exercise - calories burned - is this for real?

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  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Easily burn 1000 cal / hr.

    Per VO2max test with literal polling at all the HR's on it's way up, I'll burn 1000 cal / hr if I can maintain avg HR of 153, which is near the top of my "aerobic" HR zone. So easy to get more than that running or the bike.
    Swimming not so much, but swimming would have different values anyway.

    If the bike had electrical resistance, and you entered your weight, and it showed you your watts - the bike would have been more accurate than MFP with it's 2 descriptions of effort, or even a HRM estimating calorie burn.

    Outside a treadmill, a ergo cycle is the 2nd most used means of testing fitness and VO2 and calories burn, ect, in the lab, and has very accurate formulas for it - even to the point of differences between cadence or RPM that is used.

    And just like running, if you are on the extremes of the tested range where personal efficiency starts entering the picture big time, then you'll start getting more inaccurate.
  • admegamo
    admegamo Posts: 175 Member
    MFP calories burned are always less than what the exercise machines tell me that I burned...
  • 1PatientBear
    1PatientBear Posts: 2,089 Member
    Most people can make some progress doing things all wrong, but imagine how good it could be doing it better!

    My definition of "better" is losing weight without getting all stressed out about it. My better is different than yours, and it's working for me so far. If I have issues down the road I may refine my method, but I'm happy with the results to date.

    Ok man. We tried to help. Personally, I'd rather learn the right way to do things up front so I can create good habits from the start and not have to refine midstream and unlearn my previous methods. But that's me.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Male 5'11" age 54 233lb doing 40km at avg cadence 75 and avg speed 17.8mph it took me 83mins and according to HRM avg HR 132 I burnt 1045 calories. so would seem a little high possibly at 1000 and possibly low at 435.

    Holy cow, you are in shape!

    To maintain that pace out on the road with that low HR for that long. Unless that was a group ride drafting for a big part of the time (which is where pace based calorie burn breaks apart on the bike), that's great.

    Do you use a HRM with a VO2max stat and self test? Cause I gotta tell ya, if you don't, you burned more, guaranteed.
  • PaulHalicki
    PaulHalicki Posts: 576 Member
    Those damn HRMs have something like god-like status on MFP. I use one, too, but people taking numbers from those things blindly aren't doing themselves any favors, either!

    It's probably something like +/- 50% for MFP's descriptive exercise calorie counts (i.e., 30 minutes cycling at 12-14 mph), but with a HRM it narrows it down to +/- 20%. If you went to a biometrics lab and got baselined, you could maybe get it down to +/- 5% based on HRM inputs.

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