Exercise Bike Calorie Counter

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  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    I burn about 25 calories per mile cycling, but that's outside with hills and wind and stop signs. Inside, I would expect to burn less.
  • Cave_Goose
    Cave_Goose Posts: 156 Member
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    You're exercising. That's what matters.

    Unfortunately, a stationary bike is not going to give you a huge calorie burn 200c for 30 minutes sounds about right. To put that into perspective, I ran 9 miles yesterday and only burned 1,100 calories--and running is one of the higher calorie burning exercises.

    Calorie intake is easy. Calorie burning is hard. When I came to equate junk food with the amount of time it takes to burn it off, I found it easier to start saying "no"--especially to soda (30 minutes of running for one Mt. Dew!?!? No thanks.)
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    edited June 2015
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    My exercise bike is a cheapie. It gives the number of calories burned, but doesn't allow me to program in my stats. However, it's not recumbent and the handles move back and forth as well. It tells me that at an average of 14 mph that I burn nearly 300 calories in 30 minutes, which I don't quite believe. One of these days I'll get a fitbit.

    Fitbit is totally wrong device!

    Hmmm, I thought fitbit was the "in" thing these days, but what do I know? Actually, I have no desire to wear any device. Give me a regular pedometer any time! As long as the digital needle on the scale keeps going down, I'm good.

    A fitbit won't really measure cycling well .. although some people put it in their sock

    A HRM for steady-state cardio on a bike should work better

    Or did you mean one of the 'spenny Fitbits that double as HRM .. I don't like them

    Hah, to be honest, I don't know what I meant! I don't know a thing about them except that they are expensive and everyone complains about them.

    (Edited to try to bold text. Messed up the first time. Maybe second time's a charm?)
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    KrissSaysHi wrote: »
    i bought the first fitbit that ever came out, found all it did was make me paranoid. sent it back.

    You are echoing my feelings exactly!
  • barryplumber
    barryplumber Posts: 401 Member
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    Keiko385 wrote: »
    That seems very low but try a different calculator and see what you get

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/activity-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    These are really good i just compared to the treadmill i use at the gym and they are are so close I'll call them tbe same
  • Keiko385
    Keiko385 Posts: 514 Member
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    barryplumber wrote: »
    Keiko385 wrote: »
    That seems very low but try a different calculator and see what you get

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/activity-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    These are really good i just compared to the treadmill i use at the gym and they are are so close I'll call them tbe same

    My treadmill is way off unless I have the incline cranked up. I use a HRM and these calculators just to give me a ballpark average. My bike has HRM in the handlebars but it tends to triple my calorie burn so I don't even bother looking at it anymore
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    KrissSaysHi wrote: »
    Yeah.. i don't know how the new ones work... but...

    I work 12 hour shifts at a nursing home which involved a lot of walking and the fitbit was designed to "guess".
    so i would get home at 7pm and do like 18,000 steps for the day but the calories burned for the day was based on if i kept up that pace right until midnight, so if it said i had like 500 extra calories from excersize as the remaining hours of the night kept on, because i was relaxing now, that 500 would drop each hour and i felt like i couldn't rely on those numbers to be used for anything (Cause i used to use some of my excersize calories to eat more if i was hungry) -- i mean, who is going to wait until midnight to see how many calories i actually have from excersize? i am sleeping by then.

    Well it's a clever little doohickey (technical term) that learns your general patterns over time so that becomes more accurate

    But for the first month or so you can't eat up to the fitbit adjustment because it will readjust the next day

    If you were logging 18,000 steps you'd be getting a pretty good calorie increase from just that (I'm set to sedentary and if I log 10,000 I get over 450 calories .. dependent on intensity)
  • barryplumber
    barryplumber Posts: 401 Member
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    Keiko385 wrote: »
    barryplumber wrote: »
    Keiko385 wrote: »
    That seems very low but try a different calculator and see what you get

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/activity-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    These are really good i just compared to the treadmill i use at the gym and they are are so close I'll call them tbe same

    My treadmill is way off unless I have the incline cranked up. I use a HRM and these calculators just to give me a ballpark average. My bike has HRM in the handlebars but it tends to triple my calorie burn so I don't even bother looking at it anymore

    You took in consideration the difference between gross calorie burn ( machine+RMR which is what your body would have burned anyway with no machine) the machine gives you the gross. The net amount is the extra calories you burnt for being on the machine you must record the net as it's the extra calories you really burnt. This is how I understand it

  • barryplumber
    barryplumber Posts: 401 Member
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    Good read why the machines bike, treadmill and elliptical all seem to have high readings for calorie burns
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    danieltsmoke wrote: »
    I'm 320lbs, 6'1, and I just used a recumbent exercise bike for exactly 30 mins, going almost exactly 7 miles (14mph average), varrying difficulty levels, with an average heart rate of 148...I'm SPENT...but the machine had all that info and said I only burned 200 cals....Are you kidding me? half an hour of insane effort afforded me a damn quest bar?? Any thoughts?

    It's human nature to underestimate your food & overestimate your burns. Exercise burns way fewer calories than you might think.

    Exercise for fitness; log to lose weight.
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
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    Keiko385 wrote: »
    That seems very low but try a different calculator and see what you get

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/heart-rate-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/activity-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx

    Huh - using this calculator, I realized the ellipticals at my gym are actually more accurate than I was giving them credit for (within 10-20 calories, which is still pretty good). I only eat back 1/2 anyway, just to be safe, but this is good info to have.
  • vickaged
    vickaged Posts: 13 Member
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    danieltsmoke wrote: »
    I'm 320lbs, 6'1, and I just used a recumbent exercise bike for exactly 30 mins, going almost exactly 7 miles (14mph average), varrying difficulty levels, with an average heart rate of 148...I'm SPENT...but the machine had all that info and said I only burned 200 cals....Are you kidding me? half an hour of insane effort afforded me a damn quest bar?? Any thoughts?

    PLEASE don't equate calories burned with the amount of calories in a specific food! You run the risk of "rewarding" yourself with food for exercising and losing sight of why you're exercising in the first place. Or worse, realizing that you'll never be able to burn off the amount of calories you've already consumed, getting frustrated, and stop working out. Continue exercising because you know it's making you healthier, and the weight will come off--providing you're eating the right things. It's not easy, but it can be done! Trust me--I've been in your shoes!! :smiley:
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    rabbitjb wrote: »
    KrissSaysHi wrote: »
    Yeah.. i don't know how the new ones work... but...

    I work 12 hour shifts at a nursing home which involved a lot of walking and the fitbit was designed to "guess".
    so i would get home at 7pm and do like 18,000 steps for the day but the calories burned for the day was based on if i kept up that pace right until midnight, so if it said i had like 500 extra calories from excersize as the remaining hours of the night kept on, because i was relaxing now, that 500 would drop each hour and i felt like i couldn't rely on those numbers to be used for anything (Cause i used to use some of my excersize calories to eat more if i was hungry) -- i mean, who is going to wait until midnight to see how many calories i actually have from excersize? i am sleeping by then.

    Well it's a clever little doohickey (technical term) that learns your general patterns over time so that becomes more accurate

    But for the first month or so you can't eat up to the fitbit adjustment because it will readjust the next day

    If you were logging 18,000 steps you'd be getting a pretty good calorie increase from just that (I'm set to sedentary and if I log 10,000 I get over 450 calories .. dependent on intensity)

  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
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    barryplumber wrote: »
    Good read why the machines bike, treadmill and elliptical all seem to have high readings for calorie burns
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx

    Thank you! I always wondered about this but it seemed a stupid question to ask. From now on I am definitely underestimating my calorie burn under the assumption that it includes the calories I would have burned anyway exercising or not!
  • Keiko385
    Keiko385 Posts: 514 Member
    edited June 2015
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    atypicalsmith wrote: »
    barryplumber wrote: »
    Good read why the machines bike, treadmill and elliptical all seem to have high readings for calorie burns
    http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/articles/net-versus-gross-calorie-burn.aspx

    Thank you! I always wondered about this but it seemed a stupid question to ask. From now on I am definitely underestimating my calorie burn under the assumption that it includes the calories I would have burned anyway exercising or not!

    If you had one of those new fangled doohickeys it would automatically adjust your daily calorie burn for you. I use a polar loop with negative calories enabled and it will adjust my calorie goal for me. So far it's working as intended
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
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    Keiko385 wrote: »
    If you had one of those new fangled doohickeys it would automatically adjust your daily calorie burn for you. I use a polar loop with negative calories enabled and it will adjust my calorie goal for me. So far it's working as intended.

    Activity trackers (like Fitbit) calculate your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). When you connect one to your account, MFP adjusts your calorie goal every day to TDEE minus deficit.

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