As the nights draw in, it can be hard to find the motivation to get off the sofa and head to the gym.
But the answer could be to dust off your bicycle and cycle to work instead.
A study of 130 overweight people found pedalling to work burned off as many calories and achieved close to the same weight loss as regular sessions of high-intensity exercise.
Those who exercised in their spare time lost 9.9 pounds (4.5kg) over the study period, while those who simply cycled lost almost 9.3 pounds (4.2kg).
A study of 130 overweight people found pedalling to work burned off as many calories and achieved close to the same weight loss as regular sessions of high-intensity exercise
Professor Bente Stallknecht, from the University of Copenhagen, who was involved in the study, said: ‘This is good news for the many overweight people who may not have the time or inclination to join a fitness centre, because they also have to pick up their children and cook dinner after work.
‘Our results show that it is possible to combine transport to and from work with effective physical exercise.’
The study participants were aged between 20 and 45, and were divided into four separate groups, including one set who made no changes to their lifestyle.
Those who cycled to work covered an average of more than eight and a half miles (14km) a day, while the vigorous exercise group did 35-minute sessions in the gym five times a week, which could include rowing, running, cycling or walking.
The vigorous exercise group had to hit a target heart rate, exercising at an intensity which experts say causes someone to break into a sweat after three minutes, breathe deeply and be unable to say more than a short phrase out loud.
However, after six months the difference in fat mass between the cyclists and high-intensity exercise group was almost the same.
The study states: ‘A critical barrier for engagement in exercise is time restraints and a time-efficient way to increase energy expenditure is to exercise at vigorous as opposed to moderate intensity.
‘In addition, exercise can take place in the transport domain.’
The results suggest that time-poor people can expect to lose almost as much weight from either form of exercise. But moderate exercise not only takes longer but is less efficient.
Those who exercised in their spare time lost 9.9 pounds (4.5kg) over the study period, while those who simply cycled lost almost 9.3 pounds (4.2kg)
The group who did lower intensity exercise in 35-minute sessions five times a week lost the least weight, shedding 5.7 pounds (2.6kg).
This degree of exercise typically allows people to carry on a conversation at the same time, while they only break a sweat after 10 minutes.
The participants were chosen not to be too active or muscular, as well as being an unhealthy weight. The energy expenditure of all three of their activities, measured in calories burned per week, was the same.
The study’s co-author, Jonas Salling Quist from the University of Copenhagen’s department of biomedical sciences, said: ‘All forms of physical exercise are better than the control group, but high-intensity exercise is statistically better than moderate-intensity exercise.
‘And riding the bike to and from work is at least as effective a means for reducing fat mass as exercising during your leisure time.’