Re:Bike to work (Score 1)

I agree 100% that more muscle mass leads to a higher resting metabolic rate.

However, please also consider this question: is strength training the only way to build (or maintain) muscle mass? I say that it isn't. If you do regular, intense aerobic exercise, that will have a significant effect on muscle mass as well.

If you disagree, try doing several 5 mile runs a week, so that you're completing 5 miles in around 45 minutes, and so that you're hitting 20+ miles/week. From personal experience, you are going to have some muscle mass in your legs if you do that.

And as a bonus, a good rule of thumb is that you burn about 100 calories per mile that you run. If you run 20 miles in a week, that's 2000 calories a week, which means you're losing 0.5 lb of weight every week compared to not running at all, just on the pure calories burnt while actually running.