Biking for 1.5 hours @ ~13MPH really burns 800 calories?
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batorkin
Posts: 281 Member
I know you really need a heart rate monitor to know for sure, but that seems like a lot of calories burnt. I use an app to track my distance and speed, and I don't feel like I burn 800 calories by the end of my daily bike loop. I feel much more worn out after 30 minutes of cardio and the machine usually says 330 calories.
I'm really unsure how to track this, if I eat back 400 calories and I actually only burnt 400 a day biking, then it wouldn't be doing much for fat loss.
I'm really unsure how to track this, if I eat back 400 calories and I actually only burnt 400 a day biking, then it wouldn't be doing much for fat loss.
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Replies
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It depends how much you weigh and how big you are. I think it seems right if you are a bigger person. I burn about 350 calories for 1.5 hour ride at 10-12 so it seems correct. Biking is awesome!4
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How do you know that you didn't burn 800 calories?5
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If you eat back 400 and you burn 400 then you're fine as MFP gives you a deficit before exercise.5
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L1zardQueen wrote: »How do you know that you didn't burn 800 calories?
Because I am barely sweating by the end, and I am ready to go again after an hour of rest. I think I would be more hungry if I was burning that much every day. I am rarely hungry, I eat about 1700 calories a day and i'm a 6'1" male. I think I would need to be eating about 2200-2500 if I was burning 800 calories a day biking + cardio + hitting the gym 3x a week like I do. Something doesn't seem right.Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »It depends how much you weigh and how big you are. I think it seems right if you are a bigger person. I burn about 350 calories for 1.5 hour ride at 10-12 so it seems correct. Biking is awesome!
The calculators are telling me 800 calories for 1.5 hours with my height/weight @ 13MPH. That's a lot more than 350. I am already a pretty lean person, just looking to drop another 5 pounds or so.2 -
One thing to remember is that most calculators give you gross cals burned, so in that 1.5 hours you would have burned 75-135 even if you stayed home and watched TV (maintenance calories/24hours*1.5hours) so, more than likely, if the calculation was correct, you burned an extra 665-725 from exercise.4
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L1zardQueen wrote: »How do you know that you didn't burn 800 calories?
Because I am barely sweating by the end, and I usually am ready to go again after an hour of rest. I think I would be more hungry if I was burning that much every day. I eat about 1700 calories a day and i'm a 6'1" male.Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »It depends how much you weigh and how big you are. I think it seems right if you are a bigger person. I burn about 350 calories for 1.5 hour ride at 10-12 so it seems correct. Biking is awesome!
The calculators are telling me 800 calories for 1.5 hours with my height/weight @ 13MPH. That's a lot more than 350. I am already a pretty lean person, just looking to drop another 5 pounds or so.
Sweat isn't a great indication of calories burnt. Sweating can vary between individuals and even for the same individual depending on things like the weather, clothing, and hydration.
Also, if you're fit, you can burn a lot of calories and still be ready to do more after a short bit of rest.
I'm not saying you burnt 800 calories, I'm just saying I wouldn't doubt it just based on those two pieces of information.4 -
One thing to remember is that most calculators give you gross cals burned, so in that 1.5 hours you would have burned 75-135 even if you stayed home and watched TV (maintenance calories/24hours*1.5hours) so, more than likely, if the calculation was correct, you burned an extra 665-725 from exercise.
Oh didn't know that, that does make it seem a little more believable.janejellyroll wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »How do you know that you didn't burn 800 calories?
Because I am barely sweating by the end, and I usually am ready to go again after an hour of rest. I think I would be more hungry if I was burning that much every day. I eat about 1700 calories a day and i'm a 6'1" male.Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »It depends how much you weigh and how big you are. I think it seems right if you are a bigger person. I burn about 350 calories for 1.5 hour ride at 10-12 so it seems correct. Biking is awesome!
The calculators are telling me 800 calories for 1.5 hours with my height/weight @ 13MPH. That's a lot more than 350. I am already a pretty lean person, just looking to drop another 5 pounds or so.
Sweat isn't a great indication of calories burnt. Sweating can vary between individuals and even for the same individual depending on things like the weather, clothing, and hydration.
Also, if you're fit, you can burn a lot of calories and still be ready to do more after a short bit of rest.
I'm not saying you burnt 800 calories, I'm just saying I wouldn't doubt it just based on those two pieces of information.
That makes sense, there's a breeze while biking so might be why I sweat less while biking than at the gym doing cardio.0 -
Garmin generally gives me ~300 calories for 10 miles, so slightly under 600 calories on the above. I'm 112 lbs.0
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One thing to remember is that most calculators give you gross cals burned, so in that 1.5 hours you would have burned 75-135 even if you stayed home and watched TV (maintenance calories/24hours*1.5hours) so, more than likely, if the calculation was correct, you burned an extra 665-725 from exercise.
Oh didn't know that, that does make it seem a little more believable.janejellyroll wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »How do you know that you didn't burn 800 calories?
Because I am barely sweating by the end, and I usually am ready to go again after an hour of rest. I think I would be more hungry if I was burning that much every day. I eat about 1700 calories a day and i'm a 6'1" male.Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »It depends how much you weigh and how big you are. I think it seems right if you are a bigger person. I burn about 350 calories for 1.5 hour ride at 10-12 so it seems correct. Biking is awesome!
The calculators are telling me 800 calories for 1.5 hours with my height/weight @ 13MPH. That's a lot more than 350. I am already a pretty lean person, just looking to drop another 5 pounds or so.
Sweat isn't a great indication of calories burnt. Sweating can vary between individuals and even for the same individual depending on things like the weather, clothing, and hydration.
Also, if you're fit, you can burn a lot of calories and still be ready to do more after a short bit of rest.
I'm not saying you burnt 800 calories, I'm just saying I wouldn't doubt it just based on those two pieces of information.
That makes sense, there's a breeze while biking so might be why I sweat less while biking than at the gym doing cardio.
Oh, yeah! I always am much sweatier when I run inside than when I'm outside, especially when there is a breeze. It's one of the reasons I prefer it. It just feels "cleaner" to run outside.1 -
A couple of thoughts...
800 calories in 90 minutes = just under 9 cals per minute. That's not unreasonable.
30 minutes and 330 cals = 11 cals per minute. Not unrealistic, but you probably should feel more worn out here (I'm making a lot of assumptions, so take it for what it's worth).
If you eat back 400 and you burn 400, then you are right where MFP wants you to be. That's how MFP works - calorie deficit NOT INCLUDING exercise... so exercise is added in afterwards and calorie needs are adjusted accordingly.4 -
I'm really unsure how to track this, if I eat back 400 calories and I actually only burnt 400 a day biking, then it wouldn't be doing much for fat loss.
To address just this misunderstanding. And the fact a HRM isn't going to tell you exactly.
Yes you would.
If using MFP as designed - it gives a calorie eating goal to cause loss with NO expectation of exercise.
When you do more, you eat more, and you'll still lose, same deficit.
Now - back to all the great advice above about what could be the actual calorie burn you need to eat back.3 -
janejellyroll wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »How do you know that you didn't burn 800 calories?
Because I am barely sweating by the end, and I usually am ready to go again after an hour of rest. I think I would be more hungry if I was burning that much every day. I eat about 1700 calories a day and i'm a 6'1" male.Noreenmarie1234 wrote: »It depends how much you weigh and how big you are. I think it seems right if you are a bigger person. I burn about 350 calories for 1.5 hour ride at 10-12 so it seems correct. Biking is awesome!
The calculators are telling me 800 calories for 1.5 hours with my height/weight @ 13MPH. That's a lot more than 350. I am already a pretty lean person, just looking to drop another 5 pounds or so.
Sweat isn't a great indication of calories burnt. Sweating can vary between individuals and even for the same individual depending on things like the weather, clothing, and hydration.
Also, if you're fit, you can burn a lot of calories and still be ready to do more after a short bit of rest.
I'm not saying you burnt 800 calories, I'm just saying I wouldn't doubt it just based on those two pieces of information.
I'd also add that fatigue/exhaution isn't a great guide to calorie burn, either, nor is perceived exertion.
Specifically, shorter but higher intensity exercise tends to be more fatiguing than longer but lower intensity exercise . . . for sure at the same total calorie burn, but the effect is pronounced enough that short/high intensity/low total burn exercise can be substantially more fatiguing than long/lower intensity/high total calorie burn exercise. In part, it's related to fitness level (and potentially specific dimensions of it), but some of it is simply due to how our bodies handle stress on the system.
That's one of the (several) factors that leads me to discourage exercise beginners from true HIIT: It's more exhausting, and burns fewer calories. Even high-level athletes don't constantly do high-intensity (for them) exercise (although their "easy steady state exercise" would be at a level that would be high-intensity to me
, because of their level of fitness/conditioning). 4 -
Suggest you sign up for Strava and load it on your phone - free app is fine.
It attempts to estimate your power from what you tell it about the combined weight of you and your bike (etc. etc.) and the terrain. The conversion of power to calories is well known and plenty accurate enough.
While not as good as a power meter of course it's likely to be far better than using heart rate or how much you sweat.
You haven't mentioned anything about your bike or the terrain you are travelling over so pointless for anyone to try comparisons. A fast road bike on flat terrain is virtually effortless to do 13mph, a heavy MTB with fat tyres on a hilly course is a completely different proposition and calorie burn.4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »Sweat isn't a great indication of calories burnt. Sweating can vary between individuals and even for the same individual depending on things like the weather, clothing, and hydration.
Also, if you're fit, you can burn a lot of calories and still be ready to do more after a short bit of rest.
I'm not saying you burnt 800 calories, I'm just saying I wouldn't doubt it just based on those two pieces of information.
To add to this. Not only is sweat not a good indicator, but depending on the weather conditions, sweat may be evaporating off of you as you ride due to the wind over your body as you travel.
I can maintain 17-19mph for that period and maybe my head will be wet, indicating sweat. I do see it roll off my face. But my arms and legs will be largely dry because the air flowing over my body during the ride.
But once I stop, the waterworks start and I'm wet all over as the breeze has stopped.
If you are looking to eat back exercise calories, I'd start at half of them and see if you are still losing weight. Many of the estimates are optimistic. I find it's easier to add more calories than it is to work them off if you've eaten back too many exercise calories.
And, just in case, don't panic if you gain weight after a ride.
I rode 71 miles this weekend over two rides. I weighed about 3-4 pounds more on Monday AM than I did Friday AM. I didn't eat 14k more calories than I burned either. But I also doubt I burned the indicated 4k calories doing 44.5 on Saturday or another 2k calories doing the other 26.5 on Sunday.
My body was probably keeping some water around as part of the recovery process.
I'm losing something, as my XL bike shorts are starting to get baggy. I've purchased and started wearing L shorts for outdoor rides and keep the XL shorts for the indoor cycling.
Today, I'm back down to where I was last Friday.
Look at the long term trend.
And if the above isn't what you are looking for, just leave it in case it helps another.3 -
tbright1965 wrote: »But my arms and legs will be largely dry because the air flowing over my body during the ride.
But once I stop, the waterworks start and I'm wet all over as the breeze has stopped.
This. And my glasses usually fog up the moment we stop at a traffic light.
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I wish only fog, rather than dump of sweat I better be prepared for and try to encourage to go to side.
Glasses are a bummer.
Always made me wonder how the pro's in a tour are dumping sweat on sunglasses when in use.0 -
I wear a headband under the helmet.0
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Some of the riders I know also wear wicking skullcaps under their helmet.0
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My best bet so far is the gutter band, next the Halo band, then the Halo skullcap.
But I really build up a great supply, any looking down for say a stretch, or stopping, better be well planned to direct the pour the right direction. I forget often enough, or it's so loaded down it doesn't take much of a downward tilt.
My max so far has been 8 lbs lost in 2 hr ride despite drinking 3 lbs of water during the same time.1
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