Question on calculating Bicycling Calories Burned

jhoy715
jhoy715 Posts: 5
in Fitness and Exercise
To someone who knows fitness, Biking in particular;

I use the MapMyRide app, and it calculates my calories burned. Even if you are not familiar with the app, I hope someone can answer this question. It calculates based on a normal users way of riding a bike. I however ride differently and the app cannot tell that. I don't sit on my seat when I ride, I stand. Even when I glide I stand. My question is that must be a different calorie burn than normal riding right? I would think it burns more than normal riding, but am not sure.

I would like only answers that have some merit and education to them, no one word or short sentence answers. If I wanted them I'd google my question. I am hoping someone here has a more concrete answer on this based on some actual experience or fitness knowledge. Please don't make a guess and pass it off as fact either, if you are just guessing please say so.

Thank You
Jeremy

Replies

  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    The best way to get a good estimate would be a heart rate monitor. I use the Polar FT4.
  • jhoy715
    jhoy715 Posts: 5
    That is a god suggestion and when I can afford one I probably buy one. I was looking for something a little more now for an answer though.
    About the heart monitor, what if you just have a higher or lower heart rate is it still accurate? What about the fact I am biking in this cold weather and it is harder to breathe, doesn't that raise you heart rate more and would that be accurate? Also once you have the heart rate measurement then what do you to calculate the calorie burn from it? Lastly just out of curiosity how much did the Polor FT4 set you back and where is the best place to get it?
    Thanks,
    Jeremy
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    Most HRMs will calculate calories burned from heart rate. However this is based on a known relationship between heart rate, weight, age and calories that is only valid during aerobic exercises. It won't work for weight lifting or even intervals. And you are right, if your heart rate is abnormally slow (like if you are taking beta blockers), or abnormally high (asthma medication), then the calorie calculations will also be off. Being scared or stressed will also increase heart rate but not true calories. I'm not sure about the effect of cold.

    Basically there's no real way to know unless you exercise strictly in a lab where they can monitor your oxygen intake (I think this is what they measure). It's all just estimates anyway. It's up to you to decide how much you want to worry about it. If you are just going to go with the "cheapest" estimate I'd go with what MFP's exercise database gives you. I've used Strava for mountain biking and it's calorie estimate is very low for me, not sure if MapMyRide is any better or not.

    I think mine was around $70 and I got it from Amazon, but I've had it a few years.

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