Losing weight on an exercise bike

When I was researching my exercise plan on the internet, I found lots of articles about people who lost amazing amounts of weight from using their exercise bikes. A quick search will turn up dozen of articles from people who lost 50, 80 and even 100 pounds just from riding their exercise bikes. I'm calling bull on those claims.

I've been monitoring my weight since starting my exercise plan four months ago and I found that burning 600 to 650 calories 4 days a week amounts to losing around one pound of fat each month (in a good month). At 6 foot tall, my weight has stayed within 3 pounds of 245 since the day I started. I'm pushing the limits on my 55 year old body each time I get on my bike, so I can confirm that 15 miles a day at 19.3 mph will not lead to an amazing weight loss. While I'm sure that many people lose a lot of weight while exercising, the vast majority of dropped pounds are due to a change in diet. 

Why bother riding at all then? I don't want to discourage myself from continuing to ride my bike, but I need to remember that I will not drop 50 pounds while enjoying McDonalds and snacks between meals. YouTube videos of riders obtaining their dream bodies through biking is just that. A dream. Looking at it objectively, I'm a older man approaching retirement that spends most of my free time taking care of my family. My wife and kids need me to be at work 45 hours a week. I need to help manage my autistic daughter when I get home. I spend an hour each night cleaning and weekends running errands. I'm spending most of my life sitting or in bed. One hour of exercise a day will not make a make up for the other 23 hours. 

Now that I'm four months into my exercise program, I've confirmed that I needed to take another step to start losing weight. I started a diet 5 days ago and found that I quickly lost 4 or 5 pounds so far. If I can stay committed to losing fat, I'm hoping to see an improvement in the amount of energy that I have while biking. Bottom line, I learned that weight loss will not come from riding my bike and instead a healthier diet which in turn should result in a better workout.