Biking, Done Correctly, Can Reduce Belly Fat

QUESTION: I am trying to reduce my belly fat and just bought a bicycle. Will that help me, and how far should I be cycling each time?

ANSWER: Any physical activity helps you reduce belly fat, so congrats on taking the steps to do it. Work up to 30 minutes of solid biking (that means if you stop at a crosswalk, subtract that time), then add about 10 percent more time each week. (You want to gradually add more minutes to your workouts so you keep seeing weight-loss benefits.)

How far you should bike depends on how fast you're going and whether you're peddling up hills. The general rule is that 1 minute of intense biking equals 1 minute of intense running, but note the word "intense." At moderate levels, measure your bike rides in one of these ways:

Buy a pedometer and wear it all day, but when you bike, put it on your lower leg so every time it goes around, you'll get a step count. Once you hit 10,000 "steps" a day -including all the walking and biking you do - you'll soon be in thin city.

Get a heart-rate monitor and compare how fast your heart beats when you bike with how fast it goes when you walk. If your monitor shows the same number of beats per minute, you're probably getting the same intensity of activity.

The YOU Docs - Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz - are authors of the best-selling "YOU: The Owner's Manual" and "YOU: On a Diet."