of between 90-110 maybe even 120 when climbing,whereas before I spent alot of time in the 80-90 range. My quads seem longer and leaner, before my upper legs just looked bigger (circumference). I don't know for sure but it makes sense to me.


I guess that makes sense. And I am a masher at heart. I suspect I approach most activities with the same attitued. Longer strides, fewer steps, streching to dig in more water with the paddle, turning bigger gears. I may have to try spinning for a while...but I so hate spinning. Makes my HR climb exponentially.


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## Chris H (Jul 7, 2005)

Bigger or Thinner?

For me it's both. My legs have gotten bigger, but much more cut than they were... specifically around the quads and the calves. Also, my butt has gotten bigger (from a muscular standpoint). I have hit a plateau with my weight, but the clothes fit much better than they ever have. My waist has gotten smaller, just wish it was doing that faster!


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## OneGear (Aug 19, 2005)

fiore22 said:


> I'm not going to lie, being a 110 lbs. I really, NO _really_ don't want my girlfriend/fiance to look like that. Not that that is not nice. Just not my cup of tea. Now I wouldn't mind those guns at all on me!! :thumbsup:


how are you 110lbs?? How tall are you? I'm assuming you're a guy. If you aren't you don't have to answer that.


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## levels1069 (Jun 9, 2006)

Meatball said:


> I am getting much smaller. ( I am coming from the bodybuilding scene.)



second this for the truth! i've always lifted and played soccer (sprints) so i've got alot more muscle than most cyclists....but since i really started to increase my mileage i feel like i'm getting much smaller. Some muscle, say 30% and mostly fat loss, say 70%


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## fiore22 (Aug 7, 2006)

OneGear said:


> how are you 110lbs?? How tall are you? I'm assuming you're a guy. If you aren't you don't have to answer that.


That's just the way my body is built, my mom was tiny & I took after her. Yes, I'm a tiny little guy. 5' 6" & 110. I know hard to believe and pisses my girlfriend off a lot because I eat and drink whatever I want and never gain any weight. While I do excercise a lot, (not at the moment, donated a kidney to my brother) regardless I NEVER gain weight even when I am not being active like the last week and a half. And when I am getting a lot of excercise I don't lose weight I just get really cut. Hope that answers that. :thumbsup:


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