Bicycling and calories burned

gdortiz

(update - I know I need a heart rate monitor, now I'm wondering if I should ball park it or make a conservative guess at the calories burned, now read post!)

okay, help me figure this out!

i biked about 15.6 miles and while the entire trip took 3 hours, we stopped a few times and we figured we were on our bike for about 2 hours. now there were tiems when we coasted but there were at least two times where we had to go up hills that were not steep, but pretty long. like 1/4 mile long. I say, conservatively that our pace averaged out to "moderate"

how many calories did i burn? some calcs are saying well over 1000. that can't be right? MFP is saying 1500 calories burned.

nlynnm716

It probably is a very high amount. I do 45 minutes of vigorous cycling and that's around 480 to 500 calories.

mampm1

My brother is a personal trainer. I usually bike on the weekend approximately 31 miles from my home in Westchester to New York City. The first time I did I thought the numbers were way too high but he thought they were probably right in line.

CountryDevil

I cycle a lot and you will burn a lot of calories doing so. The best an only true and accurate way to calculate calories burned with cycling is with a heart rate monitor. You may get your heart rate up when going up hills and think not so many going down hills, but it is your heart rate that will determine the amount of calories burned.

My suggestion is to get yourself a HRM to track the calories burned. You will thank yourself in the long run..

JThomas61

It doesn't sound right at all. I bike almost daily, my resting heart rate is 46 and I normally ride in the 20 mph range, I only burn 300 calories during a 10 mile ride and about 700-800 on a 20 mile ride. You need to consider investing in a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) to see what your body is actually doing because MFP doesnt' take into account your age, weight, heart rate, or speed. Good Luck.

jamie1888

Very difficult to estimate if you aren't wearing a heart rate monitor. I can bike for 2 hours and burn 300 calories.... or I can bike for 2 hours and burn 700+ calories. Just depends on my speed & hills, etc.

MayhemModels

If you dont have a HRM, try and get in a habit of checking your heart rate with your fingers every 10 to 20 minutes to see if your in a arobic zone and intensity level, that way you can judge whether your going at a vigorous pace or moderate pace

gdortiz

thanks for the help ya'll, this is good stuff.

here are the stats:

15.6 mile ride

120 minutes to complete

12-14 miles per hour

214 pounds

5'11 height

36 years old

I want to at least ball park it ... I know burned at least a few calories, what should I log into MFP? Or should I not log anything and go about my day normally since I do not have accurate info?? ?

agthorn

Very rough rule of thumb is 40 calories per mile on a bicycle, and 100 calories per mile on foot. (Yes, you work harder on hills, but you almost always slow down to compensate so your overall effort is pretty constant). I wear a HRM and this is usually pretty spot on for me - I bike ~25 miles once or twice a month and my HRM gives me a reading of about 1015 cals. So 600-650 would probably be a pretty good estimate for your ride.

jamie1888

How about just logging like, 500 calories.. that's probably on the safe side.

lovejoydavid

It doesn't sound right at all. I bike almost daily, my resting heart rate is 46 and I normally ride in the 20 mph range, I only burn 300 calories during a 10 mile ride and about 700-800 on a 20 mile ride. You need to consider investing in a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) to see what your body is actually doing because MFP doesnt' take into account your age, weight, heart rate, or speed. Good Luck.

Calculating kcal on biking is notoriously difficult, as the best calcs in the world are based on calorimetry, but those were all done in labs with no hills and no wind. I agree with the HRM, as it will reflect those efforts. I will say, though, that per my HRM, I seem to burn quite a bit more kcals than you do in a similar ride.

nokittyno

Well i'm 5'6 at about 147 and for a bike to work, say 20 minutes my Polar F60 Says I burn about 227 and that's no coasting but pushing it. But on a coasting 11 minute ride, my HRM states 111 approx. That is though, usually just an hour or two after a workout so my HR may still be kind of in-gear ready. Hard to say.. I recommend a HRM. Be it a 40 or 200.00 one - totally recommend it.

lovejoydavid

thanks for the help ya'll, this is good stuff.

here are the stats:

15.6 mile ride

120 minutes to complete

12-14 miles per hour

214 pounds

5'11 height

36 years old

I want to at least ball park it ... I know burned at least a few calories, what should I log into MFP? Or should I not log anything and go about my day normally since I do not have accurate info?? ?

I guess my question would be, how did you average 12 mph but only make it 15.6 miles in two hours? Perhaps you have overestimated your pace? Half a mile of hills should not equate to a near doubling of average pace.

MayhemModels

I'm comming up with about 920 calories........ Try this site for a estimate http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist4.htm

rmsrws

You need a heart rate monitor. I ride every day, MFP had my calorie burn too low. On a 45 minute ride I can burn 400-600 depending on my intensity.

michelegrayson

I ride quite a bit on a hybrid road bike. When we are going 15-16 miles an hour on a relatively flat road, I burn about 500 calories an hour. When I ride with hills/elevation I burn about 600 calories an hour.

As a comparison last weekend we road 35 miles in 2.30 hours and I burned about 1200 calories. The day before we did some SERIOUS climbing and I rode only 25 miles in 3 hours but climbed 2500 feet with some elevations at 12-15% and my burn that day was close to 1500.

FYI, I wear a HRM whenever I ride. I keep it on as long as I'm cycling but if we stop for a break, I turn it off and then restart when we get back on the bikes.

Good luck!

jamie1888

You have to factor in weight, intensity level, how much muscle you have/metabolism... men will burn more than female... etc, etc. My hubby burns 300 - 500 more calories than I do on the same ride together.

JThomas61

It doesn't sound right at all. I bike almost daily, my resting heart rate is 46 and I normally ride in the 20 mph range, I only burn 300 calories during a 10 mile ride and about 700-800 on a 20 mile ride. You need to consider investing in a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) to see what your body is actually doing because MFP doesnt' take into account your age, weight, heart rate, or speed. Good Luck.

Calculating kcal on biking is notoriously difficult, as the best calcs in the world are based on calorimetry, but those were all done in labs with no hills and no wind. I agree with the HRM, as it will reflect those efforts. I will say, though, that per my HRM, I seem to burn quite a bit more kcals than you do in a similar ride.

I was getting discouraged looking at the small numbers during my rides but a friend reminded me that once your heart becomes healthy and pumps more effeciently it has to work less do to the same about, hence less calories burnt over time.

JThomas61

SHAMELESS PLUG TIME: Since this is a cycling post, I would like to tell everyone that the largest sponsored cycling event in the United States is held here in Wichita Falls Tx on 27 Aug 2011. Its the 30th anniversary of the Hotter N Hell hundred. If you are an avid cyclist you have probably heard of it, its going to be great if you want to participate check out their web site.

http://www.hh100.org

gdortiz

I guess my question would be, how did you average 12 mph but only make it 15.6 miles in two hours? Perhaps you have overestimated your pace? Half a mile of hills should not equate to a near doubling of average pace.

ha, yeah good question. I guess if was going 12 mph i should been closer to 24 miles right?

okay ...

any thoughts what I should do? should I ballpark it or just not record it?

gdortiz

I'm comming up with about 920 calories........ Try this site for a estimate http://www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist4.htm

thanks man i appreciate it ...not a bad site and the best numbers i've gotten so far, still not srue if i should ball park it or go with an educated and conservative guess.

lovejoydavid

I guess my question would be, how did you average 12 mph but only make it 15.6 miles in two hours? Perhaps you have overestimated your pace? Half a mile of hills should not equate to a near doubling of average pace.

ha, yeah good question. I guess if was going 12 mph i should been closer to 24 miles right?

okay ...

any thoughts what I should do? should I ballpark it or just not record it?

You were biking outdoors and on hills, so I think it is fair to give yourself .2 kcal per lbs per mile biked. That should be a fairly conservative number.

johnwhitent

Yes, as many have posted, a heart rate monitor may be the best way to estimate calories burned, but even that is not perfect on a bike. I would always recommend a bike computer for every bike, whether you use a hrm or not. At least then you would know your actual ride time, average speed, and such. Mine auto starts and stops when the wheels start/stop moving. This would be a great help in estimating calories, and some bike computers will give you a calorie estimate. A free option is Runkeeper or one of the other similar apps for smart phones. It will use the gps to give distance traveled, average speed, even elevation change and a calorie estimate. I use Runkeeper on every run and ride and love it. I check Runkeeper against my bike computer against the MFP number and just use what seems close. So there are several ways to accomplish what you want, and some are free. Enjoy your bike rides and try to be realistic about the burn, but no need to obsess!

boopiejones

you should record something, as you definitely burned calories. if you were moving for the entire two hours and you went 15.6 miles, then your average speed is only 7.8 mph...

on hills you are definitely burning more than the flats, but assuming you finished the ride in the same spot where you started, every uphill will have a corresponding downhill. so i think it is pretty safe to log it as an 8 mph 15.6 mile bike ride...

i ride to work every morning, and the MFP calculator says i'm burning about 1,350 per day (90 minutes of riding at a 16-20 mph pace). based on everything i have been plugging into MFP, it seems to be pretty accurate.

I guess my question would be, how did you average 12 mph but only make it 15.6 miles in two hours? Perhaps you have overestimated your pace? Half a mile of hills should not equate to a near doubling of average pace.

ha, yeah good question. I guess if was going 12 mph i should been closer to 24 miles right?

okay ...

any thoughts what I should do? should I ballpark it or just not record it?

dancingj2

I do not have a heart monitor and usually just use aver miles per hour to determine my calories. If you use 15.6 miles in 2 hours, that is less than 10 mph and would be 686 calories using the website numbers here.

Rather than a heart monitor, I would suggest a bike computer that has average mph and the time riding. I know if I estimate how much time I was riding it is often higher than what my bike computer says.

aviduser

Get the HRM. Get the computer. The good ones combine both into one unit. they will also tell you how fast you are going, average speed, distance, cadence (how fast you are pedaling) and HR.

My guess is that you did 15 mi at a very leisurely pace, with plenty of stopping. For me (looking back at my log) 17 mi in 60 min was 900 cal. I would estimate that your burn rate was around half that, so call it 400 to 450. I would underestimate, so you don't exceed your daily calorie allowance accidentally.

As far as cycling goes, it is great exercise. But you have to push a little. Try to do the 15 miles in 1 hour. You will notice a huge difference as it will require a much higher level of sustained effort.

DeBlue

Very rough rule of thumb is 40 calories per mile on a bicycle, and 100 calories per mile on foot.

Excellent - I'd agree.

Mrs_TrimWaistFatWallet

My BodyMedia FIT says 500 cals/hr burned for constant peddling at HR of 140 (moderate/high moderate)

carbonboy

There is no way to "accurately" figure it out with the information you have. There are too many variables. The best you can do is go by your percieved exertion level. If it was a pace where you could talk easily and not too out of breath, figure about 4-5 calories burned per minute. If you were breathing hard but could still talk, probably about 7-8 calories per minute. If you were so out of breath that conversation would be near impossible, figure about 10-12 calories per minute. This is a wildly inaccurate way of doing it, but will give you a rough guide.

kent4j

I use runkeeper on my android phone. It takes into consideration your weight, height, sex, distance, grade, speed and gives you the calories burned. It may not be as accurate as a HRM but I like that I can go back and see improvements I've made on my rides.

rydn4h2o

It doesn't sound right at all. I bike almost daily, my resting heart rate is 46 and I normally ride in the 20 mph range, I only burn 300 calories during a 10 mile ride and about 700-800 on a 20 mile ride. You need to consider investing in a Heart Rate Monitor (HRM) to see what your body is actually doing because MFP doesnt' take into account your age, weight, heart rate, or speed. Good Luck.

Not to mention hills and headwinds )