Do I trust my exercise bike, or My Fitness Pal? Is biking with resistance, cardio or weight lifting?

sponsorrebecca

My exercise bike says I burn 50 calories per mile, and MFP says I burn 27 calories per mile (yes on a stationary bike). I exercise with resistance. I have maintained a size 0 for many years in the past following my exercise bike. Is MFP underestimating calories burned & overestimating calories in some foods? MFP has been off about a few of the packaged foods I ate by 20 calories.
So this is my question in case I've overloaded you...

Do I log calories my stationary bike tells me I'm burning or what MFP says you burn on a stationary bike?
&
Is biking with resistance cardio or strength training? I do a minimum of 6 miles with level 4 resistance. I also turn resistance to a maximum in the last .10th of each mile.

VUA21

How programmable is your bike? On my treadmill I can upload my stats for a much more accurate calorie burn.

If your bike at least let's you enter your weight - I would split the difference and monitor your progress over a month or so. If you're losing faster than expected, go with the bike calories, if slower use MFP.

Biking with resistance, is like running uphill - it's cardio, with a bit of strength thrown in for an added bonus.

AnnPT77

It's all estimates. If you're maintaining, and that's your goal, and you've been using your exercise bike calorie estimate successfully to do it, you're golden.

Exercise bike, even with resistance, is usually considered cardio. But "cardio" and "strength" are black and white binary categories force-fit onto wide-ranging continuum of real-world activities, each of which places different demands on musculature and cardiovascular systems.

The difference between 27 calories per mile and 50 calories per mile is a small fraction of your all-day calorie burn. There are inevitable inaccuracies in the most meticulous food logging (one apple is sweeter than another, one piece of meat is fattier than another, etc.). Exercise calories from any source outside a metabolic chamber are an approximation. The calorie needs MFP (or any other decent "calculator") estimates for you are based on population averages (most of us are close to the averages, but a few aren't, and we're all individual). Inputs to calorie needs estimates are hyper-generalized categories for lifestyle (active, sedentary, etc.), which in real life is also a continuum (or a set of them!).

So, we log carefully and (especially) consistently, watch what our weight does over 4-6 weeks, and fine-tune intake based on our individual results.

My recommendation: Pick one method to use, stay consistent with it, and don't stress about it. (Stress burns no measurable extra calories .) Use your results as feedback.

You'll do fine. Best wishes!

LivingtheLeanDream

Its hard to estimate but I find MFP closer to my real burn for using the stationary bike than my actual exercise bike.

Machka9

I'd go with MFP.

sijomial

My exercise bike says I burn 50 calories per mile, and MFP says I burn 27 calories per mile (yes on a stationary bike).
Exercise/stationary bikes don't actually do any miles at all - that's simply not a good measure or comparison to outdoor riding.
On what basis is your bike estimating your calories? Does it measure power?
Without knowing your calorie burn rate and your fitness level your question is impossible to answer.
If you said you did 17 miles in an hour for a burn of 850 then as a female that would be a really exceptional power output (elite level) - it would also highly unlikely you could have that level and not know! If you said you do 10 miles in an hour for a 500 cal burn then you would have a pretty decent level of fitness.

I exercise with resistance. I have maintained a size 0 for many years in the past following my exercise bike. Is MFP underestimating calories burned & overestimating calories in some foods? MFP has been off about a few of the packaged foods I ate by 20 calories.
The food database has thousands of user generated entries and many are awful in terms of accuracy. Chose with caution.
The exercise database also has good and bad entries, both on a generic level and also personally inaccurate.

So this is my question in case I've overloaded you...

Do I log calories my stationary bike tells me I'm burning or what MFP says you burn on a stationary bike?
Not enough information given. Personally I would only use the MFP heading and overwrite with my own more accurate numbers.

&
Is biking with resistance cardio or strength training?
Cardio - for the vast majority of time it's an aerobic exercise. Like swimming and rowing it has a resistance element. That doesn't make it strength training just because you can increase your strength doing it.

I do a minimum of 6 miles with level 4 resistance. I also turn resistance to a maximum in the last .10th of each mile.
In what time? How fit are you? What speed can you do outdoors?

PS - I use a power meter equipped stationary bike and it can give really accurate calories estimates. I've also used stationary bikes that appear to source their calorie estimates from Hans Christian Andersen....