Stationary Bike Newbie - Questions!!

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suzi_quzi
suzi_quzi Posts: 35
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi all,

I just got a stationary bike, and I suck at it. I tried to ride along to a beginner spin class on YouTube, and I couldn't even keep up with the warm up!

So I've been riding on it with little resistance for 45 min or so - approx. 10 miles according to my bike's readout - and hoping to build up from there. If there's no resistance, and I still burning calories? I'm sweating by the end, but I don't feel like my heart rate is super high. Just not sure how to log it, because I highly doubt I'm burning the 157 calories that MFP says.

I guess I am just wondering if I am burning calories with just easy riding (for now) and if I should count that as exercise.

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  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
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    157 calories in 45 minutes isn't all that high. Of course you are burning calories on the bike. You are definitely burning more calories tHan you would have just sitting in front of the tv. You will want to remember that you have also already been given credit for a certain number of calories burned during that 45 minutes away. Just for simplicity, say mfp calculated your daily burn as 2400...that would equal 100 per hour, which would be 75 for that 45 minutes. Then, you would only have burned about 85 extra calories, not 157. Of course, if you guys to figure all that out All the time you'll just drive yourself crazy, lol. I say record your exercise but err on the side of caution when it comes to eating all of the calories back, especially with lies effort exercises. I'm doing stationery biking right now just to burn a few extra calories but not to eat them.

    Eta sorry for the typos, I'm typing this on my phone while i pedal
  • suzi_quzi
    suzi_quzi Posts: 35
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    That's great advice - thanks!
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
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    Also, if you find it hard to do anything more than light resistance, tupelo throwing in some intervals. Crank up the speed or resistance for a minute, then drop it down for a minute or two, then crank it up again and repeat for 20 or so minutes. You might be surprised at how quickly you can improve using intervals.
  • Go4it1985
    Go4it1985 Posts: 169 Member
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    Agreed. You will be surprised at how even say 1/2 a dozen moments 20-30 secs slotted into your workout where you go all out (then recover for a minute or two) really ramps up the calories you burn.
    I think at a very base base minimum someone should be burning around 1.5 to 2 calories a minute (this is approximated on my personal experience that when I'm tired and not able to generate much power to exercise that in a 45minute session on my Heart Rate Monitor I will burn around 200 calories).
    You are doing well - everyone has their own pace and way of doing things. For some, it's high intensity but shorter periods and for others like myself, I'm more comfortable with endurance at a fairly constant speed.
  • nic632
    nic632 Posts: 295 Member
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    I've got a stationary bike and do have a bit of resistance on it and can burn approx 400+ cals (according to MFP) per 40 mins, but I do do it at a fast pace. MFP has put me down for 1200 cals, so maybe that's why I burn so many, to be honest I'm not sure how it all works.

    Anyway, I find that having my music on quite high passes the time and when it's something upbeat, that makes me cycle faster and for longer. I don't have a HRM, (planning on getting one this week) but I always make sure that I'm working hard enough to get out of breath and build up a bit of a sweat.

    Good luck.

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