Bike to Work Day

Have you ever wondered what could happen if you replaced all the fuel you burn in one day with fat?

Inspired by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Bike to Work Day on May 10th, our team at Nutrition53 spent some time finding facts and crunching numbers. According to the U.S. Department of Travel, the average American man travels a little over 40 miles per day while the average American woman travels just over 30 miles per day. We also found that America adults spend over one hour per day driving cars.  

If you rode a bike for 40 miles at 15 miles per hour, the average sized person would burn 1,200 calories over 2 hours and 40 minutes. If you did that 5 times per week, you just burned the equivalent of two pounds of body fat!

Ok ok, we know that biking 40 miles for your daily commute is a bit much, even for Bike to Work Day! However, we also noticed in the U.S. Department of Travel data that 4%, or approximately 1.6 miles, of all travel is dedicated to running errands. So what happens if you run all your errands by bike or foot? Good question! 

If your travel patterns are similar to the average Americans, then you will burn approximately 150 calories per day running your errands by foot or 50 calories by bike. That corresponds to burning one pound of body fat per month when traveling by foot, or burning one pound of body fat every three months when traveling by bike.

There is no doubt that making small steps to burn fat instead of fuel will help keep your body running lean in the long run. Follow Nutrition53 on Facebook for more tips and inspiration for your healthy lifestyle.