Calorie Counters

[ferrisbueller]

Rode 26 miles on the bike earlier. An hour and twenty-seven in the saddle at an average of 18mph, or so.

Strava says that's 836 calories. My Garmin says 1500. Myfitnesspal says 1400.

Which is nearest to actually being right, given that there's a good meal difference between highest and lowest and I'm trying to lose weight without starving myself?

[CAH706]

What's your weight, level of fitness and how hard were you working?

All will impact the calorie burn

[mcelliott]

Strava is a lot more accurate than the Garmin, Garmin is way out on calorie count.

[Hoofy]

MFP is usually too generous...

[mattikake]

Always under-estimate or take the most pessimistic results.

Interestingly I do 3x 30km bike rides a week myself, if the weather is good (not this week then! ) and I work out my rides to be about 750kcals.

But there are so many factors. My ride is in hilly Northamptonshire with about 5 good climbs per ride. I have to stop and start for traffic and go on quick HIIT style bursts to beat traffic lights and busses etc. My average speed is usually about 16kmh. Max speeds will be over 40kmh on a downhill and 10kmh on the steepest climb. I'm on a pretty light and fast hybrid bike running 700c/28 tyres and usually have a rucksack stuffed with dumbbell weights - anything up to 20Kg. And I weight 75Kg.

Loads of factors, so everything is an estimate.

If you get to 1500kcals, you're probably going to "hit the wall" or "bunk" or whatever you hear it called. It's the moment when you run out of blood sugars and glycogen stores and start burning fat. You will know if you reach this level because your body will want to stop, you will lose all your power and speed and generally feel knackered.

btw, yeah Garmin are sh!te. I had a friend do a 2 1/2 hour casual ride and her Garmin claimed 3000kcals! She also felt fine afterwards. Riiiiight.

Edited by mattikake on Friday 13th September 14:14

[grumbledoak]

Who's calorie guesses are you using for food?

[Jonnny]

Cycling I'd say is usually around 100 calories/10 minutes. Thats how I've always worked it out, my Strava suggests this is reasonably accurate, and static bike in the gym also works out the same.

[LordGrover]

Maybe best to work it out for yourself using METs CLICK.

[Mastodon2]

Jonnny said:

Cycling I'd say is usually around 100 calories/10 minutes. Thats how I've always worked it out, my Strava suggests this is reasonably accurate, and static bike in the gym also works out the same.

This is pretty much my findings also for cycling. MFP gives "moderate pace" cycling about 10cal/min, as do a lot of bikes in gyms I've been on.

On the other hand, the rowing machines in my current gym at outright liars. Using my father in law's rowing machine at his house, 800cal/hour was hard work, I'd be sweating, breathing heavy and feeling my muscles draining of energy. Pop down to my gym and jump on their rowing machines and 800cal/hour is nothing, next to no resistance on the chain and barely enough to work hard. To work as hard I did on the other rower, I have to get an estimate of 1200cal/hour on the rower at the gym! I think the machines at my gym just blow smoke up your arse to make you feel good. As already mentioned, stick with the most pessimistic estimate you can find.