Calories burnt

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andysport1
andysport1 Posts: 592 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I used to pretty much accept the mfp calorie burn numbers, but not anymore, I need to sort this out.

I did a bike ride this week (actually did it twice) 75 miles, 7000 feet of hills averaged 14mph, my garmin said 6645 & 6130, mfp says 4456 all these numbers are bonkers, in no way can I burn this amount of calories, firstly I'd be a stick insect and I'm clearly not at 200lbs. I'd like to log calories burnt but accurately any suggestions?

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I'm assuming you aren't riding a heavy bike up sand dunes and towing a trailer.... ;)

    Sounds like you might have something badly set up in your Garmin - those numbers are crazy high!
    Recheck all your personal settings in your device would be a sensible first step. (Kilos and pounds transposed perhaps? Wrong activity type selected?)

    I'm a road cyclist and find the MFP estimates badly exaggerated.

    For comparison:
    85 mile hilly route in five hours forty minutes with 4475' of elevation, I weigh 168lbs though.
    Garmin Edge 1000 - 2680 cals
    Strava - 2830 cals
    MFP 14 - 16mph category - 4318 cals

    (Both the Garmin & Strava estimates compare pretty well with power meter derived calorie burns for me.)


    What you could try is exporting your ride from Garmin and importing to Strava - that would give you a useful comparison.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 26,333 Member
    edited September 2017
    I am a long distance cyclist ...

    I choose the 16-19 km/h option here on MFP, which gives me quite a realistic calorie burn.

    It pretty much match what Strava gives me.

    And it pretty much matches the "formula" I use ... 100 cal for every 5 km. :)


    A 75 mile ride is 120 km ... or about 2400 calories.
  • andysport1
    andysport1 Posts: 592 Member
    edited September 2017
    @sijomial thanks I didn't even know strava showed calories I've just looked it says 3372 & 3367 still incredibly high. I will try and adjust something that makes it come out at 2500 thanks guys.

    2500 calories seems quite high I should still be a stick insect.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    andysport1 wrote: »
    @sijomial thanks I didn't even know strava showed calories I've just looked it says 3372 & 3367 still incredibly high. I will try and adjust something that makes it come out at 2500 thanks guys.

    2500 calories seems quite high I should still be a stick insect.

    Stick insects have a fantastic power to weight ratio. :)
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