Bicycling and calories burned

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  • lovejoydavid
    lovejoydavid Posts: 395 Member
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    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
    johnwhitent Posts: 648 Member
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    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
    boopiejones Posts: 73
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    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
    dancingj2 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    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
    aviduser Posts: 208 Member
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    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
    DeBlue Posts: 254 Member
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    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
    Mrs_TrimWaistFatWallet Posts: 486
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    My BodyMedia FIT says 500 cals/hr burned for constant peddling at HR of 140 (moderate/high moderate)
  • carbonboy
    carbonboy Posts: 729
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    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
    kent4j Posts: 391 Member
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    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
    rydn4h2o Posts: 255
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    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 :o)
  • johnwhitent
    johnwhitent Posts: 648 Member
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    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.

    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.

    Excellent point about the pushing! I love all cycling, including leisurely rides. And leisurely rides are a great improvement over sitting on the couch; but serious fitness improvements come from serious excertion. Fitness improves rapidly with cycling and that is a good thing, but it is also very easy to ease up on the pace and just cruise along. As with running, it is good to have a plan that includes a hard push day (intervals or hills,) an easy day, and a long day weekly. Cycling is a great way to build fitness and enjoy the process along the way, but it does require effort.
  • rtoledo71
    rtoledo71 Posts: 5
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    (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.

    Just based on your distance and time, I doubt it was 1000 cals. Probably closer to the 500-700 range.

    If you rode 15.6 miles and you say 2 hours of that was actual riding (average of 7.8 mph), then enter into MFP as 120 minutes of "Bicycling, <10 mph, leisure (cycling, biking, bike riding)". MFP returns a value of 721 calories burned.
  • RMinVA
    RMinVA Posts: 1,085 Member
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    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.

    I also use runkeeper, and interestingly enough, it probably comes out close to the 40 calories per mile :-)

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