Stationary bike confusion! help

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amstein18
amstein18 Posts: 131
in Fitness and Exercise
HI everyone. When I ride the stationary bike at the gym, the calorie counter says I burn about 50 calories in 15 minutes. However, the calorie counter on here & several other websites says that it should be around 90 calories for that amount of time, and that's with plugging in that it's light effort! I do the Weight Loss Level 2 Program on the bike which has difficult intervals so I'm not sure why the calorie count is so low. I keep hearing how good the bike is for you and how many calories you can burn on it so I'd like to figure this out! Has anyone else encountered this problem?

(I work out for a minimum of 30 minutes but since the calories burned is so low on the bike I usually do the elliptical for 15-25 then do the bike for another 15)

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  • ffiffit
    ffiffit Posts: 2
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    Hi, I have a Reebok stationary bike, and for 15 mins on medium level I burn 120 calories, my rpm is roughly between 68-76 the whole time. Hope this helps.
  • jrich1
    jrich1 Posts: 2,408 Member
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    Just from my experience with my spin classes the counter on here is WAAAAY high, I logg with my HRM about 1000-1200 and the site suggests like 1800
  • starkiss100
    starkiss100 Posts: 235 Member
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    I do interveal traing on the stationary bike at my gym and in 15 minutes I usually burn a lil over 100 calories. I found that the elliptical helps me burn the most calories.
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    I suggest Getting a HR monitor to see how hard you are really working and how many calories your are really burning.
  • amstein18
    amstein18 Posts: 131
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    Thanks for the input everyone :) Maybe I'll just continue to log it how the bike at my gym says & if it's really 50-60 more calories than that then I'll consider it a hidden bonus & maybe I'll lose weight a tiny bit faster!
  • amstein18
    amstein18 Posts: 131
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    yeah you're right.. I think it's about time I invested in one
  • MassiveDelta
    MassiveDelta Posts: 3,311 Member
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    There are 3 things that maybe skewing this number.

    1) Many machines want you to enter age and weight. If this machine requires that it may give you a more accurate caloric burn
    2) Difficulty level - nearly all of these machines default back to a 0 or 1 level when they power down. So if you don't adjust it back up to higher level your not really burning very much on a 0 difficulty
    3) This relates to #2 - how hard are you riding for 15 minutes? what is your avg speed during your 15 min workout?

    I cycle at a very high level and speed. I stay above a difficulty of 10 and keep my speed over 19 mph. When I do simulated rides Ill adjust my difficulty level from 8-20 and I try to go as hard as I can unless I'm in a recovery period.

    I realize not everyone can be at a 10 or higher or ride at 20 mph but I would definitely increase the difficulty and really push yourself

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