Stationary bike calories burnt????

Larz1203

Hi everyone!

At my local gym, I tend to cycle for half an hour and then do some kind of strength training exercise routine. I cycle for 30 minutes at a pretty consistent speed of about 10 miles per hour and the highest level of resistance possible, but when I finish it says that I've burnt over 500 calories! Do you think that this is correct or that the machine is severely over estimating?

I think that it could possibly be incorrect as I eat pretty healthily but am not losing any weight at all (I'm 63 kgs, 18 years old and 5'1/5'2)

Machka9

Larz1203 wrote: »

Hi everyone!

At my local gym, I tend to cycle for half an hour and then do some kind of strength training exercise routine. I cycle for 30 minutes at a pretty consistent speed of about 10 miles per hour and the highest level of resistance possible, but when I finish it says that I've burnt over 500 calories! Do you think that this is correct or that the machine is severely over estimating?

I think that it could possibly be incorrect as I eat pretty healthily but am not losing any weight at all (I'm 63 kgs, 18 years old and 5'1/5'2)

No, I don't think it is correct. Nowhere near.

When I cycle outside, I estimate 100 cal for every 5 kilometres and that seems reasonably accurate.

10 mph is approx. 16 km/h. At 16 km/h, you're doing approx. 8 km in 30 minutes. Using the 100 cal for every 5 kilometres estimate, that's roughly 160 cal burnt.

Larz1203

The only possibly redeeming factor is that I'm cycling at the highest possible resistance level on the bike, could that be the difference here?

Machka9

Larz1203 wrote: »

The only possibly redeeming factor is that I'm cycling at the highest possible resistance level on the bike, could that be the difference here?

Well, the stat bike thinks it makes a difference, but in reality ... probably not that much. Maybe, just maybe, you might possibly have burned, say, 200 cal in half an hour. But I wouldn't think it would be any more than that.

Be careful cycling at the highest resistance. You can damage your knees that way. Try to keep your cadence over 70 rpm, and preferably over 80 rpm.

If you want to burn more, ride longer ... try for 45 min or 60 min sometimes.

Or ride faster. Pick up your speed to 12.5 mph = 20 km/h. If you did that, in 30 min you'd cover 10 km = 200 cal rather than 160 cal.



I ride my bicycle on a trainer and I do commercial intervals ... I ride fairly easy during the show, and then during the commercial I ride all out as fast as I can. It keeps my interest level up and my average speed is pretty good.

Faithful_Chosen

I tend to log stationary bike cardio at 'very light' if I do constant (lower) speed with weights to also work my upper body (82 cal for half an hour, used only on rest days)

I log as 'light' for when I push myself but am not exactly spinning, so mostly for distance. This is never less than an hour and often closer to an hour and a half or two (151 cal for 30 minutes)

When I do spinning (always an hour), where i always do the standing parts and truly work up a sweat, I log as 'vigorous', but then I have to pretty much fall off the bike with exhaustion when done, else I log as 'light' (291 cal for 30 minutes)

I never eat back more than 40-50% of these calories because I know they are still a bit inflated. I just don't want to have to edit these standard logs because it's handy. I adjust the numbers in my head.