A couple of questions..cardio and water

drbenne

1st question:
I have read a few a times that MFP kind of over calculates the amount of calories burned for exercising. I mostly just do cardio on my stationary bike and it has its own calorie counter so should I be paying more attention to what that calculates then what MFP calculates when it asks what kind of exercise I do? Reason I ask is because when i put in 60 min. stationary bike moderate workout it tends to calculate about 150 more calories burned than what it says on my bike. But when I drop it down to a 60min. light workout it calculates it just about what my bike says, but i know it's not a light workout as I have the bike to almost the max resistance and keep a steady 15mph.

2nd question:
When logging in the amount of water you drink daily do you add mixed/powder drinks as an extra glass of water or do you just combine it with whatever you mix in. e.g. I drink a couple of sugar free energy flavored packets a day that i mix with a glass of water and also a tablespoon of citrucel for extra fiber. Should I add 2 glasses of water in addition to whatever I mixed in?

corgicake

Logging water is largely broscience, unless you need to log for the sake of knowing when to drink more to compensate for adding exercise or heat exposure to your lifestyle. In that case it might be a good idea to start tracking sodium instead of say, sugar too... doing that is good for sanity and avoiding headaches.

Edit: to answer the first question, I haven't looked at the stationary bike miles specifically but the cycling figures seem to be dead on for road miles done using a mountain bike. I'd trust them.

lhourin

If you can, invest in a heart rate monitor; that will give you the most accurate measure of calories burned. I use one with every workout and whenever I do something that is in the MFP database, it can be close or way off. Generally I just add my own exercises and then put the calories burned from the beginning until the time when my HR has gone back below 120.

Sunitagt

*Agree with the HRM investment. It cost me about $70 on Amazon. The HRM always shows a lower burn than the machines do, which are both lower than what MFP estimates, usually by a couple hundred or more. But if you can't, I would put in what the machine says over leaving it to what MFP estimates.

I think it is totally up to you how you want to count your water. If you want to count tea, coffee, and things mixed in your water that's up to you. I don't drink much else, so all I count is water.

drbenne

Okay, it seems to be making sense. The stationary bike I have also has a heart rate monitor that measures it when you wrap your hands around the handle although I find it to be all over the place, especially when I'm in the middle of my workout and im sweating profusely. For the most part though, when i feel it is the most accurate, it hovers between 140 and 160. Sometimes ill get 60 or 190 which doesn't seem right to me. I'll look into getting a heart rate monitor to better track it.

good to know about the accuracy of the bike miles. On average for a 60 minute workout it logs about 15 miles.

As for water, I found that I wasn't drinking enough water so that is something I'd like to keep track of and maintain so I was just wondering if mixed drinks count since it is just a powder suspended in water.

gmallan

Skip the water counting (no-one really seems to know where 8 glasses comes from anyway). Drink when you are thirsty and drink more when it's hot/you exercises or sweat a lot. Monitor the colour of your urine - if you're hydrated it should be pale yellow. All forms of liquid count towards hydration (including that found in food)

RaggedyPond

When I was using the elliptical I noticed that MFP estimate is only right if I am going all out high intensity the whole time on the machine.

drbenne

When I was using the elliptical I noticed that MFP estimate is only right if I am going all out high intensity the whole time on the machine.

That's what it seems like with the stationary bike esitmate. The other day I decided to try the stationary bike in my apartment complex's fitness room and set it to what I thought was about the same resistance as the one I have at home. It looked like a more advanced model so I thought it would be more accurate. I found that was a bit closer to MFP's estimate so I was getting a bit confused. To me it always seemed that the one I have at home is over estimating but it looks like it may be almost spot on. Who knows, haha.