Road cyclist using MFP, Strava and FitBit for managing calorie expenditure

JamesRiall

I am a racing road cyclist (12-15 hours a week training time, typically 4-5 training days a week and 2-3 rest/recovery days) using a combination of Strava, MyFitnessPal and Fitbit to manage my calorie consumption and expenditure. All three apps are synced fine, but I have a few questions about how to best manage my calorie consumption and also check that my setup is capturing calories burned effectively.

1. Does the calories burned number imported from Strava take into account the calories I would have burned had I simply been resting? i.e. If Strava says I burned 1000 kcal in a 2 hour activity and my calorie consumption if I hadn't done any exercise was 2500 kcal, is it correct to just add 1000kcal to my daily total for 3500 kcal? Or should the added kcals be less than 1000kcals to take into account the resting kcals I would have burned on those two hours anyway? I'm suspicious that kcals are being double counted here - or do the calculations already take this into account.

2. On my training days I am burning a hell of a lot of calories. A 4-5 hour ride can burn 3,000-4,000 kcal. Assuming I'm aiming to maintain weight and recover sufficiently should I be eating to replace calories every training day, eating as many calories as I burn? Or is this too much?

3. On a recovery day after a hard ride such as the above, should I be eating to my base calorie consumption level, or should I be eating extra due to the muscle damage done through training which needs repair? It seems somewhat intuitive that with muscles torn to shreds from training the day before, I'll need more calories than I would otherwise. Or am I wrong?

BrianSharpe

I don't use Strava so I can't say if they use net or gross calorie calculations but the short answer is yes.....you need to fuel those rides and if you end up with too much of a caloric deficit you're not going to replenish your glycogen stores and you won't have the energy you need.

It's not just calories that you need to monitor but macros as well. Protein is important in respect to muscle repair - you'll find a variety of opinions as to how much protein you should be getting. At my tri club the rule of thumb is 1 g protein for every kg of body mass daily (some body builders will consume as much a 1g for every pound of body mass).

What you may find useful is averaging out your caloric requirements. Your coach should be able to give you more personalized advice (I'm assuming you ride with a club?)

Here's an article on recovery you may find interesting.....

bicycling.com/training/fitness/ride-hard-recover-harder

jkoch6599

If you're riding with a power meter, it's measuring the actual mechanical work done at the crank/hub/etc and then making an assumption about gross metabolic efficiency to convert that to calories burned. The range of efficiency among people is pretty narrow, but Strava makes a more optimistic assumption (wrt calories burned) than Garmin or some other sites. So that being said, it's only counting the calories burned from actually pedaling.

If you're not using a power meter, don't trust Strava calories because it's wrong.