MFP, Strava, Garmin kcals

gaz458

Hi, so all 3 have very different kcals burnt, I use a Heart rate monitor. So for a 4hr 30min bike ride Garmin says I've burnt 2049 Strava says 3175 and MFP says 4017 nearly double Garmin. All 3 apps have the same personal details in. I know I need to eat back my calories when exercising but which is correct? I've been going off the Garmin as that's the lowest but if that's not enough I won't recover correctly?

tinkerbellang83

Pick one or a percentage of one (personally I would go with 50-75% of the Garmin) for 4-6 weeks and monitor what your weight does vs what you're expecting it to do and adjust accordingly. Losing more than expected - eat more, Gaining more than expected - eat less.

jjpptt2

tinkerbellang83 wrote: »

Pick one or a percentage of one (personally I would go with 50-75% of the Garmin) for 4-6 weeks and monitor what your weight does vs what you're expecting it to do and adjust accordingly. Losing more than expected - eat more, Gaining more than expected - eat less.

Agreed. There's no way to know for sure, so pick 1, be consistent with it, and evaluate as you go.

heybales

For that long a ride, indeed lack of recovery could show up much easier with an extra undesired 1000 defcit.

It's when that ride is spread over a week and you have the same wrong numbers that lack of recovery might be much harder to show up, or if enough break days you might not get it.

Garmin without a power meter I've found underestimated - Strava compared to a power meter I've found underestimated a little. Leave MFP out since you have 2 tools with better estimates.

gaz458

heybales wrote: »

For that long a ride, indeed lack of recovery could show up much easier with an extra undesired 1000 defcit.

It's when that ride is spread over a week and you have the same wrong numbers that lack of recovery might be much harder to show up, or if enough break days you might not get it.

Garmin without a power meter I've found underestimated - Strava compared to a power meter I've found underestimated a little. Leave MFP out since you have 2 tools with better estimates.

Ah thank you.
So you use a power meter and Strava is closer than Garmin. So if I work of the bases of strava that's gonna be closer, if I gain weight I'll lower it 10% and so on.

Also do strength training on my off days so maybe weighing myself isn't the correct way either.

I know after some harder rides my legs hurt for a few days where others are back on it so maybe I've been under eating following Garmin estimate.

heybales

And this was a Garmin with tested HRmax inputed, and any other tweaks possible - which isn't much after firmware updates. But still, not totally default mode. Per HR just underestimated a decent amount.

Originally I thought the Strava had to be way off because I noticed how bad their elevation details were, so I imagined their watts and calorie estimate had to be pretty underestimated too.
After getting power meter discovered they were not that far below. Less elevation changes less the difference, except here wind huge factor which they can't know about. Their elevation details still way off, but no matter, get those details in SportTracks.

With those types of workouts - trying to find a valid weigh-in day to minimize known water weight fluctuations can be mighty difficult.
While it can be interesting to note a 15 lb water weight loss after a ride, and see that there is still 5 lbs the next morning - that has nothing to do with true weight. Lot less variance day after lifting with increased water weight. Still not valid weight though.

garystrickland357

Personal opinion is go with the Garmin estimates and watch what happens on the scale over a few weeks. YMMV

gaz458

Cheers all 👍🏼

NorthCascades

gaz458 wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

For that long a ride, indeed lack of recovery could show up much easier with an extra undesired 1000 defcit.

It's when that ride is spread over a week and you have the same wrong numbers that lack of recovery might be much harder to show up, or if enough break days you might not get it.

Garmin without a power meter I've found underestimated - Strava compared to a power meter I've found underestimated a little. Leave MFP out since you have 2 tools with better estimates.

Ah thank you.
So you use a power meter and Strava is closer than Garmin. So if I work of the bases of strava that's gonna be closer, if I gain weight I'll lower it 10% and so on.

Also do strength training on my off days so maybe weighing myself isn't the correct way either.

I know after some harder rides my legs hurt for a few days where others are back on it so maybe I've been under eating following Garmin estimate.

If your legs still hurt from last time while you're on the bike, try eating more protein.

Strava estimates calories by working out the power necessary to move your bike at the speed in your file over the terrain you rode. They get it wrong when it's windy and when you draft, because they don't know about the air.

Power meters have come down in price. Drastically. PowerTap hubs are reliable and hard to break, sometimes used ones go as low as $100.

gaz458

Yeah maybe a power meter is the way to go. Good excuse to get one for time trials which funny enough I'm on my way to one now 😂

NorthCascades

Good luck in the TT!

I mostly use my PM as a pacing tool and for intervals. Calories are the icing on the cake.

gaz458

NorthCascades wrote: »

Good luck in the TT!

I mostly use my PM as a pacing tool and for intervals. Calories are the icing on the cake.

10mile PB so that's a plus point 👍🏼 I'll have a look at the PMs 💪🏻